Chapter 12: Motivation and Work

1. Chapter 12: Motivation and Work Alex Pope, Jan-Tavia Werts, Dasha Harrel, Danielle LaFleur

2. Motivation • Motivation-a need or desire that energizes behavior and directs it toward a goal • 4 Perspectives For Understanding Motivation: • Instincts and Evolutionary Psychology • Drives and Incentives • Optimum Arousal • Hierarchy of Motives

3. Instincts and Evolutionary Psychology • Instinct- a complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned • Influenced by Darwin’s theory of natural selection • Tried to classify human behaviors however they ended up naming them rather then explaining

4. Instincts and Evolutionary Psychology • Genes predispose species-typical behavior • Still influential in evolutionary psychology • Evolutionary Psychology- studies behaviors in search of their adaptive functions

5. Drives and Incentives • Drive-Reduction Theory- the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need • The aim of drive reduction is homeostasis • a tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state

6. Drives and Incentives • Incentives- positive or negative stimuli that lure or repel us • Most strongly driven when pushed by our need to reduce a drive (satisfying hunger) and also pulled by an external incentive (the smell of cooking food)

7. Optimum Arousal • Some motivated behaviors actually increase arousal • Curiosity drives monkeys to monkey around trying to figure out how to unlock a latch that opens nothing or how to open a window that allows them to see outside their room (Butler, 1954)

8. Hierarchy of Motives • Abraham Maslow’s pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and psychological needs become active • Criticized for not being universal, however provides framework for thinking about motivated behavoirs

10. The Physiology of Hunger • A. L. Washburn intentionally swallowed a balloon • When inflated in his stomach the balloon transmitted his stomach contractions a to recording device • While being monitored Washburn pressed a key each time he felt hungry

11. The Physiology of Hunger • Discovery: Washburn and Cannon was having stomach contractions whenever he felt hungry • Even without stomachs you can still feel hunger

12. The Physiology of HungerBody Chemistry and the Brain • Variations in body chemistry can influence our feeling of hunger • Glucose the form of sugar that circulates in the blood and provides the major source of energy for body tissues • When glucose is low we feel hungry • Signals from our stomach, intestines and liver signal your brain to motivate eating or not

13. The Physiology of HungerBody Chemistry and the Brain • Hypothalamus regulates the body weight by affecting our feelings of hunger and satiety • Set point- the point at which an individual’s “weight thermostat” is supposedly set • Basal Metabolic Rate- the body’s resting rate of energy expenditure

14. The Psychology of Hunger • Our hunger is influenced not only by our physical state but also by our memory of when we last ate and expectations to when we should eat again • We prefer certain tastes but we learn to satisfy those preferences through the context of our family and culture

15. Eating Disorders • Anorexia Nervosa- an eating disorder in which a normal-weight person diets and becomes significantly underweight and continues to starve themselves • Bulimia Nervosa- an eating disorder characterized by episodes of overeating followed by vomiting, laxative use, fasting or excessive exercise

16. The psychology of sex

17. Sexual Motivation • Sexual motivation is nature's way of procreating and continuing our species • The first description of sexual behavior came from Alfred Kinsey from the University of Indian

18. The psychology of sex • Arousal depends on the interplay of internal and external stimuli.

19. Imagined Stimuli The Psychology of Sex External Stimuli Many studies confirm that you become aroused when you see, hear, or read erotic material. Images of sexually attractive women and men may lead to the devaluing on ones own partner. • The brain is the most significant sex organ. • Nearly all men and 40% of women have dreams with sexual imagery that leads to orgasm • Sexually active people have more sexually charged dreams

20. The Sexual Response Cycle • Sexual Response Cycle: the four stages of sexual responding described by Masters & Johnson • Refectory Period: a resting period after orgasm during which a man can not achieve another orgasm • The four stages are: • Excitement • Plateau • Orgasm • Resolution

21. Human Sexual Behavior • SexualDisorder: A problem the consistently impairs sexual arousal and function. • Estrogen: a sex hormone, secreted in greater amount by females than males • Testosterone: The most important of the male sex hormones. Both males and females have it but there is more present in males.

22. Adolescent sexuality • An increase in teen sexual activity in western Countries led to a twentieth-century increase in the adolescent pregnancy rate.

23. Teen Pregnancy • The are five main factors that play into teen pregnancy • Ignorance • Guilt related to sexual activity • Minimal communication about birth control • Alcohol use • Mass media norms of unprotected promiscuity

24. Sexually Transmitted Infections • Not practicing safe sex has led to an increase of STI’s. • 2/3 of new infection case are found in people under the age of 25 • Condoms offer no protection against certain infection such as human papilloma virus.

25. Sexually Transmitted Infections Con… • There are 4 factors that influence if a teenager will take part in abstinence: • High intelligence: Teens who how a higher intelligence level will most likely delay having sex • Religiosity: Teen who are more religious tend to reserve sex for material relationships. • Father Presence: Teens who did not have a constant father figure are more likely to have sex before age 16 • Participation in service learning programs: Teens who are involved in community events are less likely to have sex.

26. Sexual Orientation • Sexual Orientation: an enduring sexual attraction towards members of the same sex (homosexual) or of the opposite sex (heterosexual).

27. Origins of Sexual Orientation • 1. Is homosexually linked with problems in a child’s relationships with parents? • 2. Does homosexuality involve a fear or hatred of people of the other gender, leading individuals to direct their sexual desires toward members of their own sex? • 3. Is sexual orientation linked with levels of sex hormones currently in the blood? • 4. As children, were many homosexuals molested, seduced, or otherwise sexually victimized by an adult homosexual?

28. Same-Sex Attraction in Animals • Biologist Bruce Bagermihl(1999) identifies several hundred species in which at least occasional same-sex relations have been observed. • 1. Grizzles • 2. Gorillas • 3. Monkeys • 4.Flamingos • 5. Owls and etc…

29. The Brain and Sexual Orientation • Researchers Simon LeVay(1991) studied section of the hypothalamus taken from decreased heterosexual and homosexual people. • Laura Allen and Roger Gorski(1992) also concluded that brain anatomy influences sexual orientation after discovering that a section of the anterior commissure is one-third larger in homosexual men than in heterosexual men.

30. Genes and Sexual Orientation • There is evidence that genetics have an influence on sexual orientation. • Genes that convey a reproductive advantages in mothers and aunts somehow influence the sexual orientation of their sons and nephew

31. Prenatal Hormones and Sexual Orientation • There are elevated rates of homosexual orientation in identical and fraternal twins. - meaning that not just shared genetics but also a shared prenatal environment may be a factor. • In humans, a critical period for the brain’s neural-hormonal control system may exist between the middle of the second and fifth month after conception.

33. Sex and Human Values

34. Sex and Human Values • Erotophobic “high sex guilt”: individuals sexually restrained. • Label sexual acts as: perversions, deviations, or part of an alternative sexual life-style. • A yearning for sexual closeness • Life uniting and love renewing

35. The need to Belong

36. Aiding Survival • Humans are “social animals” • Aristotle- “Nichomachean Ethics” • “…without friends, no one would choose to live, thought he had all other goods..”

37. Wanting to Belong • “wretched”: to be without kin near by • Attachment serves as a powerful survival impulse • Ancient times, adults who formed attachments were more likely to come together to reproduce and stay together to raise their young • With attachments, humans are able to hunt in groups and protect themselves from predators

38. Acting to Increase Social Acceptance • We act in a way for acceptance or those who matter to us • To avoid rejection we conform to a group standard and seek to make favorable impressions • Seeking love we spend money on clothes, make-up, diets, and fitness aid; for acceptance • “we”- loving family, faithful friendships, team spirit; gangs, ethnic rivalries, fanatic nationalism

39. Maintaining Relationships • We resist the breaking of social bonds which causes us to make promises to others • Leaving would cause a person to become distress • We tend to stay in bad relationships in fear of being alone • Threats or dissolving of social ties lead to negative emotions • Anxiety, loneliness, jealousy, guilt • Ex: a neglected child would grow up to be withdrawn, frightened and speechless

40. Maintaining Relationships • Acceptance leads to the building of self esteem • No bond leads to loneliness and stress which could possibly cause depression

41. The Pain of Ostracism • Ostracism: of social exclusion • Increase in brain activity (anterior cingulate cortex which responds to physical pain) • Cyberostracism: ignorance of strangers on websites (ignored in a chat room/ unanswered email)

42. Fortifying Health • Close friends= happiness • Give support which causes better health and a lower risk for psychological disorder or death • Baumeister and Leary’s (1995) contention: “human beings are fundamentally and pervasively motivated by a need to belong”

43. Motivation at Work

44. Motivation at Work Job Work Career Calling *Flow: a completely involved, focused stat of consciousness, with diminished awareness of self and time, resulting from optimal engagement of ones skills

45. Personnel Psychology Industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology: the application of psychological concepts and method to optimizing human behavior in work places. Personnel psychology: a subfield of I/O psychology that focuses on employee recruitment, selection, placement, training, appraisal, and development Organizational psychology: a subfield of I/O psychology that examines organizational influences on worker satisfaction and productivity and facilitates organizational changer

46. Performance Appraisal • Performance appraisal serves to motivate workers and award people for good work. • Methods include: • Checklists • Graphic Rating Scales • Behavior Rating Scales

47. Achievement Motivation • This is the concept of someone that is motivated to achieve, wants to accomplish significant things, and attain a high standard. • This motivation along with passion is necessary for success in the work place.

48. Job Satisfaction Vs. Performance • There is a positive correlation between individual job satisfaction and performance at work. • Job satisfaction can come from good management which Kenneth Tucker says • Help people identify their talents • Match tasks to peoples talents • Care how people feel about their work • Reward good behavior

49. Types of leadership • Task Leadership- goal- oriented leadership that sets standards, organizes work, and focuses attention on goals • Social Leadership- group- oriented leadership that builds teamwork, mediates conflict, and offers support.