Motivation: A brief overview

¨ What exactly are you doing here, and why?

¨ Do we simply respond to our environments like amoeba?

¨ Are we instinctually driven like bugs smashing their foreheads against a lightbulb? (Whee!!!)

Before we get dirrty…

¨ Two components of motivation

– Direction of the motivation

• Bowling for Columbine?

– Strength of the motivation

• High? Low?

¨ A basic assumption of motivational (functionalist) approaches is that all actions serve some purpose and are engaged in to achieve some goal for the organism

Two Types of Motivation

¨ Intrinsic: actions driven from within and have an internal locus

¨ Extrinsic: actions due to some external factor; where rewards and incentives play a factory in your behavior

¨ Rarely are we motivated exclusively by one or the other; more often our actions are a product of the two

Hierarchical Models

¨ An efficient and convenient way of organizing and communicating the commonalities that describe the human condition

¨ Inevitably not every individual will fit the proposed model, each individual is distinctly different from another

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs

NEEDS: a lack of something required or desired.

*Needs motivate us to act!

Maslow defined a Hierarchy of Human Needs that stated the lower needs must be met before an individual can strive to meet the higher needs.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

PHYSIOLOGICAL-necessary for life; unmet, these needs lead to death

¨ Food

¨ Water

¨ Oxygen

¨ Sleep

¨ Protection from extreme temperatures

¨ Elimination

¨ Sensory needs

¨ Motor needs

SAFETY/SECURITY

¨ The need to be free from anxiety and fear

¨ The need to be secure in the environment

¨ The need for order and routine

LOVE AND AFFECTION

¨ Social acceptance, friendship, to be loved

¨ Need to belong, to relate to others

¨ Sexuality

-a person’s feelings/attitude toward their masculine/feminine nature

¨ Sexuality

-the ability to give and receive love and affection

-reproductive capabilities

ESTEEM

¨ Feeling important and worthwhile – includes respect, approval, appreciation

¨ We engage in activities that bring achievement, success, and recognition

¨ We gain self-confidence and begin to direct our actions toward becoming what we WANT to be

SELF-ACTUALIZATION

¨ Self-realization; obtaining our full potential; becoming confident, eager to express our beliefs, and willing to reach out to others to help them

¨ Necessarily Vague.

¨ A reflection of our uniqueness needs and worldviews

Deficiency VS Growth Motives

Deficiency needs tend to be lower on the pyramid and indicate a lack of something

Growth needs are a reflection of our desire to fulfill our potential as complex beings (needs for self actualization)

Our attention will be diverted from our growth needs if our deficiency needs are not being met

Broad VS. Narrow Goals

Narrow Goals

¨ Bottom of Hierarchy

¨ Conscious

¨ Day to day activities

Broad Goals

¨Serve as a motivational force

¨Often not conscious

¨Top of Hierarchy

What are some Broader Level Goals?

¨ Self – Preservation

– Survival, Defend Self-Esteem, Avoid Pain and Anxiety

¨ Growth / Enrichment

– To prosper, Thrive, Pleasure Seek

– Challenges, information gathering, curiosity

¨ SEX?

– Another unconscious drive

– Potentially counters self-preservation

– Other motives probably exist…

Self – Preservation

¨ Regulatory Motives

– Positive/Negative feedback loops / Homeostasis

– Hunger, Body Temperature

¨ Defense Motives

– Direct: Fight or Flight / Fear and Aggression

– Symbolic: Cognitive or Cultural

• Defense of beliefs and values, stereotyping

Growth and Enrichment:
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

¨ Curiosity, the need to explore, creativity, Desire for challenge

¨ Flow: loss of self consciousness; Maximal absorption in a task

¨ Flow experiences: one’s abilities are perfectly suited for the level of challenge that one faces

Security and Enrichment

¨ Are achieved through these processes in relation to our interaction with others

¨ Not completely independent of each other

¨ Is represented by Csikszenthihalyi’s model

The interplay of security and enrichment

¨ Security is required before enrichment can occur

¨ Enrichment and growth can intensify security needs

– In attempts to grow, we may step outside of the boundaries that our security blankets provide, we then scurry back if things begin to overwhelm us.

Applications of Security VS Enrichment Motivations

Relationships satisfy both growth and security needs. After time, relationships may lack growth opportunities and become boring

Therefore new challenges or excitement must be introduced.