Unit 8: Motivation WHY? .

Unit 8: Motivation

WHY?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0zVPZBykSE

What moves people to action?

• Pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain – Counterproductive?

• Drug use? Studying?

Freud

• Basic sexual/ aggressive instincts operate unconsciously

– dreams – fantasies– slips of the tongue

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow

• Basic tendency toward growth to master our lives

Martin Seligman

• Emphasized cognitive factors in motivation and emotion

– How do you explain your successes and failures?

Human sexual nature?

• Shows relationship between psychological and biological– How did we go from caveman to Kimye?

• Drives/Incentives/Homeostasis/Optimum Arousal

• Pushed by need and pulled by incentive

What does it all come down to?

Need(food/water)

Drive(hunger/thirst)

Drive-reducingbehavior

(eating/drinking)

Close your eyes…

• Think about the future– Hopes?– What do you see?

What is hope?

• Agency: willpower or energy to get towards a goal (choice)

• Pathways: perceived ability to generate routes to achieve that goal

Hope Index

• • Add items 2, 9, 10, and 12 = agency• Add items 1, 4, 6, and 8 = pathways• Add agency + pathway

• Mean for each is 12.5 (total 25)

• High on hope scale = pursue greater number of life goals and tend to be more successful in achieving those goals– Interpret obstacles as “life challenges” rather than

threats– React to obstacles with less stress and less

increase in blood pressure– Hopeful women report less pain in childbirth– Higher life satisfaction, self-esteem, optimistic

So why are you here?

Motivation Theories

1. Evolutionary TheoryA. Early instinct theories: fixed, genetic programs

behavior

1. William James Principles of Psychology2. William McDougall – 18 Instincts3. Migrating behaviors and mating displays of birds4. Examples in human behaviors, including rooting,

sucking, and grasping

B. ethology: relating behavior to features of environment

1. Nest building (inherited dispositions)2. Instincts reflect adaptation to environment3. Development and expression can vary

(seasons, food, mates)4. Sign stimuli shapes/triggers behavior

C. Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory

1. Natural selection2. Emotions are based on instincts

D. Modern evolutionary psych: predispositions and probabilities, not instincts

1. Natural selection acts on genes expressed in particular circumstances

2. Selection takes place at the individual level; it is not “survival” in the literal sense

3. Behaviors adaptive in one time or place may not be adaptive to others (affluence and food choice)

2. Arousal Theory

A. Motivation: to achieve and maintain a certain level of arousal

• Animals seek activities that create levels of physiological arousal

• Theories differ in assumptions about whether arousal is negative or positive

B. Drive-reduction theory (Clark Hull)1. Behavior originates from physiological need for

food, water, air. • These needs create tension (irritation) away from

homeostasis• When needs are met (homeostasis), arousal is low;

needs give rise to drives

• Drive: internal state of tension that motivates an organism to engage in activities that reduces tension

Temp. too low

Temp. too high

Comfortable range for body temp centered at 98.6°F

Restore equil.

Restore equil.

•Blood vessels in skin dilate to remove heat •Person sweats•Turn down furnace•Remove Sweater

•Blood vessels in skin constrict to conserve heat•Person shivers•Turn up furnace•Put on sweater

C. Animals are motivated to reduce the drive

• Behaviors (eating, drinking, breathing) reduce need by restoring homeostasis

• Behaviors are reinforced/strengthened thru drive reduction

• Acquired motivation: stimuli associated with drives become motivators; stimuli associated with drive reduction become rewarding

Optimal Arousal

• Why do we feel driven to experience stimulation?

• Why is there a variety?• Exploration Inventory• Sensation Seeking Inventory

3. Optimal Arousal Theorya. Some nonzero level of arousal is optimal

• Arousal below optimal level motivates behavior to increase arousal

• Arousal above optimal level motivates behavior to decrease arousal

b. Individual differences– People vary in the ways they seek levels of arousal– Sensation-seeking is an aspect of personality related to

risky behavior

Just how sensation-seeking are you?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuv__-nyO1M

Four Types of Sensation Seeking• Peaks in late teens and early 20’s

– Higher in men than women/60% genetic• Categories:

1. Thrill and adventure seeking• Skydiving, bungee jumping, race car drivers

2. Experience seeking• Nonconforming lifestyle, reject middle-class lifestyle: unusual

friends, frequent travel, artistic expression

3. Disinhibition• Social drinking, partying

4. Boredom susceptibility• Restless: must… get… out… of… here….

Higher – 7-9pm Patriot Hall Next Thursday 2/12https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCtpAIaOYW0

4. Incentive Theory

• Motivation is produced by need for goal attainment

A. Need for goal attainment or achievement may be either intrinsic or extrinsic

• Feelings vs. material often tangible reinforcers

B. Effect of external reward on intrinsic motivation

1. Providing extrinsic reward for intrinsic motivated behavior can decrease interest in task

• Overjustification effect: Deci’s puzzle solving experiment

• Or school in general – what it was like to go to school in kindergarten vs. 11th or 12th grade

C. Conditioned incentivesi. Cravings – thru learning environmental stimuli =

craving i. Watch someone eating popcorn = you want popcorn

ii. 2. Wanting – motivation to approach incentive• If you have a cold, you may want cold medicine but not

like it

5. Cognitive Consistency Theory

• Motivation for thoughts to be consistent with behavior– Cognitive dissonance– Self-perception theory: an individual perceives his

or her own behavior and forms beliefs and attitudes that are consistent with it

Self Perception Theory

• A man is asked whether he likes wheat bread and replies, “I must like it; I’m always eating it.” His wife would say the same thing.

• Introspection/justification is a poor guide due to weak cues – Outside observer assumes another’s internal

states

6. Humanistic Theory

A. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs

B. Csikszentmihalyl’s flow1. deep, authentic involvement in meaningful

activities2. Requires skilled control over instinctive drives

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Low Skill High Skill

FlowAnxiety

High Challenge

Low Challenge

Apathy Boredom