Question

READ AND ANSWER COMPLETLY

(1) Try applying the drive-reduction theory of motivation to your experience of having the munchies in the middle of the night. Be sure to include need, drive, behavior and homeostasis. Using this example, comment on why the concept of "drive" is critical. Why not just assume we go directly from need to behavior? Can you give an example?

(2) In the 50's Clark Hull developed a remarkable variant of the drive-reduction theory that included incentive as well. He said that we can determine the likelihood of a particular behavior of a person (such as eating a hot dog or going to meet a friend) if we know the strength of the drive, the strength of the incentive, and how realistic the goal is. All three are expressed as percentages. You just multiply them together and you get the likelihood of the behavior. For example, say your hunger is 80%, the incentive of a hot dog is 50% and an estimate of how realistic it is for you to find a hot dog to eat is 90%. The likelihood of eating a hot dog then is 80% x 50% x 90% = 36%, therefore you have a 36% chance of going to eating a hot dog. So, given perfect knowledge about the three factors for all possible behaviors, we could perfectly predict what someone will do. Thoughts? Examples?

Answer 1

• The Drive-Reduction Theory talks about an organism’s reaction in an event where his physical needs are challenged and unstable. Because of the disturbance in the organism’s level of homeostasis, there is a development of a drive to fulfill that specific need to bring the individual out of its discomfort.
• So because,the internal equilibrium or balance is disturbed therefore,the craving to eat munchies in the middle of the night.
• According to Hull, ‘drive’ refers to “a state of tension or arousal caused by biological or physiological needs.” Now since the need is hunger therfore one would be motivated to find something to eat. When you are hungry, yo do feel a certain discomfort accompanied by a growing need to fulfill this hunger. This is where the “drive-reduction” comes in. And therefore,this drive makes you look for munchies to reduce your hunger pangs which is causing the discomfort (homeostatis).  
• The drive is critical because it presents a stimulus in form of a biological need like hunger, thirst, cold or sexual interest. It is a state of need, when a living organism feels the needs to behave in certain way to reduce the need and restore the optimal biological state.The drive therefore results in behavior in order to achieve certain goal or satisfy the need.
• Incentive theory can be compared to operant conditioning. Just as in operant conditioning, where behaviors are performed in order to either gain reinforcement or avoid punishment, incentive theory states that your actions are directed toward gaining rewards.For example, you are more likely to be motivated by food when you are actually hungry versus when you are full. A teenage boy might be motivated to clean his room by the promise of a coveted video game while another person would find such a game completely unappealing.
• Incentives only become powerful if the individual places importance on the reward.Rewards have to be obtainable in order to be motivating.