Module 15

Motivation
 INRODUCTION

• Motivation

– The various physiological and psychological factors

that cause us to act in a specific way at a particular
time

– Exhibits three characteristics

• energized
• direct
• intensities
 THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

• Instincts

– Innate tendencies or biological forces that determine

behavior

– Fixed action pattern

• innate biological force that predisposes an
organism to behave in a fixed way in the presence
of a specific environmental condition
 THEORIES OF MOTIVATION (CONT’D)

• Brain: reward/pleasure center

– Includes several areas of the brain, such as the
nucleus accumbens and the ventral tegmental area,
and involves several neurotransmitters, especially
dopamine
– Makes up a neural circuitry that produces rewarding
and pleasurable feelings
– Genes have been linked to several behaviors that
trigger the brain’s reward/pleasure center, including
obesity, risk-taking, behaviors (gambling), nicotine
addiction, and sexual activity
THEORIES OF MOTIVATION (CONT’D)
 THEORIES OF MOTIVATION (CONT’D)

• Incentives

– Goals that we learn to value and that we’re motivated

to obtain

– Incentives have two common features

• first can be thoughts
• second can be objects
 THEORIES OF MOTIVATION (CONT’D)

• Cognitive factors
– Extrinsic motivation
• involves engaging in certain activities or behaviors
that either reduce biological needs or help us
obtain incentives or external rewards
– Intrinsic motivation
• involves engaging in certain activities or behaviors
because the behaviors themselves are personally
rewarding or because engaging in such activities
fulfills our beliefs or expectations
 BIOLOGICAL & SOCIAL NEEDS

• Biological needs
– Physiological requirements that are critical to our
survival and physical well-being
• Social needs
– Needs acquired through learning and experience
• Satisfying needs
– Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
• ascending order, or hierarchy, in which biological
needs are placed at the bottom and social needs at
the top
• satisfy biological needs (bottom of hierarchy) before
social needs (top)
BIOLOGICAL & SOCIAL NEEDS (CONT’D)
 BIOLOGICAL & SOCIAL NEEDS (CONT’D)

• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

– Level 1: physiological needs

– Level 2: safety needs
– Level 3: love and belonging needs
– Level 4: esteem needs
– Level 5: self-actualization
 HUNGER

• Optimal or ideal weight

– Ideal weight results from an almost perfect balance
between how much food an organism eats and how
much it needs to meet its body’s energy needs
– Calorie = a measure of how much energy food
contains
• Overweight
– A person is 20% over his or her ideal body weight
• Obese
– A person is 30% over his or her ideal body weight
 HUNGER (CONT’D)

• Three hunger factors

– Biological hunger factors
• come from physiological changes in blood
chemistry and signals from digestive organs that
provide feedback to the brain, which in turn triggers
us to eat or stop eating
– Psychosocial hunger factors
• learned associations between food and other
stimuli, such as snacking while watching TV;
sociocultural influences, such as pressures to be
thin; and various personality problems, such as
depression, poor body image, or low self-esteem
 HUNGER (CONT’D)

• Three hunger factors

– Genetic hunger factors
• inherited instructions found in our genes
• determine the number of fat cells or metabolic
rates of burning off the body’s fuel
• push us toward being:
– normal
– overweight
– underweight
 HUNGER (CONT’D)

• Biological hunger factors

– Peripheral cues
• result from activity in different brain areas, which in
turn results in increasing or decreasing appetite
– Central cues
• result from activity in different brain areas, which in
turn results in increasing or decreasing appetite
 HUNGER (CONT’D)

• Genetic hunger factors

– Come from inherited instructions found in our genes
– Fat cells primarily determined by heredity
• don’t normally multiply except when people become
obese
• shrink if we’re giving up fat and losing weight
• enlarge when storing fat and gaining weight
– Metabolic rates
• how efficiently our bodies break food down into
energy and how quickly our bodies burn off that fuel
 HUNGER (CONT’D)

• Genetic hunger factors

– Set point
• refers to a certain level of body fat (adipose tissue)
that our bodies strive to maintain constant
throughout our lives
– Weight-regulating genes
• influence appetite, body metabolism, and secretion
of hormones (leptin) that regulate fat stores
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

• Genetic sex factors

– Include inherited instructions for the development of
sexual organs, the secretion of sex hormones, and
the wiring of the neural circuits that control sexual
reflexes
• Biological sex factors
– Include the action of sex hormones, which are
involved in secondary sexual characteristics (facial
hair, breasts) and sexual development of ova and
sperm
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• Psychological sex factors

– Role in developing a sexual or gender identity, gender
role, and sexual orientation
– Psychological factors can result in difficulties in the
performance or enjoyment of sexual activities
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• Genetic influences on sexual behavior

– Sex chromosome
– Sperm and egg each contain 23 chromosomes (with
instructions for determining the sex of the child)
– Egg contains the X chromosome
– Sperm’s chromosome can either be X (female) or Y
(male)
– XY means male development; XX means female
– Fertilized egg is called a zygote
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• Genetic influences on sexual behavior

– Differentiation
– Male sex organ and male brain
– 5th week after conception, the testes begin to grow
and produce male hormones called androgens
• most familiar is testosterone
– Triggers development of male sexual organ
– Programs the hypothalamus so at puberty it triggers
the pituitary gland to secrete hormones on a
continuous basis
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• Genetic influences on sexual behavior

– Differentiation
– Female sex organs and female brain
– Absence of testosterone in the developing embryo
means automatic development of female sexual
organs
– Hypothalamus keeps female program
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• Biological influences
– Sex hormones
• chemical secreted by glands
• circulate in the bloodstream (influence brain, body
organs, and behavior)
• male = testes (androgens), testosterone
• female = ovaries, estrogens
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• Biological influences
– Male hypothalamus
• triggers continuous release of androgens
(testosterone) from testes
• increased level of androgens causes the
development of male secondary characteristics
– facial and pubic hair
– muscle growth
– lowered voice
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• Biological influences
– Female hypothalamus
• triggers a cyclical release of estrogens from the
ovaries
• increased level of estrogens causes development of
secondary female characteristics
– pubic hair
– breast development
– widening of the hips
– cyclical release of hormones (estrogen and
progesterone) to regulate the menstrual cycle
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• Psychological influences on sexual behavior

– Psychological sex factors
• play a role in developing a sexual or gender
identity, gender role, and sexual orientation
• psychological factors can result in difficulties in the
performance or enjoyment of sexual activities
– Gender identity
• refers to the individual’s subjective experience and
feelings of being either a male or female
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• Psychological influences on sexual behavior

– Gender identity disorder
• commonly referred to as transsexualism
• a person who has a strong and persistent desire to
be the other sex, is uncomfortable about being
one’s assigned sex, and may wish to live as a
member of the other sex
– Gender roles
• the traditional or stereotypic behaviors, attitudes,
and personality traits that society designates as
masculine or feminine
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• Psychological influences on sexual behavior

– Sexual orientation
• whether a person is sexually aroused by members of
his or her own sex, the opposite sex, or both
– Homosexual orientation
• pattern of sexual arousal by people of same sex
– Bisexual orientation
• pattern of sexual arousal by people of both sexes
– Heterosexual orientation
• pattern of sexual arousal by people of the opposite
sex
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• Interactive model of sexual orientation

– Genetic and biological factors, such as genetic
instructions and prenatal hormones, interact with
psychological factors, such as the individual’s
attitudes, personality traits, and behaviors, to
influence the development of sexual orientation
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• Male-female sex differences

– Double standard for sexual behavior
• refers to a set of beliefs, values, and expectations that
subtly encourage sexual activity in men but
discourages the same behavior in women
– Biosocial theory
• emphasizes social and cultural forces; says that
differences in sexual activities and values for selecting
mates developed from traditional cultural divisions of
labor
– women were primarily childbearers and homemakers
– men were providers and protectors
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• Male-female sex differences

– Evolutionary theory
• emphasizes genetic and biological forces; says
that our current male-female differences in sexual
behavior, which we call the double standard, arise
from genetic and biological forces, which in turn
grew out of an ancient set of successful mating
patterns that helped the species survive
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• Sexual responses, problems, and treatments

– Paraphilias
• sexual deviations, characterized by repetitive or
preferred sexual fantasies involving nonhuman
objects, such as sexual attraction to particular
articles of clothing (shoes, underclothes)
– Sexual dysfunction
• problems of sexual arousal or orgasm that interfere
with adequate functioning during sexual
intercourse
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• Sexual responses, problems, and treatments

– Organic factors
• medical conditions or drug or medication problems
– Psychological factors
• performance anxiety, sexual trauma, guilt, or failure
to communicate
• four-stage model
– excitement
– plateau
– orgasm
– resolution
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• Sexual responses, problems, and treatments

– Premature or rapid ejaculation
• persistent or recurrent absence of voluntary control
over ejaculation
• male ejaculates with minimal sexual stimulation
before, upon, or shortly after penetration and
before he wishes to
– Inhibited female orgasm
• persistent delay or absence of orgasm after
becoming aroused and excited
 SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT’D)

• AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

– HIV positive
– Presence of HIV antibodies means that the individual
has been infected by the human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV)
– AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) life-
threatening condition present when the individual is
HIV positive and has a low level of T-cells or has
developed one or more of 26 specified illnesses
(pneumonia, skin cancer)
 ACHIEVEMENT

• Need for achievement

– The desire to set challenging goals and to persist in
pursuing those goals in the face of obstacles,
frustrations, and setbacks
• Thematic Apperception Test
– TAT; personality test in which subjects are asked to
look at pictures of people in ambiguous situations and
make up stories about what the characters are
thinking and feeling and what the outcome will be
 ACHIEVEMENT (CONT’D)

• Need for achievement

– High need for achievement
• shown by those who persist longer at tasks or
perform better on tasks, activities, or exams; set
challenging but realistic goals, compete with others
to win, and are attracted to careers that require
initiative
– Fear of failure
• shown by people who are motivated to avoid
failure by choosing easy, nonchallenging tasks
where failure is more unlikely to occur
 ACHIEVEMENT (CONT’D)

• Need for achievement

– Self-handicapping
• refers to doing things that contribute to failure and
then using these very things, knowingly or
unknowingly, as excuses for failing to achieve
some goal
– Underachievement
• underachievers are individuals who score relatively
high on tests of ability or intelligence but perform
more poorly than their scores would predict
 ACHIEVEMENT (CONT’D)

• Cognitive influences
– Cognitive factors in motivation
• refer to how people evaluate or perceive a
situation and how these evaluations and
perceptions influence their willingness to work
– Intrinsic motivation
• involves engaging in certain activities or behaviors
without receiving any external rewards because
engaging in these activities fulfills our beliefs or
expectations
 ACHIEVEMENT (CONT’D)

• Cognitive influences
– Extrinsic motivation
• involves engaging in certain activities or behaviors
that either reduce biological needs or help us
obtain incentives and external rewards
 SERIOUS EATING DISORDERS

• Anorexia nervosa
– serious eating disorder characterized by refusing to
eat and not maintaining weight at 85% of what’s
expected
– Sufferers
• have intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat
• have missed at least 3 consecutive menstrual
cycles
• have a disturbed body image
• see themselves as fat even though they’re very thin
 SERIOUS EATING DISORDERS (CONT’D)

• Bulimia nervosa
– have a minimum of 2eating episodes per week for at
least three months
– Sufferers
• fear not being able to stop eating
• regularly engage in vomiting
• abuse laxatives
• engage in rigorous dieting and fasting and display
excessive concern about body shape and weight
SERIOUS EATING DISORDERS (CONT’D)