Motivation:

Lecture 12

3/8/04

What directs and energizes your behavior?

The Pyramid of Human Motivation

Self Actualization

Need to live up to one’s fullest and unique potential

Happy, absorbed, capable of greatness

“Think about the most wonderful experiences of your life; happiest moments, ecstatic moments, moments of rapture, perhaps from being in love, or from listening to music, or suddenly being hit by a book or a painting or some great creative moment.”

Peak Experiences

Open to new experiences, spontaneous, playful, loving, creative, self-accepting, energetic…

FLOW: An activity totally absorbs one’s focus

Forget normal worries & self-consciousness

Lose track of time

Feel confident & clear-headed

Emerge with sense of satisfaction & growth

Esteem Needs = Power & Achievement

– accomplish difficult tasks, outperform others, and excel

– acquire prestige and influence over other people

Motive Arousal: Typical Stories Written

Establish, maintain, further relationships

Energy, attention, stimulation, information & emotional support

When?– Stress, fear, embarrassment???

HIGH: “These shocks will hurt…In research of this sort, if we’re to learn anything at all that will really help humanity, it’s necessary that our shocks be intense”

LOW: “I assure you that what you will feel will not in any way be painful. It will resemble a tickle or a tingle more than anything unpleasant”

“10 minute delay” Do you want to wait: alone, w/ others, no preference?

Do we always want to be with others?

Not just anyone will do– P’s preferred to be alone than w/ students not in study

Stress doesn’t always motivate affiliation… Embarrassment: Sucking on large nipples and

pacifiers…– P’s preferred to be alone than with others

Naturalistic study: waiting for open heart surgery– Prefer post-operative than pre-operative room-mate

“We won! They lost!”

Students wear more university-affiliated apparel after varsity football wins

Conducting a survey of student knowledge of campus issues…– Can you tell me the outcome of that game?– Win: 32%– Loss: 18%

One step further…

Human sexual feelings and behaviors are powerful motivational forces

Evolutionary Psychology: an explanation

Gender differences in mate preference are a product of natural selection

– Favored mating behaviors that promote the conception, birth and survival of offspring

Men & women attracted to different characteristics and have different strategies

Ensuring reproductive success

Men

Possibility to father unlimited # of children

Rely on external cues like attractiveness to serve as guide for youth, & good health

Women

Careful selection of mate with resources for well-being

Value commitment, health, ambition, financial security

The dating marketplace: in 37 countries (N = 10,047)

Men’s values Physical

attractiveness “good looks” Being older than

spouse Low hip to waist ratio

Women’s values Socioeconomic status “good financial

prospects” “ambition and

industriousness” Being younger than

spouse

Dev Singh Video

Big Misconception

Only thing that defines body = weight– SHAPE is not captured

Mind is designed to look for health based on LOCATION of fat, not just Fat vs. Skinny

1991 Singh developed series of figures from .7 to 1.0

Ideal Body Image

Which image is ideal for your sex? Which comes closest to your own body?

Sex differences in perceptions of desirable body shape

Another problem with dieting: The “what the hell effect”