Theoretical Perspectives on Motivation

These flashcards cover the essential terms and definitions related to motivation theories and concepts discussed in the lecture.

Motivation

The driving force behind behavior that leads us to pursue certain things or avoid others.

• It energizes, directs, and sustains our behavior

• It concerns where we direct our energies in life

 

Thematic Apperception Test

Consist of a series of ambiguous pictures about which participants make up a story

Researches then quote the stories for motivational themes

Present ambiguous stimuli (e.g., a picture) and ask questions like: What is happening? Who are the people? What led to this? What happens next?

 

●Responses presumed to tell us something about the individual’s unconscious motivations (projection )

 

●Person presumed to project needs, hidden desires, impulses, conflicts when describing/explaining stimuli

• Example interpretation: a crying woman leaving a room and fearing her husband is gravely ill could reflect fear of abandonment

Primary/Biological/Innate Motivation

Desires we are born with, such as hunger, thirst, and reproduction.

feeding eating reproducing  

• Hunger, thirst, and sex are essential for sustenance and survival

• Biologically-based causes include hormones, neurotransmitters, and brain structures (e.g., hypothalamus, limbic system)

• Deprivation of these motivations increases vulnerability to physical illness and death

Themarctic apperception test Outcome

Sometimes highly predictive of future outcomes

➢Achievement themes in their responses à(predictive of )business/entrepreneurial success

➢Intimacy themes @ age 30 à(predictive of …) marital adjustment 20 years later

 

TAT does not often correlate with self-report

TAT vs self-report distinction

TAT predicts different outcomes to self-report

 

➢TAT predicts long-term outcomes   implicit motivation  Unconscious motives   Implicit motivation expresses over time without conscious effort;

➢Self-report predicts in-the-moment effort & success explicit/ conscious motivation / explicit motivation    Self-report taps explicit/conscious motives   explicit motivation is activated when focused on tasks and goals   Conscious motives More flexible , controllable, can even override and conscious motives but often only temporarily

Secondary/Psychosocial/Learned Motivation

Motivations influenced by the environment, learned through growth, environment, and social interaction.

• Learned/acquired through social interaction with family, neighborhood, friends, relatives

• Psychosocial motives are influenced by environment and social context

• Examples of social motives: achievement, affiliation, power, curiosity, exploration, self-actualization

• Deprivation of social motives can lead to unpleasant emotions and psychological trauma

MOTIVATION PERSPECTIVES

●Psychodynamic

●Behavioural

●Cognitive

●Humanistic

●Evolutionary

 

These perspectives help us understand motivation and have been covered in prior topics

Psychosocial Needs

Needs such as achievement, affiliation, power, curiosity, and self-actualization learned through social interaction.

Operant Conditioning

A behavioral perspective where behaviors are motivated by rewards and punished by the environment.

Drive-Reduction Theory

The theory that behavior is motivated by the desire to reduce internal drives arising from physiological deprivation.

PSYCHODYNAMIC Drives and needs

Originates form Freud’s original drive/instinct model combining life (Eros) and death (Thanatos) drives

Drives : internal tension tats that build up until they are satisfied

Drives include sexual desire (libido) and aggression

●Sex or libido (life):  desire for pleasure, love, sexual intercourse

●Aggression (death): elimination of enemies, prevention of harm  aggressive or sadistic impulses , desires to control or master other people and the environment  Subtle influences on behaviour: can express themselves in soft ways, aggression for example example can underline acrostic comments or enjoyment of violent movies

 

Two additional needs:

●Relatedness To others

➢Independent of sexual desires

Need to relate to others (social belonging)

●Self-esteem    

➢Feeling good about yourself

Expectancy-Value Theory

A theory that states motivation is a joint function of the value of a goal and the expectancy to achieve it.

PSYCHODYNAMIC a modern  reconceptualisation of drives

Wishes: represent desired states that is associated with razor —> positive feelings

 

Fears: represent undesired states associated with unpleasant feelings —> negative feelings

 

 

Wishes Psychodynamic

Wishes: represent desired states —>positive feelings

Obvious / conscious – wanting to do well at university

Less obvious / non-conscious – hoping someone else fails

(May feel guilt if acknowledged)

 

• When a wish is achieved, it may become deactivated or less intense

Fears Psychodynamic

Fears: represent undesired states —> negative feelings

Obvious / conscious – fear of doing poorly at university

 

Less obvious / non-conscious – fear that if one fails, parents won’t love them

Fears range from conscious fear of failing at uni to non-conscious fear of letting others down (leading to guilt or shame)

 

CONSCIOUS motives  

➢Flexible and controllable, activated when task/goal is at hand

 

➢Assessed via self-report

assessed by questions and self-reflection

➢Non-projective tests

Unconscious Motives

➢You don’t even know you have these motives

➢Assessed via projective tests

(Thematic Apperception Test)

not readily accessible; assessed via projective tests (e.g., Thematic Apperception Test, TAT)

BEHAVIOURAL

Behaviorists focus on observable processes; avoid internal brain processes as metaphysical constructs

 

●Avoid “motivation” label; suggests causal role of internal states that we cannot measure

●Operant conditioning:

We are motivated to engage in behaviours that are rewarded & avoid behaviours that are punished by environment

 

• Motivation seen through operant conditioning: we pursue behaviors that are rewarded and avoid those that are punished

• Internal states do influence reinforcement (example with hungry vs sated rats)

• Unfulfilled needs lead to drives

Drive-Reduction Theory

●Behaviour is motivated out of desire for drive-reduction

 

• Motivation stems from a combination of drive and reinforcement and it’s based on the concept of homeostasis= tenancy of the body to maintain itself in the state of balance or equilibrium

 

Behavior is motivated to reduce internal drives arising from physiological deprivation

 

●Drive: state of tension arising from physiological deprivation (need)

 

 

 

 

• Model sequence: Homeostasis (state of equilibrium) -> increased biological need -> drive (internal tension) -> goal-directed behavior to satisfy need -> return to homeostasis

• Example: skipping lunch due to a busy day increases hunger drive, leading to eating (eating restores homeostasis)

 

• primary Drive= Enid or biological drive such as hunger and sex

• In society, people are not directed towards a filling primary drives

• Secondary Drive= Drive learn through conditioning and other learning mechanisms such as modelling, And originally neutral stimulus comes to be associated with dry reduction in this itself becomes a motivator

• E.g. money

Drive-Reduction Theory Critique:

• Overemphasizes  internal needs ignores external incentives or cues

• E.g., staying up to watch the next Netflix episode despite fatigue; rewards (satisfaction of novelty/curiosity) drive behavior beyond simple fatigue reduction

●Need for stimulation to avoid boredom 

●Ignores other cognitive processes (e.g., ideals, wants, desires, plans)

humans have wants, desires, and plans that influence behavior

Incentive= behaviour seems motivated more by presence of an external stimulus or reward then by an internal needs state

COGNITIVE Expectancy value theory

Expectancy-Value Theory

 

• A goal is a desired outcome established through social learning

• Motivation is a joint function of value and expectancy associated with the goal

 

●Motivation is a joint function of value & expectancy associated with a goal

 

●Value: How much the goal matters to us

 

●Expectancy: How much we believe we can accomplish goal

 

●We will be more motivated to pursue goals if we highly value them & highly expect we are able to accomplish them

 

• Applied example: GPA and honours pathway

  • If aiming for honours, value on GPA is high and expectancy to achieve it is moderate to high

  • If finishing the degree quickly for employment, value on GPA may be different, and expectancy may be adjusted accordingly

 

Goal-Setting Theory

●Goal: Desired outcome established through social learning

➢differ from our current state

• goals activate all solutions that I have worked in the past and encourage effort to create new solutions if the old one fails

 

●Conscious goals motivate our behaviour, especially performance on work tasks

 

●Maximum job performance occurs only under certain conditions:

➢Discrepancy between has / wants

➢Specific (rather than general) goals

➢Somewhat challenging (not too easy, not too hard) goals

➢Belief in ability to attain goal(self-efficacy )

➢High commitment to goal for set period of time

➢Continuing feedback to gauge progress(eg weekly activities in textbooks and online topics ) / Receive continuous feedback that allows them to go process towards the goal

Self-Determination Theory

• Theory of human motivation and personality That focuses on the degree to which an individuals behaviour is self motivated and self-determined

• Distinguishes intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation

 

Intrinsic motivation

➢Engagement in behaviour for its own sake, due to personal interest & enjoyment

engagement in activities for internal growth needs; driven by enjoyment, interest, and inherent satisfaction

Best way to motivate individual

 Extrinsic motivation 

➢Engagement in behaviour due to external outcomes/reward

Money, points or avoidance of punishment

• SDT emphasizes intrinsic motivation as the optimal form of motivation

People have Three innate needs (to be satisfied to support intrinsic motivation)

 Three fundamental needs:

1. Feeling of Competence

➢Need to feel effective & capable

1. Autonomy

➢Need to feel agentic & free from external control

• sense of independence and control over one’s actions

1. Relatedness

➢Need to belong, feel meaningfully connected to others

-meaningful social connection and belonging

 

Conditions that allow individuals to meet these three needs are considered to be most intrinsically motivating

Intrinsic motives= motives can be activated and expressed outside of awareness, well-learned goals. cognitive procedures can become automatic and occur without conscious awareness so two can well learn goals

Goal-Setting Theory

The theory that conscious goals motivate our behavior, especially in performance tasks.

HUMANISTIC

●People motivated by desire for personal

Growth

• emphasises dignity, individual choice and self-worth is playing key roles in explaining human behaviour

• People are motivated by the desirable personal growth and will often overcome many obstacles in order to achieve personal fulfilment

●Needs organised in a hierarchy

 ●If an individual's needs are not met, they cannot be motivated by the needs at the next level

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• Physiological needs: breathing, eating, sleeping, sex

• Safety and security: protection, employment, moral responsibility, health, shelter

• Belongingness and love: friendship, family, sexual relationships

• Esteem: self-respect, achievement, recognition from others

• Self-actualization: differ from all previous levels and that they are not deficiency needs ; That is they are not generated by a lack of something e.g. food shelter ; Rather they are growth needs -Motive to expand and develop one skill and abilities

• becoming the best version of oneself; not a deficiency-based need

• Key feature: progression is sequential; unfulfilled lower-level needs constrain higher-level motivation

• Self-actualization as growth, creativity, fulfillment, not a deficit state

• Many Behaviours reflect multiple needs

• Going to work for example can bring home the bacon as well as satisfying needs for a steam, affiliation and self actualisation

• People can spend their lives focus on motor primarily at one level and not develop beyond it

 

Self-Determination Theory (SDT)

A theory focusing on intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation and the importance of autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

EVOLUTIONARY

●Humans motivated to maximise reproductive success

(both own & genetically related others):

➢Survival: stay alive

➢Reproduction: spread one’s genes

➢Inclusive fitness: protect one’s genes

 

• Primary motivation remains to stay alive long enough to reproduce and protect genetic lineage

• Behaviors increase chances of survival and reproduction and may be directed toward selecting mates with high genetic quality (inclusive fitness) 

●Primary motives that emerge cross-culturally

• Power: in males (and humans) to fend off rivals, establish status, mark territory; can be attractive to potential mates

• Love: care for offspring, mates, family, and friends; a basic cross-cultural motive 

Multiple motivational systems

• Humans are likely to have multiple motivational system-And their response tendencies with their own distinct no Social Security-The revolved to self particular problems of adaptation

•  Motives that shaped the ways we think and behave have developed over millions of years in response to evolutionary pressures

 

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

A model that categorizes human needs into a hierarchy, with basic physiological needs at the bottom and self-actualization at the top.

Implicit Motivation

Motivation that expresses itself over time without conscious effort.

Conscious vs Unconscious Motives

Conscious motives are controllable and assessed via self-report; unconscious motives are not readily accessible.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

A projective test consisting of ambiguous pictures that reveal an individual's unconscious motivations through their storytelling.

Evolutionary Perspective on Motivation

Suggests that human behavior is motivated by survival and reproductive success.

Social Motives

Motives acquired through social interactions, influencing behaviors towards achievement and connection.

Homeostasis

The body's tendency to maintain a state of balance or equilibrium.