Question

Discuss the concept of motivation as it is viewed in psychology. What are the 3 perspectives that have been used by psychologists to explain/understand motivation? Discuss the major ideas of each perspective.

Answer 1

Motivation refers to a drive that forces an individual to work in a certain way. It is the energy that pushes us to work hard to accomplish the goals despite the odds in front of us. There are several Theories of Motivation that are developed to explain the concept of “Motivation”. Some of them are as follows:

1. Hertzberg’s Two-Factor Theory

The Two-Factor Theory of motivation or dual-factor theory or motivation-hygiene theory was developed by psychologist Frederick Herzberg in the 1950s.

Frederick Herzberg studied 200 accountants and engineers about the positive and negative feelings about their work. He found two factors that influenced the employees -

1. Motivator factors – These factors gave satisfaction to the employees. These factors even motivated the employees to work harder. For example; work enjoyment, recognition and career progression.
2. Hygiene factors – The absence of these factors can lead to dissatisfaction. Examples include salary, company policies, benefits, relationships with managers and co-workers.

According to Herzberg’s findings, while motivator and hygiene factors both influenced motivation, they appeared to work completely independently of each other.

2. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

The Hierarchy of Needs theory was coined by psychologist Abraham Maslow (1943). The hierarchy consists of five levels:

1. Physiological – these needs must be met in order for a person to survive, such as food, water, and shelter.
2. Safety – includes personal and financial security.
3. Love/belonging – the need for friendships, relationships, and family.
4. Esteem – the need to feel confident and be respected by others.
5. Self-actualization – the desire to achieve everything you possibly can.

According to the hierarchy of needs, you must be in good health, safe and secure with meaningful relationships and confidence before you are able to be the most that you can be.

3. Hawthorne Effect

The Hawthorne Effect is named after a series of social experiments that observed a tendency for some people to work harder and perform better when they were being observed by researchers. The researchers changed a number of physical conditions over the course of the experiments including lighting, working hours and breaks. In all cases, employee productivity increased when a change was made. The researchers concluded that employees became motivated to work harder as a response to the attention being paid to them, rather than the actual physical changes themselves.

4. Expectancy Theory

Expectancy theory proposes that people will choose how to behave depending on the outcomes they expect as a result of their behaviour. At work, it might be that we work longer hours because we expect a pay rise. This theory is based on three elements:

1. Expectancy – the belief that your effort will result in your desired goal.

2. Instrumentality – the belief that you will receive a reward if you meet performance expectations.
3. Valence – the value you place on the reward.

Therefore, according to Expectancy Theory, people are most motivated if they believe that they will receive the desired reward if they hit an achievable target. They are least motivated if they don’t want the reward or they don’t believe that their efforts will result in the reward.

5. Cognitive Evaluation Theory

This theory suggests that there are two motivation systems:

Intrinsic motivators: These motivators come from the actual performance of the task or job. For instance; achievement, responsibility, and competence.

Extrinsic motivators: These motivators come from a person's environment and are controlled by others like pay, promotion, feedback, working conditions etc.