Motivation – Unit 8
Video
Hamster
Instinct/Evolutionary Theory
Influenced by Charles Darwin
Lists of behaviors that are instincts
Weakness is that it just lists and does
not explain motivation for these
behaviors
Drive Reduction Theory
Human motivation is influenced by the combination
of needs and drives - biological
Homeostasis
Body seeks to maintain a stable internal state
Body creates a drive if any of its needs are unmet
Does not explain some behaviors as curiosity or risk
taking
Does not account for external incentives
Incentive Theory
Recognizes that humans are not only pushed into
action by an internal drive, but also motivated by
the pull of an incentive
Push of a drive (hunger) + pull of an incentive (smell
of the cookie) = eat the cookie
Explains non-biological motivations such as
achievement, adventure, and affiliation
Not all behavior can be explained by incentives altruistic
Arousal Theory
Individual is motivated by the desire to remain at a
personally determined optimal level of arousal
Optimal level of arousal
level of excitement preferred by the person
Differs from person to person
Increased arousal levels result in improved performance
Yerkes-Dodson Law
Explains relationship between the level of arousal and
performance
On simple tasks – performance is better if arousal levels
are somewhat higher
On difficult tasks – performance is better if arousal levels
are slightly lower
Yerkes-Dodson Law
Yerkes-Dodson Law
Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow
5 needs
Physiological/biological
Safety
Belonging and love
Esteem
Self-actulaization
Hierarchy of Needs
Effectively demonstrates how basic biological and safety
needs often have to be met before individuals are
motivated towards high level needs
Questions
Not all proceed sequentially through the levels
Self-actualization has been proven difficult to measure
Sky diving vs safety
0
