Understanding Motivation: Types and Cycle

Motivation Defined

• Motivation explains why a person does something and is the driving force behind actions.
• Process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors.
• Inclues biological, emotional, social, and cognitive factors that activate human behavior.
• Involves factors that direct and maintain goal-directed actions.
• Motives are often inferred from observable behaviors since they are rarely seen directly.

The Motivation Cycle

• Psychologists use needs to describe the motivational properties of behavior.
• Need: a lack or deficit of some necessity.
• Drive: state of tension/arousal produced by a need, energizing random activity.
• Random activities lead to a goal, reducing the drive and stopping activity, returning the organism to a balanced state.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

• Motivation can stem from outside (extrinsic) or inside (intrinsic) an individual.

Extrinsic Motivation

• Performing a behavior to earn a reward or avoid punishment.
• Engaging in behavior not for enjoyment but for expected external rewards or to avoid unpleasant outcomes.

Intrinsic Motivation

• Engaging in a behavior for its own sake because it's rewarding.
• Performing an activity for its own sake rather than for external rewards, the behavior itself is the reward.

Impact of Rewards on Motivation

• People are motivated differently and view rewards individually.
• Some are intrinsically motivated, some extrinsically.
• Extrinsic rewards can be effective but should be used sparingly to avoid undermining intrinsic drive.
• Extrinsic rewards can diminish intrinsic motivation if overused or used in certain situations.

Overjustification Effect

• Extrinsic reinforcement can be seen as coercion or bribery.
• Focusing on how to help students reach their full potential using rewards in education.
• Rewards may encourage intrinsic motivation if given early in a task.
• Giving an immediate bonus for working on a task increases interest and enjoyment more than waiting until completion.
• Factors like curiosity, challenge, control, recognition, cooperation, competition, and fantasy can boost intrinsic motivation.

Instinct Theory

• Instinct theory suggests all organisms are born with innate biological tendencies ensuring survival.
• Instinct: goal-directed and innate patterns of behavior, not from learning or experience.
• Infants' rooting reflex and birds' migration are examples of unlearned, natural behaviors.
• Instincts are defined as innate tendencies directing behavior in predictable ways across a species, often referring to an urge.

Instincts as Unlearned

• Animals have inherent tendencies to engage spontaneously in specific behaviors like a dog shaking, a sea turtle seeking the ocean, or a bird migrating.
• Konrad Lorenz showed geese imprint on the first moving thing they see post-hatching.

Instincts as Physiological Desires

• Instincts: biologically programmed, innate patterns of behavior that promote survival and thriving.
• Instincts are rooted in physiology and have evolved through natural selection.
• William James and William McDougall proposed that fixed, pre-determined instincts guide actions without needing learning.
• Instincts are rooted in physiology, fulfilling basic survival and reproductive needs.
• Examples: migration, territoriality, rituals, and maternal care.
• Instinct theory suggested human behaviors like aggression and nurturing stem from innate instincts.
• Modern psychology moved away from strict instinct theory, considering modern theories of motivation, such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs, self-determination theory, and arousal theory.

Types of Motives

• Motives are divided into biological and psychosocial.
• Biological motives are physiological mechanisms.
• Psychosocial motives are learned from individual interactions.
• Both types are interdependent, with triggers varying by situation.

Biological Motives

• Biological motives are needs that organisms have (internal physiological imbalances) that produce drive. This stimulates behavior leading to certain actions towards achieving certain goals, which reduces the drive.
• Biological/physiological approach is the concept of instinct.

Biological Motives Types

• Hunger: need for food dominates everything else.
  • Internal/external events trigger/inhibit the need to obtain and consume food.
• Hunger stimuli: stomach contractions, low blood glucose, low protein, and fat levels.
• Thirst: the conditions of the body triggers the need to drink water.
  • Water is lost from cells and blood volume.
• Sex: a powerful drive influencing human behavior.
  • Sex is more than a biological motive and differs from others.
  • Sexual activity is a biological drive in lower animals, but difficult to classify purely as biological in humans.

Homeostasis

• Homeostasis is a fundamental biological motive which maintains a stable and balanced internal environment.
• It involves processes to regulate temperature, pH, blood glucose, and water balance.
• The stability of homeostasis ensures cells’ function efficiently.

Theories of motivation

• Motivation drives a person to work to achieve desired goals.
• It translates into a certain kind of human behavior powered by commitment and focus.

Pull and Push Theory

• People are driven by inner factors like personal interests/goals ("push") or by external rewards/incentives ("pull").
• Theory informs why people do what they do and how internal desires and outside rewards motivate.

Push approach

• Emphasizes internal factors/intrinsic drives that lead individuals to engage in behaviors/pursue goals.
  • Intrinsic motivation: driven by enjoyment from the activity.
• Needs and drives: motivated by basic physiological and psychological needs.
  • Act as internal drives that push individuals to take actions to fulfill them.
  • Personal goals and aspirations aligned to interests motivate people.
• Autonomy and Mastery: individuals have control when their motivation is enhanced.
• Push approach researchers and theories: Abraham Maslow, Deci and Ryan.

Pull approach

• Focuses incentives that attract individuals to act.
  • Extrinsic motivation: motivated by external rewards/avoiding punishment.
• Rewards and Incentives: the tangible benefits pulls individuals toward outcomes.
• Social Influence: motivate individuals' actions
• Goal Setting and Reinforcement align with behavioral reinforcement, encourage behaviors.
• B.F. Skinner: reinforcement/punishment is the driving force for behavior.

Optimum Arousal Theory

• People have a ideal level of arousal.
• People seek excitement and new experiences for higher arousal, while others prefer activities to lower arousal.
• Mental (cognitive), emotional (affective), or physical make up theory.
• Balance is unique to each individual.

Yerkes-Dodson Law

• Increased arousal improves performance until an optimum level.
• Performance suffers when stress and anxiety becomes to high.
• Environment shoud be monitored closely.

Expectancy theory

• Theory suggests that individuals will be motivated to put in more effort if they believe that their efforts will lead to better performance and the better performance is more likely to lead to reward.
• In a student's case, expectancy theory comes into play when deciding whether to study for a difficult test. If the student believes that studying hard will lead to better performance (expectancy)

Maslow's Hierarchy Needs Theory

• Our actions driven by basic to complex physiological/psychological needs.
• Motivation needs is similar to instincts that motivates behavior.
• There are five levels of needs:
  • The physiological needs include those that are vital to survival.
  • The needs for security and safety become primary.
  • Emotional relationships drives human behavior.
  • The need for appreciation and respect drive behavior.
  • Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned with personal growth.

McClelland's Theory of Motivation

• Proposed by David McClelland.
• Focuses on needs that drive human behavior in the workplace.
• Need for:
  • Achievement
  • Affiliation
  • Power

Aggression

• Behavior aimed at harming a person/animal or damaging property.

What causes Aggression

• Factors:
  • Biological
  • Social Learning Theory : proposed by Albert Bandura

Controlling Aggression

• Skills:
  • Anger Management and Communication
  • Empathy and Emotional Intelligence :
  • Social
• Therapies:
  • Counseling
  • Educational Programs

Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

• States that aggression is a result of frustration.
• External factors block a goal, causing frustration and aggressive drive.
• Aggression might be displaced towards a less dangerous target due to risks.

Causes of Frustration

• Causes:
  • Expectations and Goals
  • Environmental Obstacles
  • Social Support :
  • Societal Expectations

Conflicts

• Conflicts gives rise to a lot of tension in the individual until conflict is resolved

Types of Conflicts

• Approach-approach involves:
  • Having two desires with positive valence.
• Avoidance-avoidance:
  • Involves two gaols with negative valence.
  • Individual must choose one among each unwanted goals.
• Approach-avoidance:
  • Person is both attracted and repelled by the sume gaol object with both positive and negative valences.
• Multiple-approach-avoidance:
  • Involves both positive and negative valences of multiple nature.