MotivationOf Behaviour

Definition of motivation Motivation refers to states within the organism that drive Behaviour

towards some goals. It has three aspects: (a) the driving state, (b) the Behaviour aroused and directed by the driving state, and (c) the goal towards which the Behaviour is directed.

The motivating factors stimulate desire and energy in people to be continually interested and committed to a job, role or subject, or to make an effort to attain a goal.

Might be extrinsic or intrinsic

Types of motivation

Extrinsic motivation comes from external sources

Could be monetary rewards and trophies, good grades or thoughtful comments.

Intrinsic motivation Motivation driven by interest

Comes from inside of an individual than any external reward.

A person does not work in expectation of an external reward.

He may or may not be rewarded but he works because such external rewards are not enough to keep someone motivated.

Needs A motivating force that compels action for its satisfaction.

Needs range from basic survival needs satisfied by necessities, to cultural, intellectual, and social needs satisfied by necessaries.

Needs are finite but, in contrast, wants which spring from desires or wishes are boundless.

The human needs can be broadly divided into two categories-

-Biological needs

-Socio-psychological needs

Types of needs

Biological needs

The fundamental needs for our existence are oxygen, water and food.

Need for rest when tired, Being active when resting, Need of sleep.

Regular elimination of waste product

Even internal body temperature

Protection from threats of environmental disasters

Sensory needs which are demands of our senses for survival.

Socio-psychological needs

The need of freedom or independence.

Need of security

Need of love and affection

Need to achieve

Need of social company

Needs for recognition or social approval

Need for self assertion

Need for self expression or self actualization.

Drives A drive or desire can be described as a deficiency or need that

activates behavior that is aimed at a goal or an incentive.

Basic drives could be sparked by deficiencies such as hunger, which motivates a person to seek food.

More subtle drives might be the desire for praise and approval, which motivates a person to behave in a manner pleasing to others.

They arise from our biological needs as a result of our biological mechanism known as homeostasis

Drives and Incentives

Drives are influenced and guided by incentives.

Incentives works as reinforcing force agent.

It adds more fuel to drive

Praise, appreciation, rewards, bonus, fulfillment of one needs are some examples of incentives

Incentives work more forcefully incase the organism remains deprived of that particular drive.

Motives Motive is generally defined as a state of physiological or

psychological arousal which influences how we behave.

It is a physiological arousal, such as hunger or thirst, motivates us to eat or get something to drink.

For example, if you see someone buying food in a shop, you may come to the conclusion that they are hungry and so they must be driven by physiological arousal.

Generated through needs or drives.

Attainment of goals helps in releasing tension aroused by a specific motive.

Types of motives

Motives

Biological motives Social motives Personal motives

-Primary motives-Hunger-Thirst-Need for oxygen-Regulation of body temperature-Need for sleep-Avoidance of pain-Elimination of waste-Sex motive-Maternal motive

-Achievement motive-Aggressive motive-Power motive-Acquisitive motive-Curiosity-Gregariousness

-Habits-Goals of life-Levels of aspiration-Attitudes and interests

Theories of Motivation

Approach to psychology that combines elements of philosophy, methodology and theory.

Primarily concerned with observable Behaviour as opposed to internal events like thinking and emotions.

Behaviour is the result of an stimulus-response (i.e. all Behaviour no matter how complex can be reduced to simple stimulus)

People have no free will- a person’s environment determines their Behaviour.

A Behaviour is learnt from the environment. We learn new Behaviour through classical and operant conditioning.

Since what motivates humans is not simple question to answer, many psychologists have tried to explain the process and mechanism of motivation in many ways.

Behaviorist's viewpoint

The History of Behaviorism

Pavlov (1897) published the results of an experiment on conditioning after originally studying digestion in dogs.

Watson (1913) launches the behavioral school of psychology (classical conditioning), publishing an article, "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It".

Watson and Rayner (1920) conditioned an orphan called Albert B (aka Little Albert) to fear a white rat.

Pavlov’s conditioning During the 1890s Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov was looking at

salivation in dogs in response to being fed, when he noticed that his dogs would begin to salivate whenever he entered the room, even when he was not bringing them food.

Pavlov showed the existence of the unconditioned response by presenting a dog with a bowl of food and the measuring its salivary secretions.

discovered that any object or event which the dogs learnt to associate with food would trigger the same response.

What had happened was that the neutral stimulus (tuning fork) had become associated with an unconditioned stimulus (food).

The dog in his lab had learned to associate food with tuning fork.  He came to know that a change in behavior of this type must be the result of learning.

Key Elements of Classical Conditioning

There are 4 key elements that are used to describe the process of classical conditioning.

Unconditioned Stimulus

Unconditioned Response

Conditioned Stimulus

Conditioned Response

Freud’s viewpoint (instinctive theory) Freud’s theory of motivation was based on instincts. In his last

book, outline of psycho-analysis, he asserted

EROS (Life or erotic instinct)

Sometimes referred to as sexual instincts , the life instincts are those that deal with basic survival, pleasure, and reproduction. These instincts important for sustaining the life of the individual as well as the continuation of the species. While they are often called sexual instincts, these drives also include such things as thirst, hunger, and pain avoidance. The energy created by the life instincts is known as libido . 

Death instincts

He concluded that people hold on unconscious desire by die, but that this wish is largely tempered by the life instincts.

In Freud's view, self destruction behavior is an expression of the energy created by the death instincts. When this energy is directed outward on to others, it is expressed as aggression and violence.

Adler’s viewpoint

Adler didn't agree with Freud and broke with Freud in1912 AD

He advocated that human beings are motivated primarily by social urges.

He believed basic motivation was compensation (struving to overcome).

Alfred Adler

It is the desire to fulfill our potentials and to come closer and closer to our idea.

In order not to feel inferior a person strives and struggles for superiority

In a nutshell he said that the human Behaviour may be endorsed through a single basic drive known as security drive.

The need for security to maintain one’s social self

COGNITIVE VIEWPOINT

Goal oriented theory.

Introduced by William James.

Explains the role of cognitive factors in producing human

motivation.

Focuses on individual characteristics and how those

characteristics relate to motivation.

focuses on rather than the content of what people are

attempting to achieve(objectives),goal oriented theory define

why and how people are trying to achieve various objectives.

The achievement of the goal satisfies the individual which in

turn reinforces the maintained behavior.

Comes from cognitive dissonance.

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

Denotes an imbalance between what we believe

in(cognitive) and what we do(conation).

May create psychological discomfort.

As a solution, we are motivated to set the imbalance either

by changing our beliefs or our behavior.

For e.g.- information regarding smoking with cancer and heart

disease create dissonance in chain smokers. They cant resist the

temptation of smoking yet, knowing smoking is injurious to health.

There is an imbalance between the beliefs and smoking behavior.

The remedy lies in a goal directed behavior that is aimed to reduce

the imbalance either by stopping excessive smoking or by refusing

to believe the information about its danger.

Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs Theory

It works on the assumption that the behaviour of individuals at a particular moment is usually determined by their strongest need.

It’s based on hypothesis that within every human being there exists a hierarchy of five needs

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Five needs:

1. Self –actualization : The drive to become what one is capable of becoming ; includes growth , achieving one’s potential ,self fulfillment.

2. Esteem : Need for both self esteem (self respect , autonomy and achievement) and external esteem (status , recognition and attention)

3. Social: Affection , belongingness ,acceptance and friendship.

4. Safety: Security and protection from physical and emotional harm.

5. Physiological: basic needs of hunger , thirst , shelter , sex and other body needs.

Picture showing Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Measurement of motives

Direct methods

In this an individual expresses his/her motives through verbal or overt Behaviour.

Required information is taken from the primary source.

The techniques or methods used to know the motives of an individual are questionnaire , inventories, autobiography and other self descriptive measures.

Indirect method In this an individual is either unaware of its motives or is

determined not to reveal its real motive.

Techniques like Rorschach ink blot test ,thematic apperception test, child apperception test ,drawing completion test etc.

Required information is gained through sketching or drawing ,associating a word or playing a role etc.

Experimental methods

In this method it includes the objective observation under controlled conditions.

In this the experiments make hypotheses than tests in the laboratory then only arrives to some valid conclusions.

It collects scores related with achievement by test like TAT or Rorschach ink blot.

Thank you