Phychology - Chapter 12 - summary

Motivation refers to an inferred process within a person or animal that causes that organism to move toward a goal -- to satisfy a biological meet or achieve a psychological condition -- or away from an unpleasant situation. If you primary drives are based on psychological needs, but all human motives are affected by psychological, social, and cultural factors. Motivation may be intrinsic, for the inherent pleasure of activity, or extrinsic, for external rewards.

The hungry animal: motives to eat

Overweight and obesity are not simply a result of failed willpower, emotional disturbance, or overeating. Unger, weight, and eating are regulated by a set of bodily mechanisms, such as basal metabolism rate and number of fat cells, that keep people close to their genetically influenced set point. Genes influence body shape, distribution of fat, and whether the body will convert excess calories and fat. Genes may also account for certain types of obesity; the OB gene regulates leptin, which enables the hypothalamus to regulate appetite and metabolism.

Genetics alone cannot explain why rates of overweight and obesity are rising all over the world, among all social classes, ethnicities, and ages. The reasons reflect the interaction with them involved genetic disposition to gain weight when rich food is plentiful, and an environment that provides cheap, varied, high calorie food and rewards sedentary lifestyles. Eating habits and activity levels are also affected by cultural standards of what the ideal body should look like -- heavier thin, softt or muscular.

When genetic predispositions clashed with culture, physical and mental problems can result. In cultures that foster over eating and reward overweight as a sign of attractiveness and health, obesity is acceptable, but obesity is associated with a greatly elevated risk of many diseases. In cultures that foster are realistically thin bodies, eating disorders increase, especially bulimia and anorexia. These disorders are far more common in women than in men, but as pressures on men to have muscular bodies have increased, rates of body image problems in eating disorders among men are increasing too.

The social animal: motives to love

All human beings have a need for connection, attachment, and love. Psychologists who study love distinguish passionate (romantic) love from compassionate love. Biologically oriented researchers believe that the neurological origins of passionate love begin in infancy, and the baby's attachment to the mother. Attachment stimulates the release of various brain chemicals, including endorphins, which create rushes of pleasure and reward.

Two strong predictors of whom people will love are proximity and similarity. Once in love, people form different kinds of attachments. Attachment theory views adult love relationships, like those of infants, as being secure, avoided, or anxious-ambivalent. People's attachment styles tend to be stable from childhood to adulthood and affect their close relationships.

For most people, love consists of passion, intimacy, and commitment. Men and women are equally likely to feel love and need attachment, but they differ, on average, and how they express feelings of love and how they define intimacy. In Western societies, women often expressed love in words, where his men expressed in actions. But as women have entered the workforce in large numbers and extrinsic reasons for marriage have faded, the two sexes have become more alike in endorsing love as a requirement for marriage.

The erotic animal: motives for sex

Biological research finds that testosterone influences sexual desire in both sexes, although hormones do not call sexual behavior in a simple, direct way. The Kinsey surveys of male and female sexuality and the laboratory research of Masters and Johnson showed that psychologically, there is no "right" kind of orgasm for women to have, and that both sexes are capable of sexual arousal and response.

Some reachers believe that men have a higher frequency of many sexual behaviors, on average, because they have a stronger "sex drive" than women do. Others believe that gender differences in sexual motivation and behavior are a result of differences in roles, cultural forms, and opportunity. A compromise view is that male sexuality is more biologically influenced then is woman's, whereas female sexuality is more governed by circumstances, relationships, and cultural norms.

Men and women have sex to satisfy many different psychological motives, including pleasure, intimacy, coping, self-affirmation, partner's approval, or peer approval. Extrinsic motives for sex, such as the need for approval, are associated with riskier sexual behavior than intrinsic motives are. Both sexes may agree to intercourse for nonsexual motives: then sometimes feel obligated to "make a move" to prove their masculinity, and women sometimes feel obligated to "give in" to preserve the relationship. People's motives for consenting to on wanted sex very, depending on their feelings of security and commitment in the relationship.

A major gender difference in sexual experience has to do with rape and perceptions of sexual coercion: what many women regard as coercion is not always seen as such by men. Men who rate do so for diverse reasons, including peer pressure; Angkor, revenge, or desire to humiliate the victim; narcissism and hostility toward women; and sometimes sadism.

Cultures differ widely in determining what parts of the body people learn our a Roddick, which sexual acts are considered a Roddick will repulsive, and whether sex itself is good or bad. Cultures transmit these ideas to gender roles and sexual scripts, which specify appropriate behavior during courtship and sex, depending on a person's gender, age, and sexual orientation.
As in the case of love, gender differences in sexuality are strongly affected by cultural and economic factors -- such as the ratio of women to men and the resulting availability of partners.

As gender roles have become more like, so has the sexual behavior of men and women, with women wanting sex for pleasure rather than as a bargaining chip. Big cities have many different "sex markets" geographical and cultural areas in which people seek partners, and people tend not to cross them.

The origins of homosexuality are still unknown. Traditional psychological explanations have not been supported. Genetic and hormonal factors seem to be involved; the evidence is stronger for gay men than for lesbians, although the evidence is inconclusive. There is great variation in the expression of homosexuality around the world; woman's sexual orientations see more fluid than men's. Biology, culture, learning, and circumstance interact in complex ways to produce a given person's orientation. Research on this issue is sensitive because people's reactions to scientific findings on the origins of homosexuality are affected by their emotional feelings about the topic.

The competent animal: motives to achieve

The study of achievement motivation began with research using the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). People who are motivated by a high need for achievements that high but realistic standards for success and excellence. The TAT has empirical problems, but it launch the study of the factors that noted the achievement.

People achieve more when they have specific, focused goals; when they set high but achievable goals for themselves; and when they have approach goals (seeking a positive outcome) rather than avoidance goals (avoiding an unpleasant outcome). People who focus on approach goals have greater will be, better health, and even better intermittent sexual relationships than those who focus on avoidance goals.

Motivation to achieve depends not only on ability, but also on whether people set mastery (learning) goals, and which the focus is on learning the task well, or performance goals, in which the focus is on performing well for others. Mastery goals lead to persistence in the face of failures and setbacks; performance goals often lead to giving up after failure, but under some conditions produce higher performance. High achievers find a balance between striving for mastery and performance. People's expectations can create self-fulfilling prophecies of success or failure. These expectations stem from one's level of self-effiacy.

Work motivation also depends on circumstances of the job itself. Working conditions that permit motivation and satisfaction are those that provide workers with a sense of meaningfulness, control, variation in tasks, clear rules, feedback, and social support. Incentive pay is more effective than predictable raises and elevating work motivation. Other conditions that affect people's work motivation are the gender ratio of members in an occupation and whether the job provides opportunities for promotion and success.

Motives, values, and well-being

Satisfaction and well-being increase when people enjoy the intrinsic satisfaction of an activity and when thier goals and values are in harmony. Having positive, intrinsically enjoyable experiences makes most people happier than having things. In an approach- approach conflict, a person is equally attracted to two goals. In an avoidance- avoidance conflict, a person is equally repelled by two goals. An approach- avoid its conflict is the most difficult to resolve, because the person is both attracted to and repelled by the same goal. Prolonged conflict can lead to physical symptoms and reduced well-being.

Abraham Maslow believe that human motives could be ranked in a hierarchy of needs, from basic biological needs for survival to hire psychological needs for self actualization. This popular theory has not been well supported empirically. A more recent approach suggests that people have four major psychological needs, for autonomy, relatedness, competence, and self-esteem.