Chapter 6- Motivation and Emotion
Clark Hull : motivation- Drive Reduction Theory- when an organism is deprived of something it wants or needs it will become agitated. To relieve the agitation it will engage in more or less activity until the need is satisfied. As the organism grows- it will make the behavior that reduced the agitation into a habit. So, his theory states that when a physiological need arises it will drive an organism to act in a random or habitual way until the need is satisfied. Thus, infants become attached to their mother because they relieve hunger and thirst.
Harry Harlow: motivation -To “mothers” were made for a monkey. One “mother” was made of wire and provided a bottle. The second “mother” was made of soft cloth. His experiment concluded that the monkey preferred the soft “mother” than the wire “mother.” Thus contradicting Hull’s theory that infants only are attached to their mothers because they satisfy their hunger and thirst needs. They monkey preferred something soft or as Harlow puts it ..something pleasureable. Thus, not only does an organism seek to satisfy physiological needs but it also seeks to satisfy psychological needs or reduce the drive FOR something.
Henry Murray: motivation- identified 16 basic needs (biological and social needs) that help develop a person’s personality. For instance, acquisition, conservance, achievement, recognition, dominance, and play.
David McClelland: motivation- wanted to measure social motives. He used the TAT test- series of pictures showing individuals in different situations would be shown to an individual. Based on their responses-they would be scored. Those responses that included concern for excellence, accomplishment, or a pursuit of a goal received high scores. Individuals scoring high on the TAT would be identified as high achievers.
Matina Horner: motivation- studied if “fear of success” was also a motivation. She discovered by having men and women write stories beginning with “After first term finals, John (or Anne) finds himself at the top of his medical field.” 65% of women predicted doom, while 90% of men predicted success. The study showed women saw success, outside a few expected women’s fields, to be odd or unfeminine. Further study also noted that bright women feared success more than average or slightly above average women. (Yet, other psychologists wondered if it was a fear of failure rather than a fear of success and later studies showed there was not really a difference between women and men).
Abraham Maslow: motivation- show how biological and psychological needs influence motivation. Using a pyramid Maslow believed that all humans are seeking self-actualization (or realization of one’s potential). Needs are hierarchical –once one need is met then another can be satisfied. Some needs take precedent over other needs. Problems with Maslow’s theory suggest that a person would put hunger and thirst over love or self-esteem is not always the order.
Charles Darwin: emotion- believes that certain basic facial expressions are innate or biologically inherited. Many researches have shown the same results that Darwin found- photograph study and New Guinea study.
William James: emotion- believed that emotions were the perception of certain internal bodily changes. Thus, a person’s body or environment changes- the emotion then reflects that change. Another psychologist found the same result-thus James-Lange theory: our body sends sensory feedback to our brain-thus we feel an emotion.
Walter B. Cannon: emotion- Emotion and physical responses act simultaneously-together! The Cannon-Bard theory tries to show the physical reaction occurring at the same time as a the emotion is created.
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