Week 10 Lecture 15 - motivation Flashcards
What is motivation?
An internal state that:
- Drives people into action
- Energizes, directs, and perpetuates behaviour
- Is directed towards the satisfaction of needs/drives
- If unsatisfied, will generate a state of physiological or psychological arousal (or both).
- Is dynamic rather than static.
Is motivation an individual difference?
yes
What is motivation linked with?
important life outcomes
What is the relationship between personality and motivation?
relationship is unclear and debated
What is Murray’s (1938) model of motivation?
need –> motive –> behaviour
Primary needs:
- biological in nature e.g., air, food, water
Secondary needs:
- derived from biology and/or psychological e.g., nurturance and achievement
Press:
- external situations and events
- can work to increase or decrease the strength of the motive
What did Chamorro-Premuzic (2013) note about more recent models of motivation?
More recent models include goals
- especially to distinguish motivation from mood.
How many secondary/ psychogenic needs did Murray suggest? What were these based on?
20 Psychogenic Needs (plus 7 provisional needs) proposed on basis of extensive data collection (interviews, observations, childhood memories etc.) from 50 participants
Give some examples of secondary/ psychogenic needs proposed by Murray
Need for Achievement
Need for Nurturance
Need for Affiliation
Need for Order
Need for Aggression
Need for Play
What is a criticism of the secondary/ psychogenic needs proposed by Murray?
- 27 needs was too many
Most research now focuses on three secondary Needs: - Need for Achievement;
- Need for Affiliation;
- Need for Power
What is McClelland’s Acquired Needs Theory (1950s)
- 3 basic secondary needs:
Need for achievement
- desire to mater skills, do thing well, accomplish goals etc.
Need for affiliation
- desire to form relationships and spend time with others
Need for power
- desire to influence and control others
What was McClelland’s Acquired Needs Theory (1950s) measured with?
- Measured with Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).
- Projective tests considered appropriate for motivation research due to implicit nature of motives
What are some potential sub components of the secondary needs [Schultheiss (2008)]?
Secondary needs may be better represented as a hope and fear sub component
e.g.,
Need for achievement –> hope for success vs. fear of failure
Need for power –> hope of power vs. fear of weakness
Hill (1987)
Looked at the different subtypes of motives e.g., need for affiliation
What did he do?
Developed a self report measure
Items loaded onto 4 different subtypes of need for affiliation
Hill (1987)
Developed a self report measure
Items loaded onto 4 different subtypes of need for affiliation
What were these subtypes?
Need for:
- emotional support
- positive stimulation
- attention from others
- social comparison
Hill (1987)
Developed a self report measure
Items loaded onto 4 different subtypes of need for affiliation
What do scores from this measure show?
- scores show differential correlation with ratings of behavioural intentions
- supports idea that these separate components exist
For people that are high in need for achievement, what is their preference?
- Preference for tasks of moderate difficulty, that indicate ability
- Preference for work settings with frequent feedback on current vs previous performance.
What are some correlates of high need for achievement?
Individual level:
- Entrepreneurial success and innovation
- Poor leadership and managerial skills
Societal/ historic level:
- Economic growth and innovation
- Civil war and ineffective leadership
Bradburn and Berlew (1961) Estimated societal level of ‘need for achievement’ in England from 1501-1830
What was their method?
- content analysis of popular literature
- Took sample of popular, ‘imaginative’ and ‘fanciful’ literature from each time period.
- Scored extracts for ‘achievement imagery (inter-rate reliability ~ .96).
- Estimated economic activity through coal imports
Bradburn and Berlew (1961) Estimated societal level of ‘need for achievement’ in England from 1501-1830
What was their hypothesis?
increased level of population level of need for achievement would be followed by observable increased economic growth in the country
Bradburn and Berlew (1961) Estimated societal level of ‘need for achievement’ in England from 1501-1830
What was found?
increased needs for achievement were followed (about 50 years later) by increased coal imports in London
What can need for power reflect?
Schultheiss (2008):
- Can reflect desire to influence and have impact, not necessarily just dominate and control
- Can also be expressed through generativity e.g.
Winter (1973): Individuals high in Need for Power more attracted by jobs involving teaching
Peterson and Stuart (1996): High Need for Power (in females) correlated with larger families, and greater involvement in parenting.
What are some correlates of high need for power?
Individual level:
- Higher testosterone levels
- Higher sexual activity and aggression
- Managerial, leadership and career success
Societal/ historic level:
- Increase in war and arms
- Effective leadership
Spangler and House (1991):
Do previous findings of links between high need or power with effective managerial, political, and leadership success extend to presidential performance?
What was the method? What was measured?
- Motives estimated from previous coding of US Presidents’ inaugural speeches.
- Presidential Performance’ indicators measured by e.g. war entry; war avoidance; perceived ‘greatness’; great decisions cited etc.
Spangler and House (1991):
Do previous findings of links between high need or power with effective managerial, political, and leadership success extend to presidential performance?
What was found?
- Indicators of ‘Presidential Performance’ predicted by high Need for Power (and lower Needs for Achievement and Affiliation).
- Authors argue that results unlikely due to e.g. reverse causation; bias in coding motives or presidential performance etc.
What are some correlates of high need for affiliation?
individual level:
- Like similar others, but dislike dissimilar others
societal/ historic level:
- Peace and disarmament
- Political scandal
Langer and Winter (2001): investigated importance of concessions to avoid/resolve conflicts.
What was the method?
- Undergraduates responded to letter relating to Cuban Missile Crisis.
- Letters coded for concessions and Needs
Langer and Winter (2001): investigated importance of concessions to avoid/resolve conflicts.
What was found?
- Need for Affiliation positively related to concessions.
- Need for Power negatively related to concessions.
What pathway did Schultheiss (2008): suggest for how need for power affects the body?
see summary sheet
McClelland, Alexander & Marks (1982) investigated the negative health effects of need for power
What was the method and measures?
133 male prison inmates participated.
- Thematic Apperception Test (4 brief stories). Coded for Need for Power and Need for Affiliation
- Number of stressors experienced
- Number and severity of illnesses in past 12 months (1-100 per illness)
- Saliva sample to measure salivary immunoglobulin-A (S-IgA) as an indicator of immune functioning
McClelland, Alexander & Marks (1982) investigated the negative health effects of need for power
What was found?
Individuals with a high need for power compared to need for affiliation AND had a high number of stressors:
- had highest illness severity
- had lowest immune functioning
What are some health effects of need for power?
McClelland (1989): It is the ‘Stressed power motive’ that is associated with poorer health.
Schultheiss (2008, pp 616): High need for power per se is “not a general vulnerability for impaired health.”
- it is not the need for power that leads to poorer health, it is a combination of the motive and how that motive is achieved (stress)
What pathway does need for affiliation take concerning health?
Associated with parasympathetic activity, and increased immune functioning.
Generally positive effects on health.
(see summary sheet)
McClelland & Kirshnit (1988) investigated the need for affiliation in regards to health
What was the method? What was measured?
- 132 student participants.
- Needs measured using TAT before and after watching one of two short films.
- Need for affiliation group primed further in post-film writing task about love and caring.
- Levels of S-IgA measured before and after the film.
- Also measured illness experienced that year.
McClelland & Kirshnit (1988) investigated the need for affiliation in regards to health
What was found?
- evidence for protective effects of need for affiliation
- no overall effect of change in need for power
- sub-group with “inhibited power motive syndrome” –> showed reduction in SIG-A after WWII film
- no link between reactive increase in SIG-A and illness history
What does the sub-group label “inhibited power motive syndrome” mean?
high in need for power
low in need for affiliation
high in inhibition
