Motivation

First hour – What is it that drives and directs behaviour?

Acquired Motivation •Homeostasis, Tolerance and Withdrawal

The concept of “Motivation”•Needs•Maslow’s hierarchy of Motivation

Motivation and cognition •Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Primarily biological

Primarily learnede.g.,

hunger, thirst(Ch. 3)

e.g. desire to acquire possessions(Ch. 13, 15)

e.g. sex(Ch. 3, 11)

e.g. need for prestige(Ch. 13, 15)

Primarily involving the individual

Primarily social

(See Gleitmanpp. 628-629)

Motivation and cognition

•Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

-Deci and Ryan’s cognitive evaluation theory

“…external rewards often undermine intrinsic motivation... Essentially, feeling bribed by, or pawn to external reward contingencies...can decrease the extent to which an originally interesting or enjoyable activity continues to be experienced as self-rewarding.”

Variables that interact with intrinsic/extrinsic motivation:

•Personality – High versus low achieversTauer and Harackiewicz (1999)

•Measurement of performanceTime spent on task or the “Free-Time Paradigm”versus performance on task. Weirsma (1992)

•Type of taskPleasurable tasks vs. functional tasks

•Opponent Process Model for Tolerance and Withdrawal (1980)“People experience one emotion by suppressing the opposite emotion”

Richard Soloman

time

Underlying processes:

Actually experienced:

(First few occasions) (After many occasions)

0

0tolerance

“A” state

“B” state

withdrawal

time

0

0peak

“A” state

“B” state

adaptation

Underlying processes:

Actually experienced:

1

2

3

4