Motivation Direction
Approach Motivation: the impulse to move toward a stimulus
Avoidance Motivation: the impulse to move away from a stimulus
Motivation Intensity
0 to high level, a measure of the strength of the urge
Partially Voluntary Motivation
- Often possess 2 or more conflicting motivations
- Self-control: may require choosing long-term goal over short-term goals
Evolutionary Approach to Motivation
Charles Darwin
Instincts: unlearned responses to stimuli that are universal throughout a species
Adaptive: assumes that organisms are motivated to engage in behaviours that help them to pass on their genes (reproductive success)
Humans possess a high degree of flexibility of behaviour
Spandrels - incidental by-product that became functional adaptation
Exaptation - feature that now enhances fitness for one function that was originally adapted for different function
Thorndike Animal Intelligence (1911)
- animal behaviour is affected by its consequences
- law of effect - if there is negative consequence it will inhibit its behaviour
William James, Principles of Psychology (1890)
- instinct is a complex unlearned response to characteristic stimulus
- reflex –> instinct –> learning
- should not come about as a result of learning
Problems with Instinct Concept
- descriptive not explanatory
- hard to discern whether behaviour is due to instinct or something else
- vague, arbitrary
Ethology
- action specific energy
- key stimuli
- innate releasing mechanism
- fixed action pattern
study of behaviour in natural settings
action specific energy - in the perceiving animal
key stimuli - thing happening in environment
innate releasing mechanism - brain mechanism that detects key stimulus
fixed action pattern - instinctive behavioural sequence
Preparedness Theory
innate biological tendency to respond quickly to stimuli that pose a threat to survival of ancestors
- phobias
Behaviourist or Drive Reduction Theory
- biological need: deprivation that energises a drive to eliminate deprivation
- drive: internal tension state that occurs because of a need
motivated to satisfy drive
- goal-directed action
homeostasis: body’s tendency to maintain a steady state or equilibrium
homeostasis –> imbalance –> need –> drive –> motivation to act –> homeostasis
Negatives of Drive Reduction Theory
not all motivation is due to deprivation and lots of motivations due to the amount of drives
Neo-Behaviourist Theory
BIS, FFFS, BAS
- first proposed in 1970
BIS
Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS)
- seeks to resolve conflict between motivational impulses
- associated with rumination, risk assessment and anxiety
FFFS
Fight-Flight-Freeze System (FFFS)
- want to get away
- sensitive to aversive stimuli
- associated with defensive avoidance and escape
BAS
behavioural approach system (BAS)
- want to move forward
- to satisfy body needs
- associated with approach and anticipatory pleasure motivation
Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory
or Neo-Behaviourist Theory
- work together to regulate behaviour
- situations can influence the relative activation of each system
- everyone has them
- individuals may differ in the strength of each system
Functions of Emotion
- arousal - responses to things
- directing attention to something potentially biologically important
- Influence learning and memory
- motivate behaviour - environmental cues predict dangerous events
- Communication
Psychosocial Motives
- largely unconscious
- need - recurrent concern for goal state
- needs direct and energise
- Henry Murray
need for achievement, power, affiliation
Need for Achievement
- Doing something better for its own sake, intrinsic satisfaction of doing something better
Achievement Imagery
- Thoughts about performing some task well
- sometimes these are blocked,
- different ways of feeling joy or sadness depending on the achievement after efforts are made
Need for Power
- Having an impact on others through strong forceful actions
- Controlling, influencing, helping or impressing others
- Relating to effective leaders
Need for Affiliation
- Concern with establishing, maintaining or restoring friendly relations
- Positive feelings abouts groups or people
- Relating to teamwork and good friends and romantic partners
Measurement of Needs
Self Report
- needs cannot be measured by self-report
- Do not correlate with TAT
- reflect values and conscious motives
- predict effort and success when individuals are told to do well
TAT (test)
- TAT predicts long-term behavioural trends
Atkinson’s Risk Taking Model of Achievement
Found that individuals who scored high on need for achievement were very invested in a moderate ability of success (50%)
- Mirror image for people who feared failure
- Attribute failure to the task taken, 50% is most diagnostic of the individual’s ability, whereby they don’t want to rely on their own decision making
Three Basic Organismic Needs
- Competence
- self-efficacy mastery, achievement - Relatedness
- need for warm relations, need to belong, pain due to ostracism - Autonomy
- need for independence and self-reliance
