Theories of Motivation

Drive Reduction Theory

• One early theory about how our physiology motivates us was drive reduction theory, the theory that our behavior is motivated by biological needs.

• A need is one of our requirements for survival, such as food, water, or shelter.

• A drive is our impulse to act in a way that satisfies this need.

• Our body seeks homeostasis, a balanced internal state.

• When we are out of homeostasis, we have a need that creates a drive.

• Primary drives are biological needs, like thirst.

• Secondary drives are learned drives.

  • For instance, we learn that resources like money can get us food and water to satisfy our primary drives.

Arousal Theory

• Some motivations that seem to violate biological theories of motivation can be explained by arousal theory, which states that we seek an optimum level of excitement or arousal.

  • This arousal level can be measured by different physiological tests.

• We might perform well at an easy task with a very high level of arousal, but the same high level of arousal would prevent us from performing well on a difficult task (this concept is similar to social facilitation; This relationship is called the Yerkes-Dodson law after the researchers who first investigated the concept in animals.

• Another theory of motivation, which is similar in some ways to the arousal theory, is the opponent-process theory of motivation.

  • This theory is often used to explain addictive behaviors.

  • The theory states that people are usually at a normal, or baseline, state.

• An opponent process, meaning a motivation to return to our baseline, neutral state.

Incentive Theory

• Incentives are stimuli that we are drawn to due to learning.

  • We learn to associate some stimuli with rewards and others with punishment, and we are motivated to seek the rewards.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• Psychologist Abraham Maslow pointed out that not all needs are created equal.

  • He described a hierarchy of needs that predicts which needs we will be motivated to satisfy first.

• Self-actualization- a need to fulfill our unique potential as a person.

Hunger Motivation

Biological Basis of Hunger

• Set-point theory describes how the hypothalamus might decide what impulse to send.

  • This theory states that the hypothalamus wants to maintain a certain optimum body weight.

• Metabolic rate—how quickly our body uses energy.

Psychological Factors in Hunger Motivation

• Research indicates that some of us (called externals) are more motivated to eat by external food cues, such as attractiveness or availability of food.

• Others, internals- are less affected by the presence and presentation of food and respond more often to internal hunger cues.

• The Garcia effect- can drastically affect what foods make us hungry.

Eating Disorders

Bulimia

• People with bulimia eat large amounts of food in a short period of time (binging) and then get rid of the food (purging) by vomiting, excessive exercise, or the use of laxatives.

• Bulimics are obsessed with food and their weight.

• The majority of people with bulimia are women.

Anorexia nervosa

• People with anorexia starve themselves to below 85 percent of their normal body weight and refuse to eat due to their obsession with weight.

• The vast majority of people with anorexia are women.

Sexual Motivation

Sexual Response Cycle

• Initial excitement - Genital areas become engorged with blood, penis becomes erect, clitoris swells, respiration and heart rate increase.

• Plateau phase - Respiration and heart rate continue at an elevated level, genitals secrete fluids in preparation for coitus.

• Orgasm - Rhythmic genital contractions that may help conception, respiration, and heart rate increase further, males ejaculate, often accompanied by a pleasurable euphoria.

• Resolution phase

  • Respiration and heart rate return to normal resting states, male systems experience a refractory period—a time period that must elapse before another orgasm.

  • However, female systems do not have a similar refractory period and can repeat the cycle immediately.

Psychological Factors in Sexual Motivation

Sexual Orientation

• Researchers (like Alfred Kinsey, who documented the variety of human sexual behaviors in the famous Kinsey Reports from the 1940s and 1950s) have been able to dispel some common myths about sexuality.

• Studies show that gay and lesbian sexual orientation is not related to traumatic childhood experiences, parenting styles, the quality of relationships with parents, masculinity or femininity, or the sexual orientation of our parents.

Social Motivation

Achievement Motivation

• Achievement motivation is one theory that tries to explain the motivations behind these more complex behaviors.

• Achievement motivation examines our desires to master complex tasks and knowledge and to reach personal goals.

• Humans (and some other animals) seem to be motivated to figure out our world and master skills, sometimes regardless of the benefits of the skills or knowledge.

• Extrinsic motivators are rewards that we get for accomplishments from outside ourselves (for example, grades, salary, and so on).

• Intrinsic motivators are rewards we get internally, such as enjoyment or satisfaction.

Management Theory

When Motives Conflict

• Psychologists discuss four major types of motivational conflicts.

  • The first, named an approach-approach conflict, occurs when you must choose between two desirable outcomes

• Another type of conflict, an avoidance-avoidance conflict, occurs when you must choose between two unattractive outcomes.

• An approach-avoidance conflict exists when one event or goal has both attractive and unattractive features.

• Multiple approach-avoidance conflicts: In these, you must choose between two or more things, each of which has both desirable and undesirable features.

Theories About Emotion

James-Lange Versus Cannon-Bard

• One of the earliest theories about emotion was put forth by William James and Carl Lange.

  • They theorized that we feel emotion because of biological changes caused by stress.

• Walter Cannon and Philip Bard doubted this order of events.

  • They demonstrated that similar physiological changes correspond with drastically different emotional states.

Two-Factor Theory

• Stanley Schachter’s two-factor theory explains emotional experiences in a more complete way than either the James-Lange or Cannon-Bard theories do.

Nonverbal Expressions of Emotion

• Many psychologists researching emotions find that the ways we express emotion nonverbally (through facial expressions, etc.) are universal.

• No matter what culture we grew up in, we are likely to use the same facial expressions for basic emotions like happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, surprise, and fear.

Stress

• Psychologists study stress not only to further our understanding of motivation and emotion but also to help us with problems caused by stress.

• The term stress can refer to either certain life events (stressors) or how we react to these changes in the environment (stress reactions).

• Studies try to describe our reactions to stress and identify factors that influence how we react to stressors.

Measuring Stress

• Psychologists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe designed one of the first instruments to measure stress.

• Their social readjustment rating scale (SRRS) measured stress using life-change units (LCUs).

Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome

• Hans Selye’s general adaptation syndrome (GAS) describes the general response humans and other animals have to a stressful event.

  • Our response pattern to many different physical and emotional stresses is very consistent.

• Alarm reaction

  • Heart rate increases, blood is diverted away from other body functions to muscles needed to react.

  • The organism readies itself to meet the challenge through activation of the sympathetic nervous system.

• Resistance

  • The body remains physiologically ready (high heart rate, and so on).

  • Hormones are released to maintain this state of readiness.

  • If the resistance stage lasts too long, the body can deplete its resources.

• Exhaustion

  • The parasympathetic nervous system returns our physiological state to normal.

  • We can be more vulnerable to disease in this stage, especially if our resources were depleted by an extended resistance stage.

• Perceived Control: Control over events tends to lessen stress, while a perceived lack of control generally makes the event more stressful.