Motivation

What Motivates People?

1. Goals

2. Motives

3. Needs

needs → motives → goals

goals

specific outcomes that people desire

motives

more fluid and changeable than personality traits such as the Big Five Based in and stem from our needs

Needs

necessary to survive or thrive

approach motivation

• anticipating rewards for success

• people who are approach-oriented:

  • higher in extraversion

  • more likely to fight for rewards

Avoidance Motivation

• worrying about the negative consequences of failure

• people who are avoidance-oriented:

  • higher in neuroticism

  • more likely to take flight from negative consequences

  • lower in self-esteem and lower life satisfaction

true or false. the same goal can be reframed in terms of approach and avoidance motivation.

true

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Background

Humanistic Psychology

• focuses on the “whole person” (more than just unconscious)

• includes free will, creativity, and human potential

• Abraham Maslow as a proponent

• fundamental needs are at the base and each higher need is built upon them

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Levels (Top to Bottom)

1. Self-Actualization: creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, fulfilling potential

2. Self-Esteem: confidence, achievement, and respect of others

3. Love and Belonging: friendship, family, intimacy, and a sense of connection

4. Safety and Security: health, employment, property, and social stability

5. Basic Physiological: breathing, food, water, shelter, clothing, and sleep

Implicit Motives:

Henry Murray (1937): people are driven by mostly unconscious motivations, called implicit motives

• often measured by having people tell stories in response to pictures, called projective measures

• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): asks people to write stories in response to pictures

Murray’s Implicit Motives

originally called “needs” and abbreviated with “n”

• Achievement (“nAch”)

• Power (“nPow’)

• Affilication(”nAff”)

achievement and power overlap with Maslow’s need for self-esteem

affiliation overlaps with Maslow’s need for belonging

Murray’s Implicit Motives: Achievement (“NAch”)

wanting to accomplish things, usually without help

Murray’s Implicit Motives: Power (“nPow”)

wanting to have an impact on others without others impacting them

Murray’s Implicit Motives: Affiliation (“nAff)

valuing relationships with other people

How Motives Impact Behavior

implicit motives differ from explicit motives

• unaware of implicit vs. can self-report on explicit

explicit and implicit motives are often quite different, not necessarily related

• esp. for high self-monitors & people low in self-determination

predict different types of behavior:

• implicit motives predict performance

• explicit motives predict choices and judgments

Self-Determination Theory (SDT)

Three needs can explain much of human behavior:

1. Autonomy (overlaps with Murray’s power need)

   1. having control over one’s actions and life

2. Competence (overlaps with achievement)

   1. being able to use skills effectively and learn new ones

3. Relatedness (overlaps with affiliation)

   1. feeling connected to others

Differences between Murray’s theory and Self-Determination Theory (SDT)

• focuses on explicit needs

• posits each one as essential to human functioning, rather than an individual difference

Types of goals:

1. extrinsic goals

2. intrinsic goals

extrinsic goals

external rewards:

• financial success, popularity or fame, and physical attractiveness

• often promoted by popular culture

instrinsic goals

internal fulfillment:

• personal growth, affiliation, and community feeling

• what we “should” value

goals and outcomes

which goals are more likely to make you happy?

• extrinsic goals more likely to lead to anxiousness and depression

• intrinsic goals are more likely to lead to happiness

why?

• intrinsic goals more likely to inspire behavior that fulfills the needs in self-determination theory

  • autonomy

  • relatedness

  • competence

    • overall important for human functioning and psychological well-being

motivation & goals

what works better: extrinsic or intrinsic motivation?

• extrinsic motivation comes from outside the self (external)

• intrinsic motivation comes from inside the self (internal)

• extrinsic goals and rewards diminish intrinsic motivation

  • overjustification effect

  • short-term vs. long-term benefit of extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation

• beliefs about ability can impact motivation