Motivation

Motivation – Meaning

The term motivation refers to internal processes that serve to activate, guide, and maintain our
behavior.

Motivation is the internal process that activate, guide, and maintain

behavior over time.

Theories of Motivation
Approaches: instinct, drive reduction, arousal, incentive, cognitive, humanistic;

1. Instinct theory

2. Drive theory

3. Arousal theory

4. Expectancy theory

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 Instinct Theory of Motivation

Instincts are the patterns of behavior assumed to be universal in a given

species.

Instinct theory states that many forms of behavior stems from innate
urges and/or tendencies.

William James (1890) → pugnacity (quarrelsome), acquisitiveness (greed), sympathy, and

curiosity.
Sigmund Freud → complex forms of behavior stem from inherited, biologically determined
instincts.

Drive Theory of Motivation and Homeostasis

Drive theory states that behavior is “pushed” from within by drives

stemming from basic biological needs.

In order to eliminate such feelings and restore a balanced physiological state known as
homeostasis, we engage in certain activities

Homeostasis is a state of physiological balance within the body.

Motivation 2
 Behaviors that work—ones that help reduce the appropriate drive—are strengthened and
tend to be repeated

Those that fail to produce the desired effects are weakened and will not be repeated when
the drive is present once again.

Arousal Theory

Arousal theory states that human beings seek an optimal level of

arousal, not minimal levels of arousal.

💡 Arousal is the general level of activation.

Optimal arousal is a level of arousal that is best suited to our personal
characteristics and whatever activity in which we are currently engaged.

Performance and arousal → performance increases as arousal rises, up to some point.

Yerkes–Dodson Law states that the level of arousal beyond which

performance begins to decline is a function of task difficulty.
(the more difficult the task, the lower the level of arousal beyond which
reductions in performance begin to occur)

Expectancy Theory
Cognitive approach

Expectancy theory states that behavior is “pulled” by expectations of

desirable outcomes.

Incentives are the rewards individuals seek to attain.

Work motivation is the tendency to expend energy and effort on one’s

job or on a specific task.

Industrial/Occupational Psychology → Expectancy, instrumentality and valence.

Motivation 3
 Cognitive Approaches to Motivation

Cognitive approach to motivation states that motivation is a product of

people’s thoughts and expectations—their cognitions.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow (1970)

Hierarchy of needs, in Maslow’s theory of motivation, is defined as an

arrangement of needs from the most basic to those at the highest levels.

1. Physiological needs

2. Safety needs

3. Social needs

4. Esteem needs

5. Self actualisation needs

1, 2 and 3 are deficiency needs; 4 and 5 are growth needs.

💡 Self actualisation needs include concerns not only with one’s selfish interests, but
also with issues that affect the well-being of others, and even of all humanity

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 Types of Motivation
Types of motivation - physiological Motivation (Hunger, Thirst, Sex)and psychological
motivation (Achievement, Affiliation and Power)

1. Physiological motivation

a. Hunger

b. Thirst

c. Sex

2. Psychological motivation

a. Achievement

b. Affiliation

c. Power

Physiological Motivation
Hunger
Biological factor in hunger regulation
1. Internal mechanisms regulate not only the quantity of food they take in but also the kind
of food they desire.

2. Complex mechanisms tell organisms whether they require food or should stop eating.

3. Changes in the chemical composition of the blood.

Changes in glucose (blood sugar) regulates the feeling of hunger.

Ghrelin is a hormone that communicates the feeling of hunger

4. The brain’s hypothalamus monitors glucose levels; carries the primary responsibility for
monitoring food intake.

Similar phenomena occur in humans who have tumors of the hypothalamus.

injury to the hypothalamus affects the weight set point [the particular level of
weight that the body strives to maintain] and a person then struggles to meet the
internal goal by increasing or decreasing food consumption.

temporary exposure to certain drugs can alter the weight set point.

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 Genetic factors partly determine the weight set point

People seem to have a particular metabolism, the rate at which food is

converted to energy and expended by the body.

high metabolic rate can eat virtually as much as they want without gaining
weight,

low metabolism, may eat literally half as much yet gain weight readily.

Injury to the hypothalamus has radical consequences for eating behavior;

rats whose lateral hypothalamus is damaged may literally starve to death.

injury to the ventromedial hypothalamus display the opposite problem: extreme

overeating. [weight gain by 400%]

Social Factors in Eating

External social factors, based on societal rules and on what we have learned about appropriate
eating behavior, also play an important role

we tend to eat on schedule every day, we feel hungry as the usual hour approaches,
sometimes quite independently of what our internal cues are telling us.

we put roughly the same amount of food on our plates every day, even though the
amount of exercise we may have had, and consequently our need for energy
replenishment, varies from day to day.

We also tend to prefer particular foods over others.

we may have learned, through the basic mechanisms of classical and operant
conditioning, to associate food with comfort and consolation.

Cultural influences and our individual habits play important roles in determining when, what,
and how much we eat

Obesity
Obesity is when the body weight is more than 20 percent above the average weight for a
person of a particular height.

measure of obesity is body mass index (BMI), which is based on a ratio of weight to
height.

Reasons for obesity;

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 Oversensitivity to external eating cues =coupled with insensitivity to internal hunger
cues, produces obesity.

Overweight people have higher weight set points than other people do.

higher level of the hormone leptin, from an evolutionary standpoint, to “protect” the
body against weight loss.

fat cells in the body → at infancy, the body stores fat either by increasing the
number of fat cells or by increasing the size of existing fat cells; the rate of weight
gain during the first four months of life is related to being overweight during later
childhood

the presence of too many fat cells from earlier weight gain may result in the set
point’s becoming “stuck” at a higher level than is desirable.

Nature v/s nurture [Settling point] → Healthier food environment (decreased weight set
point) and Unhealthier food environment (increased weight set point).

Eating Disorders

Anorexia nervosa is a severe eating disorder in which people may

refuse to eat while denying that their behavior and appearance are
unusual.

sever cases starve themselves to death.

afflicts females between the ages of 12 and 40 (both men and women can develop)

come from stable homes, and they are often successful, attractive, and relatively affluent

occurs after serious dieting, which somehow gets out of control.

Although people with the disorder eat little, they may cook for others, go shopping for
food frequently, or collect cookbooks

Bulimia is a disorder in which a person binges on large quantities of

food, followed by efforts to purge the food through vomiting or other
means.

Constant bingeing-and- purging cycles and the use of drugs to induce vomiting or
diarrhea can lead to heart failure.

Weight remains normal

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 Casuses;

1. chemical imbalance in the hypothalamus or pituitary gland, perhaps brought on by

genetic factors.

2. society’s valuation of slenderness and the parallel notion that obesity is undesirable.

Sexual Motivation
Biological basis → sexual behavior appears to occur naturally, without much prompting on
the part of others.

A number of genetically controlled factors influence the sexual behavior of nonhuman

animals.

Presence of certain hormones.

Female animals are receptive to sexual advances only during certain relatively
limited periods of the year.

Genitals are the male and female sex organs.

Males
Testes begin to secrete androgens [male sex hormones] at puberty.

produce secondary sex characteristics, such as the growth of body hair and a
deepening of the voice.

increase the sex drive.

levels of androgen production by the testes is fairly constant, men are capable of (and
interested in) sexual activities without any regard to biological cycles.

Given the proper stimuli leading to arousal, male sexual behavior can occur at any time.

Females
maturity at puberty, the two ovaries begin to produce oestrogen and progesterone,
female sex hormones.

hormones are not produced consistently; their production follows a cyclical pattern.

The greatest output occurs during ovulation, when an egg is released from the
ovaries, making the chances of fertilisation by a sperm cell highest.

there are variations in reported sex drive, women are receptive to sex throughout their
cycles

Motivation 8
 Males have a stronger sex drive than females

society’s discouragement of female sexuality rather than of innate differences between

men and women

Though biological factors “prime” people for sex, it takes more than hormones to motivate
and produce sexual behavior.

In animals the presence of a partner who provides arousing stimuli leads to sexual
activity.

not only other people but nearly any object, sight, smell, sound, or other stimulus can
lead to sexual excitement.

Because of prior associations, then, people may be turned on sexually.

The reaction to a specific, potentially arousing stimulus, as we shall see, is highly

individual—what turns one person on may do just the opposite for another

Sexual fantasies also play an important role in producing sexual arousal.

Thoughts of being sexually irresistible and of engaging in oral-genital sex are most
common for both sexes.

Masturbation is a self sex stimulation.

Heterosexuality is the sexual attraction and behavior directed to the
other sex.
- Kissing, petting, caressing, massaging, and other forms of sex play are
all components of heterosexual behavior.

Premarital and Marital Sex

Premarital Sex

Double standard is the view that pre- marital sex is permissible for
males but not for females.

Changes in attitudes toward premarital sex were matched by changes in actual rates of
premarital sexual activity.

Males, too, have shown an increase in the incidence of premarital sexual inter- course,
although the increase has not been as dramatic as it has been for females— probably because

Motivation 9
 the rates for males were higher to begin with.
Racial and ethnic differences probably reflect differences in socioeconomic opportunities and
family structure.

Marital Sex

Married couples are often concerned that they are having too little sex, too much sex, or
the wrong kind of sex.

the frequency of sexual intercourse.

With increasing age and length of marriage, the frequency of intercourse declines.

Extramarital Sex

Extramarital sex is a sexual activity between a married person and

some- one who is not his or her spouse.

Homosexuality and Bisexuality

Homosexuals are the persons who are sexually attracted to members of

their own sex.
Bisexuals are the persons who are sexually attracted to people of the
same sex and the other sex.

Many male homosexuals prefer the term gay and female homosexuals, the label lesbian,
because they refer to a broader array of attitudes and lifestyles than the term homosexual,
which focuses on the sexual act.

Kinsey’s approach suggests that sexual orientation is dependent on a person’s sexual feelings
and behaviors and romantic feelings.

biological in nature, suggesting that there are genetic causes.

Evidence for a genetic origin of sexual orientation comes from studies of identical
twins, which have found that when one twin identified him- or herself as
homosexual, the occurrence of homosexual- ity in the other twin was higher than it
was in the general population.

Such results occur even for twins who have been separated early in life and who
therefore are not necessarily raised in similar social environments

Hormones also may play a role in determining sexual orientation.

Motivation 10
 women exposed to DES, or diethylstilbestrol, before birth were more likely to be
homosexual or bisexual.

differences in brain structures may be related to sexual orientation.

the structure of the anterior hypothalamus, an area of the brain that governs sexual
behavior, differs in male homosexuals and heterosexuals.

compared to heterosexual men or women, gay men have a larger anterior

commissure, which is a bundle of neurons connecting the right and left hemispheres
of the brain

💡 the possibility is real that some inherited or biological factor exists that
predisposes people toward homosexuality, if certain environmental conditions are
met

proponents of psychoanalytic theories once argued that the nature of the parent-child
relationship can produce homosexuality.

sexual orientation is learned through rewards and punishments.

reasonable to assume that a combination of biological and environmental factors is involved

our society has traditionally held homosexuality in low esteem, one ought to expect that the
negative treatment of homosexual behavior would outweigh the rewards attached to it.
Gays, lesbians, and bisexuals generally enjoy the same quality of mental and physical health
that heterosexuals do, although the discrimination they experience may produce higher rates
of some disorders, such as depression.

Transsexualism

Transsexual are the persons who believe they were born with the body
of the other gender.

seek sex-change operations in which their existing genitals are surgically removed and
the genitals of the desired sex are fashioned.

Several steps, including intensive counseling and hormone injections, along with
living as a member of the desired sex for several years, precede surgery, highly
complicated. The outcome can be quite positive

Transgenderism

Motivation 11
 Transsexuals

Transvestites

others who believe that traditional male-female gender classifications inadequately

characterise themselves

Psychological Motivation
The need for achievement

Need for achievement is defined as a stable, learned characteristic in

which a person obtains satisfaction by striving for and attaining a level
of excellence.

People with high need for achievement → seek out situations in which they can compete
against standard → prove themselves successful.

they are not indiscriminate when it comes to picking their challenges

avoid situations in which success will come too easily

situations in which success is unlikely

generally choose tasks that are of intermediate difficulty.

People with low achievement motivation tend to be motivated primarily by a desire to

avoid failure

seek out easy tasks, being sure to avoid failure.

seek out very difficult tasks for which failure has no negative implications, because
almost anyone would fail at them.

People with a high fear of failure will stay away from tasks of intermediate difficulty,
because they may fail where others have been successful

Measuring achievement motivation

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

examiner shows a series of ambiguous pictures

tells participants to write a story that describes what is happening, who the people are,
what led to the situation, what the people are thinking or wanting, and what will happen

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 next.

Researchers then use a standard scoring system to deter- mine the amount of
achievement imagery in people’s stories.

The need for affiliation

The need for affiliation is defined as an interest in establishing and
maintaining relationships with other people.

Higher need → particularly sensitive to relationships with others.

desire to be with their friends more of the time, and alone less often, compared with
people who are lower in the need for affiliation.

The need for power

Need for power is defined as a tendency to seek impact, control, or

influence over others, and to be seen as a powerful individual.

people with strong needs for power are more apt to belong to organizations and seek office
than are those low in the need for power.

work in professions in which their power needs may be fulfilled.

seek to display the trappings of power.

Men with high power needs;

show unusually high levels of aggression

drink heavily

act in a sexually exploitative manner

participate more frequently in competitive sports

Women with high power needs;

more apt than men are to channel those needs in a socially responsible manner.

showing concern for others or displaying highly nurturing behavior.

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