Motivation

Module 11

What motivates you?• Parents• Music• Certain teachers• Food • Money• Being comfortable• Being relaxed• Rewards• Success• Accomplishments• Approval

• Good grades• Trophies/Winning• Exercise/+ body image• Celebrities• Religion• Popularity• Satisfaction• Happiness• Relief• Acceptance• Self-improvement

What else?• USA• Competition• Friends• Being “the best”• Bad grades• Nap time• Society• Future/college/job• Bribes • Threats• Knowledge • Freedom • Phone use

• World issues • Boys/Girls • Love• Values• Video games• Fun weekends• Bonus cards/extra credit• Prom• Travel• Making others happy• Health• Shopping

September 11, 2001

• Four passenger planes hijacked by terrorists.

• Deliberately flew 3 of aircraft into US buildings.

• Killed 2,998 people.• What were their

motives?

Motivation

• From Latin word movere – move

• A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior toward a goal– Historical, biological, cognitive,

clinical/humanistic explanations

• Why do we do what we do?

Historic Explanations: Instinct(s)

• A complex, inherited, unlearned behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species

• William James listed 37 instincts.– Includes mental ones:

• Jealously, curiosity, and cleanliness

• Original psychological explanation of motivation.

• Problems:– Difficulty using

instincts to both label and explain behaviors

– Theorists came up with more than 10,000 + instincts.

Historic Explanations: Drives

• States of tension that result from internal imbalance.– Prompt an organism to restore the balance,

typically reducing the drive

• Ex: skipping breakfast– Come 10:00am you are starving– Creates a physiological need for food,

leads to hunger, a psychological drive.

Drive-Reduction Theory

• The idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need

• Eating and drinking are examples of drive-reducing behaviors.

Drive-Reduction Theory

Drive-Reduction Theory

Drive-Reduction Theory:Get this one!

Biological Explanations:

Arousal Theories

What is the basic idea in arousal theories of motivation?

Is homeostasis the same as drive reduction?

Module 11: Motivation

Biological Explanations: Arousal Theories

• Arousal– Levels of alertness and responsiveness

• Let’s look at 3 friends the night before the SAT:– A: “You know, I don’t really care about the test. I’m going to a

trade school, and I’m only taking the test b/c my parents want me to. Can I have some of your fries?”

– B: “I want to do well, but if I screw up on this test, it’s not going to permanently ruin my life. I’ll give it my best shot. Where’s the ketchup?”

– C: “It’s all on the line tomorrow. If I don’t get a good score, it will change my life forever. I’m so nervous, I can’t eat.”

• Which one are you? Who will do better on the test?

Yerkes-Dodson Law

• The theory that a degree of psychological arousal helps performance, but only up to a certain point– Optimum level of arousal depends on the

difficulty of the task.

• Each person has an optimum level of stimulation they like to maintain.

• Which friend would perform best according to this law?– Friend B

Yerkes-Dodson Law

• Basically arousal will increase performance up to a point.– Further arousal impairs

performance.• Optimal arousal changes

with difficulty of a task.– Simple task – higher

arousal higher performance.

– Difficult task – lower arousal works best

• How does this relate to stress?

Biological Explanations: Homeostasis

• A tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state– Ex: Movie “Bio-dome”.

• The regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as blood glucose, around a particular level

• Any change in levels, up or down, results in being motivated to bring the level back to normal.

• What is your homeostasis with body temp?

Homeostatic Regulation

Homeostatic Regulation

Homeostatic Regulation

Homeostatic Regulation

Homeostatic Regulation

Homeostatic Regulation

Homeostatic Regulation

Homeostatic Regulation

Homeostatic Regulation:Get this one in your notes please!

Cognitive Explanations: Intrinsic and Extrinsic

Motivation

Why is intrinsic motivation more beneficial than extrinsic movtivation?

Module 11: Motivation

Extrinsic & IntrinsicMotivation Motivation

• A desire to perform a behavior because of promised rewards or threats of punishment

• Examples:– Home, work, school

• Do you study b/c you want an “A” or because you want to learn the material?

• A desire to perform a behavior for its own sake and to be effective

• Do you participate in class for bonus cards or b/c you just want to?

Which is better?

• Intrinsic motivation often results in higher achievement.

• Behavior maintained by extrinsic motivation alone may not be effectively sustained once the rewards are removed.– Evidence says removal of an extrinsic motivator may

result in behavior levels even lower than before the rewards were given.

• Do you have any experiences that support these statements?

• Is everything about rewards and punishment?– Do we have free will????

Clinical Explanations: Hierarchy of Needs

• Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)

• Humanistic psychologist who developed the hierarchy of needs

Hierarchy of Needs

• Maslow’s pyramid of human needs begins at the base with physiological needs, and then proceeds through safety needs to psychological needs.– Higher-level needs won’t become active until

lower-level needs have been satisfied.

• Self-Actualization: – According to Maslow, the need to live up to

one’s fullest and unique potential

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

Draw the basics here!

Clinical Explanations: Achievement

• Henry Murray (1893-1988)• Neo-Freudian who first

established the concept of achievement motivation

• Includes a desire for:– Significant accomplishment

– The mastery of things, people, or ideas

– Attaining a high standard

Clinical Explanations: Motivating Ourselves Motivating Others

• Developing Self Motivation:– Associate your high

achievement with positive emotions

– Connect your achievement with your efforts

– Raise your expectations

• Cultivate intrinsic motivation

• Attend to individual motives

• Set specific, challenging goals

• Choose an appropriate leadership style– Task leadership– Social leadership

Motivating Others (cont.)Task and Social

Leadership Leadership

• Goal-oriented leadership that sets standards, organizes work, and focuses attention

• Group-oriented leadership that builds teamwork, mediates conflict, and offers support

Theories on Motivation: summary

• Historical:– Instinct– Drives and Drive

Reduction Theory

• Biological:– Arousal: Yerkes-

Dodson– Homeostasis

• Cognitive:– Intrinsic and Extrinsic

Motivation

• Chemical:– Maslow’s Hierarchy– Achievement– Motivating ourselves

and others

Motivation and Hunger:FOOOOOOOOODDDDD!

A Closer Look the Physiology of Hunger

Glucose:• Form of sugar which

circulates through the body• One feels hunger when the

levels become low.

Insulin • Hormone which allows the

body to use glucose for energy or fat production

• Insulin levels up glucose levels down.

Leptin

• Protein produced by bloated fat cells

• Send a message to “stop eating”

Orexin

• Hunger-triggering hormone• Produced by the

hypothalamus• As glucose levels drop,

orexin levels increase and person feels hungry

Hypothalamus: set point theory

• Weight thermostat.• Maintains a set point.• Damage to this can lead to

severe weight gain or loss.

• 1.) We have a Basal Metabolic Rate (resting rate at which we burn calories for energy).

• 2.) We have a specific number of fat cells (which can expand in size and increase in #).

• 3.) We have hormones that work together to keep our weight where it is designed to be.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

• The body’s resting rate of energy expenditure

Set Point• The point at which an individual’s “weight

thermostat” is supposedly set.• When the body falls below this weight,

increased hunger and a lower basal metabolic rate (BMR) may act to restore the lost weight.

Set Point: Might be a good idea to get this!

Environment and Hunger:

• External Incentives– Include the sight, sound, and smell of food

• Cultural Influences on Eating– Cultural views on obesity can vary

– Culture influences the foods we like and dislike.

Eating Disorders:

Why do people develop eating disorders?

Module 11: Motivation

Anorexia Nervosa• An eating disorder in which

normal weight people suffer delusions of being overweight

• Usually in adolescent females• May put themselves on self-

starvation regimens• May become dangerously

underweight

Bulimia Nervosa

• An eating disorder characterized by episodes of overeating

• Usually overeat high calorie foods

• Overeating is followed by vomiting, using laxatives, fasting, or excessive exercise