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)

Self-actualization

(ethics, philosophical and artistic expression)

Safety

(low risk of physical harm)

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  tells us we are hungry, makes us want to eat • Ventromedial hypothalamus  tells us we are full, makes 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 self defeating 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.