Human motivation

An ethological view, then, keeps us focused on behavior and its adaptive value. It leads to the realization that human motives, or emotions, raise fitness by serving tissue needs in quite direct ways, more directly than do learning and cognition. This may seem obvious to ethologists, but this functional perspective is virtually absent from most mainstream approaches to emotion and motivation. The proximate causation of emotions and their visceral and expressional correlates is described in detail, but with little consideration of the adaptive value of the behavior or its correlates. 

Buck, R. (1988). Human Motivation and Emotion, second edition. New York Wiley. 

Weisfeld, G. E. (1980). Social dominance and human motivation. In D. R. Omark, F. F. Strayer D. G. Freedman (Eds.), Dominance Relations An ethological view of human conflict and social interaction (pp. 273—286). New York Garland. 

Rozin, P. and Schiller, D. (1980). The nature and acquisition of a preference for chili pepper by humans. Motivation and Emotion 4,77-100. 

Cooper, John. 1984. "Rato s Theory of Human Motivation." History of Philosophy Quarterly 1 3-22. 

The same human motives that cause other problems in our lives also drive extreme politicized science. As the examples here show, a common motive is the love of power and domination. This was clearly one of the most important motives for Lysenko. There is no surer way to build a powerful bureaucratic empire in... 

Looking at behavior alone is of little help in our attempt to model groups of humans, but this should come as no surprise because behavior is merely an effect, not a cause. To get at underlying causes we must better understand human motivation. 

There is a straightforward model of human motivation—Maslow s (1987) hierarchy of needs—that is a favorite of management theorists and practitioners. The model is popular because it is relatively simple to convey and fairly easy to apply in practical situations. 

The Copernican revolution took the human being s planet out of the center of the universe and out of the center of its own solar system and put it on the periphery. The Darwinian revolution placed the human being in direct descent from lower animals. The Freudian revolution pointed out that much of human motivation is unconscious, rather than conscious. Fluman beings were still holding on to that little bit of conscious motivation that they had until Albert Hofmann came along with LSD, suggesting to us that what little conscious motivation we have is chemical in nature and that it can be influenced very radically by chemicals. 

Maslow AH. A theory of human motivation. Psych. Rev. 1943 50 370-396. As listed on Green, CD. Classics in the History of Psychology [online resource], http //psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm, accessed December 29, 2003. 

Psychologist Abraham Maslow (3) hypothesized a hierarchy of needs that classifies human motivation, listed in descending priority ... 

For La Rochefoucauld, to whom I now turn, the fundamental human motivation is amour-propre [Tlhe love of oneself and of all things in terms of oneself" Cl amour de soi-meme ct de toutes choses /x)iir soD (MSi). Exactly what he means by amour-propre and how it works is the major question for any serious study of the Maximes. Although I do not pretend to be able to answer it fully, I believe the following observations are supported by the text. They are organized around the distinction between esteem and self-esteem, with the concomitant distinction between deception and self-deception. 

There is no common set of insights we can draw from these novels and plays. The French moralists have, taken collectively, something like a theory of human motivation, and a relatively coherent view of the relation between emotion, cognition, and behavior. The authors I have discussed are so diverse that no similar construction can be imputed to them. 

D Andrade, R. G. (1992). Schemas and motivations. In R. G. D Andrade C. Strauss (Eds.), Human motives and cultural models (pp. 23-44). Cambridge Cambridge University Press. 

It is never easy to untangle human motivations, especially at a remove of decades. The scientists who provided rationalizations for pollution did so for many reasons. Honest mistakes and intellectual stubbornness were at work alongside conformism and careerism. But the life of Royd Sayers suggests that honest error cannot fully explain the triumph of industry s favored ideas about pollution. The recurrent theme of Sayers scientific career is willingness to twist research to yield predetermined answers. A taste for expensive homes and a conveniently timed political conversion complete an unmistakable portrait of opportunism. 

Give an example where some physical or biological phenomenon is explained with a human motivation. How could you go about proving or disproving the explanation of the event Give an example of a model that includes both theoretical and empirical elements. How can one be distinguished from the other When is it necessary to use empirical models When is it desirable to base models on theory ... 

Baumeister, R. E, Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117 >), 497-529. 

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation developed as classics in the history of psychology by Christopher D. Green, 2000. An internet resource. Toronto York University. 

It is difficult to be effective in safety without an understanding of human motivation, capabilities, and limitations. Human error may result in as many as 85 to 95 percent of all accidents. There is little doubt people contribute to the hazards resulting in injury or illness. 

There is little evidence to justify the accuracy of this theory in explaining human motivation Maslow s work is based on post hoc studies of selected individuals. Researchers have found, however, that certain needs must be satisfied before individuals can or will pursue other needs. Any of Maslow s needs could serve as motivators for individuals, depending on their psychological state. 

Consider first the assumption that self-interest is the primary human motivation. While there is no denying that self-interest is an important motivator, so too are people s moral beliefs. This moral dimension is entirely overlooked by the neo-classical paradigm. To use Etzioni s examples,... 

To summarise this section of the argument, self-interest is not the only or even the most important human motivation beliefs and values play a cmcial part in the decision making of both individuals and firms. Economic self-interest is thus a very uncertain basis on which to design public policy. It works in some circumstances, but it is foolish to assume that it will always do so. Policy must be attuned to the fact that in many circumstances beliefs and values are the critical motivators of action. 

---