Motivation and Work | Introductory Psychology | PSY 101, Study notes of Psychology

Download Motivation and Work | Introductory Psychology | PSY 101 and more Study notes Psychology in PDF only on Docsity!

CHAPTER 12 (SUMMARY): MOTIVATION AND WORK

Overview

Motivation is a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior. The early view that instincts control behavior was replaced by drive-reduction theory, which maintains that physiological needs create psychological drives that seek to restore internal stability, or homeostasis. In addition, some motivated behaviors increase arousal, and we are pulled by external incentives. According to Maslow, some motives are more compelling than others. Hunger seems to originate from changes in glucose and insulin levels that are monitored by the hypothalamus, as well as changes in the levels of leptin, orexin, and PYY. To maintain a set- point weight, the body also adjusts its basal metabolic rate. Body chemistry and environmental factors together influence our taste preferences. Psychological influences on eating behavior are most evident in those who are motivated to be abnormally thin. Like hunger, sexual motivation depends on the interplay of internal and external stimuli. In nonhuman animals, hormones help stimulate sexual activity. In humans, they influence sexual behavior more loosely. One’s sexual orientation seems neither willfully chosen nor willfully changed; new research links sexual orientation to biological factors. The need to belong, is a major influence in motivating human behavior. Social bonds boosted our ancestors’ survival rates. We experience our need to belong when feeling the gloom of loneliness or joy of love, and when seeking social acceptance. Work meets several human needs. The growing field of industrial-organizational psychology attempts to match people to work, enhance employee satisfaction and productivity, and explore strategies for effective workplace management. People who excel are often self-disciplined individuals with strong achievement motivation. Effective leaders build on people’s strengths, work with them to set specific and challenging goals, and adapt their leadership style to the situation.

Motivational Concepts

Defining motivation; Theories of motivated behavior. A motivation is a need or desire that serves to energize behavior and to direct it toward a goal. Under Darwin’s influence, early theorists viewed behavior as being controlled by biological forces, such as instincts. When it became clear that people were naming, not explaining, various behaviors by calling them instincts, this approach fell into disfavor. The idea that genes predispose species-typical behavior is still influential in evolutionary psychology. Psychologists next turned to a drive-reduction theory of motivation. Most physiological needs create aroused psychological states that drive us to reduce or satisfy those needs. The aim of drive reduction is internal stability, or homeostasis. Furthermore, we are not only pushed by internal drives but we are also pulled by external incentives. Rather than reducing a physiological need or minimizing tension, some motivated behaviors increase arousal. Curiosity-driven behaviors, for example, suggest that too little or too much stimulation can motivate people to seek an optimum level of arousal. Maslow’s hierarchy of motives. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs expresses the idea that, until satisfied, some motives are more compelling than others. At the base of the hierarchy are our physiological needs, such as for

food, water, and shelter. Only if these are met are we prompted to meet our need for safety, and then to meet the uniquely human needs to give and receive love, to belong and be accepted, and to enjoy self-esteem. Beyond this, said Maslow, lies the highest of human needs: to actualize one’s full potential.

Hunger

Physiological determinants of hunger. Although the stomach’s pangs contribute to hunger, variations in body chemistry are more important. We are likely to feel hungry when our glucose levels are low, which results from increases in the hormone insulin. This information is integrated by the hypothalamus, which regulates the body’s weight as it influences our feelings of hunger and satiety. Other hormones monitored by the hypothalamus include leptin (secreted by fat cells), ghrelin (which is secreted by an empty stomach, and PYY (a digestive tract hormone). Orexin is a hunger-triggering hormone secreted by the hypothalamus. To maintain its set point weight, the body also adjusts its basal metabolic rate of energy expenditure. Psychological and cultural influences on hunger; Symptoms of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Part of knowing when to eat is our memory of our last meal. As time passes, we anticipate eating again and feel hungry. Although some taste preferences are genetic, culture also affects taste. For example, most North Americans shun dog, rat, and horse meat, all of which are prized elsewhere, but welcome beef, which Hindus wouldn’t think of eating. With repeated exposure, our appreciation for a new taste typically increases, and exposure to one set of novel foods increases willingness to try another. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in which a normal-weight person (usually an adolescent female) diets to become significantly (15 percent or more) underweight, yet feels fat and is obsessed with losing weight. Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by private, “binge-purge” episodes of overeating, usually of high-caloric foods, followed by vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise.

Sexual Motivation

How researchers have assessed common sexual practices. Researchers such as Alfred Kinsey and his colleagues have attempted to assess sexual practices through confidential interviews and surveys. The findings of Kinsey and others have shown wide variations in “normal” sexual behavior around the world. Surveys of randomly sampled U.S. married adults find that 84 percent claim to have had sex only with their spouse during their present marriage. Disapproval of extramarital sex runs as high as ever among adult Americans. The human sexual response cycle; The impact of hormones and psychological factors on sexual motivation and behavior. The human sexual response cycle normally follows a pattern of excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution, followed in males by a refractory period, during which renewed arousal and orgasm are not possible.

Sexual disorders are problems that consistently impair sexual functioning. Premature ejaculation and female orgasmic disorder are being successfully treated by new methods that assume that people learn and can modify their sexual responses. In nonhuman animals, hormones, including estrogen and testosterone, help stimulate sexual activity. In humans, they influence sexual behaviors more loosely, especially once sufficient hormone levels are present. In later life, as sex hormones decline, the frequency of sexual fantasies and intercourse declines. External stimuli, such as sexually explicit materials, can trigger arousal in both men and women. Our imaginations also influence sexual motivation. For example, in nearly all men and some 40 percent of women, dreams sometimes do contain sexual imagery that leads to orgasm. Wide-awake people become sexually aroused both by memories of prior sexual activities and by fantasies. Factors contributing to increased rates of pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease among today's adolescents. The increase in premarital sexual activity among American teenagers has led to an increase in the adolescent pregnancy rate. Although contraceptives are a sure strategy for preventing pregnancy, only one-third of sexually active male teens use condoms consistently. Reasons for this failure include ignorance of the safe and risky times of the menstrual cycle. Guilt related to sexual activity sometimes results in lack of planned birth control. When passion overwhelms intentions, the result may be conception. Often there is minimal communication about birth control, as many teenagers are uncomfortable discussing contraception with either parents or partners. Sexually active teens also tend to use alcohol, which can break down normal restraints. Finally, television and movies help define sexual norms, which today are “Go for it now.” Unprotected sex has also led to increased rates of sexually transmitted disease (STD). Teenage girls, because of their less mature biological development and lower levels of protective antibodies seem especially vulnerable to STD. Teens with high rather than average intelligence more often delay sex. Religiosity and participation in service learning are also predictors of sexual restraint. Research on the nature and dynamics of sexual orientation; The role of values in sex research. Sexual orientation is our enduring sexual attraction toward members of either our own sex (homosexual) or the other sex (heterosexual). Studies in both Europe and the United States suggest that about 3 or 4 percent of men and 1 or 2 percent of women are exclusively homosexual. Recent research suggests that the sex drive and sexual interests of adult women are more flexible and varying than those of men. Although we are still unsure why one person becomes homosexual and another heterosexual, it is beginning to look as though biological factors are involved. Preliminary new evidence links sexual orientation with genetic influences, prenatal hormones, and certain brain structures. Sex research and education are not value-free. Researchers’ values should be stated openly, enabling us to debate them and to reflect on our own values. Sex at its human best is life-uniting and love-renewing.

The Need to Belong

The adaptive nature of social attachments; Healthy and unhealthy consequences of our need to belong.

Social bonds boosted our ancestors’ survival rate. Adults who formed attachments were more likely to come together to reproduce and to stay together to nurture their offspring to maturity. Cooperation in groups also enhanced survival. When relationships form, we often feel joy. Most people mention—before anything else—close relationships as making life meaningful. Even our self-esteem is a gauge of how valued and accepted we feel. Out of our need to belong come loving families and faithful friendships but also teen gangs, ethnic rivalries, and fanatical nationalism. Attachments can also keep people in abusive relationships as the fear of being alone may seem worse than the pain of emotional or physical abuse.

Motivation at Work

The importance of various motives for working; The aims of industrial-organizational psychology. Work helps satisfy several levels of need identified in Maslow’s hierarchy. Work supports us, connects us to others, and helps define us. When work fully engages our skills, we experience flow. We are completely involved and have a diminished awareness of self and time. Flow experiences boost our sense of self-esteem, competence, and well-being. Industrial-organizational psychology aims to apply psychology’s principles to the workplace through its primary subfields of personnel psychology, organizational psychology, and human factors psychology. Personnel psychology applies the discipline’s methods and principles to selecting and evaluating workers. Organizational psychology considers how work environments and management styles influence worker motivation, satisfaction, and productivity. Human factors psychology, discussed in Chapter 6, explores how machines and environments can be optimally designed to fit human abilities and expectations. How personnel psychologists facilitate employee selection, work placement, and performance appraisal. Personnel psychologists aim to identify people’s strengths and match them with specific organizational tasks. They use various tools to assess applicants and decide who is best suited to the job. Unstructured interviews frequently foster illusory overconfidence in one’s ability to predict employee success. Structured interviews offer a disciplined method of collecting information. They pinpoint job-relevant strengths and enhance interview reliability and validity. Performance appraisals include checklists, graphic rating scales, and behavior rating scales. They help managers decide which employees to retain, how to appropriately reward and pay people, and how to better harness their strengths. Job appraisals can also serve to affirm workers’ strengths and motivate needed improvements. Achievement motivation; The impact of employee satisfaction and engagement on organizational success. Achievement motivation is the desire for significant accomplishment, for mastering skills or ideals, for control, and for rapidly attaining a high standard. Those who achieve the most are distinguished not so much by natural ability as by hard work and daily discipline. Employee satisfaction contributes to successful organizations. Engaged workers know what’s expected of them, feel fulfilled in their work, and perceive that they are part of something significant. Worker satisfaction and engagement are associated with lower absenteeism, higher productivity, and greater profits.

How effective managers build on employees’ strengths, set specific goals, and utilize an appropriate leadership style. Effective managers discern their employees’ natural talents, adjust their work roles to suit those talents, and develop their talents into great strengths. They care about how their people feel about their work and reinforce positive behaviors through recognition and reward. To foster productivity, managers work with people to define explicit goals, elicit commitments to implementation plans, and provide feedback on progress. Some managers excel at task leadership—setting standards, organizing work, and focusing attention on goals. They keep a group centered on its mission. Task leaders typically have a directive style, which can work well if they are bright enough to give good orders. Other managers excel at social leadership—mediating conflicts and building high-achieving teams. Social leaders often delegate authority and welcome the participation of team members. One’s leadership style seems closely related to whether one adopts Theory X or Theory Y as the better view of worker motivation.