Assignment Overview: Current Trends in Hedonism and Emotion
Why did you do it? For more than 2,000 years, philosophers have sought to explain motivators for behavior. One motivator is a principle called hedonism. Individuals seek pleasure and strive to avoid pain. When presented with two options—o ne that causes pain and another that invokes pleasure—the decision seems simple. Decisions become more complex when gaining the most pleasure requires delaying the pleasure or even suffering a bit while waiting for the positive experience. When faced with a choice of enjoying a little pleasure now or a lot of pleasure later, different people make different choices.
Recent research has expanded the concept of hedonism, and current trends include impulsiveness and self-control. People who are impulsive may choose to enjoy immediate pleasure and risk delayed gratification. Others exercise self-control and prefer to wait to enjoy the most pleasure possible. Some cultures tend to be more impulsive than others. Individualist cultures, in which the focus is on the individual’s concerns, are more likely to display impulsivity than collectivist cultures, in which the focus is on concerns for society. Individualist cultures are primarily Western, while collectivist cultures tend to be non-Western. Each person within a culture has a unique tendency toward impulsivity or self-control in a given situation.
Hedonism is just one of many sources of motivation. Another source is emotion. Emotion directs thought and moves people to action. An emotion consists of three components: feelings, physiological arousal, and facial expressions.
Research hedonism and emotions and focus on impulsivity and self-control.
Review the article “The Influence of Culture on Consumer Impulsive Buying Behavior.” Pay particular attention to the section on individualism and collectivism.
With the concepts of your reading in mind, consider the choice you would make if you could a) leave work one hour early today or b) wait until next week and take off the entire afternoon. Think about which choice you would make and why. Consider whether you have a tendency toward impulsivity or self-control.
Think about why someone in a culture other than your own might tend more toward impulsivity or self-control.
Consider being told that the number of vacation days you earn at work is being reduced and how this news might affect each component of your emotions: feelings, physiological arousal, and facial expressions.
The assignment (1 page): No Plagiarism! Must be cited!
(1)State the choice you would make: leave work one hour early today or wait until next week and take off the entire afternoon? Explain why you would make this choice? Also explain whether this choice demonstrates impulsiveness or self-control and why?
(2)Analyze why someone in a culture other than your own might tend more toward impulsivity or self-control? Be specific?
(3)Explain how you would respond to news that the number of vacation days you can earn at work is being cut? Briefly, explain the effect of such news on each component of emotion: feelings, physiological arousal, and facial expressions?
Support your Application Assignment with references .
