u5lc_psych

8-2. Theories of Motivation

Although psychologists agree that it is important to understand why humans and lower animals do things, they do not agree about the precise nature of motivation. Let’s consider various theoretical perspectives on motivation.

8-2a. The Evolutionary Perspective

The evolutionary perspective notes that many animals are neurally “prewired”—that is, born with preprogrammed tendencies—to respond to certain situations in certain ways (Macedo & Machado, 2014; Shackelford & Hansen, 2014). Spiders spin webs by instinct . Birds build nests by instinct. Bees “dance” instinctively to communicate the location of food to other bees.

These instinctive behaviors are found in particular species. That is, they are species-specific and are inborn. They are genetically transmitted from generation to generation.

Psychologists have asked whether humans have instincts, and if so, what kind and how many. More than a century ago, psychologists William James (1890) and William McDougall (1908) asserted that humans have instincts that foster survival and social behavior. James numbered love, sympathy, and modesty as social instincts. McDougall compiled 12 “basic” instincts, including hunger, sex, and self-assertion. Other psychologists have made longer lists, and still others deny that people have instincts. The question of whether people have instincts—and what they might be—remains unresolved.

A Fixed Action Pattern

George Diebold/Photodisc/Getty Images

In the presence of another male, Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) assume stereotypical threatening postures in which they extend their fins and gills and circle one another. If neither male retreats, there will be conflict.

What Are These Infant Monkeys Doing, and Why Are They Doing It?

Do organisms have innate drives to obtain sensory stimulation, manipulate objects (like these young rhesus monkeys), and explore the environment? The monkeys appear to monkey around with gadgets just for the fun of it. No external incentives are needed. Children similarly enjoy manipulating gadgets that honk, squeak, rattle, and buzz, even though the resultant honks and squeaks to do not satisfy physiological drives such as hunger or thirst.

8-2b. Drive-Reductionism and Homeostasis

Sigmund Freud believed that tension motivates us to behave in ways that restore us to a resting state. His views are similar to those of the drive-reduction theory of learning, as set forth by psychologist Clark Hull in the 1930s (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2013).

According to Hull, primary drives such as hunger, thirst, and pain trigger arousal (tension) and activate behavior. We learn to engage in behaviors that reduce the tension. We also acquire drives—called acquired drives—through experience. We may acquire a drive for money because money enables us to obtain food, drink, and homes, which protect us from crime and extremes of temperature. We might acquire drives for social approval and affiliation because other people, and their goodwill, help us reduce primary drives, especially when we are infants. In all cases, reduction of tension is the goal. Yet some people appear to acquire what could be considered excessive drives for money or affiliation. They gather money long after their material needs have been met, and some people find it difficult to be alone, even briefly.

Primary drives like hunger are triggered when we are in a state of deprivation. Sensations of hunger motivate us to act in ways that will restore the bodily balance. This tendency to maintain a steady state is called homeostasis . Homeostasis works like a thermostat. When the temperature in a room drops below the set point, the heating system turns on. The heat stays on until the set point is reached. Similarly, most animals eat until they are no longer hungry. But many people eat “recreationally”—as when they see an appealing dessert—suggesting there is more to eating than drive reduction.

8-2c. The Search for Stimulation

Physical needs give rise to drives like hunger and thirst. In such cases, we are motivated to reduce the tension or stimulation that impinges on us. However, in the case of stimulus motives, organisms seek to increase stimulation.

A classic study conducted at McGill University in Montreal during the 1950s suggests the importance of sensory stimulation and activity. Some “lucky” students were paid $20 a day (which, with inflation, would now be more like $200) for doing nothing—literally. Would you like to “work” by doing nothing for $200 a day? Don’t answer too quickly. According to the results of this study you might not like it at all.

In this experiment, student volunteers were placed in quiet cubicles and blindfolded (Bexton et al., 1954). Their arms were bandaged so that they felt little if anything with their hands. They could hear nothing but the dull, continuous hum of air conditioning. Many slept for a while, but after a few hours of sensory-deprived wakefulness, most felt bored and irritable. As time went on, many grew more uncomfortable. Many students quit the experiment during the first day despite the financial incentive. Many of those who remained for a few days found it hard to concentrate on simple problems for days afterward. For many, the experiment did not provide a relaxing vacation. Instead, it produced boredom, discomfort, and disorientation.

Humans and other animals appear motivated to seek novel stimulation. Even when they have been deprived of food, rats may explore unfamiliar arms of mazes rather than head straight for the food source. Animals that have just copulated and thereby reduced their primary sex drives often show renewed interest in sex when presented with a novel sex partner. People (and nonhumans) take in more calories at buffets and smorgasbords than when fewer kinds of food are available (Wansink & Shimizu, 2013; Yip et al., 2013). Children spend hour after hour playing video games for the pleasure of zapping virtual people or monsters (Ferguson & Olson, 2013).

Truth or Fiction

Getting away from it all by going on a vacation from all sensory input for a few hours is relaxing.
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Stimulus motives provide an evolutionary advantage. Animals that are active and motivated to explore and manipulate their environment are more likely to survive. If you know where the nearest tall tree is, you’re more likely to escape a leopard and transmit your genes to future generations.

But note that survival is more or less a question of defending oneself or one’s group against dangers of one kind or another. In the following section, we see that many psychologists believe people are also motivated to develop their unique potentials, even in the absence of external threat.

8-2d. Humanistic Theory

Humanistic psychologists such as Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) suggest that human behavior is not just mechanical and aimed toward survival and the reduction of tension. Maslow believed that people are also motivated by a conscious desire for personal growth. Humanists note that people tolerate pain, hunger, and many other kinds of tension to obtain personal fulfillment.

“Such is the state of life, that none are happy but by the anticipation of change: the change itself is nothing; when we have made it, the next wish is to change again.”

—Dr. Samuel Johnson , English writer, editor, and lexicographer (1735–1752)

Maslow believed that we are separated from other animals by our capacity for self-actualization , or self-initiated striving to become what we believe we are capable of being. Maslow considered self-actualization to be as important a need in humans as hunger. The need for self-actualization pushes people to strive to become concert pianists, chief executive officers, or best-selling authors—even when they have plenty of money to live on.

Maslow (1970) organized human needs into a hierarchy. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs ranges from physiological needs such as hunger and thirst, through self-actualization (see Figure 8.1). He believed that we naturally strive to climb this hierarchy.

Fig. 8.1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

What do you do when you’re no longer hungry? Maslow believed we progress toward higher psychological needs once basic survival needs have been met. Where do you fit in this picture?

Critics of Maslow’s theory argue that there is too much individual variation for the hierarchy of motives to apply to everyone. Some people whose physiological, safety, and love needs are met show little interest in achievement and recognition. Some artists devote themselves fully to their craft, even if they have to pass up the comforts of a warm home or alienate their families. And many children from broken and unsafe homes strive to achieve in school (Noltemeyer et al., 2012).

8-2e. Cognitive Perspectives on Motivation

Cognitive theorists note that people represent their worlds mentally. As in Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory, they see people as natural scientists who strive to understand the world so that they can predict and control events. Therefore, people try to eliminate inconsistencies—or, as we saw in the case of the Seekers at the beginning of the chapter—discrepancies in information so that their ability to make sense of the world remains whole.

Children also attempt to create consistency between their own gender and what experience teaches them that boys and girls are expected to do in their cultural settings. As soon as they come to understand whether they are male or female, they begin to imitate the behavior of older people of the same gender (Halim et al., 2013; Ruble et al., 2006). According to cognitive-dissonance theory, people are generally motivated to hold consistent beliefs and to justify their behavior. That is why we are generally more likely to appreciate what we must work to obtain.

Each theory of motivation may have something to offer. Drive-reduction theory may explain why we drink when thirsty, but stimulus motives might explain why we go clubbing and drink alcohol. Each theory might apply to certain aspects of behavior. As the chapter progresses, we will describe research that lends support to each theory.