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LOQ LearningObjectiveQuestion

Our motivations arise from the interplay between nature (the bodily “push”) and nurture (the “pulls” from our personal experiences, thoughts, and culture). Our motives drive our behavior. That is usually, but not always, for the better. Addictions, for example, may drive people to satisfy harmful cravings instead of those for food, safety, and social support.

Let’s consider three perspectives that psychologists have used to understand motivated behaviors.

Drive-reduction theory makes three assumptions:

The goal of this three-step process (FIGURE 9.1), from need to drive-reducing behavior, is homeostasis, our body’s natural tendency to maintain a steady internal state. (Homeostasis means “staying the same.”) For example, our body regulates its temperature in a way similar to a room’s thermostat. Both systems monitor temperature and feed information to a control device. If the room’s temperature cools, the control device switches on the furnace. Likewise, if our body’s temperature cools, our blood vessels narrow to conserve warmth, and we search for warmer clothes or a warmer environment.

We also are pulled by incentives—environmental stimuli that attract or repel us, depending on our individual learning histories. If you are hungry, the aroma of good food will motivate you. Whether that aroma comes from fresh-baked bread or fresh-toasted ants will depend on your culture and experience.

When there is both a need and an incentive, we feel strongly driven. You’ve skipped lunch and you can smell bread baking in your friend’s kitchen. You will feel a strong drive to satisfy your hunger, and the baking bread will be a powerful incentive that will motivate your actions.

For each motive, we can therefore ask, “How are we pushed by our inborn bodily needs and pulled by incentives in the environment?”

We are much more than homeostatic systems, however. When we are aroused, we are physically energized, or tense. Some motivated behaviors actually increase rather than decrease arousal. Well-fed animals with no clear, need-based drive will leave a safe shelter to explore and gain information. 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). Curiosity drives newly mobile infants to check out every corner of the house. It drives the scientists whose work this text discusses. And it strongly drives some individuals, such as mountain adventurer George Mallory. Asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, The New York Times reported that Mallory answered, “Because it is there.” Those who, like Mallory, enjoy high arousal are most likely to enjoy intense music, novel foods, and risky behaviors (Roberti et al., 2004; Zuckerman, 1979, 2009).

We humans hunger for information (Biederman & Vessel, 2006). When we find that all our biological needs have been met, we feel bored and seek stimulation to increase our arousal. When left alone in a room for 6 to 15 minutes, many university students even give themselves electric shocks rather than do nothing (Wilson et al., 2014). Yet too much stimulation brings stress and sends us looking for ways to decrease arousal. Arousal theory describes this search for the right arousal level, a search that energizes and directs our behavior.

Two early twentieth-century psychologists studied the relationship of arousal to performance. They identified the Yerkes-Dodson law: Moderate arousal leads to optimal performance (Yerkes & Dodson, 1908). When taking an exam, for example, it pays to be moderately aroused—alert but not trembling with nervousness. (If already anxious, remember that a caffeine drink may make you even more jumpy.) Between bored low arousal and anxious hyperarousal lies a well-lived life. Optimal arousal levels depend on the task, with more difficult tasks requiring lower arousal for best performance (Hembree, 1988) (FIGURE 9.2).

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Some needs are more important than others. At this moment, with your needs for air and food hopefully satisfied, other motives are directing your behavior. But if you were deprived of nourishment, your hunger would take over your thoughts. Just ask the semistarved people of the fictional Panem, whose districts, represented by a boy and girl selected by lottery, must compete in mortal Hunger Games. Food matters. Yet in Panem, as in our world, we do not live by bread alone. People also have needs for safety, connection, and self-worth.

Abraham Maslow (1970) viewed human motives as a pyramid—a hierarchy of needs (FIGURE 9.3). At the pyramid’s base are physiological needs, such as those for food. If those are unmet, life is a hunger game. Only after these needs are met, said Maslow (1971), do we try to meet our need for safety, and then to satisfy our needs to give and receive love and to enjoy self-esteem. At the peak of the pyramid are the highest human needs. At the self-actualization level, people seek to realize their own potential. At the very top is self-transcendence, which Maslow proposed near the end of his life. At this level, some people strive for meaning, purpose, and identity in a way that is transpersonal—beyond (trans) the self (Koltko-Rivera, 2006).

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There are exceptions to Maslow’s hierarchy. For example, people have starved themselves to make a political statement. Nevertheless, some needs are indeed more basic than others. In poorer nations, money—and the food and shelter it buys—more strongly commands attention and predicts feelings of well-being. In wealthy nations, where most are able to meet their basic needs, social connections (such as home-life satisfaction) better predict well-being (Oishi et al., 1999).

Let’s take a closer look now at two specific motives: the basic-level motive, hunger, and the higher-level need to belong. As you read about these motives, watch for ways that incentives (the psychological “pull”) interact with bodily needs (the biological “push”) (TABLE 9.1).