Human Motivation - Assignment Example

Running Head: Human Motivation HUMAN MOTIVATION This paper defines human motivation as a drive that prompts individuals to act in a certain direction. In the three questions answered, fear has been dealt with as part of the learning process in motivation for question 1. Secondly, question no 2 answers the role of learning in motivation and explains how reduction of stress, improved happiness and self esteem are part of the learning process in human motivation. The third one lists the five selected theories of human motivation and summarizes them briefly as to how they deal with risk in motivation. Q 1. Motivation is defined as drive that directs human beings to act in one way or another. Depending upon the intensity of the drive, the action results. Thus if one is less motivated and another is intensely motivated for the same kind of action say wining a game, it is likely that the less motivated loses or gains lesser score and the other wins or scores more points. This drive had been called an instinct by McDougall, 1908 who described it as “an inherited or innate psychological disposition to perceive, and pay attention to, objects of a certain class, and to act in regard to[them] in a particular manner, or, at least, to experience an impulse to such action”(Wagner 1999 p5). The second part of this definition describes motivation. (Wagner, 1999 p5) Thus instincts become motives. Freud also has categorized instincts into two: one, life instinct and two, death instinct which according to him are unconscious sources of motivation. Further even unintended acts like slips of our tongue are also acts of motivation. Hence our usual explanations of behavior do not recognize unconscious motivation. (Wagner, 1999, p5) Besides, humans and animals have features of some commonality in motivation. It would be now be clear that in psychology, motivation is behavior adaptation by a set pattern within an individual or a program of action by an individual which may be innate or may be due to an experience. Biological species however must have patterns of behavior based on instincts for which human beings are not an exception. However motivation is not source of energy or stimulus but it releases an internal source of energy just as switching on television set, kind of quasi-mechanical behavior in the words of the author. (Laming, 2003 p2). Now it shall be seen what fear is and how it is a component of motivation. Fear has four distinct components. 1) First internal emotion results in apprehension of danger. 2) Secondly, sympathetic nervous system activates into physiological symptoms of fear characterized by "increased pulse, palpitations, muscular tremor, sweating both on palms and soles, straightening of skin hair strands, pupils dilation, rise in B.P., mouth dryness, chest constriction, feeling of chocking, rapid breathing and nervous dyspepsia, butterflies in the stomach, frequent micturition, defecation, weakness in the limbs"(Larming,2003, p25). 3) the third component is fear by cognition such fearing snakes, falling, darkness etc, and 4) fear leading to avoidance, like staying behind at home, avoiding holiday etc. All the four components are not interrelated. Such as when infantry men though fearing the battle intensely, do not flee. An exception to this is illustrated in an example of a sergeant leaving the battle line without informing the co-sergeants for first aid, on being nearly hit by a low flying fighter aircraft. He was soon followed all of his co-sergeants saying there was an order to withdraw. This show panic is latent in battle field. In management of organizations, fear motivation can be applied by harnessing fear rather than reducing fear in humans, since fear holds out threats to bring about change in employee behavior. Corporations can use this theory to motivate its employees by designing communications with fear inducing messages. There are contrary views that fear and emotions induced by fear, used for during change management process will bring out negative results. (Levy, 1986; Quin, 1980) Ryan and Oestrieich (1991) Alleviating fear is one of the factors for effecting organizational change. Levy (1986) has argued that such a view is misguided since second-order change in organizations should impact all the individuals, groups, and the business as whole, rather in respect of first-order change which affects few employees and meant for routine changes. Though fear is viewed by HR managers as resulting in dysfunctional attitude in employees, this view has been refuted by researchers who apply this fear technique to effect positive change in behavior. As fear is an emotional state, a cognitive process that should be interrupted in order to pay attention, advertising messages such as for safety, dental hygiene, tetanus inoculations, and taking of insurance are designed to induce fear which are hot information that can not be ignored by the people. (Welbourne, 1995) Ray and Wilkie (1970) have found that fear had been more instrumental than low fear or no fear as per over 90 studies since the time of Janis and Fesbach research. Fesbach (1954) has said that moderate levels of fear alone would bring about positive action since relationship between fear and action was found depicted by an inverted-U. Q 2 Motivation facilitates learning .Effectiveness of motivating factors in learning has been demonstrated by an experiment with rats Three types of incentives i.e to motivate rats were provided. !) food to relieve hunger as an incentive to satisfy an inner physiological condition, 2) presence of another rat as a social incentive, 3) constantly buzzing sound from an electric buzzer as an environmental and non-social incentive. While all the incentives were found to motivate the rats in learning with varying speeds, the one meant for social motivation had the least effective learning in rats. And the one with environmental motivation was highly effective in rat’s learning. Psychologists are well aware that speed and accuracy have inverse relationship. In an experiment conducted by Mayer three decades ago in a public school in West Germany, fifth year boys, 14 in number were taken as subjects with an equal number of boys as a control group. The intended tasks for experiment were copying from dictation, carrying out mental and written arithmetic, completion of sentences and learning nonsense syllables. This was done under two conditions of working alone and working in a group. The results showed to indicate that it would vary according to instruction and social situation the boys were in. Mayer concluded that when speed and accuracy were insisted or quality was insisted, there were lesser mistakes in the work done in group situation than in a solitary situation. On other hand Alport’s experiment indicated that work done in a solitary situation with discursive or argumentative learning alone produced better results. The opposing views have been explained by the fact that in Mayer’s work, quality was insisted before boys started working whereas Alport did not insist. (Young 2007 p20-25,) Reduced stress levels Stanley (1965) has concluded in an experimental study that stress induces motivation to be with some people. That presence of other people is helpful in a stressful situation has already been validated in previous studies. Stanly has found that presence of a friend rather than a stranger, helps reduce stress more. However affiliation motivation was not found to be significantly related to stress reduction. Improved happiness Paule and Robert J (2008) have given an integrative model on the forms of well being, i.e happiness and self-actualization that leads to more happiness. They have said goals should be autonomous as motivators for both happiness as well as more happiness through self-actualization. If the goals are thrust upon or controlled, these forms of happiness do not take place. Their integrative model further states that it is self-actualization that leads to improved health and reduces stress more than mere happiness does. Self-esteem Human motivation leads to self-esteem that gives the subject a sense of pride. Research indicates that it does not however result in better performance. People with high-self esteem simply tend to exaggerate their achievements. Self-esteem is a heterogeneous category in that there are ‘narcissistic, defensive and conceited’ people alongside the people who really are good. There has been no co-relation to indicate that high self esteem leads to good performance at school. The reverse is true in that good performance leads to high self-esteem. Efforts to enhance self-esteem at schools to achieve high performance have only proved counterproductive. However high self-esteem has been found to create happiness though research in this respect is not yet conclusive. In the final analysis high self esteem can be said to bring about pleasant feelings in individuals. (Baumeister et al 2003) Q 3. Risk in Human Motivation Sl no Name of theory pros cons 1 Hierarchy of needs theory (Maslow) Humans are motivated in order of hierarchy of their needs It is vague 2 Theory X and theory Y(McGregor) . Mc Cregor has proposed two opposing theories known as Theory X and Theory Y none 3 ARCS theory (Keller) It is Attention, Relevance,Confidence,Satisfaction(ARCS) are the four steps in promoting and sustaining motivation in the process of learning as propounded by John Keller none 4 Dual factor theory (John Stacy Adams) Adams proposed that employees expect that there must equity between themselves and other employees. none 5 Expectancy theory (victor Vroom) People are assumed to act in a certain way expecting what they do will result in an outcome and the people’s reaction will depend on the attractiveness of the outcome none Hierarchy of needs theory of Abraham Maslow states that humans are motivated to the extent their needs remains unsatisfied. First, they are concerned about their basic needs such as hunger, shelter, air, food, water, sex, sleep which are homeostasis in nature. Their motivation lies centered to satisfy these needs first before moving on to the need next in the hierarchy. So, once they satisfy the foregoing psychological needs, they move on to the safety needs which give security of jobs, security of their shelter etc. The third in the hierarchy is belongingness needs in which they look for satisfaction of the needs of love and intimate or close relationships. The next level in the hierarchy is esteem needs whereby they are inclined to long for recognition from others, long for achievement and self-esteem. These four levels of needs are known as deficiency needs. The fifth which is the highest in the hierarchy is growth needs. At this level, they are motivated to realize self-actualization or self-fulfillment stemming from the desire for personal growth. Hence it is a deficiency need. (Maslow, A.H.1970) One criticism leveled against this theory is the concept of deficiency which is vague in the deficiency for one need not be a deficiency for another and there are exceptions such as a situation in which people risk their safety to save others from danger. ARCS Model Attention Keller model suggests two ways of attention arousal known as perceptual arousal and inquiry arousal. The former adopts surprise or uncertainty method to stimulate interest. And the latter does it by curiosity through challenging questions or presenting problems to be solved. The methods used for attention grabbing are: 1) to make the subject participate in games, role plays. 2) presenting variable materials like videos, short lectures and discussion groups to facilitate learning according to individual styles. 3) Using a bit of humor throughout the learning process without much distraction, 4) posing questions to the subject contradicting his/her past experience, 4) using visual stimuli, story etc, 5) Inquiry- encourage brainstorming discussions by posing questions or giving problems to solve. Relevance The learner must be made to understand by using concrete language and examples he is familiar with. Confidence The learners must be made to gain confidence that they would meet with success at the end of the learning process failing with their motivation will decrease. Satisfaction: The process of learning must be perceived by the learner as rewarding and satisfying and that whatever learned will be useful as skill which can be used in practical circumstance. (Keller) McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y The revolutionary idea of Douglas McGregor is based on his understanding human motivation. He gave a theory called “Theory X” which assumes humans have the tendency not to work. His contesting view is called “theory Y” according to which employees are naturally inclined to work usefully. This can be applied in an undergraduate educational setting. “The first class in a new course shapes the motivation that students will apply to their studies and impacts their learning. Students perceive cues from the teacher that signal how they will be treated during the course and whether they can expect to be rewarded for diligence and active learning. Unfortunately, many teachers have never reflected on how their perception of the teaching-learning interface creates a visible prejudice for the students. We will present an instrument permitting teachers to assess their own belief in Theory X or Theory Y interactions with students.”(Markwel, J) Expectancy Theory of Vroom This theory of motivation states that motivation is a combined form valence, instrumentality and expectancy by which valence is understood to indicate the utility value of the expected outcome, instrumentality is assumed as a clear path or belief that certain actions will result in certain outcome and expectancy means the capability of the individual that he will complete the actions. “Motivate people to do something by showing them something desirable, indicating how straightforward it is to get it, and then supporting their self-belief that they can get there”. (Vroom 1964) Dual Factor Theory This theory of Adams says that equity is accomplished when ratio of outcomes over their inputs are equal to the outcomes of other employees’ inputs. (Linder 1998) References Baumeister F Roy, Campbell D. Jennifer, Krueger I. Joachim and Vohs D. Kathleen, (2003, May) Does High Self-Esteem Cause Better Performance, Inter-personal Success, Happiness, or Heal Their Lifestyles? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, Vol 4 No 1. Feshbach, S and Janis, IL. (1954, December) Personality Differences Associated with Responsiveness to Fear-Arousing Communications. Journal of Personality, Vol. 23, pp. 154-166 cited in Welbourne N Theresa, (1995) Fear: The misunderstood Component of Organizational Transformation, Human Resource Planning, Vol.18. Keller, ARCS Model of Motivational Design (Keller) Retrieved 18 October 2008 from Laming Donald, (2003) Understanding Human Motivation, Blackwell Publishing p 2, 25 Levy, A (1986). Second-Order Planned Change: Definition and Conceptualization.Journal of Allied Behavioral Science, 26(2), pp. 245-258.cited in Welbourne N Theresa, (1995)Fear: The misunderstood Component of Organizational Transformation, Human Resource Planning, Vol.18. Linder R James (1998) Understanding Employee Motivation Journal of Extension June Volume 36 Number 3 Markwel, J, Madhavan, S Using McGregor’s Theory Y as a frame work for improving studnt motivation Retrieved 18 October 2008 from Maslow, A.H. (1970) Motivation and Personality, 2nd Ed New York, Harper & Row quoted in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, retrieved 18 October 2008 from Paulle Miquelon and Robert J, Vallerand, (2008, August) Goal Motives, well being, and physical health: An integrative model. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne. Vol 49(3), 241-249, retrieved 17 October 2008 from Ray, ML & WL Wilkie. (1970, January) Fear: The Potential of an Appeal Neglected by Marketing. Journal of Marketing, 34, pp. 54-62.cited in Welbourne N Theresa, (1995)Fear: The misunderstood Component of Organizational Transformation, Human Resource Planning, Vol.18. Quinn, JB. (1980) Strategies for Change: Logical Incrementalism. Illinois: Homewood, 1 Richard D. Irwin, Inc. cited in Welbourne N Theresa, (1995) Fear: The misunderstood Component of Organizational Transformation, Human Resource Planning, Vol.18. Stanley, Kissel (1965) Stress Reducing Properties of social stimuli Journal Personality and Social Psychology. Vol 2(3) Sept 1965, 378-384, retrieved 17 October 2008 from Vroom (1964) quoted in Expectancy Theory from 18 October 2008 < http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/expectancy.htm> Young Tomas Paul, (2007) Motivation of Behavior- The Fundamental Determinants of Human and Animal Activity, Read Books p20-25 Wagner .Hugh, (1999) The Psychobiology of Human Motivation, 1999 Routledge, p 5 Welbourne N Theresa, (1995) Fear: The misunderstood Component of Organizational Transformation, Human Resource Planning, Vol.18. Read More