Motivation & Emotion I

Motivation: The Terminology

  • Motive: A fundamental internal need or desire (e.g., hunger, achievement) that energizes and drives behavior toward a goal.

  • Motivation: The overall process that initiates, directs, and sustains goal-oriented behavior.

  • Incentive: An external stimulus or reward that pulls behavior (e.g., praise, money).

  • Intrinsic Motivation: Acting for personal satisfaction or enjoyment of the activity itself.

  • Extrinsic Motivation: Acting for external rewards (incentives) or to avoid punishment.

Example of Motivation in Action

  • Motive: A need for achievement — the internal desire to succeed.

  • Motivation: This motive of achievement drives the student to put effort into studying and improving skills.

  • Intrinsic Motivation: The student enjoys mastering new material and feels personal satisfaction when understanding complex ideas.

  • Extrinsic Motivation: The student studies to earn a scholarship.

  • Incentive: The scholarship is an external reward that pulls the behavior.

Motive, Motivations, and Behaviour

  • Motive, Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation & Resulting Behaviours:

    • Strong / Strong / Strong: Highest engagement and persistence — behavior is sustained by both inner satisfaction and external rewards.

    • Strong / Strong / Weak: Stable, self-driven behavior — continues without external rewards; intrinsic satisfaction fulfills the motive.

    • Strong / Weak / Strong: Reward-dependent effort — behavior occurs mainly for incentives; stops once rewards are removed.

    • Strong / Weak / Weak: Frustrated motive — strong need but little drive or reward; minimal or inconsistent effort.

    • Weak / Strong / Strong: Moderate engagement — enjoyment and rewards sustain behavior even without a strong underlying need.

    • Weak / Strong / Weak: Hobby-like engagement — activity done for enjoyment only; consistent but limited scope.

    • Weak / Weak / Strong: Short-term compliance — behavior only while rewards or pressures last; low long-term commitment.

    • Weak / Weak / Weak: No meaningful behavior — no motive or motivation to act.

Theories of Motivation

  • Instinct Theory

  • Drive Reduction Theory

  • Arousal Theory

  • Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Instinct Theory

  • Instinct: Inborn, unlearned, fixed pattern of behavior for an entire species.

  • Instinct Theory: Behavior is motivated by innate tendencies, instincts.

  • Challenges to Instinct Theory:

    • Too many “instincts.” Early theorists labeled nearly every behavior as instinct, resulting in a vague concept.

    • Descriptive, not explanatory: Simply naming behavior as an “instinct” doesn’t reveal underlying reasons or mechanisms.

    • Limited flexibility: Instincts are fixed, while human behavior exhibits variability shaped by learning, culture, and environment.

    • Fails to explain complex or goal-directed behavior that doesn’t link to specific instincts.

    • Ignores cognitive processes such as expectations, values, and goals, which are crucial in motivation.

  • Conclusion: Instinct theory has largely been rejected by psychologists as a valid explanation for human motivation.

Drive Reduction Theory

  • Drive: A state of tension or arousal resulting from a need, which motivates behavior geared towards satisfying that need.

  • Homeostasis: The balanced internal state maintained by organisms, crucial for survival, involving regulation of body temperature, blood sugar, water, and oxygen.

  • Drive Reduction Theory: States that a need creates an unpleasant state (drive) that motivates organisms to act to satisfy the need and restore homeostasis.

Arousal Theory

  • Arousal: A state of alertness, reflecting mental and physical activation.

  • Arousal Theory: Suggests motivation is aimed at maintaining an optimal level of arousal.

    • Both biological needs (e.g., food and water) and external stimuli (e.g., noise and light) can enhance arousal.

    • Stimulus Motive: The internal drive to explore and engage with the environment when arousal is too low.

  • Sensory Deprivation: Experiments to illustrate what occurs when arousal levels drop excessively.

  • Yerkes-Dodson Law:

    • Indicates that optimal arousal levels vary by individual and task type:

      • Simple or Well-learned Tasks: Better performance at higher arousal levels.

      • Complex or Unfamiliar Tasks: Better performance at lower arousal levels.

      • Performance is impaired when arousal is either too high or too low for the task.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

  • Needs arranged by urgency and priority.

  • Explains human motivation's spectrum, suggesting lower-level needs must be met before higher ones.

    • Physiological needs are foundational and located at the lowest level.

    • Self-actualization needs are at the highest level.

Primary Drives

  • Definition: States of tension or arousal arising from biological needs, independent of learning.

  • Examples: Thirst and hunger.

Thirst

  • Types of Thirst:

    • Extracellular Thirst:

      • Cause: Loss of water and salt from body fluids (e.g., sweating, bleeding, vomiting).

      • Mechanism: Decrease in blood volume and pressure due to fluid loss outside cells; baroreceptors in blood vessels and kidneys signal hypothalamus to release angiotensin II.

      • Response: Crave both water and salt, which motivates consumption to restore balance.

    • Intracellular Thirst:

      • Cause: Loss of water from inside cells due to high salt intake (e.g., consuming salty foods).

      • Mechanism: Cells shrink as water flows out to equalize salt concentration; osmoreceptors in the hypothalamus detect shrinkage.

      • Response: Drives the need for pure water to restore hydration.

  • Fundamental Biological Drive for Survival: Rule of Threes prioritizing biological needs — Oxygen > Water > Food.

Hunger: Internal Cues

  • Internal Cues that stimulate hunger:

    • Low blood glucose: Signals sent to the brain that stimulate hunger.

    • High blood glucose: Insulin converts glucose into energy, and elevated insulin levels can also signal hunger.

    • Stretch receptors in the stomach: Provide satiety signals that limit food intake.

    • Cholecystokinin (CCK): A hormone released by the GI tract during digestion, contributing to satiety signals.

  • Feeding Center in Lateral Hypothalamus:

    • Function: Initiates eating behavior when energy levels are low.

    • Activation: Leads to eating even when full.

    • Destruction/Removal: Results in aphagia, where the organism refuses to eat until adaptation occurs.

    • In humans with damage, they may recognize hunger yet lack motivation to eat.

  • Satiety Center in Ventromedial Hypothalamus:

    • Function: Signals fullness after eating.

    • Activation: Causes cessation of eating.

    • Destruction/Removal: Can lead to excessive eating, resulting in gross obesity (e.g., rats eating up to 6x their body weight).

Hunger: External Cues

  • External stimuli that trigger internal hunger cues include:

    • The sight and smell of food can induce insulin release.

    • Social context: Eating alone vs. with others influences eating behavior.

    • Food palatability serves as a temptation to eat.

Body Weight

  • Body Fat for Survival:

    • Males require at least 3% body fat.

    • Females need at least 12% body fat for reproductive function (20% minimum).

  • Healthy Weight Range: Varies by height, measured by Body Mass Index (BMI).

  • Extremes in Weight:

    • Eating Disorders: Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

    • Obesity: Defined as a BMI exceeding 30.

    • Leptin: A hormone produced in proportion to body fat; higher body fat leads to higher leptin production.

  • Metabolic Rate: The rate at which the body burns calories to create energy, leading to weight changes depending on energy output versus input.

  • Theories About Body Weight:

    • Fat-Cell Theory: Posits that fatness is associated with the number of fat cells in the body.

    • Set-Point Theory: Suggests that appetite and weight are regulated by homeostatic mechanisms that maintain a genetically pre-determined weight, influenced by number and size of fat cells.

Social Motives

  • Definition: Motives learned or acquired through social and cultural experiences.

  • Examples of Social Motives:

    • The need for companionship (affiliation).

    • The need for power.

    • The need for achievement.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

  • A psychological assessment that investigates the strength of social motives, including needs for achievement, recognition, affiliation, dominance, and order.

  • Method: Participants tell stories about pictures showing ambiguous scenarios. This approaches reveal the psychological states of the subjects, including their perceptions and anticipated outcomes.

  • Challenges: Scoring can be subjective and may not fully capture the underlying motives.

Need for Achievement

  • Definition: The intrinsic desire to accomplish challenging goals and to overcome obstacles to achieve high standards.

  • Factors influencing this need:

    • Hope for success.

    • Fear of failure.

Goals and Achievement

  • Factors that Affect Drive Toward Goals:

    • Strength of the need to achieve.

    • Expectation of success.

    • The incentive value associated with success or failure.

  • Characteristics of High Achievers:

    • Set realistic goals and anticipate potential obstacles.

    • Take pride in their effort, ability, determination, and persistence.

    • Proactively monitor their progress while learning and adapting from setbacks.

  • Characteristics of Low Achievers:

    • Often set goals that are either very low or unachievably high.

    • Tend to exhibit rigid thought patterns in approach to challenges.

    • Reactive to obstacles, often focusing on blame and guilt in the face of setbacks.