Motivation

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 Motivation

Main motivations

OVERVIEW Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Eating disorders

Marshmallow test

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WHAT IS MOTIVATION?

• It is an influence that triggers, directs or maintains goal-directed behaviour.

• It is not a personal trait, and everyone is capable of being motivated and it
fluctuates from situation to situation and over time.
• These different elements or components are needed to get and stay motivated.
• Activation is the decision to initiate a behavior. An example of activation would
be enrolling in psychology courses in order to earn your degree.
• Persistence is the continued effort toward a goal even though obstacles may
exist. An example of persistence would be showing up for your psychology class
even though you are tired from staying up late the night before.
• Intensity is the concentration that goes into pursuing a goal.
WHAT MOTIVATES US? EARLY THOUGHTS

• The hedonic principle is the claim that people are motivated

• To experience pleasure
• To avoid pain

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 • Instinct theory
• Drive Theory
WHAT • Incentive theory

MOTIVATES
US? RECENT
THOUGHTS

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• Organisms are motivated to engage in certain

behaviors because of their genetic
programming and because these behaviors
lead to success in terms of natural selection.
• The natural tendency to behave in a
1- INSTINCT particular way to produce certain ends,
THEORY without foresight of the ends, and without
previous education in the performance
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• By 1930, the concept of instinct had fallen

out of fashion for two reasons.
• It failed to explain everything.
• There was also behaaviorism
• Behaviorists rejected the concept of
1- INSTINCT instinct. They believed that behavior
THEORY should be explained by the external
stimuli
• Behaviorists wanted nothing to do
with the notion of inherited behavior
because they believed that all
complex behavior was learned.
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• Drives, an internal state caused by physiological

needs
• Drive theory (Homeostatic theory); views
behavior as motivated by the need to reduce
internal tension caused by unmet biological
2- DRIVE needs.
THEORY • This unmet need “drives” us to behave in a way
that causes the intensity of the drive to be
reduced.
• They work by “negative” feedback, i.e., you
experience an unpleasant feeling (hunger, thirst)
until you meet the need.
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• The brain makes sure the body is kept in balance

(body temperature, fluid levels, energy supplies,
need for rest).
• This balance or optimal state is called
homeostasis. This is our natural state. The body
does its best to stay balanced.
2- DRIVE • To survive, an organism needs to maintain
THEORY precise levels of nutrition and warmth and
when these levels depart from an optimal
point, the organism receives a signal to take
corrective action.
• That signal is called a drive, which is an internal
state caused by physiological needs.
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JET LAG

DISTURBED BODY RHYTHMS MAJOR TIME SHIFTS (5 HOURS OR DIRECTION OF TRAVEL AFFECTS
CAUSED BY RAPID TRAVEL MORE) CAN CAUSE VERY SLOW ADAPTATION, AND THUS, SEVERITY
ADAPTATION OF JET LAG
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• Incentive theory states that behavior is

motivated by the pull of external goals such
3- INCENTIVE as rewards.
• You come to class to get an A+
THEORY • You work out to get compliments
• You go to work to earn money to buy a car
 • The concept of instinct reminds us that
organisms have a tendency to seek certain
things,
NEW ASPECTS

• The concept of drive reminds us that this

seeking is initiated by an internal state.
• Although the words instinct and drive are no
longer widely used in psychology, both concepts

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have something to teach us.
 MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

Abraham Maslow (1954) attempted to organize the list of human urges in a

meaningful way.

He noted that some needs must be satisfied before others, and he built a
hierarchy of needs that had the most immediate needs at the bottom and
the most deferrable needs at the top

Maslow suggested that people are more likely to experience a need when
the needs below it are met. So, when people are hungry or thirsty or
exhausted, they are less likely to seek intellectual fulfillment or moral clarity

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 WHAT THE BODY WANTS

Homeostasis is the tendency for a system to take

action to keep itself in a particular state

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 MOST NEEDS HAVE TO DO WITH
SURVIVAL PHYSICALLY AND
PSYCHOLOGICALLY
Food
Water
Oxygen
Sleep

PHYSIOLOGICAL OR SURVIVAL NEEDS

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 The need to be free from anxiety and fear
The need to be secure in the environment
The need for order and routine

SAFETY NEEDS

PHYSIOLOGICAL OR SURVIVAL NEEDS

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 Social acceptance, friendship, to be loved
Need to belong, to relate to others
A person’s feelings
The ability to give and receive love and affection

LOVE AND BELONGING

SAFETY NEEDS

PHYSIOLOGICAL OR SURVIVAL NEEDS

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 the belief that you are valuable and self-esteem
confidence in your potential for personal growth and accomplishments

ESTEEM NEEDS

LOVE AND BELONGING

SAFETY NEEDS

PHYSIOLOGICAL OR SURVIVAL NEEDS

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 NEED
FOR
SELF-
ACTUALIZATION

MASLOW EMPHASIZES NEED FOR SELF ACTUALIZATION IS A HEALTHY INDIVIDUAL’S

PRIME MOTIVATION

Self-realization; obtaining our full potential; becoming confident, eager to

express our beliefs, and willing to reach out to others to help them

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 SELF- ACTUALIZATION

ESTEEM NEEDS

LOVE AND BELONGING

SAFETY NEEDS

PHYSIOLOGICAL OR SURVIVAL NEEDS

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 • Has no mental illness
• Satisfied in basic needs
• Fully exploited talents
A • Motivated by values
SELF- • Superior perception of reality
ACTUALIZED • Increased acceptance of self, of others, and of
PERSON nature
• Increased detachment and desire for privacy

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• Increased identification with the human species
• Improved interpersonal experiences
• High levels of creativity
 • Maslow’s Hierarchy was the first real step
toward a comprehensive theory of motivation,
but it isn’t complete.
• People often neglect their basic biological
CRITICS needs for more social needs
• Cross-cultural needs: individualistic vs.
collectivist cultures see needs differently
• ‘There are some people in whom, for

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instance, self-esteem seems to be more
important than love.’
WHAT ARE THE MAIN MOTIVATIONS?

Secondary motives: based on

Primary Motives are based on
learned needs, drives, and goals.
biological needs that must be met
Helps explain many human activities
for survival. They are innate like
like making music, creating a web
hunger, thirst , pain avoidance,
page. These motives are related to
needs for air, sleep, elimination of
learned needs for power, affiliation,
wastes, and regulation of body
approval, status, security, or
temperature.
achievement.

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HUNGER

Whatever particular foods we choose, it is clear that we must eat to

maintain energy homeostasis

If your body needs energy, it will tell your brain to switch hunger mode on,
and if your body has sufficient energy, it will tell your brain to switch
hunger off

When you are hungry your stomach At such moments, the stomach is engaged in
muscular contractions, creating the
sometimes growls. movements so that you hear.

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EVEN THE BASIC MOTIVATIONS CAN GO WRONG
-EATING DISORDERS

• Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating

followed by purging.
• People with bulimia typically eat large quantities of food in a short period
and then take laxatives or induce vomiting to purge the food from their
bodies.
• These people are caught in a cycle: They eat to ease negative emotions
such as sadness and anxiety, but then concern about weight gain leads
them to experience negative emotions such as guilt and self-loathing, and
these emotions then lead them to purge

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EATING DISORDERS

• Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by an intense fear of

being fat and severe restriction of food intake.
• People with anorexia tend to have a distorted body image
• Their bodies are trying desperately to switch hunger on but that hunger’s
call is being ignored
• Like most eating disorders, anorexia strikes more women than men, and 40%
of newly identified cases of anorexia are among women 15 to 19 years old

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EATING DISORDERS

• Many psychologists have proposed that social and cultural factors play major
roles in anorexia and bulimia.
• Society’s emphasis on thinness in women.
• This emphasis has increased markedly in the past years, which fits with
the observation that the incidence of eating disorders has also increased
during that period.
• An indication of this trend is the change in what people regard as a ‘perfect’
woman’s figure.

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EATING DISORDERS

• Clearly, though, not everyone who is exposed to cultural messages of

objectification develops an eating disorder.
• Certain biological vulnerabilities may increase the tendency to develop
eating disorders.
• Chemical imbalances in the nervous systems that control hunger and
digestion
• Serotonin is decreased- representing a link between depression and eating
disorders

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EATING DISORDERS

• Personality and family factors may also play a role.

• troubled family and personal relationships or history of abuse
• difficulty expressing emotions and feelings
• history of being ridiculed based on size or weight
• Many young women with eating disorders come from families that demand
‘perfection’ and extreme self-control but do not allow expressions of
warmth or conflict.
• Some young women may seek to gain some control over, and expressions of
concern from, their parents by controlling their eating habits, eventually
developing anorexia.
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SECONDARY MOTIVES-
PSYCHOLOGICAL MOTIVATIONS
• We look for friendship and respect, wisdom and
meaning,
• Psychological motivations can be as powerful as our
biological motivations, but they differ in two ways.
• We share our biological motivations with most
other animals, our psychological motivations are
relatively unique.
• Biological motivations are few our psychological
motivations are virtually limitless.

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SECONDARY MOTIVES-
PSYCHOLOGICAL
MOTIVATIONS
• Psychological motivations vary on two key dimensions:
• extrinsic versus intrinsic
• conscious versus unconscious

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 An intrinsic motivation is a motivation to take actions
that are themselves rewarding. When we eat your
favorite food because it tastes good, exercise
because it feels good, or listen to music because it
sounds good, we are intrinsically motivated.

A- INTRINSIC
VS. EXTRINSIC
Extrinsic motivation is a motivation to take actions
that lead to reward. When we work hard for money
so we can pay our rent, and when we take an exam
so we can get a college degree, we are extrinsically
motivated. None of these things directly bring
pleasure, but all may lead to pleasure in the long run.

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 Conscious motivations, which
are motivations of which
people are aware

B- CONSCIOUS Unconscious motivations,

VERSUS which are motivations of which
people are not aware
UNCONSCIOUS
You say “I wanted to cure
diabetes.” You don’t say “I
wanted to exceed my father so
proving to my mother that I
was worthy of her love.’’
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FOLLOW YOUR HEART?

• Our ability to engage in behaviors that are

unrewarding in the present because we believe
they will bring greater rewards in the future is
one of our species’ most significant talents, and
no other species can do it quite as well as we
can
• The ability to delay gratification, people are
typically faced with a choice between getting
something they want right now or waiting and
getting more of what they want later

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 MARSHMALLOW TEST

• The marshmallow test: can children learn self-control?

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8M7Xzjy_m8&ab_channel=TheTelegra
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ph

• The Marshmallow Test (Stanford Experiment + Truth)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xMgHKxukr0&ab_channel=PracticalPsy
chology
 Week 4
• Developmental Psychology
• Brain development
• Is your brain plastic?
• Mirror neurons
• Cognitive Development
• Jean Piaget; Why you should play hide-seek with young children?
• Lev Vygotsky; How can language support young children?
THANK YOU, ANY QUESTIONS?
SAFA KEMAL KAPTAN
safa.kaptan@bogazici.edu.tr
safa.kap tan@ m anchester.ac.uk

SELMA HEKIM
hekimsel@gmail.com