Psychology 305A: Theories of Psychology Lecture 5

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Psychology 305A: Theories of Psychology

Lecture 5

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Midterm Exam: September 29th, 2011

• The exam will include 30 multiple choice questions (1 point each) and 5 short answer questions (ranging in value from 3-5 points; totaling 20 points).

• The exam is worth one-third of your final grade if you are not writing the optional paper and one-quarter of your final grade if you are writing the optional paper.

• The exam will be scored out of 50 points.

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• Please arrive on time to facilitate rapid distribution of the exams.

• Bring a pencil, eraser, pen, and your student ID to the exam.

• All electronic devices must be put away before the start of the exam.

• Hats (e.g., baseball caps) should not be worn during the exam.

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Announcement

I will hold additional office hours in preparation for the midterm exam:

Tuesday, September 27: 11:30 - 12:30 Tuesday, September 27: 3:00 - 4:30 Wednesday, September 28: 11:30 - 12:30

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1. What are needs? (continued)

2. What are motives?

3. What is environmental press?

4. How are needs measured?

The Motive Perspective

3. define the term “environmental press.”

4. describe contemporary measures of needs.

5. identify common criticisms of contemporary measures of needs.

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2. distinguish between a need and a motive.

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1. discuss Murray’s interrelations among needs.

By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

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• Murray believed that people experience viscerogenic and psychogenic needs to varying degrees.

• Each person’s needs can be rank ordered from strongest to weakest, creating a “hierarchy of needs.” The

hierarchy characterizes the individual’s personality.

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What are needs? (continued)

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• Murray identified 4 possible interrelations among needs.

1. Fusion of needs:

Occurs when two or more non-conflicting needs are satisfied by a single action pattern.

E.g.,

A child who tackles her bully is satisfying: n Aggression and n Harmavoidance.

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2. Subsidiation of needs:

Occurs when one or more needs are activated to aid in the satisfaction of another need.

E.g.,

A politician removes a spot from his suit because he doesn’t wish to make a bad impression, and thus diminish his chances of winning the approval and friendship of Mr. Smith, from whom he hopes to obtain slanderous facts relating to his political opponent, Ms. Doe. He plans to publish these facts to damage the reputation of Ms. Doe and thus assure his own election to office.

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E.g., continued

A politician removes a spot from his suit because he doesn’t wish to make a bad impression (n Inviolacy), and thus diminish his chances of winning the approval and friendship of Mr. Smith (n Affiliation), from whom he hopes to obtain slanderous facts relating to his political opponent, Ms. Doe. He plans to publish these facts to damage the reputation of Ms. Doe (n Aggression) and thus assure his own election to office (n Achievement).

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3. Contrafaction of needs:

Occurs when conflicting needs arise and are satisfied in alternating phases.

E.g.,

An individual who is highly dominant at work but highly deferential at home with his family is alternating between phases characterized by: n Dominance and n Deference, respectively.

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4. Conflict of needs:

Occurs when conflicting needs arise simultaneously; the conflict ensures that both needs are only moderately satisfied.

E.g.,

An individual who moderates her sexual conduct because she is concerned that her family will disapprove of her actions is experiencing a conflict between:n Sex and n Blamavoidance.

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What are motives?

• According to Murray’s theory, motives:

(a) are elicited by needs.

(b) influence thought.

(c) direct behaviour toward or away from specific objects, people, or goals.

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Need(for food)

Motive(hunger)

Thought (thinking of last night’s dinner, fantasizing about a big meal, perceiving a rock as a loaf of bread)

Behaviour (prepare a meal, go to a restaurant)

E.g.,

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What is environmental press?

• Refers to any environmental or situational factor that influences people’s motives.

• Through its influence on motives, environmental press can alter thought and behaviour.

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Need(for food)

Motive(hunger)

Thought (thinking of last night’s dinner, fantasizing about a big meal, perceiving a rock as a loaf of bread)

Behaviour (prepare a meal, go to a restaurant)

E.g.,

Environmental press(upcoming exam, exposure to a noxious stimulus)

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Need(for food)

Motive(hunger)

Thought (I’ll eat after I finish reading this chapter, I’ll fail the exam if I don’t focus on studying right now)

Behaviour (continue studying)

E.g.,

Environmental press(upcoming exam)

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How are needs measured?

1. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Developed by Murray and Morgan in 1935.

The precursor of the Picture Story Exercise (PSE).

Currently, the most widely used measure of needs.

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Involves presenting participants with up to 20 black-and-white drawings that depict ambiguous situations.

Participants are told that they are completing a test of creative imagination.

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Instructions:

“I am going to show you some pictures, one at a time, and your task will be to make up a story for each card. In your story, be sure to tell what has led up to the event shown in the picture, describe what is happening at the moment, what the characters are feeling and thinking, and give the outcome. Tell a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end. Do you

understand? I will write your stories verbatim as you tell them. Here’s the first card” (Murray, 1943).

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The measure assumes that people’s needs influence how they interpret external stimuli, particularly ambiguous stimuli.

The measure is referred to as a projective test; people are thought to “project” their needs onto the images.

Murray used the term “apperception” to describe the process of projecting needs onto external stimuli; apperception may be conscious or unconscious.

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A participant’s stories are analyzed to identify her/his dominant needs; this is accomplished by counting the number of references to specific needs.

The dominant needs are thought to form the defining characteristics of the participant’s personality.

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E.g.,

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Interpretation 1

This is a picture of a woman who all of her life has been a very suspicious and conniving person. She’s looking in the mirror and she sees reflected behind her an image of what she will be as an old woman—still a suspicious, conniving sort of person. She can’t stand the thought that that’s what her life will eventually lead her to and she smashes the mirror and runs out of the house screaming and goes out of her mind and lives in an institution for the rest of her life.

Dominant needs: n Abasement, n Dominance, ….

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Interpretation 2

This woman has always emphasized beauty in her life. As a little girl she was praised for being pretty and as a young woman was able to attract lots of men with her beauty. While secretly feeling anxious and unworthy much of the time, her outer beauty helped to disguise these feelings from the world and, sometimes, from herself. Now that she is getting on in years and her children are leaving home, she is worried about the future. She looks in the mirror and imagines herself as an old hag—the worst possible person she could become, ugly and nasty—and wonders what the future holds for her. It is a depressing time for her.

Dominant needs: n Abasement, n Defendance, n Exhibition ….

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E.g. 2,

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Interpretation 1

After years of abuse, this woman has done the unthinkable … she has shot her husband. She had wanted to leave him for several years, but she felt hopelessly trapped. He always told her that if she left, he would find her and kill her. Despite having taken her power back, she is grief-stricken. After all, she did love him at one time. She knows that she must now go to the police to report her crime. Although she does not know what their reaction will be, she hopes that they will understand that she had no alternatives.

Dominant needs: n Abasement, n Change, n Defendance ….

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Interpretation 2

This woman has just watched her husband die. He had been sick for some time and both he and she knew that the end was near. He was her first and only love—her sole mate. As he was dying, he told her of his never-ending love for her. Now that he is gone, she doesn’t know what she is going to do. She feels that she has lost the most important person in her life. Outside their bedroom, she is overcome by feelings of despair, ultimately falling to the ground and asking God to take her life too.

Dominant needs: n Affiliation, n Nurturance, n Succorance ….

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2. Personality Research Form (PRF)

Designed to provide a measure of needs that can be scored more objectively than the TAT/PSE.

A self-report measure comprised of 352 T/F items; the items assess a subset of 22 of Murray’s needs.

E.g., items used to assess n Achievement:

I look more to the future than to the past or present.I enjoy situations that allow me to use my skill.

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Participants’ responses to the items are used to create personality profiles relating to the 22 needs.

E.g.,

Jill is highly motivated by the needs for aggression, dominance, exhibition, and impulsivity.

Jack is highly motivated by the needs for affiliation, harmavoidance, and nurturance.

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3. Multi-Motive Grid

Combines features of the TAT/PSE and self-report measures such as the PRF.

Assesses 3 needs: Achievement, Affiliation, and Power.

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Need for power: the need to have an impact on others, to have prestige, and to feel strong in comparison to others.

Need for affiliation: The need to spend time with others and form friendly social ties.

Need for achievement: The desire to do things well, to feel pleasure in overcoming obstacles.

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Some psychologists refer to these needs as the “Big Three”—i.e., the 3 fundamental dimensions

underlying Murray’s list of needs.

After viewing each picture, participants respond to questions using “yes” or “no” responses.

Involves presenting participants with 14 pictures that reflect situations linked to achievement, affiliation, and power.

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E.g.,

You are proud because you can do it ………....……...Y / N

You fear the power of others ………..…………… Y / N

You are glad youhave met ….…….........……... Y / N

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E.g.,

You are afraid that you areboring others………....…….....Y / N

You fear the power of others ………..…………..… Y / N

Your reputation may be negatively affected here…..... Y / N

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Participants’ responses to the questions are used to create personality profiles relating to the 3 needs.

E.g.,

Jack is highly motivated by the needs for achievement and affiliation.

Jill is highly motivated by the needs achievement and power.

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1. What are needs? (continued)

2. What are motives?

3. What is environmental press?

4. How are needs measured?

The Motive Perspective