Chapter 12 - Motivation

Motivation

• Motivation- a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior
• Instinct- complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned
• Drive-Reduction Theory- the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need
• Homeostasis- 1. tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state 2. regulation of any aspect of body chemistry around a particular level
• Incentives- a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior.
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

• Self-actualization needs Need to live up one’s fullest and unique potential

1. Esteem needs
   

   Need for self-esteem, achievement, competence, and independence; need for recognition and respect from others

2. Belongingness and love needs
   

   Need to love and be loved, to belong and be accepted; need to avoid loneliness and alienation

3. Safety needs
   

   Need to feel that the world is organized and predictable; need to feel safe, secure, and stable

4. Physiological needs

Need to satisfy hunger and thirst.

• begins with physiological needs that must be satisfied
• the higher-level safety needs become active
• then psychological needs become active

 

Motivation-Hnuger

• Stomach contractions accompany our feelings of hunger
• Glucose the form of sugar that circulates in the blood
• provides the major source of energy for body tissues
• when its level is low, we feel hunger
• Set Point
• the point at which an individual’s “weight thermostat” is supposedly set
• when the body falls below this weight, an increase in hunger and a lowered metabolic rate may act to restore the lost weight.
• Metabolic Rate- body’s base rate of energy expenditure
• The  hypothalamus  controls eating and other body maintenance functions

Eating Disorders

• Anorexia Nervosa
• When a normal-weight person diets and becomes significantly underweight, yet, still feeling fat, continues to starve
• Usually and adolescent female
• When a person weighs less than 85% of their normal body weight
• 95% of sufferers are female
• most are between the ages of 18-30
• 30% of persons diagnosed with anorexia nervosa die
• Bulimia Nervosa
• Disorder characterized by private “binge-purge” episodes of overeating, usually of high caloric foods, followed by vomiting or laxative use

 

Sexual Motivation

• Sex is a physiologically based motive, like hunger, but it is more affected by learning and values
• Sexual Response Cycle
• The four stages of sexual responding described by Masters and Johnson

1. Excitement
2. Plateau
3. Orgasm
4. Resolution

• Refractory Period- resting period after orgasm, during which a man cannot achieve another orgasm
• Estrogen- a sex hormone, secreted in greater amounts by females than by males
• Forces Affecting Sexual Motivation:
• Imaginative stimuli
• External stimuli
• Physiological readiness
• Sexual Disorders- problems that consistently impair sexual arousal or functioning
• In Men

1. Premature ejaculation- ejaculation before they or their partners wish
2. Impotence- inability to have or maintain erection

• In Women

1. Orgasmic disorder-  infrequent or absent orgasms
2. Sexual Orientation- an enduring sexual attraction toward members of wither one’s own gender (homosexual orientation) or the other gender (heterosexual orientation)

 

Motivation

• Achievement Motivation- a desire for significant accomplishment
• For mastery of things, people, or ideas
• For attaining a high standard
• McClelland and Atkinson believed fantasies would reflect achievement concerns
• Intrinsic Motivation- desire to perform a behavior for its own sake or to be effective
• Extrinsic Motivation-  desire to perform a behavior due to promised rewards or threats of punishment
• Rewards Affect Motivation

1. Controlling reward: Mom: “I’ll give you $5.00 for every A.” - 
2. Extrinsic Motivation: Child: “As long as she pays, I’ll study.”
3. Informative reward: Mom: “Your grades were great! Let’s celebrate by going out for dinner.” 
4. Intrinsic Motivation: Child: “I love doing well.”

• Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology- sub-field of psychology that studies and advises on workplace behavior
• I/O Psychologists-  help organizations select and train employees, boost morale and productivity, and design products and assess responses to them
• Task Leadership- goal-oriented leadership that sets standards, organizes work, and focuses attention on goals
• Social Leadership-  group-oriented leadership that builds teamwork, mediates conflict, and offers support
• Theory X
• Assumes that workers are basically lazy, error-prone, and extrinsically motivated by money
• Should be directed from above
• Theory Y
• Assumes that, given challenge and freedom, workers are motivated to achieve self-esteem and to demonstrate their competence and creativity

Bibliography

Myers, David G., Psychology Fifth Edition. Worth Publishers, Inc. New York, NY ©1998