Psy 352 – Motivation

Chapter 2

Historical & Contemporary Perspectives

• Philosophical Origins of Motivation
• First textbook was not written until 1964
• Roots
• Theory
• Post-Drive Theory Years

Roots

       A.  Plato proposed that motivation flowed from a hierarchically arranged mind

• Level 1 – appetitive aspect
• Level 2 – competitive aspect
• Level 3 – calculating
• These aspects motivated behavior

       B. Dualism – body and mind

Theory

      A. Will – The first grand theory

• For Descartes, the ultimate motivational force was the will
• The will initiates and directs action
• The will is a power of the mind that controlled appetite and passion
• The will motivates all action
• Problem: The will is mysterious, not measurable.

      B. Instinct – The second grand theory

• Darwin focused on biological determinism
• Asked questions: How do animals use their resources to adapt to the demands of the environment?
• Instinct can explain where the motivational force came from.
• Instincts come from our genes
• William James, psychologist, purported that all that is needed to translate an instinct into goal-directed behavior was the presence of an appropriate stimulus.
• Problem: the logic to explaining this theory is circular.
• The cause explains the behavior, but the behavior is evidence for the cause.

        C.  Drive – The third grand theory

• The motivational concept that replaced instinct was drive
• Two theories arose:
• Freud’s Drive Theory
  • All behavior is motivated
  • The purpose of behavior is to serve the satisfaction of needs
  • Behavior serves the bodily needs, and anxiety ensures that the behavior occurs as needed
  • The source of drive is a bodily deficit.  Drives have a force, and this anxiety motivates us to remove the deficit.  We look to satisfy ourselves by removing the anxiety.
  • Problem: Overestimation of biological forces, Lack of case studies, Not testable
•  Hull’s Drive Theory
  • Motivation has a physiological basis and bodily need is the ultimate source of motivation
  • Motivation could be predicted before it occurred
  • Although drive energizes behavior, habit directs behavior.
•   Both Freud and Hull’s Theory was based on 3 fundamental assumptions
  • Drive emerged from bodily needs
  • Drive reduction was reinforcing and produced learning
  • Drive energized behavior

Post-Drive Theory Years

Two motivational principles came in the 1960’s

• Incentive
  • An external event that energizes and directs approach and avoidance behavior.
  • Asks “why do people approach positive incentives and avoid negative ones?”
• Arousal
  • Parts of the environment affect how aroused the brain is
  • Variations in level of arousal have a curvilinear relationship to behavior

Rise of the Mini-Theories

• What do mini-theories seek to understand or investigate
• Motivation used to be the study of energizing passive people.
• Cognitive revolution
• Research
• Contemporary Views     

  A.  Mini-theories seek to understand or investigate one particular:

• Motivational phenomenon
• Circumstance that affects motivation
• Groups of people
• Theoretical question
• Mini-theories explain some parts of motivated behavior but not all. Ex: goal setting, learned helplessness, incentives.

  B.  Motivation used to be the study of energizing passive people. Now psychologists view people as inherently active.

• Motivation is not the study of directing purpose in inherently active people

  C.  Cognitive revolution

• Researchers began emphasizing internal mental processes
• De-emphasis on biological and environmental constructs
• This complemented the humanistic movement. People are inherently active, cognitively flexible, and growth motivated.

   D.  Research

• Changes included a focus on answering questions that were relevant to solving the motivational problems people face in their daily lives.

    E. Contemporary Views     

• The study of motivation has seen changes in the 3 major ways of thinking: will, instinct and drive.
• Motivation study revolves around the four constructs: needs, cognitions, emotions and external events.
• Motivation can be understood at a neurological, cognitive and social level
• Definitions: Motivation – those processes that give behavior its energy and direction
• Emotion – short-lived subjective-physiological-functional-expressive phenomena that orchestrates how we react adaptively to the important events in our lives.