Running heading: DYAD CRITICAL SUMMARY
Dyad Critical Summary of Motivation Theory
Long Island University: C.W. Post Campus
Marni Gavritsas and Raphael Morey
DYAD CRITICAL SUMMARY
For the purpose of our study, we refer to Graber and Brooks-Gunn's 1996, definition of
adolescence. There is great significance to their understanding of this monumental change in the
human lifespan as " the transition between pubertal onset and parental independence where
puberty refers to changes in reproductive maturation and adolescence refers to the transition
from dependence on parents to relative independence" (Casey, Dohoux, & Cohan, 2010). In the
anchor study, the ideas presented in "Adolescence: What do transmission, transition, and
translation have to do with it?" we are forced to recognize that humans and animals alike go
through a developmental process that impacts the brains decision making abilities. This
translational process explains the behaviors or what we define as the "typical teenager" and in
effect defines the affect of what at times appears externally to be poor decision making.
In addition to the work of Casey, Duhoux, and Cohan, we explored the Triadic Model
presented by Ernst, Pine, and Hardin (2006). The Triadic Model studies the motivated behaviors
in adolescence. The motivational approach, like Maslow's theory of separation and
individuation, focuses on three actions 1) approach; 2) avoidance; and 3) regulation. Essentially,
every decision that is made is a result of consideration to reward, harm avoidance and responses
to punishment. Unlike adults, adolescence have not yet strengthened connections and weighed
impulsivity results. As adults, we generally have a "top down" management system that prevents
acting upon risky behaviors that outweigh benefits. "Variability in the degree of risk-taking,
generic changes in decision-making during adolescence have been acknowledged throughout
human history (Hall, 1904) and across species (Spear, 2000), and are recognized as primary
sources of morbidity and mortality in adolescents" (Dahl, 2004).
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In the adolescent years, the brain is developing at a pace that is not necessarily in sync
with external factors such as changes in the environment, social pressures, parental expectations
and intrinsic motivations. Within the brain,
The ventral striatum circuits, particularly the nucleus accumbens, support reward
processes and approach behavior (Wise et al. 1992; Di Chiara, 2002). The amygdala
circuits have been de- scribed as the ‘behavioral brake’ to protect organisms from
potential harm (Amaral, 2002; Zald, 2003), and are a key mediator of avoidant behavior
(LeDoux, 2000). Finally, circuits of the prefrontal cortex, owing to their widely accepted
role in cognitive control (Miller, 1999, 2000), help to orchestrate the relative contribution
of the approach and avoidant behavioral systems, thus providing a supervisory or
modulatory control of behavior. (Ernst, Pine, & Hardin, 2006)
The resulting behavior is that adolescents show relatively higher impact of stimuli signaling
reward on striatal activation and lesser impact of stimuli signaling punishment on amygdala
activation compared to adults. This pattern would support predominant approach and riskseeking behavior. In essence, what we see in our society are teenagers often making choices that
match the environment that they are experiencing but not the socially acceptable expectations we
have placed upon them.
Our theoretical framework is the theory of Human Motivation, first postulated by
Abraham Maslow in 1943 in his paper A Theory of Human Motivation. Abraham Maslow is the
founder of humanistic psychology, a psychology that bridges the twin peaks of development;
homeostatic development and cognitive development. Maslow describes the value of humanistic
psychology in that, “When we ask what man wants of life, we deal with his very essence” (p.
18). Our theoretical framework then is not merely an analysis of the development of brain
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chemistry and physiology through the life cycle but rather how this development subsequently
relates to the crafting of character and shaping of personality and how one applies these to their
environment and relationships.
Maslow (1943) hypothesizes that humans are driven by a hierarchy of five “basic needs”
(p. 4), these needs being the physiological need, the safety needs, the love needs, the esteem
needs, and the need for self-actualization. Towards the end of his life Maslow is noted as also
considering the addition of a sixth need dubbed “self-transcendence” (Koltko-Rivera, 2006).
Maslow describes human development as the satisfaction of basic needs leading to subsequent
higher needs. Children desire physiological need satisfaction first which is satisfied by attaining
consistent food supplies. After food comes safety and once their physical safety is satisfied
comes the need for love. Once these three homeostatic needs are satisfied, cognitive needs
become central to development specifically the self-esteem need, self-actualization need and the
described self-transcendence need. While Maslow considers it not necessary to fully satisfy one
need before reaching the next tier on the hierarchy, he does acknowledge that, “A healthy man is
primarily motivated by his needs to develop and actualize his fullest potentialities and capacities.
If a man has any other basic needs in an active, chronic sense, then he is simply an unhealthy
man” (p. 18). Normal development, then, for adolescents and young adults focuses on selfesteem and self-actualization development rather than the homeostatic satisfactions.
The growth of brain matter, strengthening of neuroconnections and changes in behavior during
the adolescence phase of development can be interpreted as physiological changes manifesting
themselves in behaviors seeking identity development and crafting through self-esteem building
and self-actualization. Additionally, there exist cognitive needs, i.e., the desires to know, to
understand and to find truth that can sometimes supersede the more basic homeostatic needs.
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This points to the concept of self-transcendence and perhaps the fulfillment of this need shows a
change in development from adolescent/young adult identity building and relationship forging to
adulthood tendencies to contribute to the world and to the desire to give back.
A study to supports Maslow’s motivation theory was conducted by Yeung and
McInerney (2005). Their research examined students’ school motivation and aspirations over
high school years. Their study questioned the reasons behind the universal observation of parents
and teachers that adolescents demonstrate dramatic change, “Many student experienced a
deterioration in perceptions of self, affect, motivation, and performance during early adolescence
and in particular, when they moved to middle level schools...it is only during adolescence that
formal operational thought merges and abstract processing with reference to both self and others
occurs. It is during this period of development that the adolescent starts asking questions about
ego, status, goals and ambitions” (p. 539).
This demonstration of change, particularly with regard to self-perception and critical
observation of their environment points to motivation theory’s fourth tier of need satisfaction, the
need for self-esteem. Adolescents experience physiological change causing their behavior to shift
towards reward driven actions. This is coupled with a degree of recklessness and heightened
value of personal experience over guidance and advice. These actions speak to developing one’s
sense of self-worth, value and understanding of identity. As the prefrontal cortex gains executive
power over the brain during development, identity and self-esteem grow too until young
adulthood occurs and the typical person moves onto the fifth tier, need for self-actualization.
A study that relates to adolescent development and particularly the fifth tier of Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs is by Duckworth, (2011) entitled The Significance of Self-Control. In his
report, Duckworth cites multiple reports that display a strong correlation between self-control
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and favorable attributes later in life. He specifically describes why Self-Control Matters, “Selfcontrol... during the first decade of life predicts income, savings behavior, financial security,
occupational prestige, physical and mental health, substance use, and (lack of) criminal
convictions, among other outcomes, in adulthood...the predictive power of self-control is
comparable to that of either general intelligence or family socioeconomic status” (p. 2639).
Studies support that concept that conscious or unconscious self-control can mitigate neurological
and chemical changes in adolescence that could lead to negative behavior and identity impact.
This early developmental dominance can elevate some adolescence above their peers, giving
them a competitive advantage academically and perhaps, later on, professionally. Self-control
can aid adolescence, whose brains are encouraging them to focus on full satisfaction of lower
level needs, to perhaps move onto the higher level ones like self-actualization, desire for
knowledge, etc. This suggests that the hierarchy of needs does not necessarily follow a rigid
trajectory (self-esteem onset during adolescence, self-actualization during young adulthood) but
rather can take place at an individual’s own pace. Duckworth’s study suggests that perhaps
people who develop their identity and who receive strong self-esteem need satisfaction from an
early age will more readily adapt self-actualization upon entering adolescence allowing them to
develop characteristics like self-control which will aid them in achieving their goals from an
early age.
Class Discussion
A lively discussion ensued both during and after the presentation. With our newly
developed formula that E=MC (Environment=Motivation Control), we were able to present a
simplified understanding that teenagers are greatly impacted by the environment that they
experience and as a result their control or lack their of impacts their motivation to do or not to
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do. Questions posed included 1) Is there value to be found in primary and secondary education
classrooms that are focused primarily on intrinsic motivation for learning outcomes? 2) Could
Governor Cuomo’s education section of his budget (APPR and Teacher Excellence Fund) serve
as a negative motivator for teachers and prompt short term goal reward seeking behavior at the
expense of long term gains in student in achievement? 3) Are self-control and motivation
malleable traits or biologically predetermined? 4) There is currently no link between IQ and selfcontrol, yet both are indicators of success, which do you believe has a stronger correlation to
motivation? 5) If we agree with motivation theory (Nurture Shock & Drive), do you believe that
we are truly preparing our students to succeed in a 21st century workforce?
In addition to these discussion questions, we presented the class with an activity that
asked them to reflect upon satisfaction levels in past employment positions and then rank 10
different qualities of that position in terms of experience. The 10 different qualities represented a
continuum of feelings that range from extrinsic motivation (high salary, bonuses, praise of
supervisors) to intrinsic motivation (intrinsic interest, curiosity, challenging work). The data
accumulated from this activity as well as the subsequent discussion was in line with the work of
Deci and Ryan (2008) discussion of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation on one’s need
satisfaction. Deci and Ryan (2008) suggest that the more one feelings intrinsically motivated
towards a task the greater need satisfaction they will receive leading to greater happiness, less
stress and greater ability to learn. Extrinsic motivation alternatively leads to greater stress,
greater burnout and less feeling of being in control of one’s actions. Our class discussed how
their ranking of employment positions followed this pattern, specifically with all doctoral
students ranking their current positions as highly intrinsically motivating and jobs in the past that
were taken solely for convenience sake or out of monetary necessity as extrinsically motivating.
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References
Bronson, P. & Merryman, A. (2009) Nurtureshock: New thinking about children. New York.
Twelve.
Casey, B.J., Duhoux, S., & Cohan, M. (2010). Adolescence: What do transmission, transition,
and translation have to do with it? Neuron, 67 (5), 749-760.
Duckworth, A. (2011). Self-control and why it matters. PNAS, 108(7), 2639-2640.
Deci, E.L., Ryan, R.M. (2008). Facilitating Optimal Motivation and Psychological Well-Being
Across Life’s Domains. Canadian Psychology, 49(1), 14-23.
Ernst, M., Pine, D., & Hardin, M. (2005). Triadic model of the neurobiology of motivated
behvaior in adolescence. Psychological Medicine, 36, 299-312. Retrieved from
doi:10.1017/S0033291705005891
Giedd, J. (2008). The teen brain: Insights from neuroimaging. Journal of Adolescent Health, 42,
335-343.
Maslow, A. (1970). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper & Row. (pp. 35-58, “A
theory of human motivation”).
Moffitt, T., Arseneault, L., Belsky, B., Dickson, N., Hancox, R. J., Harrington, L., et al. (2011).
A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 108 (7), 2693-2698
Pink, D. (2011). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. New York: Riverhead
Books.
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Yeung, A.S., McINerney, D.M. (2005). Students’ School Motivation and Aspiration Over High
School Years. Educational Psychology, 25(5), 537-554.
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