Why do some students want to get an “A” in every
exam, and some don’t even bother about it?
Why do some people leave their country to earn
money and others are happy with whatever is
available to them at home?
Why people become doctors, engineers, managers,
pilots, etc?
Why do you want to learn/ know about the
particular subject?
Motivation
Movere
Latin meaning “to move”
Motivation:
set of factors that activate, direct and
maintain behavior, usually toward some
goal
Motivation involves:
Arousal: some level of excitement, desire
that initiates people to perform tasks
Action
A goal directed behavior: purposeful
Sustain behavior over time
Types
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
Rewards we get internally, such as enjoyment
or satisfaction – Intrinsic
Rewards that we get for accomplishments from
outside - Extrinsic
Theories of Motivation
1. Instinct
2. Drive reduction
3. Arousal
4. Incentive
5. Cognitive
6. Humanistic
Instinct theory
Instincts are a fixed, unlearned and
biologically determined response pattern found
in almost all members of a species
Proposes that organisms are motivated to
engage in certain behaviors because of their
genetic programming and because these
behaviors lead to survival.
William McDougall (1908) proposed the first
instincts (repulsion, curiosity, self-
assertiveness) and the list grew to 10,000+ by
1920s.
Question on universality of instincts
Drive reduction/ Push theory
Needs are things that are essential for the survival
of a living thing.
When a need is activated, but unfulfilled, then
drive… will energize people to act.
Drive is an arousal or motivational tension that
provides energy for action or behavior.
Homeostasis: A stable, well-maintained state of
internal biological balance.
This theory states that people are motivated when they
aim to reduce the drive (tension) and bring balance
Eg. Need for food
Feelings of hunger
Act to find food … eat
Primary and Secondary Drives:
Primary Drives:
Entirely biological in nature.. hunger, thirst,
sleep, sex, air etc
Secondary Drives:
These are psychological as well as social in
nature.
Are also learned through experience… need
for money, social approval.
Arousal/ Optimal level theory
A certain level of arousal and excitement is needed by
our system.
When arousal state becomes too high, it needs to
come down for optimal functioning and vice versa.
Too high motivational
arousal may affect
performance negatively;
it may produce anxiety
and irritability in the
organism.
Too low arousal may
also have adverse effect
e.g. performance of a
person suffering from
depression.
Incentive/ Pull Theory
Motivational state of the organism is understood and
explained in terms of positive or negative
environmental stimuli.
Incentives are rewards that energize and drive our
behavior. So we are motivated with the desire to attain
these external rewards.
Cognitive Approaches
Focus on how a person's motivation is influenced by
their cognitions or mental processes.
People’s thoughts, beliefs, expectations and goals…
Can clarify the distinction between intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation.
Various theories
Cognitive dissonance theory
Humanistic Theory
Abraham Maslow believed that people strive
for a positive view of the self to realize their
own potentials fully.
All needs are not created equal.
We are driven to satisfy the lower level needs
first.
Also called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
theory.
Physiological needs: such as those for food, water,
oxygen, sex
Safety needs: needs for feeling safe and secure in
ones life
Love and belongingness, including needs to have
friends, to be loved, appreciated and trusted.
Esteem needs, the needs to develop self-respect,
gain the respect and approval of others and
achieve success as honorable person.
Self-actualization needs: These involve the need
for self-fulfillment, realizing personal potential,
seeking personal growth and peak experiences.
Frustration
Feeling of disappointment or anger as a result
of blockage to a goal directed behavior.
Due to :
Personal factors
Environmental factors
Conflict of motives
Conflict of Motives
Conflict arises when people face two or more
incompatible or opposing demands, highly
attractive opportunities ..
Types of conflict of motives:
Approach – Approach
Avoidance – Avoidance
Approach – Avoidance
Multiple Approach – Avoidance
Approach – Approach
When a person is simultaneously attracted to
two appealing goals, but can choose only one of
them.
Avoidance – Avoidance
When a person is confronted with two
undesired or threatening possibilities. Also
can not escape from both and must face one of
them.
Approach – Avoidance
When a person is both attracted to and
repelled by a goal having positive and negative
outcomes.
Multiple Approach – Avoidance
When people face a situation in which several
options exist, with each one containing both
positive and negative elements.
Emotion
A feeling state characterized by physiological
arousal, expressive behaviors, and a cognitive
appraisal/ subjective experience.
The Physiological Component
Responses created by the sympathetic nervous system.
Increase in heart rate, rapid breathing, dilating of
pupils, dryness of the eye etc.
The Expressive Component
How people behave when they experience emotions
Facial expressions, body movements, actions
The Cognitive Component
Interpreting the subjective feeling by providing label
Involves the surfing memory of past experiences,
perceiving the context and coming up with the label
Human Emotion: Putting the Pieces Together
Theories
1. James-Lange Theory
2. Cannon-Bard Theory
3. Schachter-Singer Theory
James-Lange Theory
William James Carl Lange
William James and Carl Lange proposed an idea
that physiological activity precedes the emotional
experience.
An environmental happening produces a
physiological reaction, and this reaction/
arousal leads to emotional experience.
James-Lange theory
Situation bodily reaction emotion
FEAR
Cannon-Bard Theory
Walter Bradford Cannon Philip Bard
Walter Cannon and Phillip Bard questioned the
James-Lange Theory and proposed that an emotion-
triggering stimulus and the body's arousal take place
simultaneously.
They stated that sensory information is sent to the
brain simultaneously hence the bodily reactions
and the emotion are experienced at the same time.
Cannon- Bard theory
Situation bodily reaction
emotion
FEAR
Schecthter-Singer Theory
Stanley Schachter
Jerome Singer
Emotion results from first perceiving
physiological arousal and then finding an
explanation or label for that arousal based on
the cues from the surrounding environment.
Situation Bodily reaction Emotion
+ cognitive appraisal
FEAR
LOVE
