Chapter 11 - Motivation Flashcards
(28 cards)
motivation
- need or desire that energizes behaviour and directs it towards a goal
- grounded in emotion -> we are motivated to do things that make us feel good (and vice versa)
4 theories of motivation
- instinct
- drive-reduction
- optimum arousal
- hierarchy of needs/motives
instinct theory
- focuses on the way insticts (unlearned behaviours) influence behaviour (aka: evolutionary perspective)
- strengths: consistent with animal literature
- weakness: thousands of instincts needed to explain human behaviour (this theory labels, not explains)
drive-reduction theory
- physiological need creates an aroused tension state (drive) -> motivates an organism to satisfy the need and return to baseline
- states that we need to return to homeostasis
- pushed by needs (ie. hunger); pulled by incentives (ie. smell of baking bread)
- weaknesses: how do we explain curiosity or play? Why would we get bored?
optimum arousal theory
- we seek optimum levels of arousal
- too little = boredom; too much = stress -> we want to get to optimum midpoint
hierarchy of needs/motives theory
- Maslow: certain needs have priority over others
- physiological -> safety -> love and belongingness -> esteem -> self-actualization
- supported by hunger comes first study: when participants were only fed 1/2 their typical food intake for 6 months, they lost interest in social activities, love, etc. and became obsessed with food
3 key motivations
- hunger
- sex
- belongingness
hunger from a biopsychosocial perspective
- biology: stomach contractions, glucose, hypothalamus
- psychology: memory (amnesia patients eat frequently if given food), taste (influenced by both body chemistry and culture), eating disorders
- sociocultural aspects: culturally learned taste preferences
sex from a biopsychosocial perspective
- biology: estrogen and testosterone (like fuel in a car -> if there’s enough fuel/hormones, you can go/have sexual motivation - the tank doesn’t need to be full)
- psychology: external stimuli (what we see, read, hear, etc.), imagined stimuli (fantasies), predictors of sexual restrain among adolescents = intelligence, religiosity, higher presence of father in a girl’s life, volunteering
- socio-cultural motivation: family and society values, religiosity, etc.
sexual orientation
- a person’s preference for emotional and sexual relationships with individuals of the same sex, the opposite sex, and/or either sex
- stats can differ greatly depending on how you define sexuality (ie. asking people to define themselves as “homosexual” = lower stats; asking people to define themselves as “not heterosexual” = higher stats)
origins of sexual orientation
- not due to aspects of mothering/fathering, fear/hatred of opposite gender, current level of sex hormones, childhood sexual factors, or environmental factors
- homosexuality exists in animal kingdom
biology of sexual orientation
in homosexual men, anterior hypothalamus is smaller; anterior commissure is larger
genetics of sexual orientation
- homosexuality seems to run in families
- identical twin is more likely than fraternal twin to share twin’s sexuality
- fruit flies can be genetically engineered to act like opposite sex during courtship
prenatal hormones and sexual orientation
- animals: exposure of female sheep fetus to testosterone results in homosexual behaviour
- humans: exposure of male or female fetus to female hormones results in attraction to males (correlational)
belongingness needs
- separation from others increases need to belong
- from evolutionary perspective, belongingness helped protect against predators, procure food, reproduce, etc.
- affects our emotions (happiness, depression), thoughts (“I want people to like me”), and behaviours (increasing social acceptance)
motivation and work
in industrialized countries, work and life satisfaction go hand-in-hand
industrial-organizational psychology
- principles of selecting and evaluating workers
- how work environments and management styles influence worker motivation, satisfaction, and productivity
- effective leadership
interviews and performance
interviewers are confident in their ability to predict long-term progress, but are less accurate than standardized tests
Yerkes-Dodson law
- part of arousal theory
- performance increases with arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases
- ex. it’s good to be slightly stressed when taking an exam, but not stressed enough that it’s crippling
set point
- point at which your “weight thermostat” is supposedly set
- when body falls below set point weight, hunger increases to restore lost weight
settling point
- preferred term, indicates level at which a person’s weight settles in response to calorie intake and expenditure
- influenced by environment and biology
situational influences on eating
- whether others are present (we eat more when around others)
- portion size (we eat more on bigger plates)
- food variety (we eat more when large variety of food is present)
sexual response cycle
- 4 stages of sexual responding described by Masters and Johnson
- excitement, plateau, orgasm, resolution
paraphilias
sexual arousal from fantasies, behaviours, or urges involving non-human objects, suffering of self or others, and/or non-consenting persons (ex. exhibitionism, necrophilia, pedophilia)
