Two theories of motivation Essay

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The topic of motive can be approached from a figure of positions. Some theories approach motive as coming from within a individual ( Drive Theory ) . whereas other theories approach motive as coming from within the individual ( Incentive Theory ) . Compare and contrast two theories of motive explicating how the two attacks may differ and how they may be similar. Does one theory seem to explicate motive better than the other? Support your statement with illustrations from each theory.

Motivations are grounds people hold for originating and executing voluntary behavior. They indicate the significance of human behavior. and they may uncover a person’s values. Motivations frequently affect a person’s perceptual experience. knowledge. emotion and behavior. A individual who is extremely motivated to derive societal position. for illustration. may be observant of Markss of societal differentiation. may believe frequently about issues that pertain to wealth. may particularly bask the feeling of ego. and may act in ways associated with upper-class position. By specifying motivations as grounds. we do non connote that motivations are chiefly cognitive ; any more than set uping a motivation for offense in a tribunal of jurisprudence requires witting forethought. A individual can hold a ground to act. and therefore a motivation. without needfully being cognizant of it.

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Aristotle ( 330BCE/1953 ) divided motivations into terminals versus means on the footing of the individual’s intent for executing the behavior. Ends are indicated when a individual engages in a behavior for no evident ground other than that is what the individual desires to make. Examples include a child playing with a ball for physical exercising and a pupil reading a book out of wonder. In each of these illustrations. the end is desired for its ain interest. In contrast. agencies are indicated when a individual performs an act for its instrumental value. Examples include a professional jock who plays football for a salary and a pupil who surveies to better a class. In each of these illustrations. the end ( salary. class ) is desired because it produces something else. A individual might seek a wage. for illustration. as a agency of heightening societal position. or high classs as a agency of delighting a parent.

An analysis of a person’s behavior may place a series of instrumental Acts of the Apostless followed by one or more end ends that complete a “behaviour chain” . For illustration. a individual may take a 2nd occupation for the excess wage ( instrumental motivation ) . want the excess wage to buy wellness insurance ( instrumental motivation ) . and want the wellness insurance to profit their household ( end end ) . This illustration of a behavior concatenation shows three behaviors. two motivated by instrumental ends and a 3rd by an terminal end. Logically. lone ends that are desired for their ain interest can function as the “end” of a purposeful account of a series of human Acts of the Apostless ( Reiss. 2003 ) .

The figure of instrumental motivations is. for all practical intents. limitless. Lone imaginativeness limits how may different ways persons can prosecute the terminal end of. state. power. In contrast. the figure of terminals is limited by human nature ( Reiss. 2003 ) .

Two theoretical positions have been advanced refering terminal ends. Multifaceted theory holds that the assorted terminal ends are mostly unrelated to each other. possibly to the point where they are genetically distant beginnings of motive with different evolutionary histories. Multifaceted theorist include philosophers who have suggested lists of the most cardinal motivations of human nature ( Eg Spinoza. 1675/1949 ) . psychologists who have put forth evolutionary theories of motive ( Eg McDougall. 1926 ) and psychologists who have suggested theories of human demands ( Eg Murray. 1938 ) .

In contrast. unitary or planetary theoreticians hold that end ends can be productively reduced to a little figure of classs based on common features. Unitary theoreticians seek the implicit in psychological rules that are expressed by diverse motivational events. The ancient Grecian philosophers. for illustration. decreased terminal ends into classs showing the demands of the organic structure. head and psyche ( Eg Plato. 375 BCE/1966 ) . Hedonists distinguished between terminal ends associated with the pleasances enhanced and those related to trouble decrease ( Russell. 1945 ) . Freud ( 1916/1963 ) reduced motivations to sexual and aggressive inherent aptitudes.

Today. some societal psychologists classify end ends into two planetary classs. called thrusts ( or extrinsic motive ) and intrinsic motivations ( IMs ) . The differentiation has been influential – 1. 921 scholarly publications on intrinsic motive ( IM ) appeared during January 1967 and the present twenty-four hours ( beginning: PsycINFO ) . IM has been investigated in societal psychological science ( eg Ryan & A ; Deci. 2000 ) . developmental psychological science ( eg. Harter. 1981 ) . clinical psychological science ( eg Eisenberger & A ; Cameron. 1996 ) . organizational psychological science ( eg. Houkes. Janssen. de Jonge. & A ; Nijhuis. 2001 ) . and eduational psychological science ( eg. Kohn. 1993 ) .

Drive Theory

Thorndike’s ( 1911 ) jurisprudence of consequence reduced human motive to classs of wages and penalty. This jurisprudence holds that responses are strengthened when they lead to satisfaction and weakened when they lead to punishment. Psychologists analyzing larning shortly realised Thorndike’s jurisprudence is a tautology or a proposition that is round ( true by definition ) . The undermentioned statements. for illustration. are round with regard to each other: “Rewards strengthen behaviour” and “Any event that strengthens behavior is a wages. ”

The construct of thrust was introduced to get away from the disk shape of the jurisprudence of consequence ( Brown. 1961 ) . Alternatively of placing wages as any stimulation or fulfilling event that strengthens behavior. drive theoreticians defined it as a decrease in a province of want. The statements “Drive decrease strengthens behaviour” and “Drive decrease occurs when a province of want is lessened” are non round to each other.

Hull ( 1943 ) recognised four types of thrusts: hungriness. thirst. sex and flight from hurting. In many carnal larning experiments. research workers have induced thrusts by striping animate beings of an of import demand prior to the experiment. The want of nutrient. for illustration. establishes nutrient as a powerful wages. increasing the animal’s motive to larn responses that produce nutrient ( Skinner. 1938 ) . Much of carnal larning theory is based on the consequences of psychological surveies with food-deprived or water-deprived animate beings.

Unitary Intrinsic Motivation Theory

The unitary concept of IM was put forth as an alternate to drive theory. The initial penetration was that many of the motivations non explained good by thrust theory – motivations such as geographic expedition ( wonder ) . liberty. and play – have common belongingss. To a big extent. unitary IM theory ab initio represented an effort to demo the indispensable differences between thrusts and what psychodynamic theoreticians have called self-importance motivations.

In the yesteryear. the differentiation between thrusts and IMs has been thought to hold a physiological footing. at least harmonizing to some published comments. The general thought was that thrusts such as hungriness and thirst arise from “tissue needs” affecting “peripheral” constituents of the nervous system. where as IMs arise from psychological or cognitive procedures affecting primary cardinal nervous activity. Deci ( 1975 ) . for illustration. wrote that the primary effects of IM “are in the tissues of the cardinal nervous system instead than in the non-nervous system tissues” ( pg 61 ) .

The physiological paradigm for separating thrusts from IMs ever lacked scientific support ; so. we now know that it is physiological bunk. Motivations such as hungriness and thirst. for illustration. affect important cardinal nervous system or cognitive activity ( Berntson & A ; Cacioppo. 2000 ) . Both the behaviorist construct of thrust and the construct of IM as nondrive have no precise physiological significance and originally were put away at a clip when small was know about the physiology of motive.

Decision

Since antiquity. bookmans have debated whether human motivations can be reduced to a few planetary classs. Ancient Grecian philosophers. for illustration. separate between motivations associated with the organic structure ( such as hungriness and thirst ) and those associated with the mind ( such as wonder. morality and friendly relationship ) . In the early portion of the twentieth century. Freud ( 1916/1963 ) argued that all motivations are finally linked to sex. Hedonists. on the other manus. reduced all motivations to pleasure seeking versus hurting turning away.

The construct of IM can be viewed as a modern illustration of the attempt in motive reductionism. IM theoreticians divide motivations into two planetary classs: thrusts ( as called extrinsic motive ) and intrinsic motive. Drives are about biologic endurance demands. whereas IMs pertain to what some have called self-importance motivations. Hunger. thirst. and pain turning away are paradigm illustrations of thrusts. whereas wonder. liberty. and drama are paradigm illustrations of IMs.

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