Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
Module 15
Motivation
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
THEORIES OF MOTIVATION
• Motivation
– refers to the various physiological and
psychological factors that cause us to act in a
specific way at a particular time
• Instincts
– innate tendencies or biological forces that
determine behavior
• Fixed action pattern
– innate biological force that predisposes an
organism to behave in a fixed way in the
presence of a specific environmental condition
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
THEORIES OF MOTIVATION (CONT.)
• Brain: reward/pleasure center
– includes several areas of the brain, such as the
nucleus accumbens and the ventral tegmental
area, and involves several neurotransmitters,
especially dopamine
– makes up a neural circuitry that produces
rewarding and pleasurable feelings
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
p330 REWARD PLESURE CENTER
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
THEORIES OF MOTIVATION (CONT.)
• Incentives
– goals, that can be either objects or thoughts, that
we learn to value and that we are motivated to
obtain
– incentives have two common features
– first: can be thoughts
– second: can be objects
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
THEORIES OF MOTIVATION (CONT.)
• Cognitive factors
– Extrinsic motivation
• involves engaging in certain activities or
behaviors that either reduce biological needs
or help us obtain incentives or external
rewards
– Intrinsic motivation
• involves engaging in certain activities or
behaviors because the behaviors themselves
are personally rewarding or because engaging
in these activities fulfills our beliefs or
expectations
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
BIOLOGICAL & SOCIAL NEEDS
• Biological needs
– physiological requirements that are critical to our
survival and physical well-being
• Social needs
– needs that are acquired through learning and
experience
• Satisfying needs
– Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
– ascending order, or hierarchy, in which biological
needs are placed at the bottom and social needs
at the top
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
p333 MASLOW HIERARCHY NEEDS
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
ACHIEVEMENT
• Need for achievement
– refers to the desire to set challenging goals and to
persist in pursuing those goals in the face of
obstacles, frustrations, and setbacks
• Thematic Apperception Test
– TAT, personality test in which subjects are asked
to look at pictures of people in ambiguous
situations and to make up stories about what the
characters are thinking and feeling and what the
outcome will be
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
ACHIEVEMENT (CONT.)
• Need for achievement
– High need for achievement
• shown by those who persist longer at tasks;
perform better on tasks, activities, or exams;
set challenging but realistic goals; compete
with others to win; and are attracted to careers
that require initiative
– Fear of failure
• shown by people who are motivated to avoid
failure by choosing easy, nonchallenging tasks
where failure is more unlikely to occur
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
ACHIEVEMENT (CONT.)
• Need for achievement
– Fear of failure
– Self-handicapping
• refers to doing things that contribute to failure
and then using these very things, knowingly or
unknowingly, as excuses for failing to achieve
some goal
– Underachievement
• underachievers are individuals who score
relatively high on tests of ability or intelligence
but perform more poorly than their scores
would predict
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
ACHIEVEMENT (CONT.)
• Cognitive influences
– Cognitive factors in motivation
• refer to how people evaluate or perceive a
situation and how these evaluations and
perceptions influence their willingness to work
– Intrinsic motivation
• involves engaging in certain activities or
behaviors without receiving any external
rewards because engaging in these activities
fulfills our beliefs or expectations
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
ACHIEVEMENT (CONT.)
• Cognitive influences
– Cognitive factors in motivation
– Extrinsic motivation
• involves engaging in certain activities or
behaviors that either reduce biological needs
or help us obtain incentives and external
rewards
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
HUNGER
• Optimal weight
– ideal weight results from an almost perfect
balance between how much food an organism
eats and how much it needs to meet its body’s
energy needs
– calorie
– a measure of how much energy food contains
• Overweight
– means that a person is 20% over the ideal body
weight
– obesity
– means that a person is 30% or more above the
ideal body weight
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
HUNGER (CONT.)
• Three hunger factors
– Biological hunger factors
• come from physiological changes in blood
chemistry and signals from digestive organs
that provide feedback to the brain, which in
turn, triggers us to eat or stop eating
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
HUNGER (CONT.)
• Three hunger factors
– instructions determine the number of fat cells or
metabolic rates of burning off the body’s fuel,
which push us toward being normal, overweight,
or underweight
• Biological hunger factors
– peripheral cues
– come from changes in blood chemistry or signals
from digestive organs, which secrete various
hormones
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
HUNGER (CONT.)
• Genetic hunger factors
– come from inherited instructions found in our
genes
– determine the number of fat cells or metabolic
rates of burning off the body’s fuel, which push
us toward being normal, overweight, or
underweight
• Psychosocial hunger factors
– Come from learned associations between food
and other stimuli, such as snacking while
watching television, sociocultural influences, such
as depression, dislike of body image, or low selfesteem
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
HUNGER (CONT.)
• Three hunger factors
– central cues
– result from activity in different brain areas, which
in turn result in increasing or decreasing appetite
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
HUNGER (CONT.)
• Psychosocial hunger factors
– personality traits
– may be at great risk for overeating as well as
developing serious eating disorders, such as
overeating when stressed or depressed, going on
food binges (bulimia nervosa), or starving oneself
(anorexia nervosa)
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR
• Genetic sex factors
– include inherited instructions for the development
of sexual organs, the secretion of sex hormones,
and the wiring of the neural circuits that control
sexual reflexes
• Biological sex factors
– include the action of sex hormones, which are
involved in secondary sexual characteristics
(facial hair, breasts), sexual development of ova
and sperm
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
p338 SPERM AND EGG
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT.)
• Genetic influences on sexual behavior
– sex chromosome
– sperm or the egg
– contain 23 chromosomes (contain instructions for
determining the sex of the child)
– egg contains the X chromosome
– sperm’s chromosome can either be X (female) or
Y (male)
– XY means male development
– XX means female development
– fertilized egg is called a zygote
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
p338 MALE AND FEMALE
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT.)
• Genetic influences on sexual behavior
– differentiation
– male sex organ and male brain
– 5th week after conception, the testes begin to
grow and produce male hormones called
androgens
– most familiar is testosterone
– triggers development of male sexual organ
– programs the hypothalamus so at puberty it
triggers the pituitary gland to secrete hormones
on a continuous basis
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT.)
• Genetic influences on sexual behavior
– differentiation
– female sex organs and female brain
– absence of testosterone in the developing embryo
means automatic development of female sexual
organs
– hypothalamus keeps female program
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT.)
• Psychological influences on sexual behavior
– Psychological sex factors
• play a role in developing a sexual or gender
identity, gender role, and sexual orientation
– Gender identity
• refers to the individual’s subjective experience
and feelings of being either a male or female
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT.)
• Psychological influences on sexual behavior
– Gender identity disorder
• commonly referred to as transsexulaism
• a person who has a strong and persistent
desire to be the other sex, is uncomfortable
about being one’s assigned sex, and may
wish to live as a member of the other sex
– Gender roles
• refer to the traditional or stereotypic behaviors,
attitudes, and personality traits that society
designates as masculine or feminine
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT.)
• Psychological influences on sexual behavior
– Sexual orientation
• refers to whether a person is sexually aroused
primarily by members of his or her own sex,
the opposite sex, or both
– Homosexual orientation
• pattern of sexual arousal by persons of same
sexes
– Bisexual orientation
• pattern of sexual arousal by persons of both
sexes
– Heterosexual orientation
• pattern of sexual arousal by persons of the
opposite sex
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT.)
• Sexual responses, problems, and treatments
– Paraphilias
• sexual deviations, characterized by repetitive
or preferred sexual fantasies involving
nonhuman objects, such as sexual attraction to
particular articles of clothing (shoes,
underclothes)
– Sexual dysfunction
• problems of sexual arousal or orgasm that
interfere with adequate functioning during
sexual intercourse
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT.)
• Sexual responses, problems, and treatments
– Organic factors
• medical conditions or drug or medication
problems that lead to sexual difficulties
– Psychological factors
• performance anxiety, sexual trauma, guilt, or
failure to communicate
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT.)
• Sexual responses, problems, and treatments
– Premature or rapid ejaculation
• persistent or recurrent absence of voluntary
control over ejaculation,
• male ejaculates with minimal sexual
stimulation before, upon, or shortly after
penetration and before he wishes to
– Inhibited female orgasm
• persistent delay or absence of orgasm after
becoming aroused and excited
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 15: Motivation
SEXUAL BEHAVIOR (CONT.)
• AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
– HIV positive
– presence of HIV antibodies, which means that the
individual has been infected by the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
– AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)
life threatening condition that is present when the
individual is HIV positive and has a level of T-cells
or has developed one or more of 26 specified
illnesses (pneumonia, skin cancer)