Introduction to Motivation Motivation is defined as the process by which activities are started, directed and continued so that physical and/or psychological needs or wants are met (Petri, 1996). There are two types of motivation, extrinsic, and intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation is when a person performs an action that leads to an outcome that is separate from the person (Ryan & Deci, 2000) Intrinsic motivation is the type of motivation in which a person performs an action because the act itself is rewarding in some internal manner (Ciccarelli & White, 2014).
Introduction to the Drive-Reduction Theory The drive-reduction theory was discovered by Clark Hull in 1943, it was the first theory of motivation. The drive-reduction theory proposes
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A pro of the drive-reduction theory is meeting the biological needs of the person, or animal. A con of the drive-reduction theory is the tensions that is created and needs to be resolved. An example of the drive-reduction theory is someone being thirsty (drive), and needing a drink, so the drives is what motivates the person to quench their thirst. A huge problem that is found with Hull’s drive-reduction theory is that the way secondary reinforcers reduce drives is not accounted for. Secondary reinforcers do nothing to reduce the biological and/or physiological needs in a direct manner. On the other hand primary drives like thirst and hunger are directly reduced. An example of a secondary reinforcer such as money will allow you to purchase a primary reinforcement, but the money itself does nothing to reduce the drive. Although, the money still does play a role in the …show more content…
All people are motivated differently, each person has different drives, and needs. I believe I am extremely motivated when it comes to academics. To motivate myself I often set a goal, an example of this is at the beginning of the quarter I will tell myself that I want to get all A’s. This plays into the drive-reduction theory because I have something I want, that is causing tension. The drive in this example wanting to get good grades which pushes the need, the need is paying attention, and applying myself to the work.
Concise Summary of The Drive-Reduction Theory The drive-reduction theory was founded by Clark Hull in 1943. His theory at the time was a new approach to motivation that assumed behavior arises from needs, that cause internal drives to push the being to reduce the tension. After his theory was founded many new motivational theories were founded as well, in the 50’s and 60’s. A founder of other theories was Maslow, he created Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. These new theories are now alternatives to Hull’s drive-reduction theory. Hull’s theory is not used as much in Psychology anymore as it was back in the
Drive begins with a look at the work of scientists, Harry Harlow and Edward Deci and their early experiments on motivation. As a result of their research on motivational theory, these two individuals uncovered a completely different and unique way of looking at what drives human behavior. Harlow, in his experiment with rhesus monkeys, and Deci, with his Soma puzzle cubes, found that rewards and were not the only factors at work in motivating task completion. The notion of “intrinsic motivation”, or pursuing a task for the sake of enjoyment and self-fulfillment was born.
Many different motivation theories have been created and dissected over the past century in an attempt to understand human behaviour and answer the question: “what creates the force needed to do things we want to do?”
The first of the three, intrinsic motivation, explains that the individual does something purely out of enjoyment, and that the activity is gratifying in itself. Vallerand and O’Connor (1989) came up with a three part grouping of intrinsic motivation. There is intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation, which is doing something for the sensory pleasure it brings, like a person parachuting because they enjoy the sensation of falling through the air. Intrinsic motivation to know relates to doing an activity in order to learn. A person taking an online class to learn more on that field shows off this type of motivation. The last part of intrinsic motivation is to accomplish. This refers to an individual performing an activity for the pleasure of achievement, creating, or to surpass oneself. When a person is focused more on the process of achievement rather than the actual achievements results, they are intrinsically motivated through accomplishment (Vallerand and Grouzet, 2001). Extrinsic motivation is present whenever there some kind of external factors waiting for the individual at the end of the activity. There are four different forms of extrinsic motivation, which are defined by the degree to which the motivation is self-determined (Lapointe and Perreault, 2013). First of the four is integrated regulation, which means an individual joined
Motive theory is one more way psychologists evaluate personality. The motive theory searches for reasons why people do what they do. It asks questions like what drives people. The underlying idea of the motive theory is that behavior reflects underlying needs. A need represents an unsatisfactory state of being. For instance, primary needs are biological, such as a need for air, water and food. After these basic needs are met, less important needs can be met such as friendship and even love. David McCelland and John Atkinson studied the need for achievement. The need for achievement is the desire to do things well and have pleasure in overcoming obstacles (Clark et al., 1956). The need for achievement varies depending on sex, and childhood
Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us, by Daniel H. Pink, is a riveting book that discusses the evolution of what motivates us as humans and how our view on motivation is slowly changing to meet the needs of our society. The introduction opens with a story of an experiment on what motivates us conducted on rhesus monkeys by Harry F. Harlow in 1949, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin (P. 07), and later picked up again by Edward Deci, a psychology graduate student from Carnegie Mellon University in 1969, who performed a similar experiment with two groups of college students (P. 11). In this experiment, these men looked at the differences in motivation by observing the effects of extrinsic rewards on the human psyche and collecting data on the results of some simple tests. The results were astonishing, contrary to all previous beliefs, both the humans and primates showed that after receiving extrinsic rewards their motivation to complete tasks dropped drastically. It was determined that for simple and repetitive tasks, extrinsic motivation techniques, such as the carrot and stick method, can work well; but for complex tasks requiring creativity, extrinsic motivation can have a negative outcome on the success of ones work.
The author trusts that all humans have some level of motivation as long as they exist. In turn, there are several well-known classic approaches that consider motivation such as instinct, drive reduction, arousal, incentive, and humanistic approaches. It is beyond the scope of this paper to describe all in detail, but a brief synopsis of each follows: (1) Instinct approach theorists suggest that humans have many diverse instincts that are biologically determined and cause innate patterns of behaviors such as reproducing, territorial protection, curiosity, acquisition, and fight, flight or freeze to name a few (McDougall, 1908). (2) Drive-reduction theory proposes that individuals have needs that are essential for survival and this need cause a tension to act called a drive. These drives entail primary drives for physical needs such as water and food, and acquired drives realized through conditioning or experience such as the need for income or social acceptance; whereas, one must meet the need to reduce the drive to return to a state of homeostasis (Hull, 1943). (3) Theorists who support an Arousal approach believe that humans are motivated by stimulation and people develop an optimal level of stimulus tension; whereas, task performances may suffer if the level is too high such as severe test anxiety or even too low such as boredom
Once stated by Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.” The aforementioned ideology places an emphasis on an individual’s internal desires, rather than an outside/external force driving the individual’s consciousness (cognitive evaluation.) Therefore intrinsic motivation is one in which an individual 's own desire comes from within; a relentless and genuine passion for an intended goal. On the contrary, when an individual relies on external factors such as, a reward or any other form of external reinforcement, an extrinsic motivation is exhibited. Although society likes to stress the importance in pursuing an internal motivation, in today 's modern world, an extrinsic factor far outweighs an internal desire to accomplish an objective.
Depending on how motivated we are, it may further determine the effort we put into our work and therefore increase the standard of the productivity. There have been a wide variety of theories about motivation developed over the years. Several are drive-reduction theory, arousal theory, psychosocial (both incentive and cognitive) theory, and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Furthermore, there are three theories which explain the different factors in how employees are motivated based on their needs. The first theory, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, was proved by Abraham Maslow in the years of 1943 and 1954 (McLeod, 2013). Maslow believed that society developed their motivations depending on their needs. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a theory in which five motivational needs( self-actualization,esteem, belongingness and love, safety, and psychological) are demonstrated in a hierarchy pyramid. The five motivational needs are divided into three categories(basic, psychological, and
These scientist attempted to understand motivation with instincts that are found both in human and in animals. Sometimes instinct can be related to aggressive behaviors. In reality instinct can be related to curiosity, running away, aggressiveness, and gathering possessions proposed by William McDougall in 1908.There are also cases where drive-reduction theory connects to internal physiology and outward behavior causing an organism that has a need, like hunger, to lead into psychological tension that motivates the organism to act, fulfilling the need and reducing tension. Drive-reduction theory also has two drives which are primary drives that involve needs of the body, while acquired (secondary) drives are learned through experience. Homeostasis also includes into the drive-reduction theory which causes the tendency of the body to maintain a steady state. Also, the need for affiliation (nAff) helps and individual have a friendly social interaction and relationships with others as well as to be thought as something great with
Mullins (2002) classifies motivation into Intrinsic and Extrinsic types. Intrinsic motivation involves psychological rewards to enhance job satisfaction, such as the opportunity to use one's ability, a sense of achievement, receiving appreciation and positive recognition or being treated in a considerate manner (Mullins, 2002:P490). Such methods ensure employees are constantly motivated while being engaged in activities that are enjoyable and rewarding.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, July 1943. 370-396. Print. 8 Feb. 2014.
The layman’s view of motivation is defined has the action whereby one is given a reason or purpose to complete an objective with more zeal. This in itself is not something new, but rather a method that has been applied for an immeasurable number years, possibly before it was even defined, classified
Mullins (2002) also classifies motivation into Intrinsic and Extrinsic types. Intrinsic motivation involves psychological rewards to enhance job satisfaction, such as the opportunity to use one's ability, a sense of achievement, receiving appreciation and positive recognition or being treated in a considerate manner (Mullins, 2002:P490). Such methods ensure employees are constantly motivated while being engaged in activities that are enjoyable and rewarding.
Theories of motivation consists two parts. Content and process motivation theories. Content motivation theories focuses mainly on people needs and explains why people have different needs at different times. Content theories of motivation treated as a need or desire, to act for the sake of promoting a certain goal. One most prominent theorist Abraham Maslow (1943) proposed the hierarchy of needs. It states that all the needs of the people can be divided into five categories, aligned incentive effect in descending order: (psychological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization needs). Psychological are the basic needs to survive, e.g. food, clothes, shelter, warmth, sleep, etc. Safety are the needs like security, stability, freedom from fear, etc. Social needs are the feelings of belongingness, acceptance, being part