Motivation
Chapter 12
Motivation Concepts
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Drive reduction theory
Need (food, water)
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Drive (hunger, thirst)
Drives and Instincts
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Drive-Reducing
Behaviors (eating, etc)
Homeostasis
 Push
of need and pull of incentives
 Yerkes-Dodson Law
 “good” vs. “bad”
 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
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“Humanistic Perspective”
Physiology of Hunger
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WWII Hunger Study
Stomach Contractions
 Body Chemistry
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Glucose level and caloric intake
The Brain
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Hypothalamus
 Lateral (sides) – brings on hunger
 Ventromedial (middle) – suppresses hunger
 Sends info to frontal lobe
Set-point
 Basal metabolic rate
Psychology of Hunger
“Externals”
 Cultural Influences
 Eating Disorders
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Anorexia/Bulimia
Sexual Orientation
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“Sexual orientation is like handedness – most
people are one way, a few the other. A very few
are truly ambidextrous”
Gay parents DO NOT produce gay children
 Factors in orientation
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Certain cell clusters within the hypothalamus are
larger in hetero- men than in either women or
homosexual men
About 50% of identical twins share homosexuality
Prenatal hormone exposure
The Need to Belong
Aiding Survival
 Wanting to Belong
 Social Acceptance
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Conformity
Health Issues
Achievement Motivation (AM)
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Levels of AM
People with high levels prefer challenging tasks,
with lower levels prefer either really easy or
impossible tasks
 Motivation more closely linked with success than
“natural talent”
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IQ is distributed in a bell curve, motivation is not
What “causes” motivation?
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Emotional and cognitive roots
More AM
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Internal vs. External Motivation
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Leper and Green’s overjustification effect
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Reward Motivation vs. Incentive Motivation
Motivating People
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I/O Psychology
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Task vs. social leadership
 Theory X vs. Theory Y