Motivation
Psychology
Motivation
• Motivation: an Internal state that
activates behavior and directs it towards
a goal
– The “WHY” of human behavior
– Unobservable  Goal-Directed Behavior
– The Psychological and physiological factors that
cause us to act a certain way at a certain time
Instinct Theory
• Instincts: innate tendencies that determine
behavior [William McDougall 1908]
– Natural or inherited tendencies to respond
without reason
– The same for all members of a species
• Humans: Cleanliness, Curiosity, Parental Love,
Sociability, and Sympathy
– Does not Explain behavior, but labels it
Drive-Reduction Theory
• Needs: something required to sustain an
organism physically or psychologically
• Drive: the tension caused by the need that
motivates action
– Action is completed to maintain a state of
HOMOSTASIS—the tendency of all organism to
correct imbalances and deviations from their
normal state
NEED  DRIVE  MOTIVATED ACTION
Drive-Reduction Theory Experiments
• HALL: when deprived of something we need or
want, we become agitated. To relieve this
agitation, we act
– When an organism’s behavior reduces a drive, the
organism develops a habit
• HARLOW—Harlow’s Monkeys:
– Q: Is the extreme love for a mother due to the fact
that mothers are the main source of relief from the
drives of hunger and thirst for infants? Or is there
something else causing us to inherently love our
mothers?!
Harlow’s
Monkeys
•Experiment: Monkeys
taken away from their
mothers and given two
“surrogate” mothers in a
cage—one a wire “monkey”
with a bottle and the
second, a cloth covered
“monkey” without a bottle
•If the theory of our love for
our mothers comes from
their satisfying of our
hunger needs, then the
Monkey should attach to the
wire “monkey”
SOOOOO….What Happened?!
Harlow’s
Monkeys
CONTACT COMFORT:
The monkey babies
derived great comfort
from the physical
contact with the
mother
Which surrogate
monkey momma was
it more pleasurable
to have physical
contact with?
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjA2MjQ2OTEy.ht
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Cognitive Theories of Motivation
Forces inside and outside of us that energize us
to move
EXTRINSIC
V
INTRINSIC
MOTIVATION
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Abraham Maslow – pioneer of Humanistic
psychology. He believed all humans need to feel
competent, win approval and recognition, and have a
sense of achievement.
• Maslow’s theory is not supported by all researchers.
• The lower the need the greater its strength. When a
lower need is activated (hunger, fear of safety), a
person stops trying to satisfy a high need (esteem,
self-actualization) and focuses on the lower need.
Emotions: Facial Feedback Hypothesis
• Totals—add all ten scores together!
• What does this mean about the Cause of
Emotion??!