Motivation
Explain instinct, drive-reduction, arousal, incentive, hierarchy of needs, hunger, achievement, and intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation.
A lesson of AP Psychology, in Development, Personality, Motivation, and Emotion, about 10 minutes.
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to describe the major theories of motivation (instinct, drive reduction, arousal, hierarchy of needs), explain intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation, and apply these to real behavior.
What Is Motivation?
Motivation: an internal state that energizes and directs behavior toward a goal. Motivation answers: WHY do people do what they do?
Theories of Motivation
1. Instinct Theory (early 20th century): behaviors are innate, genetic patterns triggered by specific stimuli. Limited — circular (explaining behavior by calling it an instinct). Replaced by more nuanced theories.
2. Drive-Reduction Theory (Hull): physiological needs create drives (tension states) that motivate behavior to satisfy those needs and restore homeostasis.
- Primary drives: biological needs (hunger, thirst, sex, sleep)
- Secondary drives: learned drives (money, grades) that predict satisfaction of primary drives
Limitation: doesn't explain behaviors that increase arousal (bungee jumping, spicy food) or motivated behaviors without clear biological need (curiosity, creativity).
3. Arousal Theory: people are motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal — not too low (boring) or too high (overwhelming).
Yerkes-Dodson Law: performance is best at moderate arousal; too little or too much arousal impairs performance. The optimal level varies by task complexity:
- Simple tasks: higher arousal is better
- Complex tasks: lower arousal is better
4. Incentive Theory: external rewards ("pull" factors) motivate behavior, rather than internal drives ("push" factors). We act to obtain desirable outcomes or avoid undesirable ones.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Self-actualization
(realizing potential)
Esteem needs
(achievement, status)
Social/Belonging needs
(relationships, community)
Safety needs
(security, stability)
Physiological needs (food, water, sleep)
Maslow organized human needs in a pyramid:
The idea: lower needs must be at least partially satisfied before higher needs become motivating.
Criticism: needs don't always work this way — people sacrifice safety for belonging, or physiological needs for self-expression. Cultural variation is significant.
Empirical status: the specific hierarchy has weak empirical support, but the basic insight (that humans have a rich variety of needs beyond biology) is valuable.