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MOTIVATION

THE WHYS OF BEHAVIOUR


Motivation
• Definition:
That which gives the impetus to behaviour by
arousing, sustaining and directing it towards the
successful attainment of goals
• So, motivation:
– energises people to act
– moves you from a resting state to an active state
– directs behaviour & organises it towards a
particular goal-state
– maintains behaviour until the goal is achieved
Biological Explanations
• Where does the energy to engage in behaviour
come from?
• Instincts and motivation:
– Instincts are automatic, involuntary and unlearned
patterns of behaviour triggered by the presence of
particular stimuli
– For example babies are born with a unique ability that
allows them to survive: they are born with the instinct
to cry
– Buss (1999) suggested that the desire to pass on our
genes may provide the motivational forces for such
things as love, romantic relationships, attraction and
marriage
Drive Theory
• Based on the concept of our body’s homeostasis
• Homeostasis is the natural tendency to keep the
body in a state of equilibrium
• Clark Hull (1943) suggested that physiological
disruptions to homeostasis produce drives
(internal tensions that motivate an organism to
engage in behaviour to reduce this tension)
• Drawbacks: dieting for example flies in the face
of the drive to eat, while taking a trip on a roller-
coaster runs contrary to the drive for safety
Thirst: the Need to Drink
• Two types of thirst: extracellular and intracellular
– Losing water to exercise or lack of drinking results in
extracellular thirst
– Loss of the water levels in the blood results in the loss
of blood volume, which in turn signals reduced blood
pressure
– Under such conditions the brain sends a neural signal
to the kidneys that makes them release the hormone
renin. Renin reacts with another substance in the blood
to produce another hormone called angiotensin
– Angiotensin triggers neurons in the brain which
produce the desire to want to drink – maintaining
homeostasis
• Osmosis (the tendency of water to migrate from
areas where it is abundant to areas where it is
scarce) causes intracellular thirst
– As we lose water the concentration of salt levels
in the blood rise. This rise in salt concentration of
the blood causes water from areas where it is
more abundant to move into the blood system
– Neurons in the hypothalamus activate when
water is pulled away from them, such activation
results in the experience of thirst
– So, intracellular thirst does not necessarily have
to result from water loss – indeed eating lots of
salty food can have the same effect by raising
salt concentration homeostasis
Arousal Theory (Hebb, 1955)
• A third biologically based theory of motivation
maintains that people are motivated to act in
ways that keep them at their optimum levels of
arousal
• Optimum level is obviously different for different
people
• So motivation to behave is induced by individual
sets of positive and negative reinforcers in terms
of maintaining this optimum level of arousal
• We learn what keeps our own arousal levels at
the optimum level
Criticisms of Biological Approaches
• Biological theories fail to take into account
cognitive influences on what motivates us
– Why is it that money can motivate some people
while for others it is not important?
– For example, why do some people work as
volunteers for no wages and other people seek
highly paid jobs?
– So, there must be something else other than pure
biological energy, that motivates different people
for different reasons
Cognitive Influences on Motivation
• The contemporary view of motivation emphasises
the importance of cognitive processes
– How important something is to you
– How confident you are in your ability to succeed
are two cognitive factors that will influence
motivation
• So if passing your driving test is essential in
gaining that ideal job you might become too
stressed and not perform as well
Incentive Theory of Motivation
• Incentive theory maintains that external stimuli
motivate behaviour
• Individuals are attracted to behaviours that offer
positive incentives and discouraged from those
behaviours that they associate with negative
behaviours
• The value of an incentive is influenced by both
cognitive and biological factors. So drug-taking
behaviour might be motivated by both biological
addiction (craving) and cognitive evaluations
(taking the drug in the past has made the person
feel relaxed and happy)
Expectancy Theory
• Based on cognitive processes, and motivation
here is provided by our thoughts about engaging
in behaviour
• Expectancies refer to beliefs about how we will
do if we engage in a certain behaviour
• So if we expect to do well then we will be more
likely to engage in the behaviour
• If we feel that the chance of succeeding is poor
we will be less likely to become involved
Cognitive X Value Theory
• The cognitive x value theory states that goal-
directed behaviour is motivated by two cognitive
judgements:
– Firstly, the strength of an individual’s expectation
that engagement in a particular behaviour will lead
to goal obtainment (expectation value)
– Secondly, the value that the individual places on
the goal (incentive value)
• e.g. successful promotion
Hunger: the Need to Eat
• There are a number of social and biological
mechanisms that underlie hunger (the state of wanting
to eat) and satiety (the state of no longer wanting food)
• From a biological perspective there are two sets of
signals that are associated with hunger:
– Empty stomachs might increase appetite and produce
hunger ‘pangs’ and a full stomach usually results in a
decrease in appetite through bloating
– Perhaps more precise signals come from the brain’s
monitoring of blood-borne nutrients such as glucose
(sugar used by body cells), amino acids and fatty acids
Social Theories of Hunger
• Appetite is the motivation to seek pleasure from
food
– e.g. chocolate cravings
• If people who crave chocolate are given
substances that have the same chemical
composition as chocolate but do not taste like it,
they will go on craving chocolate (Michener &
Rozin, 1994)
• This suggests that flavour also acts as a
motivational force in some kings of eating
• Social environments can influence our eating too
Heckhausen’s Expectancy-Value
Model
Four different types of expectancies influence motivation:
– situation-outcome (subjective probability of attaining an
outcome in a specific situation without acting)
– action-outcome (subjective probability of attaining an
outcome by one's actions)
– action-by-situation-outcome (subjective probability that
situational factors facilitate or impede one's action-outcome
expectancy)
– outcome-consequence (subjective probability of an outcome
to be associated with a specific consequence)
Therefore, the motivation to act depends mainly on the
value attached to the consequences of one's behaviour
Self-Efficacy and Motivation
(Bandura)
• A social cognitive model of motivation focused on the role
of perceptions of efficacy
• Bandura defined self-efficacy as: ‘individuals' confidence in
their ability to organise and execute a given course of
action to solve a problem or accomplish a task’
• He distinguishes between two kinds of expectancy beliefs
– Firstly, outcome expectations, which are beliefs that certain
behaviours will lead to certain outcomes
– Secondly, efficacy expectations, which are beliefs about
whether one can effectively perform the behaviours necessary
to produce the outcome
Research Evidence for Self-Efficacy
• St Charles (2002) reported a significant correlation
between self-reported self efficacy scores of
lecturers and their subsequent teaching
performance. Those academics that reported high
self-efficacy in being able to teach were those
rated as the best teachers
• D'Amico & Cardaci (2003) investigated self-
efficacy and scholastic achievement as measured
in 151 schoolchildren (mean age 13.4 yrs). They
reported that all self-efficacy scores were
significantly correlated with scholastic achievement
Attribution and Motivation
• Attribution theory proposes that every individual
tries to explain success or failure of self and
others by offering certain ‘attributions’
• Weiner's attribution theory (1992) identified
ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck as the most
important achievement attributions that serve to
motivate action
• He classified these attributions into three factors:
locus of control, stability and controllability
This table shows the four attributions that result from a
combination of internal or external locus of control and
whether or not control is possible when faced with a
maths exam
Internal locus External locus
of control of control
No control Own natural ability Pure luck (how I am feeling
with maths on the day, if I get a lucky
break with getting the right
questions)
 

Control The amount of effort Task difficulty (how hard


I put into studying the questions are going to
maths be)
Goal Theory of Motivation
• Goal theories assume that all actions are given
meaning, direction and purpose by the goals
that individuals seek out.
• The work on goal theory (Ames, 1992; Urdan &
Maehr, 1995) has differentiated three separate
types of goals:
1. mastery goals (also called learning goals)
2. performance goals (also called ego involvement
goals)
3. social goals
Goal Theory Continued…
• Other research has suggested the existence of
other goals
• Nicholls et al. (1990) defined two major kinds of
motivationally relevant goal patterns or orientations:
ego-involved goals and task-involved goals.
– Questions like ‘Will I look intelligent?’ and ‘Can I
outperform others?’ reflect ego-involved goals
– In contrast, questions such as ‘How can I do this
task?’ and ‘What will I learn?’ reflect task-involved
goals
Self-Development and Motivation
• Humanistic theory is perhaps the most well
known theory of motivation. According to this
theory, humans are driven to achieve their
maximum potential and will always do so unless
obstacles are placed in their way
• According to Maslow’s (1970) hierarchy of needs
we are motivated to seek basic needs such as
food and shelter and move up to higher, more
psychological needs (such as self-development)
Maslow’s Work Continued…
• Maslow's work has led to additional attempts to
develop a grand theory of motivation.
• Leonard, Beauvais & Scholl (1995) propose five
factors as the sources of motivation:
1. Instrumental Motivation (rewards and punishers)
2. Intrinsic Process Motivation (enjoyment, fun)
3. Goal Internalisation (values and goals)
4. Internal Self-Concept-based Motivation
5. External Self-Concept-based Motivation
Model has two sources of motivation – internally
driven and externally driven motivation
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
• Two kinds of motivational forces:
– Those that are internally generated (intrinsic) and those
that are externally generated (extrinsic)
– So examples of intrinsic motivation are feeling good
about doing something (ego boosts), gaining knowledge
or competence as a result of engaging in a behaviour
• In contrast, examples of extrinsic motivation include
money, materialistic gains (new car, bigger office,
more friends) and basically engaging in a task merely
to obtain rewards or avoid punishments
Increasing motivation in the classroom using intrinsic and
extrinsic factors: there are a variety of specific actions that
teachers can take to increase motivation on classroom tasks. In
general, these fall into the two categories: intrinsic motivation and
extrinsic motivation
Intrinsic Extrinsic
Explain or show why learning a Provide clear expectations
particular content or skill is important Give corrective feedback
Create and/or maintain curiosity Provide valuable rewards
and interest Make rewards available
Provide a variety of activities and
sensory stimulations, reading, stories,
video
Provide games and simulations
Set clear goals for learning
Relate learning to student needs and
examples from their daily lives
Help student develop plan of action
Sexual Motivation
• Distinction between hunger/thirst and sexual
motivation:
– When a hungry or thirsty animal ingests a
sufficient quantity of food or water, and this
restoration of energy or fluid returns the organism
to a state of homeostatic balance. Sexual activity,
however, depletes the organism's energy stores and
the sex drive is satiated only when fatigue and
exhaustion override it
– Sexual motivation is largely elicited by
environmental cues, whereas hunger and thirst
largely reflect internal changes
Sexual Motivation Continued…
• Despite the fact that sexual behaviour in humans is
controlled and driven by our brain, at the same time it is
strongly influenced by learned experience from interaction
with our environment
• So that social, ethnic and cultural experience regulates such
things as our sexual preference and habits
• Learning must be an important factor in sexual motivation
as what is considered ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ in human
sexual behaviour is highly variable across cultures and
times
• Sexual motivation is therefore a unique blend of
physiological and psychological stimulation
Sensation Seeking
• Sensation seeking is the motivation to seek
out stimulation and novelty
• Sensation seekers seem less reactive to
stimulation and therefore require stronger
levels of it than low sensation seekers
(Zuckerman, 1991)
• So people who have high sensation seeking
tend to be motivated to engage in more risky
behaviour, more high-risk jobs (fire-fighting,
pilots) and more extreme sports (Jack &
Ronan, 1998)
Achievement Motivation
• The need for achievement is the desire to accomplish
tasks/goals and excel (McClelland et al., 1953;
Atkinson, 1981)
• There may be two reasons people strive to succeed:
motivation for success and fear of failure
– The motive of success reflects intrinsic motivational
forces, the desire to master skills or goals
– Fear of failure produces motivation that drives us to
outperform peers. Such motivation is not always
conducive to better performance
– It has been shown that fear of failure seems to develop
in children whose parents take for granted success but
punish failure (Weiner, 1992)

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