Download Motivation

Motivation
Why do we do what we do?
Motivational Concepts
• Motive
– a need or desire that initates behavior and directs it
towards a goal.
– triggered by stimulus or incentive (bodily
condition, external cue)
• Theories of Motivation
1) Instinct theory
2) Drive-reduction theory
3) Arousal theory
4) Hierarchy of motives
5) Cognition/Incentives theory
Instinct Theory
• Instinct = complex behavior patterned throughout
a species, unlearned
• Instinct theory  we are motivated by our inborn,
automated behaviors
• BUT instincts only explain why we do a small
fraction of our behaviors
Drive-Reduction Theory
• Behavior is motivated by drives that arise from
biological needs that demand satisfaction
• Drive = aroused, motivated state
– Primary drive = innate, biological
– Secondary drive = learned, acquired through experience
• Aim of drive reduction is homeostasis
Optimum Arousal Theory
• Belief that we seek ways of increasing arousal when
level of stimulation drops
– Linked to brain’s reticular formation & sympathetic nervous
system
• Motivated to satisfy curiosity, reduce boredom,
seek stimulation
• See Yerkes-Dodson Law
Cognitive (Incentive) Theory
• People actively and regularly determine their own
goals and means of achieving them
• Intrinsic motivation  engage in behavior for
internal pleasure & satisfaction of activity itself
• Extrinsic motivation  engage in behavior for
rewards from the environment (money, grades,
awards)
• Over-justification effect  less likely that a task
will be done intrinsically when an extrinsic
reward is no longer given
Cognitive Theory &
Achievement Motivation
• Achievement motivation = master tasks & take
great pride in doing so
– High  need to achieve challenging but realistic
goals,
– Low  enjoy success because they have avoided
failure, prefer easy & low effort tasks
Management Theory & Motivation
• Theory X: Managers believe that employees will work
only if rewarded with benefits or threatened with
punishment (extrinsically motivated).
• Theory Y: Managers believe that employees are internally
motivated to do good work and policies should encourage
this internal motive (intrinsically motivated).
• How might this change the management techniques?
Industrial and Organizational
Psychology
• A subfield in psychology that focuses on how to
help organizations recruit, select, compensate and
train employees.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Abraham Maslow
said we are
motivated by needs,
and all needs are
not created equal.
• We are driven to
satisfy the lower
level needs first.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Self-esteem (accepting
of self as you are)
Safety (low risk
of physical harm)
Self-actualization
(ethics, philosophical
and artistic expression)
Love and
belonging
(loving, being
loved, social
relationships)
Biological (food,
water, sleep, sex)
Motives and Stress
• Approach-approach conflicts
– Two desirable but exclusive motives
– EX: Choosing between two parties occurring at same
time
• Avoidance-avoidance conflicts
– Choosing between two undesirable choices
– EX: Pay a fine or go to jail after convicted of crime
Motives & Stress (cont.)
• Approach-avoidance conflicts
– One activity has both attractive and unattractive
features
– EX: You want to go to the movies with some
friends, but doing so requires more money than you
want to spend
• Multiple approach-avoidance conflicts
– EX: Choosing between two jobs (one pays little but
has good coworkers; other pays a lot but coworkers
are hostile)
Motivation of HUNGER
Physiology of Hunger
• Body keeps tabs on our caloric
intake to prevent energy deficits &
maintain stable body weight
• Glucose = blood sugar used for
energy, helps regulate hunger
• The hormone insulin converts
glucose to fat.
• When glucose levels drop, hunger
increases
Physiology of Hunger
• Lateral hypothalamus
• Ventromedial
 tells us we are
hypothalamus  tells
hungry, makes us want
us we are full, makes
to eat
us stop eating
Set Point Theory
• The hypothalamus acts like a thermostat.
• Set point = stable weight to which your body wants to
return
– Activate the lateral when you diet and activate the ventromedial
when you start to gain weight.
– Is it fixed?
• Basal metabolic rate: rate of energy expenditure for
maintaining basic body functions when body is at rest
Hunger Motivation & Culture
Ecology of Eating
• Situations also control our eating
• People eat more when eating with others
(e.g. holiday parties!)
• Portion sizes = unit bias
– When alloted smaller portion, ate less
– When given bigger portion, eat more
Motivation and Eating Disorders
• Anorexia nervosa  self-starvation that results in
dangerously low body weight
• Bulimia nervosa  episodes of binge-eating followed by
purging
• Binge-eating disorder  binge-eating w/out purging (but
with remorse)
Biopsychosocial Model & Eating
Biological influences:
Hypothalamic centers
Appetite hormones
Stomach pangs
Set point
Attraction to tastes
Psychological influences:
Sight & smell of food
Variety of foods available
Memory of time elapsed
since last meal
Stress and mood
Food unit size
Eating
Behavior
Social-cultural influences:
Culturally learned taste preferences
Responses to cultural preferences for appearance
Motivation & Obesity
• Our bodies store fat
– Fat is an ideal form of stored energy (think of our ancestors)
– However, such foods are available in abundance (unlike for our
ancestors)
• Obesity = excess body fat
• WHO (World Health Organization) in 2007
– More than 1 billion people are
overweight, with 300 million of
them clinically obese
– Adult obesity rate in U.S. has
doubled in last 40 years, reaching
34%, child-teen obesity quadrupled
– “global epidemic” of diabetes
Social Effects of Obesity
• Affects how we are treated, how we fell about ourselves
– Stereotypes of the obese
• Gortmaker weight study (1993)
– 370 obese women, ages 16-24
– 7 years later  2/3 of women were still obese, 2/3 unmarried
– Made 25% less than women in comparable jobs
• Pingitore’s weight discrimination study (1994)
– Filmed mock job interviews w/actors who were normal-weight &
overweight
– Overweight applicants were rated less
worthy of hiring
• Lower psychological well-being
• Inhibits social behaviors
Physiology of Obesity
• People gain fat by consuming more calories than they expend
• Immediate determinants of fat are size & number of fat cells (each
person has average of 30 billion cells)
– When # of fat cells increases (genetics, eating patterns,
overeating) it NEVER decreases
• Fat cells may shrink
• Set point & metabolism  when overweight
person’s body drops below previous set point,
the person’s hunger increases & metabolism
decreases to restore lost weight
– Body reacts to starvation by burning off
fewer calories
Genetics & Obesity
• Obesity gene (chromosome 7)
• Adopted children’s weights resemble those of
biological parents, not adoptive family
• Identical twins have similar weights even when
reared apart
• Children of obese parents are more likely to be
obese
Food & Activity Factors on Obesity
• Less active lifestyles
• Sleep loss
– Sleep deprivation causes levels of leptin (reports
body fat to brain) to fall and ghrelin (which
stimulates appetite) to rise
• Social influence
– People more likely to become obese when friend
became obese
• Our “fattening” world
– People across the globe are
getting heavier
– Being bombarded with food cues
• Data from Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)
The Need to Belong (Baumeister & Leary)
• People are social animals
• Aiding survival
– Social bonds boosted our ancestors’ survival rate
• Wanting to belong
– Related to self-fulfillment, satisfaction
• Sustaining relationships
– Resist breaking social bonds
• Pain of ostracism
– Controls behavior
– When socially excluded, people may engage in selfdefeating or antisocial behaviors
References
Kaplan, H. Motivation (PPT file). Retrieved from AP
Psychology Commune web Site:
http://www.appsychology.com
Myers, D.G. (2011). Myers’ psychology for AP. Holland,
MI: Worth Publishers.