PSYC3034

TOPICS IN APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY

Motivation III: Challenges

Kim Peters
2016
THEORY OF BEHAVIOUR
The COM-B theory of individual behaviour.

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WHAT IS MOTIVATION?
• Motivation: all brain processes that energise and
direct behaviour, including goals, habitual
processes, emotions and analytical decision-
making.

• Motivation is the most important prerequisite for

volitional behaviour (although capability and
opportunity may prove to be major barriers).

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WHAT IS MOTIVATION?
These map onto 3 main sources of motivation (see
Leonard, Beauvais & Scholl):

Extrinsic Motivation: Motivation is

Material outcomes induced by external factors.

Intrinsic Process Motivation:

Sheer enjoyment
Motivation comes from action.

Internal goals Intrinsic Outcome Motivation:

Motivation comes from acting in line
with internalised values.
WHAT IS MOTIVATION?
Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985).
INTRINSIC MOTIVATORS
As we have discussed before, there is also evidence
for a second type of intrinsic motivation that is
associated with engaging in behaviours for internal
reasons that are not restricted to fun / engagement.

This intrinsic outcome motivation is experienced as

choosing to engage in behaviour because it reflects
who we are (e.g., liberals, environmentals, punks),
our values (it’s the right thing to do) and so on.
INTRINSIC MOTIVATORS
Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000)
postulates 假定 an additional need underlying
intrinsic motivation: relatedness.

Self-Determination Theory= people’s need for

relatedness plays an important role in the
internalisation process that is associated with
intrinsic outcome motivation.
INTRINSIC MOTIVATORS

In other words, we perform

behaviours because they are
valued by people we feel
attached to – or want to feel
attached to.

Over time, we internalise

these behaviors as part of
who we are and what we
value.
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INTRINSIC OUTCOME
The importance of intrinsic outcome motivation at
work was emphasized by the human factors approach
(Elton Mayo, UQ 1919-1923).
•Discovered that job satisfaction (and productivity)
was affected by informal social relations.
•Argued that employees can’t be treated in isolation,
and must be seen as members of a group.
•Managers need to cater 迎合 for these social needs
to counter worker’s resistance.

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INTRINSIC OUTCOME

Hawthorne Works

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IDENTITY MAPS EXERCISE

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GROUP BEHAVIOUR
Two key theories in the domain of group behaviour
are Social Identity Theory (SIT) and Self-
Categorisation Theory (SCT).

•SIT aims to explain intergroup relations in society

with reference to issues of identity.

•SCT aims to explain the cognitive mechanisms

behind the activation of specific identities and their
effects.
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GROUP BEHAVIOUR
SIT is in many ways a reaction against previous
theories that sought to explain intergroup phenomena
(e.g., conflict, discrimination) as a function of the
following factors:
• Realistic competition/ economic thinking
• Individual differences in personality

SIT highlights the importance of group

membership per se in these phenomena
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GROUP BEHAVIOUR
Tajfel and colleagues’ minimal group paradigm
formed the basis for this theory.

These studies showed that even when people were

allocated to meaningless groups, and there was no
individual incentives for biased allocations of
rewards…

They allocated more rewards to ingroup members

relative to outgroup members.
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GROUP BEHAVIOUR
Group membership is important to people. It provides
them with a sense of identity. Because of this, people
are motivated to perceive their groups positively
(because this provides a positive sense of identity).

More generally, this means that people don’t always

act as self-interested individuals. They also act as and
on behalf of others according to group memberships.

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USING GROUPS FOR CHANGE
It is easier to change groups than individuals…

Click Here

Identify the ways in which groups are used in this

advert to encourage healthy eating by Americans.
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GROUP MOTIVATION
This means that if we can change people’s
understanding of who they are (their personal or
social identity), we can shift their behaviour.

Rabinovich & Morton (2011) asked British students

to describe what it means to be British versus
American or Swedish.

They were then asked to rate the

environmentalism of British people
and their personal environmental intentions.
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GROUP MOTIVATION
British students who compared themselves with
Americans said British people were more
environmental and intended to be environmental.

When they compared themselves with Swedes, they

said British people were less environmental, and they
had lower intentions to be environmental.

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GROUP MOTIVATION
Similarly, if we can associate an outgroup with an
undesireable behaviour, we can reduce willingness to
engage in it.

Berger & Rand (2008) told UG students that UG or

PG students were particularly likely to each junk
food. They then had to choose preferred food (half
were healthy – junk pairs). Students made healthier
choices when PG students were junk food eaters.
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GROUP MOTIVATION
In Study 2, they asked UG students to report their
alcohol consumption 2 weeks after anti-drinking
flyers were posted around their dorms.

These flyers
either focused
on the health
dangers or
associated
drinking with
PG students.
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GROUP MOTIVATION
Chen, Chen, Liu & Mei (2015) wanted to explore the
impact of teams on pro-social lending activity on
Kiva.org, the first microlending 小额贷款 website
that matches lenders with entrepreneurs 企业家 in
developing countries.

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GROUP MOTIVATION
Although Kiva has facilitated loans of more than $666
million to over 1.5 million borrowers, most lenders
only lend once.

Kiva instituted 制定 lending

teams in an attempt to increase
lender engagement. Lenders
can create / join any number of
teams and can credit loans to
them. This influences a team’s
position on the leaderboard.

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GROUP MOTIVATION
Chen et al. (2015) found that lenders who join teams
contribute 1.2 more loans per month than those who
do not.

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GROUP MOTIVATION
To test whether teams work by making it easier to find
worthy borrowers and / or by competition, they posted
a message on the team forum. The content was
manipulated in a 2 (id borrower or not) x 2 (set goal or
not) design.

They found that a goal was enough to spur 带动

lending in inactive teams; in active teams a goal
needed to be accompanied by an identified borrower
to increase lending.
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IDEOLOGIES

Set of beliefs about the proper order of society and

how it can be achieved” Erikson & Tedin (2003)

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IDEOLOGIES: CONSERVATIVE

1. More need for

structure, order, and
closure.
2. Less need for
cognition. Black & white
moralizing.
3. More threat perception.
4 Less open to new
experiences.
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IDEOLOGIES: LIBERALS 自由
主义者
1. Less need for structure,
order and closure.
2. More need for
cognition.
3. Empathic moralizing.
4. Less threat perception.
5. More open to new
experiences.

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IDEOLOGIES: MORAL BASES

In moral foundations theory, Haidt and Joseph (2004)

argued that moral judgments can be based on 5
foundations:
•Care / harm
•Fairness / Reciprocity
•In-group / Loyalty
•Authority / Respect
•Purity / Sanctity 纯度 / 圣洁

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IDEOLOGIES: MORAL BASES

Graham, Haidt and Nosek (2009; Study 1) explored

the relationship between political orientation (bi-
polar scale: liberal to conservative) and people’s use
of each of the foundations when making judgments
about whether something is right or wrong in a
sample of 1613 Americans.

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IDEOLOGIES: MORAL BASES

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IDEOLOGIES: MORAL BASES

In a second study, they replicated the study and

included moral judgments items that relate to each
foundation.
•Care: it is never right to kill
•Fairness: equality is the most important principle
•In-group: govt should only care about ingroup
•Authority: children need to learn to respect
•Purity: govt should help people avoid sin

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IDEOLOGIES: MORAL BASES

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IDEOLOGIES: MORAL BASES

What do these findings suggest about challenges to

effectively targeting intrinsic outcome motivation?

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