Measuring Motivation

• Motivation involves forces acting on or within an organism to initiate and direct behavior.
• Motivation is influenced by social interactions, is dynamic, multidimensional, is key to change and can be modified.

Measurement of Motivation

• Psychologically involves PSS which is a perceived stress scale and IES-R which is the impact of events scale, like posttraumatic stress disorder
• Biologically involves direct measurement of cortisol and epinephrine, and indirect measurement of inflammatory markers like IL-6 & CRP
• Through Kinesiology/athletic training with Exercise Stress Tests

Ways to Measure Motivation

• Measuring motivation is difficult
• Stimulus leads to intervening variable, which leads to response
• Motivation can be measured using cognitive & affective measures like accessibility and inhibition of goal-related constructs
• Motivation can be measured using behavioral measures like Speed, Higher speed on goal-related tasks in short duration
• Motivation can be measured by performance via Higher accuracy and amount of work done
• Motivation can be measured by Choice, specifically Increased selection of goal-congruent objects and actions

Characteristics of Motivation

• Activation: Overt responses - Behavior results from motivation.
• Intensity: Intensity, vigor, or force with higher intensity equaling more motivation.
• Persistence: More persistence equals more motivation.
• Direction: Changing behaviors occurs because some choices are more motivating, and may change based on circumstance.

Motivation Analysis

• Different branches of psychology approach problems differently
• Major areas of interest will vary as well tools and techniques used
• Physiological Analysis improves understanding of role of CNS in motivation thru Lesions, electrical/chemical stimulation, EEG, PET, MRI, and fMRI.
• Individual Analysis studies many individuals to generalize to population.
• Consider Learning- how motives change on experience/incentives/goals; Cognitive Processes like attributions and information processing; Personality factors influencing responses to variety of stimuli/situations - Growth vs Hedonism - Growth means being all you can be, and Hedonism means seeking pleasure & avoiding pain - Big five personality traits can influence motivation
• Social Analysis considers how people are influenced by the real, imagined, or implied presence of others, and studies: Norms, Conformity, and Persuasion.

Category Distinctions

• Innate vs. Acquired addresses Nature vs. Nurture.
• Internal vs. External addresses Needs vs. Goals.
• Mechanistic vs. Cognitive addresses reactive/instinctive vs. conscious/intentional.
• Nomothetic vs. Idiographic refers to “we're all the same" vs. “how are we different?"
• Two philosophical views on motivation: motivation is aversive and behavior overcomes it, or motivation is positive and helps us become better people.
• Philosophical debates surround whether where motivation originates, what drives us, and the components of motivation.

Philosophical Antecedents

• Aristotle (384-322 BCE) debated Tabula rasa versus innate predispositions, free will versus determinism, and nature versus nurture.
• Descartes (1596-1650) believed motivation is driven by soul and body, that mind and body are separate (dualism), and motivation can be willful/free/rational or automatic/innate/instinctual.
• "Cogito, ergo sum" translates to "I think therefore I am".
• Locke (1632-1704) focused on human understanding through sensation, perception, and reflection, gaining basic ideas through experience and forming complex ideas through association.
• Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911), cousin of Charles Darwin, studied I.Q.
  • "offspring of illustrious individuals were far more likely to be illustrious than the offspring of non-illustrious individuals."
• John B. Watson (1878 - 1958), the father of behaviorism.

History of Physiology

• Galen proposed and Bell discovered sensory and motor nerves
• Muller discovered specific nerve energies and that nerves send coded messages.
• Nerve energy is electrical
• Francis Gall (1758-1828), a German physician, studied phrenology, or localization of function
  • Different parts of the brain controlling different functions, determining abilities/personalities by feeling bumps in the skull.

Evolution and Motivation

• Involves progressive change of organisms across time
• Natural selection: The environment influences the progression of genetic change - Viability: Whether a gene expressing behavior increases gene carrier's likelihood of living long enough to reproduce. - Fertility: Mating success, mating rituals - Fecundity: Number of offspring produced.
• Reproduction is the replication of living organisms and primary operating principle
• Metabolism: the conversion of energy for use by the organism
• Mitosis involves a single cell dividing into two daughter cells
• Meiosis involves two specialized cells forming a new one including chromosomes and genetic info from both.
• Advantages of sexual reproduction includes diversity and recombination of genes, repair of genetic information, faster evolution, expression of dominant and recessive genes and mutational contributions.
• Sexual selection concerns gender strategies in mating, parental investment, and resource display.
• Females only care about the above and males want youth and beauty and reproductive value