Unit 2: The motivational Process Flashcards
What is motivation closely linked with and what does it include?
Surival
-> live-death distinction and social dimension
What kind of process is motivation?
an adaptive process
-> existence of various variables
-> implies dynamism
Who proposed the first simple scheme for the motivational process and what did it consist of?
Decker
Choice of target/ objective
Behavioural dynamism
Completion or control over action
Which processes are associated with the choice of an objective?
Intensity of motive: strength of impulse or need
Incentive attractiveness: value associated with incentive
Subjective probability of success: Likelyhood of acheiving the goal
Striving for goal: anticipated amount of work required
Behavioural dynamism
Activities carried out in order to acheive the goal
-> consideration which activities allow the person to acheive goal
-> appropriate instrumental behaviour chosen
=> correct execution of instrumental behaviours decides if the goal is acheived
Completion or control over actions
analysis of result acheived with different behaviours
-> assessment whether motive chosen was satisfied through behaviour
-> if goal isnt acheived: decision about persisting and trying again or not depending on interest and need to acheive goal
What is actually involved in the motivational process?
Stimulus
Perception
Evaluation-assessment
Choice of goal
Decision to act
Activation
Direction
Control of results
Stimulus
requirement: capable of triggering motivational process
can be internal/external, real/ not real, conscious/unconscious
Perception
non-existence of conscious perception eliminates possibility that stimulus is noticed
-> doesn’t feel motivated to carry out appropriate behaviour
Evaluation-assessment
Process of making decisions and choosing a specific objective
involves intense mental activity
-> evaluation of likelihood of acheiving goal
-> consideration of value/ importance of goal to personality
Goal choice and decision to act
motivation influenced by interaction between desire/need, goal value and expectation of success
multiplicative interaction
-> one factor 0 -> behaviour doesnt occur
What is the main driver of motivated behaviour?
need
Which types of activation are there?
Initial activation: initiated when need or desirable stimulus is detected, specific corrective mechanisms activated
selective activation: only systems necessary to address need activated, balances deficiencies (homeostatic activation)
Goal-directed activation: activation very specialised to enable goal directed behaviours (e.g. becoming a chef: going to culinary school, etc.)
Parsimony and homeostasis: efficient, limited to systems necessary to reach goal and maintain internal balance
Which 2 possibilities for direction are there?
1) related to choice of objective
2) choice of instrumental behaviours
How are results controlled?
Progress monitoring
Goal attractiveness
Causal attribution
Persistence or change
Progress monitoring
current situation compared to desired situation
if close to goal: continues to strive
Goal attractiveness
decision to persist is influenced by attractiveness of goal
(including affective cognitive gratifications, social recognition and self-esteem)
Causal attribution
Individual analyzes reasons for progress
adjusts behaviour or goals to achieve better results
Persistence or change
if incongruence not reduced:
individual considers changing actions or goals
maybe abandons goal if theres no clear path to success
What is homeostasis?
process by which organisms maintain state of internal equilibrium in response to external changes or challenges
Who introduced the concept of homeostasis?
Cannon from his physiological studies
-> implies that when imbalance is detected, mechanisms are activated to restore equilibrium
What is negative feedback and what is its role?
control mechanism
-> regulates and stops behaviour once need is satisfied or goal acheived
Whats the relationship between necessity and demand?
inverse
the greater the need the less demaning the individual in satisfying the need
Which distinction did Craig propose?
Appetitive phase: heterogenous, obtains goal, influenced by experience and learning
Consummatory phase: homogenous, specifies movements to materialize instinctive behaviour, invariable & reflects instinctive behaviour patterns
What is motivation to be considered as in general?
an adaptive process
