Predicting, or Influencing Individual Behavior

¶ … predicting, or influencing individual behavior must start with a basic comprehension of human motivation. Why do people behave as they do? This question has interested behavioral and social scientists, as well as lay people for hundreds of years. Psychologists clearly recognize that in order to be successful, humans require being motivated toward completing the work they are doing or accomplishing specifically defined end goals. At some level, humans have a desire to achieve a particular aim, and, at the end of its attainment, they usually expect either the avoidance of pain or the achievement of pleasure. It is without a doubt more rewarding, in the achievement of personal and professional goals, if they are motivated toward a goal that is in line with what they value in life and with the main roles in their life and work.

Motivation refers to the processes that initiate, energize, and direct behavior (Coleman, 1994). It explains why people behave as they do, in contrast to how they do it. It addresses the questions of why people in the same situation may behave quite differently, and why the same person may perform differently in different situations or at different times. Need, drive, and incentive are three central concepts that are used to explain motivated behavior. They work together to constitute a basic motivational cycle for behavior. A need is defined as a state created when an organism does not have or is deprived of an object or condition it requires. Drives are psychological states that arise from needs, providing a motivational push to fulfill those needs. Incentive refers to external objects and events that exert a motivational pull on behavior.

Another way of visualizing motivation is through a five-step process where 1) a sufficiently strong need exists; 2) the need creates tension; 3) the tension makes a person take action; 4) the goal is achieved and 5) Tension is reduced.

According to Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), each person has a hierarchy of needs -- some needs take precedence over others (Maslow, 1970). Maslow grouped various needs into five Emotions also have an energizing function, but they are more transitory than motives and are They work together to constitute a basic motivational cycle for behavior Maslow grouped various needs into five categories ranked by priority (see He contended that needs are satisfied in the order of priority within each person's hierarchy (Maslow, 1970). Basic biological needs generally take precedence over psychological needs. If two needs are incompatible, the more basic one is usually satisfied first. filling needs, and under the most common circumstances, both a need and a drive can be identified in motivated behavior, particularly when physiological needs are involved. However, there are also drives such as curiosity, which don't depend on deprivation and for physiological, safety and security needs, must be satisfied before higher-order needs for love and belongingness, esteem, and finally for http://www.arches.uga.edu/~danni/maslow1.gif

While Maslow's hierarchy makes sense intuitively, little evidence exists to support its strict hierarchy. Actually, most research refutes the order of needs the model spcifies. For example, some cultures seem to place social needs before others. Maslow's hierarchy also has difficulty when, for example, a person neglects physical needs in pursuit of aesthetic or spiritual ones. Finally, studies show that people are usually motivated to satisfy more than one need at a time, except in situations where needs conflict. Although Maslow's hierarchy is limited, it set the foundation for motivational thought and is regularly used to define behavior.

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