第79章
What
sorts of causal attributions do we make? Weiner (1974, 1986) added a dimension of stability to
Crandall’s theory. This dimension states that if you find one specific type of problem to be
exceedingly difficult for you, there is good reason to expect problems of a similar nature also to be
difficult for you. If they are, it is a stable cause. Combine this dimension with ability, effort, luck, and
task difficulty, and we get the following matrix:
Locus of Causality Internal Cause External Cause
Stable Cause Ability Task Difficulty
Unstable Cause Effort Luck
A final issue we need to address regarding motivation is learned helplessness. Learned
helplessness deals with patterns of attributions displayed by the individual during explanations of
achievement outcomes, and the effects of these attributional styles on later achievement. Dweck et
al. found reliable individual differences in the way children react to achievement outcomes,
especially failure.
Some kids are mastery oriented. They attribute failures to unstable causes, such as insufficient effort,
and will increase their effort on the next occasion. Conversely, those children who perceive failure
as deriving from stable causes often show little expenditure of effort and subsequent deterioration
of performance on future tasks. These children seem to give up when they fail and often will not
attempt a task that they mastered earlier. Dweck felt this to be a variation of learned helplessness. If
failure is attributed to a cause over which the child exercises little control, they see little reason to
keep trying. They give up before they even begin. So convinced that they will fail yet again, they
save themselves the effort and do not even begin to try. They learn to be helpless. Dweck also noted
these helpless children were often at the top of their class in earlier achievement. So what
happened? Sadly, the culprit is often the evaluations of the child’s work by a teacher. If a teacher
praises luck or other unstable factors on success and emphasizes lack of ability on failure, children
will attribute success to luck and failure to a lack of ability. This is the pattern seen in learned
helplessness. If, however, teachers praise ability on success and emphasize unstable factors on
failure, children will learn mastery orientation.
233
PSYCHOLOGY AND LIFE
234
CHAPTER 12: MOTIVATION
BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILES
Clark Hull (1884–1952)
Clark Hull was born in Akron, New York, the son of an unschooled farmer. Hull missed much
school himself as a child when duties on the farm assumed greater importance than “book
learning.” He attended Alma College, intending to be an engineer, but having read James’ Principles
of Psychology, he settled on the study of philosophy and psychology. In 1918, Hull completed the
requirements of the Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin, where he taught until 1929, when he
moved to Yale, where he remained until his death.
Hull is perhaps the most significant contributor to the grand era of learning theory in America
during the 1930s and 1940s. His particular theory involved a sophisticated mathematical system
that took full advantage of the hypothetico-deductive method, generating more empirical research
during the 1940s and 50s than all competing theories of learning combined. Hull’s theoretical
system is presented in both Principles of Behavior (1943) and A Behavior System (1952). He was
president of the American Psychological Association in 1936.
David McClelland (b. 1917)
David McClelland attended Wesleyan University and the University of Missouri before earning his
Ph.D. at Yale in 1941. He returned to teach at Wesleyan, then Bryn Mawr, Harvard, and Boston
University. McClelland’s research and theoretical work on human motivation, particularly
regarding achievement and power, has influenced an entire generation of research psychologists.
Additionally, his research, and that of his colleagues, has been applied to many social contexts,
including industry and the study of problem drinking. McClelland has authored a number of
books, including The Achievement Motive (1953).
Abraham Maslow (1908–1970)
Maslow received his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in 1934, having studied under Harry
Harlow. He taught at Wisconsin for a year, followed by appointments at Teacher’s College of
Columbia University, Brooklyn College, and, finally, Brandeis University, where he spent most of
his academic career. Maslow moved to Menlo Park, California, in 1969 as a resident fellow of the
Laughlin Foundation.
Maslow is considered one of the foremost spokespeople of humanistic psychology, and was
founder of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology. He is best known for his theory of motivation, and
the concept of a hierarchy of needs, ranging from basic survival needs to the need for self-
actualization. His influential works include Toward a Psychology of Being (1962) and Religion,
Values, and Peak Experiences (1964). He served in 1968 as president of the American Psychological
Association.
235
PSYCHOLOGY AND LIFE
TIMELINE
Yea Event
r
19141918
World War I was fought.
1929 The Great Depression in America began.
1938 Henry Murray postulated that many human behaviors are motivated by
the “need to achieve,” an internal tendency to strive for success.
19391945
World War II was fought.
1943 Clark Hull, a psychologist at Yale, proposed that behavior is motivated
primarily through drive reduction, through reinforcement that decreases
biological tension within an organism.
19501953
The Korean War was fought.
1953 David McClelland developed the first research methods for studying
achievement motivation.
1955 Physiologist Donald Hebb proposed that motivation to obtain or
maintain an optimal level of arousal is the force that directs and
organizes behavior.
1969 The first human moon landing occurred.
1970 Abraham Maslow proposed that all people are motivated by deficiency
and growth needs to achieve their innate potential as human beings.
1974 Richard Solomon and J. D. Corbit published their opponent-process
model of motivation, the notion that a strong emotional state stimulates
organisms to seek the opposite emotional state.
236
CHAPTER 12: MOTIVATION
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READINGS
Buck, R. (1988). Human Motivation and Emotion (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. A broad
introduction to the literature on motivation and emotion, with an emphasis on human studies
and on animal studies with direct application to human beings.
Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson. A classic text in
motivation and social psychology. Demonstrates how thoughts, specifically inconsistent
thoughts, can motivate changes in belief and behavior.
Geen, R. (1995). Human Motivation: A Social Psychological Approach. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole. An
introduction to motivation that approaches the topic from a social perspective and relates it to
everyday life.
Lepper, M., Sethi, S., Dialdin, D., & Drake, M. (1997). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: A
Developmental Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press. Explores the influence of both
intrinsic and extrinsic rewards on motivation and behavior. Discusses the situations in which
extrinsic reward can decrease intrinsic motivation.
Maslow, A. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370–396. Details
Maslow’s theory of motivation, including his hierarchy of needs. According to Maslow, humans
are, “a perpetually wanting animal.” A classic paper.
McClelland, D. (1998). Human Motivation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. A well-written
introduction to the field of human motivation.
Weiner, B. (1989). Human Motivation. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Provides an
extensive review of four theories of motivation: drive, field, achievement, and attribution.
Weiner, B. (1998). Discovering General Laws of Social Motivation. Hove, Psychology Press/Erlbaum
(UK) Taylor & Francis. Advances in Psychological Science, Vol 1: Social, Personal, and Cultural
Aspects, 93–109. Proposes a general theory of motivation based on attribution theory.
Zimbardo, P. (1966). The Cognitive Control of Motivation. Transactions of the New York Academy of
Sciences, 28(7), 902–921. Series of studies shows that both biological drives and emotional
behavior are controlled by cognitive, psychological, and social variables. These data accord with
predictions from cognitive dissonance theory. The experiments involve both behavioral and
physiological responses to shock, cognitive control of conditioned eye blink, hypnosis, and
thirst.
DISCOVERING PSYCHOLOGY
PROGRAM 12: MOTIVATION AND EMOTION
Overview
A review of what researchers are discovering about why we act and feel as we do, from the
exhilaration of love to the agony of failure.
Key Issues
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, biological motivation for sexual behavior, reproductive behavior
237
PSYCHOLOGY AND LIFE
of rats and the physiological effects, physiological and psychological motivation for romantic
love, the universality of emotions, and the effects of optimism and pessimism on physiology.
Demonstrations
Rat sexual behavior.
Interviews
Psychologist Norman Adler studies reproductive behavior and its physiological consequence
in rats.
Martin Seligman studies the effects of optimism and pessimism on physiology and behavior.
Abraham Maslow examines the effects of the interplay between human nature and society on
motivation.
FILMS AND VIDEOS
Fear of Fat (1987). CHUH, 26 minutes
Five young women describe their eating disorders and how they overcame them. For centuries,
plumpness was considered pretty, but in recent years society has focused on being thin. So much so
that for some a simple diet may develop into an erratic, life-threatening pattern of behavior. An
excellent, timely film, it accomplishes four goals:
1. Explains how societal pressures encourage eating disorders
2. Explains three eating disorders
3. Lists behaviors that aid in overcoming eating disorders
4. Explains the different body types.
Motivation (1990). Insight Media, 30 minutes
Provides examples of motivation, explaining thoughts, actions, and choices. Explores factors that
influence motivation and demonstrates some behavioral extremes such as thrill seeking. Also
includes Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
CASE STUDY LECTURE LAUNCHER
“Mike, Let’s Do El Capitan!”