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MOTIVATIONTHE WHYS OF BEHAVIOUR

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Motivation Definition:

That which gives the impetus to behaviour by

arousing, sustaining and directing it towards thesuccessful 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

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Biological Explanations Where does the energy to engage in behaviourcome from?

Instincts and motivation:

Instincts are automatic, involuntary and unlearnedpatterns of behaviour triggered by the presence ofparticular stimuli

For example babies are born with a unique ability thatallows them to survive: they are born with the instinctto cry

Buss (1999) suggested that the desire to pass on ourgenes may provide the motivational forces for suchthings as love, romantic relationships, attraction and

marriage

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Drive Theory

Based on the concept of our bodys 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

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Arousal Theory (Hebb, 1955) A third biologically based theory of motivation

maintains that people are motivated to act inways that keep them at their optimum levels ofarousal

Optimum level is obviously different for differentpeople

So motivation to behave is induced by individualsets of positive and negative reinforcers in termsof maintaining this optimum level of arousal

We learn what keeps our own arousal levels atthe optimum level

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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 peoplewhile 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

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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

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Incentive Theory of Motivation Incentive theory maintains that external stimuli

motivate behaviour

Individuals are attracted to behaviours that offerpositive incentives and discouraged from thosebehaviours that they associate with negativebehaviours

The value of an incentive is influenced by both

cognitive and biological factors. So drug-takingbehaviour might be motivated by both biologicaladdiction (craving) and cognitive evaluations(taking the drug in the past has made the person

feel relaxed and happy)

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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

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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 ofsignals 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 brains

monitoring of blood-borne nutrients such as glucose

(sugar used by body cells), amino acids and fatty acids

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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 chemicalcomposition as chocolate but do not taste like it,

they will go on craving chocolate (Michener &Rozin, 1994)

This suggests that flavour also acts as amotivational force in some kings of eating

Social environments can influence our eating too

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Heckhausens Expectancy-ValueModelFour 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 thatsituational factors facilitate or impede one's action-outcomeexpectancy)

outcome-consequence (subjective probability of an outcometo be associated with a specific consequence)

Therefore, the motivation to act depends mainly on the

value attached to the consequences of one's behaviour

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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 certainbehaviours will lead to certain outcomes

Secondly, efficacy expectations, which are beliefs about

whether one can effectively perform the behaviours necessary

to produce the outcome

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Research Evidence for Self-Efficacy St Charles (2002) reported a significant

correlation between self-reported self efficacyscores of lecturers and their subsequent

teaching performance. Those academics thatreported high self-efficacy in being able toteach were those rated as the best teachers

D'Amico & Cardaci (2003) investigated self-

efficacy and scholastic achievement asmeasured in 151 schoolchildren (mean age13.4 yrs). They reported that all self-efficacyscores were significantly correlated with

scholastic achievement

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Attribution and Motivation Attribution theory proposes that every

individual tries to explain success or failure of

self and others by offering certainattributions

Weiner's attribution theory (1992) identifiedability, effort, task difficulty, and luck as the

most important achievement attributions thatserve to motivate action

He classified these attributions into threefactors: locus of control, stability and

controllability

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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 locusofcontrol 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)

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Goal Theory of Motivation

Goal theories assume that all actions are givenmeaning, direction and purpose by the goals

that individuals seek out. The work on goal theory (Ames, 1992; Urdan &

Maehr, 1995) has differentiated three separatetypes of goals:

1. mastery goals (also called learning goals)2. performance goals (also called ego involvement

goals)

3. social goals

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Goal Theory Continued Other research has suggested the existence of

other goals

Nicholls et al. (1990) defined two major kinds ofmotivationally relevant goal patterns ororientations: ego-involved goals and task-involved goals.

Questions like Will I look intelligent?and Can Ioutperform others?reflect ego-involved goals

In contrast, questions such as How can I do thistask?and What will I learn?reflect task-involved goals

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Self-Development and Motivation

Humanistic theory is perhaps the most well

known theory of motivation. According to this

theory, humans are driven to achieve theirmaximum potential and will always do so unless

obstacles are placed in their way

According to Maslows (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)

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Maslows 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

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Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Two kinds of motivational forces:

Those that are internally generated (intrinsic) andthose that are externally generated (extrinsic)

So examples of intrinsic motivation are feeling goodabout doing something (ego boosts), gainingknowledge or competence as a result of engaging ina behaviour

In contrast, examples of extrinsic motivationinclude money, materialistic gains (new car, biggeroffice, more friends) and basically engaging in atask merely to obtain rewards or avoid

punishments

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Increasing motivation in the classroom using intrinsic and

extrinsic factors: there are a variety of specific actions thatteachers 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 expectationsparticular 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

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Sexual Motivation Distinction between hunger/thirst and sexual

motivation:

When a hungry or thirsty animal ingests a

sufficient quantity of food or water, and thisrestoration of energy or fluid returns the organismto a state of homeostatic balance. Sexual activity,however, depletes the organism's energy stores and

the sex drive is satiated only when fatigue andexhaustion override it

Sexual motivation is largely elicited byenvironmental cues, whereas hunger and thirst

largely reflect internal changes

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Sexual Motivation Continued Despite the fact that sexual behaviour in humans is

controlled and driven by our brain, at the same timeit is strongly influenced by learned experience from

interaction with our environment So that social, ethnic and cultural experienceregulates such things as our sexual preference andhabits

Learning must be an important factor in sexual

motivation as what is considered normal andabnormal in human sexual behaviour is highlyvariable across cultures and times

Sexual motivation is therefore a unique blend of

physiological and psychological stimulation

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Sensation Seeking Sensation seeking is the motivation to seek

out stimulation and novelty

Sensation seekers seem less reactive tostimulation and therefore require strongerlevels of it than low sensation seekers(Zuckerman, 1991)

So people who have high sensation seekingtend to be motivated to engage in more riskybehaviour, more high-risk jobs (fire-fighting,pilots) and more extreme sports (Jack &Ronan, 1998)

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Achievement Motivation

The need for achievement is the desire toaccomplish 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 motivationalforces, the desire to master skills or goals

Fear of failure produces motivation that drives us to

outperform peers. Such motivation is not alwaysconducive to better performance

It has been shown that fear of failure seems to developin children whose parents take for granted success but

punish failure (Weiner, 1992)