Theories of Motivation

Hope Scale Hope: Overall perception that one’s goals can be met. 2 Necessary Components – Agency: The willpower or energy to get moving toward one’s goal. (2,9,10,&12 add together) – Pathways: Perceived ability to generate routes to achieve these goals. (1,4,6,& 8 add together) Mean score on each subscale is 12.5 – People who score high pursue a greater number of life goals. Obstacles are interpreted as challenges rather than threats – The less hopeful tend to react to obstacles with greater stress & report lower levels of life satisfaction, more anxiousness, more fearfulness, and greater depression.

Motivation Why do you go to class each day? Why did Cain kill Abel? Why do some students study for hours…days to do well on an Exam? Why did you pick out those shoes to wear today? Each of these questions has an answer…there is some MOTIVE for engaging in those behaviors.

What Motivates Us!!?? W5qI W5qI

Motivation: Factors that influence initiation, direction, intensity, & persistence of behaviors. WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF MOTIVATION? BIOLOGICAL NEEDS – FOOD, WATER, SEX EMOTIONAL FACTORS – EMOTIONS CAN CAUSE US TO ACT IN CERTAIN WAYS (FEAR, LOVE, ANGER) COGNITIVE NEEDS – BELIEFS & THOUGHTS/PERCEPTIONS CAUSE US TO ACT SOCIAL FACTORS – PEOPLE & SOCIETY CAUSE US TO ACT IN A CERTAIN WAY

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES MANY THEORIES ARE SIMILAR, EXCEPT THE AMOUNT OF EMPHASIS PLACED ON BIOLOGY OR ENVIRONMENT. SOME THEORIES EMPHASIZE NATURE WHILE OTHERS EMPHASIZE NURTURE ONE THEORY COMPLETELY EMPHASIZES NATURE

INSTINCT THEORY STATES THAT MOTIVATION IS THE RESULT OF BIOLOGICAL, GENETIC PROGRAMMING. ALL BEINGS WITHIN THE SAME SPECIES ARE PROGRAMMED FOR THE SAME MOTIVATIONS. SURVIVAL IS AT THE HEART OF THIS PERSPECTIVE-THUS, ACTIONS=INSTINCTS – EXAMPLE: Human mothers, unlike many other species, will stay awake a crying baby all night long trying to provide comfort. WHY?

INSTINCTS AS BEHAVIOR PATTERNS WILLIAM MCDOUGAL – THEORIST WHO VIEWED INSTINCTS AS BEHAVIOR PATTERNS THAT ARE UNLEARNED, UNIFORM IN EXPRESSION, UNIVERSAL EXAMPLE: BIRDS & NESTS – ALL MEMBERS BUILD IDENTICAL NESTS, EVEN THOSE RAISED IN CAPTIVITY & ISOLATION MCDOUGAL CLAIMS THAT HUMANS ARE THE SAME & HAVE INSTINCTS FOR BEHAVIORS SUCH AS: PARENTING, JEALOUSY, MATING, & MORE.

PROBLEMS WITH THIS PERSPECTIVE? NO AGREED UPON LIST OF INSTINCTS – MANY INSTINCTS ARE NOT UNIVERSAL JEALOUSY-DEPENDENT ON INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES TODAY- INSTINCT THEORY HAS A MORE BIOLOGICAL EMPHASIS FOR SPECIFIC MOTIVES AND NOT ALL (LIKE AGGRESSION AND SEX) THERE IS STILL A STONG INSTINCT PERSPECTIVE IN THE STUDY OF ANIMALS (ETHOLOGY)

DRIVE THEORIES DRIVE: AN INTERNAL STATE OF TENSION THAT MOTIVATES AN ORGANISM TO ENGAGE IN ACTIVITIES THAT SHOULD (HOPEFULLY) REDUCE THIS TENSION. HOMEOSTASIS – Body temp waivers-autonomic responses When you experience a drive, you are motivated to reduce this state of tension and pursue actions that will lead to drive reduction – Example: Hunger

Problems With Drive Reduction Theories Homeostasis seems irrelevant to some human motives- “thirst for knowledge”…What the heck is that? Motivation may exist without a drive arousal. Do we eat only when we are hungry?

Arousal Theory Explains behaviors that don’t obviously decrease drives (thrill seeking, curiosity) General Level of Activation – People are motivated to maintain their optimum level of arousal. – Yerkes-Dodson Law: People perform best under moderate levels of arousal (people have different levels of “optimum” arousal levels)

Incentive Theory Defined as an external goal that has the capacity to motivate behavior. Drive theory acts by an internal state PUSHING you in a specific direction. Incentive Theory acts when an external stimulus PULLS you in a certain direction. Related to SKINNER: Here we can see a move away from biological influence toward the environment and its influence on behavior. 8&ei=JawhSrqcPJKyMY_I9bwJ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title# 8&ei=JawhSrqcPJKyMY_I9bwJ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Systematic arrangement of needs according to priority, which assumes that basic needs must be met before less basic needs are aroused. Thus, like stage theories, we must meet one need before we move on to the next.

How do we solve conflicts between motives? Approach-Approach: 2 good choices Avoidance-Avoidance: 2 bad choices Approach-Avoidance: A good choice with bad consequences

Achievement Motivation Extrinsic Motivation: desire to work for external rewards (money, fame, power) Intrinsic Motivation: Work for “internal” satisfaction of a job well done. People with high achievement motivation seek to master tasks, strive for excellence, take pride in their work.