Motivational intensity

Separation of motivational intensity and valenceIn psychology, the term valence is used to describe stimuli, events, situations and emotional states that are intrinsically attractive (positively valenced) or intrinsically aversive (negatively valenced). The valence of a stimulus or event tells us whether we are likely to approach or avoid it. Valence, however provides no information about the strength of this tendency as it is either positive or negative. Instead, the strength of this association is quantified as the Motivational Intensity. By analogy, the valence of a stimulus or event is like the sign of a correlation coefficient and its motivational intensity is like the coefficient magnitude. It has been suggested that valence ratings in normative data sets such as the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) might be used as proxies for motivational intensity. However, valence and motivational intensity do not always go hand in hand with one another. For example, viewing a positively valenced picture of a cute cat is associated with low motivational intensity because participants like it but are not intrinsically driven towards it. In contrast, viewing a positively valenc