Chapter 11: Motives and Personality Flashcards
What are motives?
Internal state that arouses and directs behavior toward a specific object or goal
Motives operate through…
conscious or unconscious mental processes that generate intrapsychic influence on behavior
Motives are caused by a lack of something otherwise known as a
deficit
Motives are typically based on
needs = states of tension within a person
What happens when a need is satisfied?
state of tension is reduced
Do some motives operate outside of awareness?
Yes
What is Henry Murray’s Theory of Needs?
He defines a need as the readiness to respond in certain ways under certain circumstances
- Needs organize perception, guiding us to see what we want or need to see
- Needs organize action by compelling a person to do what is necessary to satisfy a need
- Needs refer to states of tension and satisfying a need reduces tension
Murray proposed a list of what?
fundamental human needs associated with a specific desire or intention, a particular set of emotions, and specific action tendencies
What is apperception?
the act of interpreting the environment and perceiving the meaning of what is going on in a situation
What does TAT stand for?
Thematic Apperception Test
What is a Thematic Apperception Test?
a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes
- Presumed that a person projects his/her current needs in the interpretation of a picture
TAT Vs. Questionnaire Measures of Motives
TAT
- A person’s unconscious desires, aspirations, and needs
- Predict long-term and spontaneous behavioral trends over time
QUESTIONNAIRE MEASURES
- Reflects a person’s self-awareness of conscious motives
- Better predictor of responses to immediate and specific situations
What are the Big Three Motives?
- Need for Achievement
- Need for Power
- Need for Intimacy
Need for Achievement is the…
desire for accomplishment, mastery of people, ideas, things, desire for reaching a high standard
What are some characteristics of the need for achievement?
- Prefer activities that are slightly challenging
- Enjoy tasks in which they are personally responsible for the outcome
- Prefer tasks in which feedback on their performance is available
Need for Power is the…
a tendency to seek impact, control, or influence over others and to be seen as a powerful individual
- Exhibits stronger stress response
- Men exhibit more impulsive and aggressive behaviors
- Tend to control ppl and situations
Need for Intimacy is the…
recurrent preference or readiness for warm, close, and communicative interaction with others
- Spend more time during day thinking about relationships
- Report more pleasant e,ptions when they are around other ppl
- Smile, laugh, an make more eye contact
- Start up conversations more frequently
- Start up conversations more frequently and write more letters
True or False: Women report a higher need for intimacy
True
When does the humanistic tradition emerge?
Third wave in American Psychology
What is the focus of humanistic tradition?
*counteracts to psychoanalytic and behavioral traditions
- Emphasis is on the conscious awareness of needs,
choice, and personal responsibility - Emphasis is on the human need for growth and
realizing one’s full potential - Focuses on growth instead of deficiency
Who is Abraham Maslow?
Creates a hierarchy of needs, where the highest level = is where our personal potential is fully realized after basic bodily and ego needs have been fulfilled
- look at ss photo
- he believes peak experiences → should be happening on a regular/daily basis for people
- Wonderful moments of happiness or transcendence or awe
Who is Carl Rogers?
Striving to actualize and perfect the self
- Goal: Full-functioning person → doesn’t solve problems for clients, but gently returns to them and helps guide them to settle upon a conclusion
- Spontaneous, Reflective, Trusting, Confident, and Self-reliant
What are Roger’s contributions?
Client-centered therapy = designed to get a person back on path toward self-actualization
- Many parents and significant others place conditions of worth on when one will receive positive regard
- Must receive unconditional positive regard from parents and significant others to develop positive self-regard
- Anxiety results when people get off-track in pursuit of self-actualization
What are the three conditions for therapeutic progress?
- Genuine acceptance of the client by therapist
- Unconditional positive regard for client
- Empathetic understanding – client must feel that the therapist understands him or her
