Unit 2️⃣ Flashcards
What did Deckers in 2001 did?
He proposed a simple scheme in which he establishes the moments that can be distinguished in the motivation process:
1. Choice of target/objective;
2. Behavioural dynamism;
3. Completion or control over the action performed.
What is the choice of target?
It is the first phase of the motivational process. The individual decides which motive will satisfy.
There are some associated processes:
- Intensity of the Motive: How strong is the impulse or need.
- Incentive Attractiveness: The value or desire that the person associates with the incentive.
- Subjective Probability of Success: How likely it is that the person believes he/she can achieve the goal.
- Striving for the Goal: The amount of work or effort the person anticipates will be required.
What is the Behavioral dynamism?
It refers to the activities carried out by an individual in an attempt to achieve his or her objective.
Here the individual considers which activities will allow him/her to achieve the goal, carrying out the appropriate instrumental behavior for the chosen goal.
The correct execution of instrumental behaviors depends on whether or not the goal chosen by the individual is achieved.
Example: “I have a lot of problems with my partner, but at the same time I want to stay with him/her”.
What is Completion or control over the action performed?
• It refers to the analysis of the result achieved with the different actions or instrumental behaviors that the individual executed.
• The individual assesses whether or not, by means of the behaviours he/she has carried out, he/she has succeeded in satisfying the motive he/she chose.
• If the individual has not achieved the goal, depending on the parameters related to the interest or need to achieve that goal, he/she will decide whether to persist and try again to achieve it.
Motivational process example?
Case: Carlos, a young man who decides to start exercising regularly.
1. Goal Choice: Carlos realizes that he wants to get in better physical shape. He sets a specific goal of running a 5K race in three months.
2. Behavioral Dynamism: Carlos initiates a training plan. He starts by running short distances that he gradually increases each week. He also researches running techniques and joins a local running group.
3. Action Control: As Carlos progresses through his training, he monitors his progress by assessing his endurance and the time it takes him to run specific distances. He adjusts his training plan as needed.
But is it that simple?
I have a motive —> I act to achieve it —> I evaluate my action.
What about, for example, more complex behaviors such as altruism, addictive behaviors?
It is closer to this:
• Stimulus
• Perception
• Evaluation-assessment
• Choice of goal
• Decision to act
• Activation
• Direction
• Control of the results
Let’s go by parts:
• Stimulus
• Perception
• Evaluation-assessment
• Stimulus: The presence of a stimulus capable of triggering the motivational process is required. This stimulus can be external or internal, real or not. Conscious (perceived by the individual) or not conscious (the organism itself).
• Perception: The non-existence of conscious perception eliminates the possibility that an individual notices the existence of the stimulus and feels motivated to carry out an appropriate action.
• Evaluation-appraisal: This process of making decisions and choosing a specific objective as a goal involves intense mental activity. During this process, the person evaluates how likely it is to achieve the desired goal and considers the value or importance of that goal to him or her personally.
Let’s go by parts:
• Choice of goal
• Decision to act
• Goal Choice and Decision to Act: Motivation is influenced by the interaction between desire/Need, goal value, and expectation of success. This interaction is multiplicative: if any of these factors is zero, the motivated behavior does not occur.
• Beyond the different combinations that we can establish between these three variables, it seems to be an outstanding fact that need is the main driver of motivated behavior.
Example: Survivors of the Andes. Desire/need to eat. Value of food: High. Expectation of getting food: Almost none.
Let’s go by parts:
• Activation
• Direction
• Control of the results
• Activation
➡️ Initial Activation: It is initiated when a need or a desirable stimulus is detected, setting in motion specific corrective mechanisms.
➡️ Selective Activation: Only the systems necessary to address a need are activated, seeking to balance any deficiencies (homeostatic activation).
➡️ Goal-directed activation: By pursuing a consciously chosen goal, activation becomes specialized, focusing on systems that enable goal-directed behaviors.
➡️ Parsimony and Homeostasis: Activation is efficient, limiting itself to systems essential to the goal, and maintains internal balance in satisfying the need or achieving the goal.
• Direction:
Direction has two possibilities (1) related to the choice of the objective that will become a goal for that individual and (2) On the other hand, direction related to the choice of instrumental behaviors that will lead the individual toward the goal.
• Control of results:
➡️ Progress Monitoring: The individual compares the current situation with the desired situation and, if close to the goal, continues to strive to minimize the difference.
➡️ Goal Attractiveness: The decision to persist is influenced by the attractiveness of the goal, including affective and cognitive gratifications, social recognition and self-esteem.
➡️ Causal Attribution: The individual analyzes the reasons for his or her progress (or lack Thereof) and adjusts his or her behavior or goals accordingly to achieve better results in the future.
➡️ Persistence or Change: If incongruence is not reduced, the individual will consider changing his or her actions or goals, or even abandoning the goal if he or she does not see a clear path to success.
Which are important concept in the field of motivation?
- Homeostasis
- Negative feedback
- Necessity vs Demand
-Approach phase and consummation Phase
What is homeostasis?
Homeostasis is an essential concept in motivational psychology that refers to the process by which organisms maintain a state of internal equilibrium in response to external changes or challenges. Introduced by Cannon from his physiological studies, it implies that when an imbalance is detected in the body, mechanisms are activated to restore equilibrium.
Example: For example, if the body is cold, physiological mechanisms include shivering to generate heat, while behaviors may include seeking warmer clothing.
What are Negative feedback?
The role of negative feedback in the process of motivated behavior and homeostasis is essentially that of a control mechanism that regulates and stops behavior once a need has been satisfied or a goal achieved.
Example: Imagine you find yourself in a stressful situation at work. You are experiencing emotions such as anxiety and frustration. Out of homeostoasis, your body will seek to take a break. Negative feedback comes into play when your body “notices” that your anxiety and stress levels are decreasing and you are returning to a more balanced emotional state. As a result, you reduce the motivated behavior of taking a break and get back to work.
What is Necessity vs Demand?
• The relationship between demand and need tends to be inverse.
• The greater the degree of need, the less demanding the individual becomes when it comes to satisfying that need.
What is Approach Phase and Consummation Phase?
• A distinction proposed by Craig (1918) in the field of motivation.
• Difference between appetitive (or approach) phase and consummatory phase in motivated behavior.
• Appetitive phase: Involves heterogeneous and varied movements aimed at obtaining a goal. It can be influenced by learning and personal experience.
• Consummatory phase: Involves homogeneous and species-specific movements to materialize instinctive behavior. It is invariable and reflects instinctive behavior patterns.
What are we left with?
• Motivation must be considered as a process, which includes the motivated behavior itself, but also includes other relevant variables, such as cognitive variables, in the form of analysis, assessment and attribution of causes, and affective variables, referring to the subject’s current state.
• Based on the different perspectives and definitions above, we believe that any attempt to define motivation should refer to an adaptive process.
To take home
The process starts with the presence of some internal or external stimulus or situation, which triggers in the individual the need or desire to carry out a behavior to achieve the object implied in the situation; after the relevant evaluation and assessment, taking into account the availability of resources, the difficulty and the incentive value referred to the objective to be achieved, plus the current state of the organism, the individual decides to carry out a behavior aimed at achieving a certain objective -the one he considers most appropriate at that moment-; the motivated behavior itself consists of the phases of approach and execution appetitive and consummatory-, and, after its execution, the individual will carry out the verification of congruence, the attribution of causes and generalization”.
