Question

Summarize The following Theories:

Brain state Theory

Incentive Theory

Drive Theory

Arousal Theory

Free accessible peer reviewed references are greatly appreciated. Thank you

Answer 1

• Incentive theory-The incentive theory is one of the major theories of motivation and suggests that behavior is motivated by a desire for reinforcement or incentives.
• Rather than focus on more intrinsic forces behind motivation, the incentive theory proposes that people are pulled toward behaviors that lead to rewards and pushed away from actions that might lead to negative consequences. Two people may act in different ways in the same situation based entirely on the types of incentives that are available to them at that time.
• In contrast with other theories that suggest we are pushed into action by internal drives, incentive theory instead suggests that we are pulled into action by outside incentives.
• Positive incentives refer to rewards or reinforcement provided for the actions. For instance, a teacher praises her student for completing his homework. This makes him want to continue completing his work in the future. She could also reward him with better marks, recognition in the class or a treat for a job well done. These are other forms of positive incentives.
• Negative incentives are exactly opposite and only offered when positive incentives do not work. For instance, the same teacher could criticize her student for not completing his homework. This negative incentive could be failing him, making him stand outside the class, etc.
• Good grades are the incentives that motivate students to study hard. The incentives can also be the prize at the end of the year.
• A teenage girl could be motivated to clean the house with the promise of a new dress, where the dress acts as an incentive.
  
• Drive theory-Drive refers to increased arousal and internal motivation to reach a particular goal. Psychologists differentiate between primary and secondary drives. Primary drives are directly related to survival and include the need for food, water, and oxygen. Secondary or acquired drives are those that are culturally determined or learned, such as the drive to obtain money, intimacy, or social approval.
• Drive theory holds that these drives motivate people to reduce desires by choosing responses that will most effectively do so. For instance, when a person feels hunger, he or she is motivated to reduce that drive by eating; when there is a task at hand, the person is motivated to complete it.
• Clark L. Hull is the most prominent figure from whom this comprehensive drive theory of learning and motivation was postulated.
• An interesting application of drive theory to social psychology is found in Robert Zajonc’s explanation of the social facilitation effect, which suggests that when there is social presence, people tend to perform simple tasks better and complex tasks worse (social inhibition) than they would if they were alone.
• When drives are activated, people are likely to rely on their easily accessible dominant response, or as Hull would suggest, their habits. Therefore, if the task comes easy to them, their dominant response is to perform well. However, if the task is perceived as difficult, the dominant response will likely result in a poor performance. For instance, imagine a ballet dancer who was ill-practiced and often made several errors during her routine.
• According to drive theory, when in the presence of others at her recital, she will display her dominant response, which is to make mistakes even more so than when alone. However, if she spent a substantial amount of time polishing her performance, drive theory would suggest that she may have the best performance of her dancing career (which she might never match in solitude).
• Drive theory combines motivation, learning, reinforcement, and habit formation to explain and predict human behavior. It describes where drives come from, what behaviors result from these drives, and how these behaviors are sustained. Drive theory is also important in understanding habit formation as a result of learning and reinforcement. For instance, to alter bad habits, such as drug use (which can be seen as a way to reduce the drive for euphoria), an understanding of how habits are created is essential; drive theory offers this insight.
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