Theory of motivation – Behavioral sciences explore the cognitive processes within organisms and the behavioral interactions between organisms in the natural world. It involves the systematic analysis and investigation of human and animal behavior through the study of the past, controlled and naturalistic observation of the present and disciplined scientific experimentation and modeling.
It attempts to accomplish legitimate, objective conclusions through rigorous formulations and observation. Generally, behavior science deals primarily with human action and often seeks to generalize about human behavior as it relates to society.
Theory of motivation
There are several Theories of Motivation that are developed to explain the concept of “Motivation”. The motivation is a drive that forces an individual to work in a certain way. It is the energy that pushes us to work hard to accomplish the goals, even if the conditions are not going our way.
With the establishment of human organizations, people tried to find out the answer to, what motivates an employee in the organization the most. This gave birth to several content theories and process theories of motivation.
Types of Theories of Motivation
There are two types of theories of motivation
The content theories deal with “what” motivates people, whereas the process theories deal with, “How” motivation occurs. Thus, theories of motivation can be broadly classified as:
MASLOW’S HIERARCHY THEORY OF BASIC HUMAN NEED
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Basic Human Needs:
Abraham Maslow developed the Hierarchy of Needs model in 1940-50s USA, and the Hierarchy of Needs theory remains valid today for understanding human motivation, management training, and personal development.
According to Maslow, five categories of human needs are identified and arranged in order of importance from those essential for physical survival to those necessary to develop a person’s fullest potential.
The five categories of human needs are:
1. Physiological needs: Needs for air, nutrition, water, elimination, thermoregulation and sex.
2. Safety and security needs: Need for shelter and freedom from harm and danger.
3. Love and belonging needs (social affiliation): Need for affection feelings of belongingness and meaningful relations with others.
Figure: Maslow’s hierarchy needs
4. Self-esteem needs: Need to be well thought of by oneself and others.
5. Self-actualization needs: Need to be self fulfilled, learn, create, understand and experience one’s potential.
Psychoanalytic Theory by Sigmund Freud (Unconscious Motivation):
Motivation is due to a combination of biological factors, external forces and unconscious phenomenon. Our actions are determined by the inner forces or impulses, often operating below the level of consciousness. Freud believed that all behavior stemmed from two opposing groups of instincts, the life instincts (Eros) that enhance life and the death instincts (Thanatos) that push towards destruction. Activities to satisfy hunger, thirst, sex, etc. are life instincts.
Activities to satisfy aggression and destructive tendencies are death instincts. Life activities are interaction of life and death instincts. The energy of the life instinct is the libido which involves mainly sex, and related activities. The death instincts can be directed inwards in the form of suicide or self-destructive behavior or outwards in the form of aggression towards others.
Freud also emphasized the powerful role of unconscious motives in human behavior. He pointed to several forms of behavior through which unconscious motives are expressed:
- In dreams, we often express wishes and impulses of which we are unaware.
- Unconscious mannerisms, slips of pen and tongue, our irrational fears of specific objects or phobias reveal hidden motives.
- Our chronic headaches, insomnia, gastric troubles for which there are no physical or organic reasons, show the unconscious needs of the person.
McClelland’s Need for Achievement Theory (1971):
According to David Mcclelland, people are motivated by their three important needs: need for achievement (N ach), need for affiliation (N aff) and need for power (N pow). These motives are known as social motives.
The need for achievement: Achievement motivation refers to a drive toward some standard of excellence. People with high need for achievement prefer tasks that would promise success and are moderately difficult. David C McClelland has found that while high achievers tend to succeed, low achievers tend to avoid failures. High achievers challenge failures apd work harder while low achievers accept failures and go for less difficult tasks. High achievers prefer personal responsibility and like to get feedback about their work.
Children whose parents have accepted their independence tend to become high achievers. Children of overprotective parents become low achievers. Children learn by copying the behavior of their parents and other important people who serve as models. Through such observational learning, children adopt the characteristics of the model, including the need for achievement. The expectations that the parents have for their children also develop achievement motivation in children.
Affiliation motives (Affection gregariousness). Man cannot exist in isolation. The need to be with other people is referred to as affiliation need. This need is revealed by a need to be attached to others through friendship, sociability or group membership.
They make more local phone calls, visits and seek approval of others. Need to rely on others which is called dependency motive is one form of the need for affiliation. When little children are frightened, they seek others to comfort them. This kind of experience in early life makes one seek the friendly company of others when faced with anxiety and fear.
Aggression motives: Intense frustration after high expectations, verbal and nonverbal insults, fear and anxiety can trigger aggression. Television and cinema depicting violence can make youngsters model themselves to aggressive behavior.
Psychoanalysts maintain that each individual, as part of his biological inheritance, possesses destructive death urges as well as constructive life urges. In most of us, a favorable balance exists between life and death urges, so that kindness triumphs over cruelty. Social learning (modeling), classical conditioning and instrument conditioning are ways in which hostile aggression may be learned.
Power motives: Social power is defined as the ability or capacity of a person to produce intended effect on the behavior or emotions of other people. Persons with power motives will be concerned with having impact, reputation and influence. They exercise their power by joining political parties, voluntary organizations and associating with prominent and popular men. They select jobs which have an impact on others and dominate weaker sections of the society.
They often try to convince others, play more competitive sports and drink more heavily. Need for status: Almost all individuals have a desire to have some standing or position among the people of his society or group. Nobody likes to be considered inferior. Efforts to achieve a rank in the hierarchy of the group is present not only in human beings but even among animals and birds, e.g. “pecking order” among hens. Need for self-actualization: See the humanistic theory by Maslow and Rogers described later.
Achievement-oriented people actively focus on improving what is they transform ideas into action, insidiously and wisely, taking risks when necessary. In contrast, affiliation-oriented people focusses their energies on families and friends, their overt productivity is less because they view their contribution to society in a different light from those who are achievement oriented. Research shows that women generally have greater affiliation needs than men. Nurses have high affiliation needs.
Power-oriented people are motivated by power that can be gained as a result of specific action. They want to command attention, get recognition and control others. McClelland theorises that managers can identify achievement, affiliation or powers needs of their employees and develop appropriate motivational strategies to meet those needs.
Need Deprivation
When needs are not satisfied, it is called need deprivation. Deprivation of the need to be loved makes it very difficult to express love to others. Most cases of child abuse come from parents who received no love and security in their own childhood. When deprived of the need of selfesteem or social status, people respond with tremendous frustration and aggressive harmful behavior. Riots, violence and murder follow.
Sensory deprivation or lack of stimulation through the senses cause abnormalities in behavior. Experiments have been conducted by placing a person in an isolated room with no light or sound. The results of these experiments showed that severe sensory deprivation can cause disorientation, confusion, restlessness, irritability, emotional upsets and loss of concentration.
Homeostasis or Optimum-Level Theory or Direct Theory:
Claud Bernard coined the word “homeostasis” to explain the stability of the inner environment or physiological equilibrium.
For example, a healthy body maintains a certain amount of water level in the body, certain degree of body temperature and a constant rate of blood pressure. The amount of sugar in the blood should be optimal. In an attempt to maintain an internal physiological balance, the body tries to regulate itself. This process is automatic in nature and the maintenance of balance they attain is referred to as homeostasis.
For example, the heat of a summer day makes one perspire and often drink water to avoid dehydration. A cold winter night makes one shiver and speed up the rate of metabolism. This brings about more heat as shivering burns the body’s fuel faster and thus produce more heat. Similar deprivation of food or water causes a physiological imbalance and only consumption of food or water can bring about a balance.
Drive Reduction Theory
According to Clark Hull (1952) human beings have internal biological needs which motivate us to act in a particular way. These drives or needs are internal states of arousal or tensions which must be reduced. An obvious example is the internal feelings of hunger or thirst which motivate us to act.
According to this theory, we are drivers to reduce these drives, so that we may maintain a state of internal calm. Humans and other animals are motivated by four drives: Hunger, thirst, sex and avoidance of pain. They are responsible for initiating and maintaining our primary responses.
Skinner’s Behavior Modification Theory of Motivation (The Machine Model) (also known as Operant Conditioning)
This theory was developed out of the research by B-F Skinner. According to this theory, people behave the way they do because in the past circumstances they have learned that certain behaviors are associated with unpleasant outcomes. Because people generally prefer pleasant outcomes, they are likely to repeat behavior they have learnt on repetition of behavior that will have pleasant consequences.
For example, people in an organization are likely to obey a managers instructions because they have learnt at home and at school that obedience to authority leads to praise and disobedience leads to punishment. Thus, the frequency of various kinds of behavior in the organization can be seen as contingent on the immediate consequences of these behaviors.
The consequence that increases the frequency of a behavior are positive reinforcement (e.g. praise or monetary reward) or negative reinforcement (i.e. escape from some adverse situation). The consequences that decrease the frequency of a behavior are extinction (i.e. ignoring the behavior) and punishment (reprimand, fine, etc).
Pavlov believed that classical conditioning is the only principle by which all behavior including motivation works. EL Thorndike explains behavior in terms of reward and punishment. BF Skinner’s operant conditioning or instrumental conditioning also explains behavior in terms of reinforcement. When you teach a child sitting, dancing, etc. correct responses are reinforced with food or reward and incorrect responses are ignored or punished.
Social learning theorists have developed procedures whereby people can control their own behavior by self-reinforcement or self-punishment. Successful methods have been developed to control abuse of alcohol or overeating by making individuals reward themselves with an activity they find pleasurable when they stick to certain regimen of eating or drinking.
Skinner’s theory has been criticized on two grounds. First, it over emphasizes the importance of external rewards and ignores the fact that people are better motivated by intrinsic rewards. Second, it is argued that the theory is unethical because no authority has a right to manipulate and control employee’s behavior.
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