PSYC 2010 Lecture 13: Motivation

Vocabulary flashcards covering core psychological theories and concepts of motivation, needs hierarchies, drive reduction, arousal, intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation, and delayed gratification.

Motivation

The process that energizes, guides, and maintains behavior toward a goal (originating from the Latin movere, meaning 'to move').

Need

A biological or social state of deficiency; the failure to satisfy a need leads to undesirable consequences.

Maslow's Need Hierarchy

An influential model prioritizing human needs from basic survival to self-fulfillment: physiological, safety, belonging and love, esteem, and self-actualization.

Self-Actualization

The pinnacle of Maslow's need hierarchy, characterized by living to one's full potential and achieving personal dreams and aspirations.

Need to Belong

A fundamental and evolutionarily adaptive need to form interpersonal attachments, which correlates with better life outcomes such as increased lifespan.

Schachter (1959) Affiliation Study

An experiment demonstrating that anxiety prompts social affiliation; participants expecting a painful electric shock were far more likely to choose to wait with others than those expecting a mild shock.

Drive

A psychological state associated with increased arousal that motivates an organism to perform behaviors in order to satisfy an underlying biological or social need.

Drive Reduction Theory (Hull, 1943)

The theory stating that deprivation of a basic need creates a drive proportional to the deprivation, producing arousal that motivates actions to reduce the drive.

Habit

A behavior that successfully reduces drive-associated arousal, becomes reinforced, and is more likely to reoccur automatically when that drive state arises again.

Yerkes-Dodson Law

The principle that increased arousal enhances performance up to an optimal, moderate level, beyond which further arousal impairs performance.

Incentive

An external goal or environmental stimulus (such as a financial reward) that motivates behavior beyond internal physiological drives.

Extrinsic Motivation

Motivation to engage in behaviors directed toward achieving an external goal or receiving an external reward.

Intrinsic Motivation

Motivation to perform an activity because of the internal satisfaction, value, or pleasure derived from the activity itself.

Lepper et al. (1973) Experiment

A study demonstrating that providing an expected extrinsic reward ('good player award') to children for drawing with markers reduced their subsequent intrinsic interest and free-play engagement with the markers.

Self-Perception Theory (Bem, 1967)

The theory that individuals infer their internal motives by observing their own actions; being rewarded externally leads individuals to attribute their behavior to the external reward rather than intrinsic enjoyment.

Psychosocial Needs

Long-term social and psychological needs—such as power, autonomy, achievement, play, recognition, and nurturance—that motivate personal goal setting.

Self-Efficacy

An individual's personal expectation and confidence that their efforts will successfully achieve a desired outcome.

Delayed Gratification

The capacity to postpone immediate desires or smaller short-term rewards to pursue larger, more advantageous long-term goals.

Marshmallow Test Longitudinal Outcomes (Mischel)

Research tracking children tested on delayed gratification at ages 4–6, showing that successful delayers were rated as more socially competent and resilient to frustration at a 10-year follow-up, with stability extending across 40 years.