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

Drive reduction theory was developed by Clark Hull, it was largely popular once upon a time. It states that motivation is based on drive or need and the object by which will we overcome the need can be reward or reeinforcement. So Thirst,hunger etc are drives and water, food act to reduce the drive. Drives creates unpleasant tension acc to Hull. So in case of having munchies, is somewhere our stomach is not full, somewhere the person in hungry (drive), thats why he gets up in the midnight to eat (behaviour). After eating his stomach is full and he doesn't craves for munchies (homeostatis). Though food is our need, but we can not go on unless our body demands for it, unless we are hungry (drive). Hence need and reward are not directly connected with each other. Same thing happens for a student though learning is requirement or need, it is usually not done with full amount unless there is homework or there is exam. (Drive)

Let us take example of employee switching a job for better prospects. Need for better job 50%, Likelihood of getting another job 50% and likelihood of taking up new job is 80%. Hence it is 20% of likelihood of changing job, the need and likelihood of getting new job was low had both been higher . Let us urgent need to improve financial conditions then likelihood for taking up new job is higher. Hence more stronger the need is, stronger the drive becomes. And there is more likelihood of a person taking up that job.