need for competence
- competence is the psychological need to be effective in interactions with the environment, and it refelcts the desire to exercise one’s capacities and skills and, in doing so, to seek out and master optimal challenges
- there is an interdependency between challenge and feedback - result is enjoyment
- when a challenge is optimal, it can create an experience of flow (state of concentration that involves a holistic absorption and deep involvement in an activity)
Experience of flow
- involves both challenge and skill
low challenge + low skill = apathy
high challenge + low skill = worry or anxiety
low challenge + high skill = boredom/relaxation
high challenge + high skill = flow (concentration, involvement, enjoyment)
supporting ompetence
- environment may play an important role in putting in place conditions that create the satisfaction of the need for competence and the experience of flow
- three aspects of structure: clear goals, helpful guidelines, clear feedback
- feedback may come from one or more of the following sources: task itself, comparisons of one’s current and past performances, comparisons of one’s current performance with the performance of others, evaluations from others
need to belong
- aka relatedness: psychological need to establish close emotional bonds and attachments with other people, and it refelct the desire to be emotionally connected to and interpersonally involved in warm relationships
- vitalized by social interaction but requires the creation of a social bond between the self and another to be satisfied
exchange relationships
- do not satisfy the relatedness need
- are between acquaintances or between people who do business together
- no obligation to be concerned with the other person’s needs and welfare
communal relationship
- do satisfy the relatedness need
- both parties care for the other and both feel an obligation to support the other’s welfare
- monitoring of other’s needs, regardless of any forthcoming opportunities for reciprocity or material gain
Social needs
- acquired psychological process that grows out of one’s socialization history that activates emotional responses to a particular need-relevant incentive
- acquired part of our personlaity
- differ from quasi-needs
- are both reactive and anticipatory in nature
quasi-needs
ephemeral, situationally induced wants that create tense energy to engage in behaviour capable of reducing the built-up tension
need for acheivement
incentive that activates the need - doing something well to show personal competence
high acheivement strivings (feel happy when you pursue goals such as winning, diagnosing personal competence, and improving the self)
faced with a standard of excellence that energizes the individual
origins of the need for achievement
socialization influences
- self-reliance, explicit standards for excellence, an environment rich in stimulation potential, wide range of experiences, etc.
- but they change a lot from childhood to adulthood and during adulthood aswell
developmental influences
- achievement-related emotions and motivations show a predicatble developmental pattern
Atkinson’s model of achievement motivation
struggle between approach and avoidance emotions and behaviours
- tendence to approach success (Ts) - to avoid failure (Taf)
- strength of a person’s need for achievement or motivation to succeed (Ms) - motivation to avoid failure (Maf)
- perceived probability of success (Ps) - probability of failure (Pf)
- incentive value of success (Is) - incentive value for failure (If)
dynamics of action model
theory explain and predict changes in achievement strivings and behaviour over time three forces (instigation, inhibition, consummation) conditions that involve and satisfy the need for achievement (moderately difficult tasks, competition, entrepreneurship)
need for affiliation
- incentive that activates the need: opportunities to please others and gain their approval; involvement in a warm and secure relationship
- high affiliation strivings (situations that offer comfort and interpersonal security)
- two facets: need for approval, need for intimacy)
conditions that involve need for affiliation: fear/anxiety, establishing interpersonal networks, maintaining interpersonal networks
need for power
- incentive that activates the need: having impact, control, influence over another person, group, or the world at large
- higher power strivings (strong and sharp arousal sparks)
- conditions that invove and satisfy the need for power: leadership and relationships, drinking alcohol, aggression, influential occupations, prestige possessions
