Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Basics Of Psychological
Processes( PSYC153)

Module 7- Motivation
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Motivation
• “In psychology we define motivation as a hypothetical internal process
that provides the energy for behaviour and directs it toward specific
goal”.

Baron
Byrne, 1980
• “Motivation refers to the driving and pulling forces which result in
persistent behaviour directed towards particular goals”.

Morgan, King, 1986

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Nature of Motivation

• Motivation is the process by which activities are started, directed, and continued
so that physical or psychological needs or wants are met (Petri, 1996). The
concept of motivation focuses on what “moves” the behavior. The word
motivation is derived from the Latin word “movere”, referring to movement of an
activity.

• Motives also help in making predictions about behavior. For instance, a person
will work hard in school, in sports, in business, in music, and in many other
situations, if she/he has a very strong sense for achievement.

• Hence, motives are general states that enables us to make predictions about
behavior in many different situations. In other words, motivation is one of the
determinants of behavior. Instincts, drives, needs, goals, and incentives come
under the broad cluster of motivation.
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Terminologies

Need : A need is an organic state of deficiency or excess

Drive: The word ‘Drive’ refers to a state of tension and

activity that is aroused by one of needs.

Incentive: It is our goal

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Need:
• It’s a product of physical and physiological deprivation in
the body.
• It’s a lack or deficit of some necessity.
• Condition of need leads to Drive.
• Example- Hunger, Oxygen, Care etc.
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Drive/Arousal:

• Internal motivation state created by need.

• It is defined as the state of tension or arousal produced by
the need.
• Can produce more than one responses.
• Example- Hunger drive
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Goal Directed Behavior:

• The goal of energized activity is to reduce the tension
created within the body.
• It motivates or encourages someone to do something.
• It has the capability to satisfy the need.
• It can be positive or negative.
• Example-For hunger food is an incentive/goal.
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Kinds of Motives
Biological Motives:

Hunger

Thirst

Sex

Sleep

Bladder Tension
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HUNGER
• Studies have indicated that many events inside and outside the body may trigger hunger or inhibit it. The
stimuli for hunger include stomach contractions, which signify that the stomach is empty, a low
concentration of glucose in blood, a low level of protein, and the amounts of fat stored in body. The liver
also responds to the lac of bodily fuel by sending nerve impulses to the brain.
• The aroma, taste or appearance of food may also result in the desire to eat. It may be noted that none of
these alone gives you the feeling that you are hungry. All in combination act with external factors (such as
taste, color, by observing others eating, and the smell of food, etc.) to help you understand that you are
hungry. Thus, it can be said that our food intake is regulated by a complex feeding-satiety system located in
the hypothalamus, liver, and other parts of the body as well as external cues available in the environment.
• Some physiologists hold that changes in the metabolic functions of the liver result in the feeling of hunger.
The liver sends a signal to a part of the brain called hypothalamus. The two regions of hypothalamus
involved in hunger are – the lateral hypothalamus (LH) and the ventro-medial hypothalamus (VMH).
• LH is considered to be the excitatory area. Animals eat when this area is stimulated. When it is damages,
animals stop eating and die of starvation. VMH is located in the middle of hypothalamus, which is
otherwise known as hunger-controlling area which inhibits the hinger drive.
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THIRST
• When we are deprived of water for a period of several hours, the mouth and throat
become dry, which leads to dehydration of body tissues. Water must get into the tissues
sufficiently to remove the dryness of throat and mouth.
• Motivation to drink water is mainly triggered by conditions of the body: loss of water
from cells and reduction of blood volume. When water is lost by bodily fluids, water
leaves the interior of the cells.
• The anterior hypothalamus contains nerve cells called ‘osmoreceptors’, which generate
nerve impulses act as a signal for thirst and drinking; when thirst is regulated by loss of
water from osmoreceptors, it is called cellular - dehydration thirst.
• Some researchers assume that mechanism which explains the intake of water is also
responsible for stopping the intake of water. Others have pointed out that role of stimuli
resulting from the intake of water must have something to do with stopping of drinking
water. However, the precise physiological mechanisms are yet to be understood.
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SEX
• Motivation to engage in a sexual activity is a very strong factor influencing human behavior. However,
sex is far more than a biological motive.
• It is different from other primary motives (hunger, thirst) in many ways like:
(a) Sexual activity is not necessary for an individual’s survival
(b) Homeostasis (the tendency of an organism to as a whole to maintain constancy or attempt to restore
equilibrium if constancy is disturbed) is not the goal of sexual activity;
(c) Sex drive develops with age.
• In case of lower animals, it depends on many physiological conditions; in case of human beings, the sex
drive is very closely regulated biologically, sometimes it is difficult to classify sex as a purely biological
drive.
• Physiologists suggest that intensity of the sexual urge is dependent upon chemical substances
circulating in the blood, known as sex hormones. Studies on animals as well as human beings have
mentioned that sex hormones secreted by gonads, i.e., testes in males and ovaries in females are
responsible for sexual motivation.
• Sexual motivation is also influenced by other endocrine glands, such as adrenal and pituitary glands.
Sexual drives in human beings is primarily stimulated by external stimuli and its expression depends
upon cultural learning.
 Acquired Motives / Social Motives:
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Need for Achievement

Need for Affiliation

Need for Power and Status

Need for Aggressiveness

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Psychosocial Motives (nAff)

Need for Affiliation (nAff)

• Most of us need company or friend or want to maintain some form of relationship with others. As
soon as people see some kinds of similarities among themselves or they like each other, they form a
group. Seeking other human beings and wanting to be close to them both physically and
psychologically is called affiliation. It involves motivation for social contact.
• Need for affiliation is aroused when individuals feel threatened or helpless or when they are happy.
• People high on this need are motivated to seek the company of others and to maintain friendly
relationships with other people.
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Psychosocial Motives (nPow)

Need for Power (nPow)

• It is an ability of a person to produce intended effects on the behavior and emotions of

another person. The various goals of power motivation are to influence, control, persuade,
lead and charm others and most importantly to enhance one’s own reputation in the eyes of
other people.
• David McClelland (1975) describes four general ways of the expression of power motive:
(a) First, people do things to gain feeling of power and strength from sources outside
themselves by reading stories about sports stars or attaching themselves to a popular figure.
(b) Second, power can also be felt from sources within us and may be expressed by
building up the body and mastering urges and impulses.
(c) Third, people do things as individuals to have an impact on others.
(d) Fourth, people do things as members of organizations to have an impact on others as in
the case of the leader of a political party.
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Psychosocial Motives (nAch)

Need for Achievement (nAch)
• It is the achievement motivation, which refers to the desire of a person to meet standards of excellence.
Need for Achievement, also known as n-Ach, energizes and directed behaviors as well as influences the
perception of situations.
• During the formative years of social development, children acquire achievement motivation. The sources
from which they learn it, include parents, other role models, and socio – cultural influences.
• Persons high in achievement motivation tend to prefer tasks that are moderately difficult and challenging.
• They have stronger-than-average desire for feedback on their performance, that is to know how they are
doing, so that hey can adjust their goals to meet the challenge.
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Achievement Motive:

• Achievement motivation excite and individual to achieve some goal. This

motive can be seen in some people in the society who are attaining high
success, reaching high positions and standards.
• On the other hand, low motive people do not accept challenges, do less
efforts in work and accepts failures easily.
For high achievement motivation parents need to develop leadership
qualities in children for better achievement in their future life. They have to
promote children to take decisions own your own, and guide them for
higher achievement from the childhood, so that the children develop high
achievement motivation.
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Aggressive Motive:

It is a motive to respond aggressively when met frustrations. People feel

frustration when someone stops them from reaching a goal or do the insult.
Even in a fearful and dangerous situation the individual may resort to
aggressive behaviour. Individual expresses such behaviour to overcome
opposition forcefully, which may be verbal or physical aggression.
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Power Motive:

• People with power motive always want to influence the others.

• They try to influence people by their reputation. They expect people to
obey their instructions.
• People with high power motive choose such jobs, where they can utilise
their powers. They want people as followers.
• They expect high recognition and prestige from others. For example, a
person may aspire to go for jobs like Police Officer, Politician,
Deputy Commissioner, etc.
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Affiliation / Gregariousness Motive:

• Through Affiliation people want to associate ourselves with other members

of the group or same species. The individual will be interested in creating,
maintaining and managing friendly relationships and will be attracted in
participating in group activities.
• Individual will follow social norms and other ethical codes of the groups in
which he/she is interested.
• To the greater extent friendliness is established because many of the needs
like basic needs, safety and security needs are satisfied.
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

The Motivational Cycle

• A need is a lack or deficit of some necessity.

The condition of need leads to drive. A
drive is a state of tension or arousal
produced by a need. It energizes random
activity. When one of the random activities
leads to a goal-directed behavior, and the
person has a sense of achievement, the
organism stops being active. The organism
returns to a balanced state due the reduction
of the arousal caused by the drive.
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences
 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation

Basis for Intrinsic Motivation Extrinsic Motivation

Comparison

Meaning Motivation that comes from within a Motivation which is induced by

person. outside forces.

Focuses on Action Outcome

Locus of Internal to the person External to the person

Control
Aims at Developing and satisfying oneself and Earning a reward or avoiding
identifying the potential. certain consequences.

Driven by Own desires and needs Outside sources or other people

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Maslow Pyramid

What motivates people, why people do their work well and how can
they be exhilarated to perform better in work place? To understand
this process, the psychologist Abraham Maslow developed a
Hierarchy of Needs model in 1954.
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Maslow’s Theory (1954)

“Be all that you can be.”

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A person is motivated by values which transcend beyond

the personal self (e.g., mystical experiences and certain
experiences with nature, aesthetic experiences, service to
others, religious faith, etc.).

Realizing personal potential, self-fulfilment, seeking personal

growth and peak experiences.

Appreciation and search for beauty, balance etc.

Knowledge and understanding, curiosity, exploration,

need for meaning and predictability.
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 Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

Humanistic Approach to Motivation

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

The first humanistic theory is based on the work of Abraham

Maslow (1943, 1987). Maslow proposed that there are several
levels of needs that a person must strive to meet before achieving
the highest level of personality fulfilment. According to Maslow,
self-actualization is the point that is seldom reached- at which
people have satisfied the lower needs and achieved their full
human potential. The only need higher than self-actualization is
transcendence, a search for spiritual meaning beyond one’s
immediate self. Moving up and down and then back up can occur
frequently—even from one hour to the next. Times in a person’s
life in which self-actualization is achieved, at least temporarily,
are called peak experiences. For Maslow, the process of growth
and self-actualization is the striving to make peak experiences
happen again and again.
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Sources
• https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-motivation-2795378
• https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/motivation
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/motivation
• https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-psychology/chapter/intr
oduction-motivation/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hdSLiHaJz8
• https://www.verywellmind.com/differences-between-extrinsic-and-i
ntrinsic-motivation-2795384
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=791k5VVtmj0
With regards
Jalendu Dhamija