Motivational Theories

Key Learning Goal

  • Compare drive, incentive, and evolutionary approaches to understanding motivation.

9.1 Motivational Theories

  • Motives: The needs, wants, interests, and desires that push people in certain directions.
  • Motivation involves goal-directed behaviour.
  • Psychologists have devised a number of theoretical approaches to motivation.

9.1.1 Drive Theories

  • Many theories view motivational forces in terms of drives.
  • Drive Concept: Derived from Walter Cannon's (1932) observation that organisms seek to maintain homeostasis.
  • Homeostasis: A state of physiological equilibrium or stability.
    • The body maintains homeostasis in various ways; for example, human body temperature normally fluctuates around 37 degrees Celsius.
    • If body temperature rises, perspiration occurs; if it drops, shivering occurs. These reactions are designed to move temperature back toward 37 degrees.

*Drive theories apply the concept of homeostasis to behaviour.

  • Drive: A hypothetical, internal state of tension that motivates an organism to engage in activities that should reduce this tension. These unpleasant states of tension are viewed as disruptions of the preferred equilibrium.
  • According to drive theories, when individuals experience a drive, they are motivated to pursue actions that will lead to drive reduction. The hunger motive is usually viewed as a drive system.
    • Example: If you go without food for a while, you begin to experience some discomfort. This internal tension (the drive) motivates you to obtain food. Eating reduces the drive and restores physiological equilibrium.
  • Drive theories have been very influential, and the drive concept continues to be widely used in modern psychology.
  • However, drive theories cannot explain all motivation (Berridge, 2004).
    • Homeostasis appears irrelevant to some human motives, such as a desire for knowledge or learning.
    • Drive theories can't explain eating when not hungry.

9.1.2 Incentive Theories

  • Incentive theories propose that external stimuli regulate motivational states (Bolles, 1975; McClelland, 1975).
  • Incentive: An external goal that has the capacity to motivate behaviour. Examples: ice cream, a juicy steak, a monetary prize, approval from friends, an A on an exam, and a promotion at work.
  • Some incentives may reduce drives, but others may not.
  • Drive and incentive models of motivation are often contrasted as push versus pull theories.
    • Drive theories emphasise how internal states of tension push people in certain directions.
    • Incentive theories emphasise how external stimuli pull people in certain directions.
  • According to drive theories, the source of motivation lies within the organism.
    *According to incentive theories, the source of motivation lies outside the organism, in the environment.
  • Incentive models emphasise the role of environmental factors rather than the principle of homeostasis.

9.1.3 Evolutionary Theories

  • Psychologists who take an evolutionary perspective assert that the motives of humans and of other species are the products of evolution, just as anatomical characteristics are.
  • They argue that natural selection favours behaviours that maximise reproductive success; that is, passing on genes to the next generation.
  • They explain motives such as affiliation, achievement, dominance, aggression, and sex drive in terms of their adaptive value (Durrant & Ellis, 2013).
  • Evolutionary analyses of motivation are based on the premise that motives can best be understood in terms of the adaptive problems they have solved over the course of human history (Tooby & Cosmides, 2016).
    • Example: The need for dominance is thought to be greater in men than in women because it could facilitate males' reproductive success in a variety of ways. Females may prefer mating with dominant males, dominant males may try to lure females from subordinate males, dominant males may intimidate male rivals in competition for sexual access, and dominant males may acquire more material resources that may increase mating opportunities (Buss, 2014).
    • Consider, also, the affiliation motive, or need for belongingness. The adaptive benefits of affiliation for our ancestors probably included help with offspring, collaboration in hunting and gathering, mutual defence, opportunities for sexual interaction and so forth (Griskevicius, Haselton, & Ackerman, 2015). Thus, humans developed a strong need to belong and a strong aversion to rejection (Neuberg & Schaller, 2015).
  • Motivational theorists of all persuasions agree on one point: humans display an enormous diversity of motives. Therefore, we need to realise that local conditions and experiences are likely to affect the way in which these theories show themselves in practice.

*Motivation results from the interaction between the individual and the environment, and some forms of motivation are learned through a person's own experiences (Locke & Schattke, 2019).

  • The context in which the behaviour is shown is vital in understanding why certain processes and outcomes are motivating, and how various contextual factors affect the way in which a particular individual may experience a potential motivator.
  • These factors include national culture, gender and age or generation.
  • This is important in a multicultural society because different people and groups of people may be motivated to different degrees by different factors - there is no 'one size fits all' with respect to motivational theories.
    *In some cases, unique findings may help change existing theories, and even give rise to completely new ways of explaining the world and how it works.
  • Psychology needs to be seen as an evolving, ever-changing set of explanations about people and the ways in which they experience and interpret the world.
  • Given the range and diversity of human motives, we can only examine a handful in depth: hunger, sex and achievement.