Motivation
Book authors:
R.H. Ettinger
Chapter 8
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What Is Motivation?
 Defining motivation
– The process that initiates, directs, and sustains
behavior to satisfy physiological or psychological
needs or wants
– Psychologists generally break motivation down into
three processes: activation, persistence, and
intensity
 Activation is the initiation of motivated behavior
 Persistence is the faithful and continued effort put forth in
order to achieve a goal or finish a project
 Intensity refers to the focused energy and attention applied
in order to achieve a goal or complete a project
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What Is Motivation?
 Defining motivation (continued)
– Motives
 Needs or desires that energize and direct behavior toward a
goal
– Intrinsic motivation
 The desire to perform an act because it is satisfying or
pleasurable in and of itself
– Extrinsic motivation
 The desire to perform an act to gain a reward or to avoid an
undesirable consequence
 Incentive
– An external stimulus that motivates behavior
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What Is Motivation?
 Defining motivation (continued)
– Activities that are intrinsically motivating generally
are more likely to become a permanent part of out
behavioral repertoire than those for which we
received incentives or extrinsic rewards
– Biological motives are programmed into our nature
– Social motives are learned as a result of living in
human society
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What Is Motivation?
 Instinct theories
– The notion that human behavior is motivated by
certain innate tendencies, or instincts, shared by all
individuals
– Most psychologists today reject instinct theory as
observation alone suggests that human behavior is
too richly diverse, and often too unpredictable, to be
considered fixed and invariant across the entire
species
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What Is Motivation?
 Drive-reduction theory
– A theory of motivation suggesting that a need
creates an unpleasant state of arousal or tension
called a drive, which impels the organism to engage
in behavior that will satisfy the need and reduce the
tension
– Clark Hull
 Popularized the drive-reduction theory
 Believed that all living organisms have certain biological
needs that must be met if they are to survive
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What Is Motivation?
 Drive-reduction theory (continued)
– Drive-reduction theory is derived largely from the
biological concept of homeostasis
– Homeostasis
 The tendency of the body to maintain a balanced internal
state with regard to oxygen level, body temperature, blood
sugar, water balance, and so forth
– Everything required for physical existence must be
maintained in a state of equilibrium, or balance
– When this state is disturbed, a drive is created to
restore the balance
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What Is Motivation?
 Arousal theory
– A theory suggesting that the aim of motivation is to
maintain an optimal level of arousal
– Arousal
 A state of alertness and mental and physical activation
– When arousal is too low, stimulus motives cause
humans and other animals to increase stimulation
through sensation-seeking behavior.
– Stimulus motives
 Motives that cause humans and other animals to increase
stimulation and that appear to be unlearned
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What Is Motivation?
 Arousal theory (continued)
– Yerkes-Dodson law
 The principle that performance on tasks is best when the
arousal level is appropriate to the difficulty of the task
– higher arousal for simple tasks
– moderate arousal for tasks of moderate difficulty
– lower arousal for complex tasks
 Performance suffers when arousal level is either too high
or too low for the task
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Yerkes-Dodson Law
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What Is Motivation?
 Arousal theory (continued)
– Bexton and others
 Gave student volunteers the opportunity to find out what no
stimulation at all would feel like
 Eventually the remaining participants become irritable,
confused, and unable to concentrate
 They began to have visual hallucinations
 Some began to hear imaginary voices and music and felt
as if they were receiving electric shocks or being hit by
pellets
 Their performance on motor and cognitive tasks
deteriorated, and none of the participants said they liked
the experiment
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What Is Motivation?
 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
 Abraham Maslow
– Suggests that physiological motivations are the
foundation for so-called higher-level motives
– Proposed that our need for self-fulfillment depends on
how well our needs for physical well-being, safety,
belonging, and esteem have been met
– His theory claims that we are motivated by the lowest
unmet need
– Believed that these motivational processes were
central to the human personality
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What Is Motivation?
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Need for
Self-Actualization
Esteem Needs
Belonging & Love Needs
Safety Needs
Physiological Needs
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Primary Drives
 Moral development
– Research on Kohlberg’s theory
 Miller and Bersoff
– Found great differences between the Indian and the
United States’ cultures
– The postconventional moral reasoning common in
India stressed interpersonal responsibilities over
obligations to further justice
– Americans emphasized a personal or rights-oriented
view over individual responsibilities to others
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Primary Drives
 Drive
– A state of tension or arousal arising from a biological
need; one not based on learning
 Thirst
– Thirst is a basic biological drive, for all animals must
have a continuous supply of fluid
– There are two types of thirst
 Extracellular thirst-occurs when fluid is lost from the body
tissues
 Intracellular thirst-involves the loss of water from inside the
body cells
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Primary Drives
 Internal and external hunger cues
– Hypothalamus
 Researchers have found two areas of hypothalamus that
are of central importance in regulating eating behavior and
thus affect the hunger drive
 Lateral hypothalamus
– The part of the hypothalamus that acts as a feeding
center and, when activated, signals an animal to eat
 Ventromedial hypothalamus
– The part of the hypothalamus that acts as a satiety
center and, when activated, signals an animal to stop
eating
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Primary Drives
Internal and external hunger cues
– Other internal hunger and satiety signals
Some of the substances secreted by the
gastrointestinal tract during digestion act as
satiety signals
Changes in blood sugar level and the hormones
that regulate it also contribute to sensations of
hunger
– External signals
Sensory cues such as the taste, smell, and
appearance of food stimulate the appetite
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Primary Drives
 Variations in body weight
– Heredity
 Across all weight classes, from very thin to very obese,
children adopted from birth tend to resemble their biological
parents more than their adoptive parents in body size
 More than 40 genes appear to be related to obesity and
body weight regulation
– Hormones
 Friedman and colleagues
– Identified the hormone leptin, which directly affects the
feeding and satiety centers in the brain’s hypothalamus
and is known to be a key element in the regulation of
body weight
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Primary Drives
 Variations in body weight
– Hormones
 Insulin
 Cholecystokinin
 Ghrelin
 Peptide YY
 Leptin is produced by the body’s fat tissues, and the
amount produced is a direct measure of body fat: the more
leptin produced, the higher the level of body fat
– In humans, a mutation of the leptin receptor gene can cause
obesity as well as pituitary abnormalities
– Changes in the body’s leptin levels can affect the immune
and reproductive systems as well as the processes involved
in bone formation
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Primary Drives
 Variations in body weight
– Metabolic rate
 The rate at which the body burns calories to produce
energy
 Physical activity uses up only about one-third of your
energy intake; the other two-thirds is consumed by the
maintenance processes that keep you alive
 When there is an imbalance between energy intake and
output, your weight changes
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Primary Drives
 Variations in body weight
– Fat-cell theory
 Fat-cell theory proposes that obesity is related to the
number of fat cells in the body
 Fat cells
– Cells that serve as storehouses for liquefied fat in the
body and that number from 25 to 35 billion in normalweight individuals
 Fat cells serve as storehouses for liquefied fat
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Primary Drives
 Variations in body weight (continued)
– Set-point theory
 Set-point theory suggests that humans are genetically
programmed to carry a certain amount of body weight
 Set-point
– The weight the body normally maintains when one is
trying neither to gain nor to lose weight
 According to set-point theory, an internal homeostatic
system functions to maintain set-point weight
 Increasing the amount of physical activity is the one
method recommended for lowering the set point so that the
body will store less fat
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Primary Drives
 Dieting
– The complexities of the processes involved in
appetite regulation and energy metabolism explain
why diets often do not work
– To be effective, any weight-loss program must help
people decrease energy intake, increase energy
expenditure, or both
– Miller and others
 Found that even when obese and thin people have the
same caloric intake, thin people derive about 29% of their
calories from fats, while obese people average 35% from
fat
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Primary Drives
 Eating disorders
– Anorexia nervosa
 An eating disorder characterized by an overwhelming,
irrational fear of being fat, compulsive dieting to the point of
self-starvation, and excessive weight loss
 Anorexia typically begins in adolescence, and most of
those afflicted are females
 Anorexics’ perception of their body size is grossly distorted
 No matter how emaciated they become, they continue to
perceive themselves as fat
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Primary Drives
 Eating disorders (continued)
– Anorexia nervosa (continued)
 Among young female anorexics, progressive and
significant weight loss eventually results in amenorrhea
 Anorexics may also develop low blood pressure, impaired
heart function, dehydration, electrolyte disturbances, and
sterility, as well as decreases in the gray matter volume in
the brain, which are though to be irreversible
 Psychological risk factors for eating disorders include being
overly concerned about physical appearance, worrying
about perceived attractiveness, and feeling social pressure
in favor of thinness
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Primary Drives
 Eating disorders (continued)
– Bulimia nervosa
 An eating disorder characterized by repeated and
uncontrolled episodes of binge eating, usually followed by
purging, that is, self-induced vomiting and/or the use of
large quantities of laxatives and diuretics
 Many bulimics come form families in which family members
make frequent negative comments about others’ physical
appearances
 An episode of binge eating has two main features:
– The consumption of much larger amounts of food than
most people would eat during the same period of time
– A feeling that one cannot stop eating or control the
amount eaten
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Primary Drives
 Eating disorders (continued)
– Bulimia nervosa (continued)
 The stomach acid in vomit eats away at the teeth and may
cause them to rot, and the delicate balance of body
chemistry is destroyed by excessive use of laxatives and
diuretics
 The bulimic may have a chronic sore throat as well as a
variety of other symptoms, including dehydration, swelling
of the salivary glands, kidney damage, and hair loss
 Bulimia nervosa tends to appear in the late teens and
affects about 1 in 25 women
 Like anorexics, bulimics have high rates of obsessivecompulsive disorder
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Primary Drives
 Eating disorders (continued)
– Bulimia nervosa (continued)
 Sometimes treatment is complicated by the fact that a
person with an eating disorder is likely to have a
personality disorder as well or be too shy to interact
effectively with therapists
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Motivation Affects on Sexual
Behavior
 Sexual Behavior: Physiology Plus
Thought
– Sex is NOT a physiological need
– Physiology controls sexual behavior less in
humans than in other animals
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B. Sexual Behavior
 1. Sex Hormones versus Sights, Sounds,
Smells, and Fantasy
– Hormones are important
• Androgens and estrogens
• Trigger secondary sexual characteristics
• Develop sexual desire
• Develop and maintain fertility
• Vary cyclically for women
• Decline with age
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Sex Hormones versus Sights, Sounds,
Smells, and Fantasy
 In non-human animals, sex hormones and
behavior are clearly related
• Human beings, however, can choose to
respond sexually or not
• In nonhuman animals, females signal
receptivity and trigger arousal
• Human beings can also be aroused by nonhormonal triggers
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B. Sexual Behavior
2. The Sexual Response Cycle in Humans
a. Excitement Phase
• Vasocongestion is characteristic
• May last several minutes to a few hours
b. Plateau Phase
May last several minutes to a few hours
c. Orgasm Phase
d. Resolution Phase
• Refractory period (only in males)
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B. Sexual Behavior
3. Understanding Human Sexual Behavior
– Information comes from large surveys of
sexual behavior
• Alfred Kinsey in the 1950s
• Gender differences narrowing over time
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3. Understanding Human Sexual
Behavior
 Development of Sexuality
– Before birth
– Reproductive organs form
– Mother’s testosterone wash of fetus
– Childhood
– Sexual feelings and sexual play common
– Often with same-gendered peers
– Does NOT indicate homosexuality
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3. Understanding Human Sexual
Behavior
 Development of Sexuality
– Adolescence
– Sexual activity may begin
– Learning to engage in physical and
emotional intimacy is an important
developmental task
– Adulthood
– In the U.S., married people engage in more
sex than unmarried people
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3. Understanding Human Sexual
Behavior
 Development of Sexuality
– Adolescent
 Higher pregnancy rates among adolescents than in many other
developed countries
 High incidence of sexually transmitted diseases
– Adulthood
 Loss of a partner (divorce or death) decreases sexual
activity
 Sexual activity declines with age
 High Rates of Sexual Dysfunction in the U.S
– However, most report satisfying sex lives
– Sexuality is part of a healthy lifestyle
– Important to seek help for sexual problems
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B. Sexual Behavior
4. Sexual Orientation
– The direction of one’s sexual interest
– Heterosexual
– Homosexual
– Bisexual
– Kinsey acknowledged a continuum
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Kinsey’s Continuum of Sexuality
Exclusively
homosexual
Mostly
homosexual
Mostly
heterosexual
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Exclusively
heterosexual
Point – Counterpoint
 Is sexual orientation determined by
biological factors?
YES
•
Evidence for influences from genetics and hormones in prenatal
development
•
Homosexuality is higher among identical twins than fraternal twins
•
Hypothalamic differences in some homosexual males
NO
•
•
•
Peer groups in childhood may predict later sexual orientation (Bem,
“Exotic becomes erotic”)
Some report success changing sexual orientation with therapy
However, these studies are controversial
What do you think?
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Social Motives
 Social Motives
– Such as Need for affiliation & Need for achievement
– Acquired through experience and interaction with
others
 Need for achievement (n Ach)
– Henry Murray
 Thematic Apperception Test
– A projective test consisting of drawings of ambiguous
situations, which the test taker describes
 Need for achievement
– The need to accomplish something difficult and to
perform at a high standard of excellence
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Social Motives
 Need for achievement (continued)
– Characteristics of achievers
 People with a high n Ach pursue goals that are challenging,
yet attainable through hard work, ability, determination, and
persistence
 People with low n Ach, the researchers claim, are not
willing to take chances when it comes to testing their own
skills and abilities
 People with high n Ach see their success as a result of
their own talents, abilities, persistence, and hard work
 When people with low n Ach fail, they usually give up
quickly
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Social Motives
 Need for achievement (continued)
– Characteristics of achievers (continued)
 Neumann and others
– Found that high achievement motivation is related to
college students’ accomplishments and grades
– Developing achievement motivation
 Parents can foster n Ach if they give their children
responsibilities, teach them to think and act independently
from the time they are very young, stress excellence,
persistence, and independence, and praise them sincerely
for their accomplishments
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Social Motives
 Work motivation
– Industrial/organizational psychologists
 Psychologists who focus on the relationship between the
workplace or organization and the worker
– Work motivation
 The conditions and processes responsible for the arousal,
direction, magnitude, and maintenance of effort one puts
forth in one’s job
– Two of the most effective ways to increase
employee motivation and improve performance are
1] reinforcement and 2] goal setting
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Social Motives
 Work motivation
– Reinforcement/bonuses is first technique
– A second technique for increasing performance is
goal setting
 An organization can enhance employees’ commitment to
goals
–
–
–
–
By having them participate in the goal setting
By making goals specific, attractive, difficult, and attainable
By providing feedback on performance
By rewarding the employees for attaining the goals
– I/O psychologists redesign jobs to make them more
interesting, satisfying, and attractive
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Social Motives
 Work motivation
– Expectancy theory
 Motivation to engage in a given activity is determined by
– Expectancy
 a person’s belief that more effort will result in
improved performance
– Instrumentality
 the person’s belief that doing a job well will be
noticed and rewarded
– Valence
 the degree to which a person values the rewards
that are offered
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