Intrinsically motivated behavior comes from self-motivation, and helps increase self-determination, increase interest, increases curiosity, and increases competence (Rassuli, 2012). Extrinsic behavior does the opposite, the motivation comes from reward, reducing self-determination, reducing curiosity, and distancing a person from the original motivation and goal (Rassuli, 2012). Self-Determination Theory notes that generally, internal motivators are more powerful than external motivators such as temporary rewards (Rassuli, 2012). That being said, extrinsic rewards can sometimes strengthen internal motivation (Rassuli, 2012).
An example from my own life of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation surrounding horse-back riding will be used. As a young girl, I had an intrinsic interest in horses. I was willing to do the extra work surrounding horses, suck as mucking, cleaning, and grooming because I was intrinsically motivated. Beyond this, I joined a 4-H club and was President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer, as elected over numerous years. My parents even invested in a horse boarding stable, which expanded my interests and I learned about running a business, and management, through this experience. However, if you were to have tried to coerce me into a business class without the intrinsic motivation of horses, I would have likely rejected this idea, even with external motivation such as money, or something similar.
When Extrinsic Motivation Doesn’t Work
Another example of how extrinsic motivation doesn’t work in the same case, but with my brother. Even after purchasing the stable and him having girlfriends who wanted to visit the horses, my brother had zero intrinsic motivation to be around them. They just didn’t interest him, and the immediate extrinsic reward of impressing a girlfriend was not enough to entice him to be around them. This example shows that with Self-Determination Theory, those who do not have internal motivation to begin with cannot be enticed by external rewards.
Physiological and Psychological Need Connection
This portion of the paper will discuss how the physiological needs can manifest into psychological motive. Maslow’s Hierarchy describes physiological needs as security, safety, food, water, warmth, and rest (McLeod, 2020). The physiological example that will be used will be safety. Physiological needs manifest themselves into psychological needs in the main categories of; achievement, affiliation, and power motive (Schuler et al., 2019).
When striving for the first psychological need of achievement, individuals aim to do well, gain competence, and avoid failure (Schuler et al., 2019). The physiological need of safety can be manifested into the psychological need of achievement because those who achieve tend to have more money, stability, and other resources that can be invested into security and safety. An example would be that parents who invest in their children’s achievement to complete high school, provide safety to their children by giving them a better chance at obtaining employment and reduce the chance that their mental and physical well being be put in jeopardy.
The second psychological need is affiliation, or gaining satisfaction from establishing and maintaining relationships (Schuler et al., 2019). Affiliation is a fear motive for the physiological need of safety, as historically those who are part of groups, clans, or civilizations receive protection, while those who are rejected may not survive (Schuler et al., 2019). In modern times, it is seen that those who feel belonging in groups have better mental and emotional wellbeing, which meets the physiological safety need.
The third psychological need is power motive, which is the desire to influence or direct the behavior of others (Schuler et al., 2019). Power motive can be seen in in childhood development, as those who display pro-social enactment of power tend to grow up to volunteer, become parents, and show helping behavior (Schuler et al., 2019). For the physiological need of safety, having power over oneself or others can fulfill the physiological need of survival. An example with safety is when people have traumatic experiences and for example gain the belief that they are going to die. Looking through an Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing lens of the Emotional Encoding Hierarchy, shifting a client’s perspective from I am going to die to I am going to survive, would help meet both their psychological need of power and physiological need of survival (Kiessling, 2010).
Contingency, Cognition, Behavior, and Learned Helplessness
The best explanation for how Contingency, Cognition, and Behavior work to create Learned Helplessness (LH), was found through the encyclopedia written by Michel in 2005. Although his work wasn’t completed within the last 10 years, the author chose to include his work as the primary source for this section.
Contingency, in Learned Helplessness (LH) Theory, is the relationship between behavior and outcome (Michel, 2005). A positive contingency develops repeated behaviors create positive outcomes, while a negative contingency occurs when repeated behaviors develop negative outcomes (Michel, 2005). The example for LH will be in domestic violence, where the abuser may tie in degrading statements such as “I hit you because you’re worthless, as justification for abusing” As this pattern repeats, the person being abused starts to believe that they are the cause of the abuse, rather than the violent or antisocial behavior of their partner.
While contingency is created through a pattern of negative events being tied to negative outcomes, behavior looks at the action taken by someone in the process of LH. In most cases, a person will try various behaviors to try to escape the outcome of the LH scenario. It is only after a person gives up, or stops trying to escape a situation, regardless of their being an alternative or not, that it is true LH. Going back to the domestic violence example, someone in an abusive relationship may at first try various behaviors to discontinue the abuse. The abuser will then remind the abusee that they are very sorry, will never do it again, and that they are in love. The abusee overall, finds their behaviors to be of no use, as the relationship will continue overall. To be clear, in other cases the abusee finds themselves in situations where their escape is threatened with death. In those situations, it is not LH, but rather real consequences, meaning the abusee can actually be beaten or killed rather than believe it could happen, for trying to leave the relationship.
Cognition, in LH Theory, is the way someone thinks about and explains the relationship between contingencies (Michel, 2005). Academically, an example in academics would be a student who is not aware of his behaviors regarding study habits, and repeatedly fails math tests and thinks (Michel, 2005). The student thinks “I’m really dumb at math,” rather that reflecting on how his actions reflect on his grades (Michel, 2005). Going back to the domestic violence example, the cognition is the thoughts that tie the process together. This would be the abusee thinking the groomed thoughts the abuser has said, such as “I deserve to be beaten because I’m worthless and had my shoes in the wrong place.”
LH can only be accomplished if all three components exist. A person must use behaviors to try to change the situation with no result, have that pattern or contingency repeated and tied to a certain outcome, and have cognitions or thoughts that there is no way to change the outcome, regardless of whether or not there is a way to change an outcome in the situation.
Need for Achievement
The need for achievement section will be discussed using my own examples.
5. Consider the origins of the need for achievement. Discuss and provide original examples from your own life, of each of the following three sources of high need for achievement: its socialization influences, its cognitive influences, or its developmental influences.
6. Differentiate the motivational and performance-based advantages versus disadvantages for performers who adopt a short-term goal (e.g., eat less than 2000 calories today) versus performers who adopt a long-term goal (e.g. lose 20 pounds this year) and offer a recommendation as to whether performers should adopt a short-term or a long-term goal. Explain/justify your recommendation.
References
Kiessling, Roy. (2010). EMDR training course: Integrating EMDR into clinical practice. Retrieved from www.emdrconsulting.com
McLeod, S. (2020). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
Michel, H. (2005). Learned helplessness. In Encyclopedia of Behavior Modification and Cognitive Behavior Therapy. (Vol.1, pp. 1375). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, Inc.
Rassuli, A. (2012). Engagement in Classroom Learning: Creating Temporal Participation Incentives for Extrinsically Motivated Students through Bonus Credits. Journal of Education for Business, 87(2), 86–93.
Schüler, J., Baumann, N., Chasiotis, A., Bender, M., & Baum, I. (2019). Implicit motives and basic psychological needs. Journal of Personality, 87(1), 37–55. https://doi-org.proxy1.calsouthern.edu/10.1111/jopy.12431
