Motivation Ever wonder why some people seem to be very successful, highly motivated individuals?

Where does the energy, the drive, or the direction come from? Motivation is an area of psychology that has gotten a great deal of attention, especially in the recent years. The reason is because we all want to be successful, we all want direction and drive, and we all want to be seen as motivated. There are several distinct theories of motivation we will discuss in this section. Some include basic biological forces, while others seem to transcend concrete explanation. Let's talk about the five major theories of motivation. Instinct Theory Instinct theory is derived from our biological make-up. We've all seen spider's webs and perhaps even witnessed a spider in the tedious job of creating its home and trap. We've all seen birds in their nests, feeding their young or painstakingly placing the twigs in place to form their new home. How do spiders know how to spin webs? How do birds now how to build nests? The answer is biology. All creatures are born with specific innate knowledge about how to survive. Animals are born with the capacity and often times knowledge of how to survive by spinning webs, building nests, avoiding danger, and reproducing. These innate tendencies are preprogrammed at birth, they are in our genes, and even if the spider never saw a web before, never witnessed its creation, it would still know how to create one. Humans have the same types of innate tendencies. Babies are born with a unique ability that allows them to survive; they are born with the ability to cry. Without this, how would others know when to feed the baby, know when he needed changing, or when she wanted attention and affection? Crying allows a human infant to survive. We are also born with particular reflexes which promote survival. The most important of these include sucking, swallowing, coughing, blinking. Newborns can perform physical movements to avoid pain; they will turn their head if touched on their cheek and search for a nipple (rooting reflex); and they will grasp an object that touches the palm of their hands. Drive Reduction Theory According to Clark Hull (1943, 1952), humans have internal internal biological needs which motivate us to perform a certain way. These needs, or drives, are defined by Hull as internal states of arousal or tension which must be reduced. A prime example would be the internal feelings of hunger or thirst, which motivates us to eat. According to this theory, we are driven to reduce these drives so that we may maintain a sense of internal calmness. Arousal Theory Similar to Hull's Drive Reduction Theory, Arousal theory states that we are driven to maintain a certain level of arousal in order to feel comfortable. Arousal refers to a state of emotional, intellectual, and physical activity. It is different from the above theory, however, because it doesn't rely on only a reduction of tension, but a balanced amount. It also does better to explain why people climb mountains, go to school, or watch sad movies.

Psychoanalytic Theory Remember Sigmund Freud and his five part theory of personality. As part of this theory, he believed that humans have only two basic drives: Eros and Thanatos, or the Life and Death drives. According to Psychoanalytic theory, everything we do, every thought we have, and every emotion we experience has one of two goals: to help us survive or to prevent our destruction. This is similar to instinct theory, however, Freud believed that the vast majority of our knowledge about these drives is buried in the unconscious part of the mind. Psychoanalytic theory therefore argues that we go to school because it will help assure our survival in terms of improved finances, more money for healthcare, or even an improved ability to find a spouse. We move to better school districts to improve our children's ability to survive and continue our family tree. We demand safety in our cars, toys, and in our homes. We want criminal locked away, and we want to be protected against poisons, terrorists, and any thing else that could lead to our destruction. According to this theory, everything we do, everything we are can be traced back to the two basic drives Humanistic Theory Although discussed last, humanistic theory is perhaps the most well know theory of motivation. According to this theory, humans are driven to achieve their maximum potential and will always do so unless obstacles are placed in their way. These obstacles include hunger, thirst, financial problems, safety issues, or anything else that takes our focus away from maximum psychological growth. The best way to describe this theory is to utilize the famous pyramid developed by Abraham Maslow (1970) called the Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow believed that humans have specific needs that must be met and that if lower level needs go unmet, we can not possible strive for higher level needs. The Hierarchy of Needs shows that at the lower level, we must focus on basic issues such as food, sleep, and safety. Without food, without sleep, how could we possible focus on the higher level needs such as respect, education, and recognition?

Throughout our lives, we work toward achieving the top of the pyramid, self actualization, or the realization of all of our potential. As we move up the pyramid, however, things get in the way which slow us down and often knock us backward. Imagine working toward the respect and recognition of your colleagues and suddenly finding yourself out of work and homeless. Suddenly, you are forced backward and can no longer focus your attention on your work due to the need for finding food and shelter for you and your family.

According to Maslow, nobody has ever reached the peak of his pyramid. We all may strive for it and some may even get close, but no one has achieved full self-actualization. Self-actualization means a complete understanding of who you are, a sense of completeness, of being the best person you could possibly be. To have achieved this goal is to stop living, for what is there to strive for if you have learned everything about yourself, if you have experienced all that you can, and if there is no way left for you to grow emotionally, intellectually, or spiritually. Two basic types: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic Motivation Extrinsic motivation is likely to involve the concept of rewarded behavior. Thus, by engaging in a particular type of activity or behaving in a particular manner, you are "rewarded" by a desired end result. For instance, you are motivated to save money for a vacation. Hence, you resist the urge to make impulsive purchases and in general become more discriminating in how you spend your money. After a time you find that you have a steadily growing amount of savings which you set aside. When you find that you have saved enough for that trip, you utilize your savings for the intended purpose and go on vacation. The external motivation is the vacation, which is also the reward for your act of saving for it. Internal Motivation On the other hand, there are other less-visible types of [Link] would be a mistake to say that such behaviour does not come without its own rewards. To be more precise, the end goal is not a visible or external thing, but more internal and psychological. The achievement of these goals - by itself also correctly seen as a reward - is in general not visible to other [Link], for instance, a student is motivated to get good grades (external motivation) or simply, he desires to know more about a particular subject (intrinsic motivation). Getting good grades is the reward visible to others. For the student, the fact that he has become an expert in a particular subject or lesson is also a psychological reward for his intrinsic desire to learn. Successful Motivated Behaviour Good and effective actions or behaviour usually involves the harmonizing of these two types of motivation. If one is driven by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, then inner conflict is reduced and a person is more likely to devote uninterrupted and harmonious actions towards a particular [Link] inner and external rewards too, are good reinforcing mechanisms. For many people, this is really the means towards success. By choosing goals that you desire - both in its intrinsic and extrinsic rewards - you can harmonize your own actions and devote your energies to your goals. In such instances, the chances of achievement increases greatly. Emotion What is emotion? A feeling? Then what is a feeling? These terms are difficult to define and even more difficult to understand completely. People have been attempting to understand this phenomenon for thousands of years, and will most likely debate for a thousand more. This section will present the various theories related to the acquisition of emotion. The mainstream definition of emotion refers to a feeling state involving thoughts, physiological changes, and an outward expression or behavior. But what comes first? The thought? The physiological arousal? The behavior? Or does emotion exist in a vacuum, whether or not these other components are present? There are five theories which attempt to understand why we experience emotion.

James-Lange Theory The James-Lange theory of emotion argues that an event causes physiological arousal first and then we interpret this arousal. Only after our interpretation of the arousal can we experience emotion. If the arousal is not noticed or is not given any thought, then we will not experience any emotion based on this event. EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. You notice these physiological changes and interpret them as your body's preparation for a fearful situation. You then experience fear.

Cannon-Bard Theory The Cannon-Bard theory argues that we experience physiological arousal and emotional at the same time, but gives no attention to the role of thoughts or outward behavior. EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. At the same time as these physiological changes occur you also experience the emotion of fear.

Schachter-Singer Theory According to this theory, an event causes physiological arousal first. You must then identify a reason for this arousal and then you are able to experience and label the emotion. EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. Upon noticing this arousal you realize that is comes from the fact that you are walking down a dark alley by yourself. This behavior is dangerous and therefore you feel the emotion of fear.

Lazarus Theory Lazarus Theory states that a thought must come before any emotion or physiological arousal. In other words, you must first think about your situation before you can experience an emotion. EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you think it may be a mugger so you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens and at the same time experience fear.

Facial Feedback Theory According to the facial feedback theory, emotion is the experience of changes in our facial muscles. In other words, when we smile, we then experience pleasure, or happiness. When we frown, we then experience sadness. it is the changes in our facial muscles that cue our brains and provide the basis of our emotions. Just as there are an unlimited number of muscle configurations in our face, so to are there a seemingly unlimited number of emotions. EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and your eyes widen, your teeth clench and your brain interprets these facial changes as the expression of fear. Therefore you experience the emotion of fear.

What is stress? Definition of Stress The word stress is derived from the Latin word "stringi", which means, "to be drawn tight". Stress can be defined as follows: Definition of Stress: 1 In medical terms stress is described as, "a physical or psychological stimulus that can produce mental tension or physiological reactions that may lead to illness." When you are under stress, your adrenal gland releases corticosteroids, which are converted to cortisol in the blood stream. Cortisol have an immune suppressive effect in your body. Another Definition of Stress According to Richard S Lazarus, stress is a feeling experienced when a person thinks that "the demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize." Your body tries to adjust to different circumstances or continually changing environment around you. In this process, the body is put to extra work resulting in "wear and tear". In other worfds, your body is stressed. Stress disturbs the body's normal way of functioning. Most of us experience stress at one time or another. Without stress, there would be no life. However, excessive or prolonged stress can be harmful. Stress is unique and personal. A situation may be stressful for someone but the same situation may be challenging for others. For example, arranging a world level symposium may be challenging for one person but stressful to another. Some persons have habit of worrying unnecessarily. Stress is not always necessarily harmful. Hans Selye said in 1956, "stress is not necessarily something bad it all depends on how you take it. The stress of exhilarating, creative successful work is beneficial, while that of failure, humiliation or infection is detrimental." Stress can be therefore negative, positive or neutral. Passing in an examination can be just stressful as failing. Sometime we know in advance that doing a certain thing will be stressful, but we are willing to doing that. For example, while planning a vacation to a hill station you know that it would be stressful at certain times. But you are willing to face those challenges.

People often work well under certain stress leading to increased productivity. Many times you do not know in advance and the stress periods may be sudden. The situation may not be under your control. Too much stress is harmful. You should know your level of stress that allows you to perform optimally in your life. Types of Stress Three types of stress may be distinguished: Acute stress Acute stress is usually for short time and may be due to work pressure, meeting deadlines pressure or minor accident, over exertion, increased physical activity, searching something but you misplaced it, or similar things. Symptoms of this type of tension are headaches, back pain, stomach problems, rapid heartbeat, muscle aches or body pain. 2. Acute Stress Acute stress is common in people who take too many responsibilities and are overloaded or overworked, disorganized, always in a hurry and never in time. These people are generally in positions of importance at their workplace and stressful lifestyle is inherent in them. Symptoms of this type of stress are prolonged tension headaches, hypertension, migraines, chest pain and heart disease. 3. Chronic Stress This type of stress is the most serious of all the 3 stress types. Chronic stress is a prolonged stress that exists for weeks, months, or even years. This stress is due to poverty, broken or stressed families and marriages, chronic illness and successive failures in life. People suffering from this type of stress get used to it and may even not realize that they are under chronic stress. It is very harmful to their health.
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Causes of Stress Whenever our body feels something not favourable, then it tries to defend itself. If this situation continues for a long time, then our body is working overtime. There are several causes of stress. For example, you are under stress when you are worried about something, worried about your children, worried about the illness of your father, worried about your job security, or worried about your loans or similar things. You may be under stress due to several causes. Look at the following causes of stress. 1. Causes of Stress at Home o Death of spouse, family, near relative or friend. o Injury or illness of any family member. o Marriage of self or son or daughter or brother or sister. o Separation or divorce from partner. o Pregnancy or birtgh of a new baby. o Children's behavior or disobedience. o Children's educational performance. o Hyperactive children. o Sexual molestation. o Argument or heated conversations with spouse, family members or friends or neighbors. o Not sufficient money to meet out daily expenses or unexpected expenditure.

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Not sufficient money to raise youyr standard of living. Loss of money in burglary, pick-pocketed or share market. Moving house. Change of place or change of city or change of country. Causes of Stress at Work o To meet out the demands of the job. o Your relationship with colleagues. o To control staff under you. o To train your staff and take work from them. o Support you receive from your boss, colleagues and juniors. o Excessive work pressure. o To meet out deadlines. o To give new results. o To produce new publications if you are in research area. o Working overtime and on holidays. o New workhours. o Promotion or you have not been promoted or your junior has superseded you. o Argument or heated conversations with co-workers or boss. o Change of job. o Work against will. o Harassment. o Sexual molestation. Other Causes of Stress o Fear, intermittent or continuous. o Threats: physical threats, social threats, financial threat, other threats. o Uncertainty. o Lack of sleep. o Somebody misunderstands you. o Setback to your position in society.
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Stressor: Anything (physical or psychological) that produces stress (negative or positive) is considered a stressor. For example, getting a promotion is a positive event, but may also produce a great deal of stress with all the new responsibilities, work load, etc.

Freuds Stages of Psychosexual Development Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is probably the most well known theorist when it comes to the development of personality. Freuds Stages of Psychosexual Developmentare, like other stage theories, completed in a predetermined sequence and can result in either successful completion or a healthy personality or can result in failure, leading to an unhealthy personality. This theory is probably the most well known as well as the most controversial, as Freud believed that we develop through stages based upon a particular erogenous zone. During each stage, an unsuccessful completion means that a child becomes fixated on that particular erogenous zone and either over or under-indulges once he or she becomes an adult. Oral Stage (Birth to 18 months). During the oral stage, the child if focused on oral pleasures (sucking). Too much or too little gratification can result in an Oral Fixation or Oral Personality which is evidenced by a preoccupation with oral activities. This type of personality may have a stronger tendency to smoke, drink alcohol, over eat, or bite his or her nails. Personality wise, these individuals may become overly dependent upon

others, gullible, and perpetual followers. On the other hand, they may also fight these urges and develop pessimism and aggression toward others. Anal Stage (18 months to three years). The childs focus of pleasure in this stage is on eliminating and retaining feces. Through societys pressure, mainly via parents, the child has to learn to control anal stimulation. In terms of personality, after effects of an anal fixation during this stage can result in an obsession with cleanliness, perfection, and control (anal retentive). On the opposite end of the spectrum, they may become messy and disorganized (anal expulsive). Phallic Stage (ages three to six). The pleasure zone switches to the genitals. Freud believed that during this stage boy develop unconscious sexual desires for their mother. Because of this, he becomes rivals with his father and sees him as competition for the mothers affection. During this time, boys also develop a fear that their father will punish them for these feelings, such as by castrating them. This group of feelings is known as Oedipus Complex ( after the Greek Mythology figure who accidentally killed his father and married his mother). Later it was added that girls go through a similar situation, developing unconscious sexual attraction to their father. Although Freud Strongly disagreed with this, it has been termed the Electra Complex by more recent psychoanalysts. According to Freud, out of fear of castration and due to the strong competition of his father, boys eventually decide to identify with him rather than fight him. By identifying with his father, the boy develops masculine characteristics and identifies himself as a male, and represses his sexual feelings toward his mother. A fixation at this stage could result in sexual deviancies (both overindulging and avoidance) and weak or confused sexual identity according to psychoanalysts. Latency Stage (age six to puberty). Its during this stage that sexual urges remain repressed and children interact and play mostly with same sex peers. Genital Stage (puberty on). The final stage of psychosexual development begins at the start of puberty when sexual urges are once again awakened. Through the lessons learned during the previous stages, adolescents direct their sexual urges onto opposite sex peers; with the primary focus of pleasure is the genital.