© Ane Venter
Chapter 10
Theories of Motives and Emotions
Lecture Notes are in Red
Extra notes are in Blue
1
,© Ane Venter
Motivational Theories
And concepts
1. What is Motivation?
2. Biological Theories
3. Incentive Theories
4. Positive and Negative Motivational Forces
5. Evolutionary Theories
1. What is Motivation?
→ Involves goal-directed behaviour
→ A set of processes that arouse, direct, and maintain behaviour toward attaining some goal
→ An energising force that stimulates arousal, direction, and persistence of behaviour
→ Theories of motivation are concerned with:
○ Why people perform one action rather than another
○ Why they continue with an action rather than doing something else
○ Why people work hard, or not, at what they are doing
→ Motives = needs, wants, interests, and desires that propel people to act.
2. Biological Theories
→ Includes:
a. Instincts
b. Drives
→ Basic argument = animals do things because patterns of behaviour are hard-wired into them
A. Instincts:
○ Behaviours that aren’t learned
○ We are born with specific innate knowledge about how to do things
- Pre-programmed at birth
- They are in our genes
2
, © Ane Venter
○ Babies are born with the ability to avoid pain + turn their heads if touched on the cheek.
○ 2 problems with seeing human behaviour as based only on instincts:
I. The list of instincts grew longer and longer as psychologists tried to explain the variety
and complexity of human behaviour.
II. Instinct argument is circular:
- A person does something because it is instinct … we only know it’s an instinct because
people do it.
- If every behaviour is governed by its own instinct, then instinct explains little
○ Theor fell out of favour because of circulatory nature + people began to emphasise the
importance of environmental stimuli.
○ Complexity and diversity of human behaviour + lifelong learning process = strong argument
against instinct theory
○ Instinctive traits do not have to be present at birth -> developed later in life
B. Drives:
○ A hypothetical, internal state of tension that motivates an organism to engage in activities
that should reduce this tension.
○ Based on the view that organisms are motivated by biologically based factors
○ Clark L. Hall = argued humans have internal biological needs that motivate them to perform
in certain ways
- Needs result in internal arousal / tension
- Respond to needs to restore order and maintain a sense of inner calm
- These responses include:
Hunger Rest
Thirst Escape from pain
Sleep Need to eliminate waste
Need for air
- Concept of drive = derived from Walter Cannon’s observation that organisms seek to
maintain a HOMEOSTASIS.
Homeostasis: the tendency of many biological systems to strive towards a state of
physiological equilibrium / stability
Unpleasant states of tension = viewed as disruptions of the preferred equilibrium
○ When individuals experience a drive = motivated to pursue actions that will lead to drive
reduction.
3
Chapter 10
Theories of Motives and Emotions
Lecture Notes are in Red
Extra notes are in Blue
1
,© Ane Venter
Motivational Theories
And concepts
1. What is Motivation?
2. Biological Theories
3. Incentive Theories
4. Positive and Negative Motivational Forces
5. Evolutionary Theories
1. What is Motivation?
→ Involves goal-directed behaviour
→ A set of processes that arouse, direct, and maintain behaviour toward attaining some goal
→ An energising force that stimulates arousal, direction, and persistence of behaviour
→ Theories of motivation are concerned with:
○ Why people perform one action rather than another
○ Why they continue with an action rather than doing something else
○ Why people work hard, or not, at what they are doing
→ Motives = needs, wants, interests, and desires that propel people to act.
2. Biological Theories
→ Includes:
a. Instincts
b. Drives
→ Basic argument = animals do things because patterns of behaviour are hard-wired into them
A. Instincts:
○ Behaviours that aren’t learned
○ We are born with specific innate knowledge about how to do things
- Pre-programmed at birth
- They are in our genes
2
, © Ane Venter
○ Babies are born with the ability to avoid pain + turn their heads if touched on the cheek.
○ 2 problems with seeing human behaviour as based only on instincts:
I. The list of instincts grew longer and longer as psychologists tried to explain the variety
and complexity of human behaviour.
II. Instinct argument is circular:
- A person does something because it is instinct … we only know it’s an instinct because
people do it.
- If every behaviour is governed by its own instinct, then instinct explains little
○ Theor fell out of favour because of circulatory nature + people began to emphasise the
importance of environmental stimuli.
○ Complexity and diversity of human behaviour + lifelong learning process = strong argument
against instinct theory
○ Instinctive traits do not have to be present at birth -> developed later in life
B. Drives:
○ A hypothetical, internal state of tension that motivates an organism to engage in activities
that should reduce this tension.
○ Based on the view that organisms are motivated by biologically based factors
○ Clark L. Hall = argued humans have internal biological needs that motivate them to perform
in certain ways
- Needs result in internal arousal / tension
- Respond to needs to restore order and maintain a sense of inner calm
- These responses include:
Hunger Rest
Thirst Escape from pain
Sleep Need to eliminate waste
Need for air
- Concept of drive = derived from Walter Cannon’s observation that organisms seek to
maintain a HOMEOSTASIS.
Homeostasis: the tendency of many biological systems to strive towards a state of
physiological equilibrium / stability
Unpleasant states of tension = viewed as disruptions of the preferred equilibrium
○ When individuals experience a drive = motivated to pursue actions that will lead to drive
reduction.
3
