The Theories Of Motivation Psychology Essay

Motivation can be defined as giving a reason, incentive, enthusiasm or interest that causes a person to adopt a specific action or behavior. A simple example could be that our act of eating is motivated by hunger.

We can classify motivation into two main types:

Intrinsic motivation: when people do something for pleasure, importance or desire (internal)

Extrinsic motivation: when external factors motivate a person to adopt a certain act or behavior(external)

(Lionel, 1994)

Theories of motivation:

Incentive theory:

A tangible or an intangible reward is given after the occurrence of an action/behavior with the intention of causing the behavior/action to occur again. Some studies show that if the reward is given quickly, the effect is greater than if the incentive is given after increased passage of time. This repetitive action-reward combination makes the specific behavior a habit.(Robert, 1995)

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This theory is promoted by many famous behavioral psychologists such as B.F.Skinner and emphasizes that if actions are positively received, people are more likely to carry them on again and again while if they are negatively received, people avoid carrying out those acts/behaviors again.

Incentive theory differentiates itself from other theories such as drive theory in terms of behaviorism in such a way that it involves positive reinforcement i.e the act is reinforced to make the person happy and encourage him to carry it on again for example a person knows that eating food or drinking water will make him satisfied and happy, while in the drive theory, use of negative reinforcement is made i.e the stimulus has been associated with the removal of the punishment for example a person knows that when he will consume food if he is hungry, it will eliminate the negative feeling of hunger.(Wilson,1992)

In simpler words, incentive theory suggests that people are motivated to do things because of external rewards. Behavioral concepts such as association and reinforcement play an important role in this theory of motivation.(Wilson, 1992)

Drive reduction theory:

This theory emphasizes that people have certain biological needs or drives (example hunger, sleep and sex) and as the time passes, the strength of the desire increases if it is not fulfilled or satisfied. Upon satisfying the drive, the strength is reduced and the organism returns to a state of homeostasis.

In simpler words, people are motivated to carry out some actions in order to reduce the internal tension caused by unmet needs. An example of application of this theory is that when you drink a glass of water to reduce the internal state of thirst. Another example is if we were hot, we would seek for a shade, this seeking for shade and drinking glass of water is an example of drive reducing behavior.

The problem however, faced with this theory is that the drives are not always, purely motivated by physiological needs. For example, a person may smell freshly baked bread and want to eat it although he has already done his breakfast little time ago. In this case the drive ‘hunger’ is not motivating him to do this action but he is just eating the bread because he is attracted to the smell and he knows that a freshly baked bread tastes very good.(Lepper, 1995)

Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of motives:

Maslow emphasized that once our basic needs, which ensure our survival are met, our attention is diverted to our relationship with others, self esteem and fulfilling personal potential. (Maslow, 1970)

Physiological needs are the first needs (hunger, sex etc) that need to be satisfied. Safety needs are listed as second needs and these mainly mean the feelings of security that the world is a safe placefor an individual to live.

Belongingness and love needs are listed as third most important need which refer to being loved by others and accepted so that the individual can also give love to others.

Esteem need is the fourth most important need. This means that a person has feelings of his self esteem which can be achieved through receiving respect from other people and recognition.

Self actualization refers to reaching one’s own unique potential.

The final need is to find a meaning in the world beyond ones self or self transcendence.(Whyte, 1980)

This hierarchy of needs is drawn in a shape of pyramid with the most important need starting from the bottom:

Arousal theory of motivation:

This theory suggests that people carry out some specific actions in order to increase or decrease their levels of arousal. More clearly we can say, that this theory motivates us in order to maintain our arousal level at an optimum point, not below it, not higher.

A clear example of application of this theory could be when the arousal levels gets below the optimum point, the person may go to watch a movie or go for a jog. This is likely to boost up his arousal level. Similarly, if the arousal level gets high, the person is likely to seek ways in which he can bring it down, i.e ways that make him relax such as meditating or reading a book.in monkeys, curiosity motivates them how to open a latch door or a window. (butler, 1954).

This theory is very popular both in the field of psychology or physiology. It was originated by Lindsley. According to him, too little stimulation can cause a person to get bored while too high level of stimulation can cause anxiety, which results in sensation seeking. Such sensation seekers are more impulsive and likely to participate in risky behavior. Impulsivity refers to inability of a person to judge the consequences of a risky action he is going to perform. Such impulsive people might not be able to correctly process cognitive information.(lynam and miller, 2004)

Instinct theory of motivation:

In accordance with this theory, people behave in specific way because they are evolutionarily programmed to. People do not actually learn to behave like that, it is an inborn behavior. A clear example of such a behavior is the migrations that occur in animals world.(forbes,2011)

William james created a list of instincts which included:

Modesty

love

Attatchement

Play

Fear

Anger

Shyness

However, the main problems faced by this theory were that it did not explain behavior, but just described. It described the effect of genetics and heresity on human behavior. Most of our behaviors are not unlearned and thus, these instincts are not likely to motivate us.

According to Sigmund freud, human behavior is driven by two biological instincts: eros and thenatos, the life instinct and the death instinct respectively. The life instinct includes sexual motivation, the death instinct includes aggression motivation. He suggested that people should handle these aggressive instincts carefully and non-violently by engaging in competitive activities.(steven,2002)

William mcdougal also pioneered an instinct theory, in his theory, instincts compose of three parts; perception, behavior and emotion. Humans have perceptual predisposition to focus on stimuli that are important to his goals. Humans have the drive and energy called the ’emotional core’ between perception of the goal and the movement towards it. Mcdougal listed 17 instincts including:

Hunger

Rejection of particular substances

Curiosity

Escape

Pugnacity

Sex

Maternal/paternal instinct

Gregariousness

Self-assertion

Submission

Construction

Acquisition

Crying

Laughter

Comfort

Rest

Migration

(steven,2002)

Cognitive evaluation theory:

This theory suggests that there are actually two types of motivation; intrinsic and extrinsic which correspond to two types of motivators:

Intrinsic motivators; that come from actual performance of the task e.g achievement, responsibility and competence

Extrinsic motivators; that come from a person’s environment or controlled by others e.g pay, promotion, feedback and working conditions.

Any of these could be a more power motivator for an individual.(Lepper,1995)

Intrinsically motivated people perform mainly for their own satisfaction and achievement.if they start to believe that they are working for pay or work conditions or for any other extrinsic reason, they begin to lose motivation.

It emphasizes that powerful extrinsic motivators can decrease a person’s intrinsic motivation, especially if the extrinsic motivators are believed to be controlled by others by the individual.(Lepper, 1995)

Hezberg’s two factor theory:

According to hezberg, two kinds of factors are likely to affect motivation, and they do it in different ways:

Hygiene factors: if these are absent, an individual is motivated. However, their presence has no perceived effect. These are the things that when u take away from a person, he gets dissatisfied and tries to take them back. Examples include decent working conditions, pay, security, company policies and interpersonal relationships.

Motivators: these are factors whose presence motivates. Their absence does not cause dissatisfaction but just fails to motivate people.

We can say that hygiene factors cause dissatisfaction while motivators cause satisfaction. The two scales are independent and one can be high on either or both.(Piers, 2007)

MEASUREMENT OF MOTIVATION

Measurement of motivation can be classified into two types:

Measurement of social drives

Measurement of biological drives (Chavajay, 2002)

Measurement of social drives can be done through the following ways:

Personality questionnaire

Projective techniques

Situational tests

Observation

Interviews

1-personaity questionnaire: in these questionnares, subjects are asked as to how will they respond to certain situations or conditions. Various tests are used in these questionnares such as interest inventory, Minnesota multiphase personality inventory and California psychological inventory. (Chavajay,2002)

2-projective techniques: these present simple and ambiguous stimuli that allow the subject to respond with projection of both sexes in their personality. These tests are conducted by showing abstract pictures, writing stories to subjects and include other tests like Rorschach inkblot test and Thematic Apperception Test. Psychologists have experienced that these tests can provide valuable insight into one’s personality. However, it is easy to misinterpret the responses and an inexperienced tester can misuse the information that is collected. Projective tests are also known as objective tests.

3-situational tests: social drive or affiliation can be measured by giving a person choice between waiting in a need to achieve or the need to affiliate with others such as drives for works, compliance drives, social approval drives, self actualization drives.

4-observation: observation can be defined as watching an individual’s behavior over a period of time. It can be done in natural environment or in clinical settings. Through observation, psychologists also try to know about behavioral problems.

5-interviews: it’s a way to gather information face to face from the person who is being evaluated. A successive interview is that in which the interviewee is made to talk openly about his feelings, drives and experiences.(Chavajay,2002)

Measurement of biological drives can be done through following ways:

Speed of learning of individual

Preferences shown by an individual when given choices between more than one goal

Rate of response of an individual

Amount of obstruction required to prevent the animal from reaching a goal

Action of nervous system

Amplitude of a response

Gross motor activity of an individual

The stimuli presented can be varied and can be internal or external. (Chavajay, 2002)

LISTS OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY MOTIVES

Primary motives are also known as biological moitves have a definite physiological basis and are biologically important for an individual’s survival. These arouse the behavior of an organism in directions that lead to a change in the internal environment. Sources of biological motivational needs include increase/decrease simulation, activate senses, decrease hunger, thirst, discomfort and maintaining homeostasis, balance. (Harter, 2011)

The primary motives consist of:

Hunger

Thirst

Pain

Sexual drive

Air or need for respiration

Fatigue

Sleep

Maternal drive

Secondary motives are individualistic in nature as they are related to self esteem, self exhibition, self security, self freedom and self assertion. These are also known as psychological motives and are very important in the development of an individual’s behavior and personality.(Harter, 2011)

The secondary motives include:

Need for affiliation

Need for approval

Need for achievement

Need for security

Curiosity motive

Competence motive

Power motive

Aggression motive

Self actualization (Harter, 2011)