MOTIVATION

Dr Mollika Roy
 Motivation
◦The factors that direct and energize the behavior of humans and other
organisms.
◦The term "motivation" describes why a person does something. It is the
driving force behind human actions.
◦Motivation is the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-
oriented behaviors.
◦For instance, motivation is what helps you lose extra weight, or pushes you
to get that promotion at work.
◦In short, motivation causes you to act in a way that gets you closer to your
goals.
◦Motivation includes the biological, emotional, social, and cognitive forces
that activate human behavior.
Cycle of Motivation
 Explanation of Motivation:
◦Drive Theory: suggest that a lack of some basic biological requirement
such as Thirst (lack of water) produces a drive to obtain that requirement.
However, this approach does not explain properly about social motivation
just only biological motivation.
◦ Our body maintain a homeostatic level (the body’s tendency to
maintain a steady internal state).
◦When deviations from the ideal state occur, the body adjusts in an effort
to return to an optimal state.
◦When you are hungry, thirsty or sleepy you homeostasis level starts to
break & you must have to intake food or water or sleep.
Homeostasis
 Explanation of Motivation:
◦Arousal Theory: each person tries to maintain a certain level of
stimulation and activity. If you need to perform at an optimal
level you have to be in a some level of stress. “No stress” or
“extreme level” stress does not bring best performance.
◦Maslow’s Hierarchy Theory: Ordering
Motivational Needs
◦ Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a motivational
theory in psychology comprising a five-tier
model of human needs, often depicted as
hierarchical levels within a pyramid.
◦Maslow’s model places motivational needs in a
hierarchy and suggests that before more
sophisticated, higher-order needs can be
met, certain primary needs has to be be
satisfied.
◦The pyramid can represent the model with the
more basic needs at the bottom and the
higher-level needs at the top.
❖ To activate a specific higher-order
need, thereby guiding behavior, a
person must first fulfill the more basic
needs in the hierarchy

• The physiological needs are primary

drives: needs for water, food, sleep,
sex, and the like.
• To move up the hierarchy, a person
must first meet these basic
physiological needs.
• Safety needs come next in the
hierarchy; Maslow suggests that
people need a safe, secure
environment in order to function
effectively.
• Physiological and safety needs
compose the lower-order needs.
 • Only after meeting the basic lower-order needs can
a person consider fulfilling higher-order needs,
such as the needs for love and a sense of
belonging, esteem, and self-actualization
• Love and belongingness - include the
needs to obtain and give affection and
to be a contributing member of some group
or society.
• After fulfilling these needs, a person strives
for esteem.
• In Maslow’s thinking, esteem relates to the
need to develop a sense of self-worth by
recognizing that others know and value
one’s competence.
• Once these four sets of needs are fulfilled—(no easy task)—a person is able to
strive for the highest-level need, self-actualization.
• Self-actualization is a state of self-fulfillment in which people realize their highest
potentials in their own unique way.
• realizing personal potential, self- fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak
experiences.
 ◦Deficiency needs vs. growth
needs in Maslow
◦ This five-stage model can be
divided into deficiency needs
and growth needs.
◦ The first four levels are often
referred to as deficiency needs
(D-needs), and
◦ the top level is known as growth
or being needs (B-needs).
Growth needs do not stem from a lack of something, but rather from a desire
to grow as a person.
 ◦Deficiency needs vs. growth needs
in Maslow
Deficiency needs arise due to
deprivation and are said to motivate
people when they are unmet.
Also, the motivation to fulfill such
needs will become stronger the
longer the duration they are denied.

Growth needs do not stem from a lack of

something, but rather from a desire
to grow as a person.
Biological Vs Social motivation
 Social Motivation
◦Need for achievement. The need for achievement is a stable, learned
characteristic in which a person obtains satisfaction by striving for and
attaining a level of excellence.
◦ People with a high need for achievement seek out situations in which they
can compete against some standard—such as grades, money, or winning a
game— and prove themselves successful.
◦They tend to avoid situations in which success will come too easily (which
would be unchallenging) and situations in which success is unlikely.
◦Instead, people high in achievement motivation generally choose tasks that
are of intermediate difficulty.
 Social Motivation
◦Need for achievement.
◦People with low achievement motivation tend to be motivated
primarily by a desire to avoid failure.
◦As a result, they seek out easy tasks so the are sure to avoid failure,
or they seek out very difficult tasks for which failure has no negative
implications because almost anyone would fail at them.
◦People with a high fear of failure will stay away from tasks of
intermediate difficulty because they may fail where others have
been successful.
◦A high need for achievement generally produces positive outcomes,
at least in a success-oriented culture.
The Need for Affiliation: Striving for Friendship
◦ Need for affiliation, an interest in establishing and maintaining
relationships with other people.
◦ Individuals with a high need for affiliation emphasize the
desire to maintain or reinstate friendships and show concern
over being rejected by friends.
◦ People who have higher affiliation needs are particularly sensitive
to relationships with others.
◦ They desire to be with their friends more of the time and
alone less often, compared with people who are lower in the need
for affiliation.
◦ Gender is a determinant: Female students spend significantly more
time with their friends and less time alone than male students do.
 The Need for Power: Striving for
Impact on Others
◦The need for power, a tendency to seek impact, control, or influence over others and
to be seen as a powerful individual, is another type of social motivation.
◦people with strong needs for power are more in business management and—you may or
may not be surprised—teaching.
◦Some significant gender differences exist in the display of need for power.
◦Men with high power needs tend to show unusually high levels of aggression, drink
heavily, act in a sexually exploitative manner, and participate more frequently in
competitive sports—behaviors that collectively represent somewhat extravagant,
flamboyant behavior.
◦Women with high power needs are more apt than men to channel those needs in a
socially responsible manner, such as by showing concern for others or displaying
highly nurturing behavior.