Psychology

BASIC HUMAN NEEDS AND MOTIVES

Every individual has some or the other need by the satisfaction & dissatisfaction of needs his behavior is affected. Food, water, sex, air, sleep, etc. are some innate needs, the fulfillment of which is necessary.

According to C.L. Hull, (1947) drive gives energy to the behavior but not direction.

A stimulus is an object in the external environment That satisfies the need & by such act minimizes the drive eg. Food is the incentive for the hunger drive because food satisfies this drive.

Murray’s theory of need:-

Murray H. stated that need is a construct which stands for a force in the brain region, a force that organizes perception, intellect, conation & action in such a way as to transform in a certain direction & existing unsatisfying situation.

Need

Description

AbasementBe Resigned to fate, seek & enjoy pain, admit inferiority.
AchievementOvercome obstacle, rival & surpass others.
AffiliationPlease & win affection, adhere & remain loyal to a friend.
AggressionOvercome opposition forcefully.
AutonomyFree to act according to impulse.
CounteractionOvercome weakness, fear, defend the self against criticism
DifferenceAdmire & support a superior.
DominanceInfluence the behavior of others by suggestion.
ExhibitionMake an impression.
Harm avoidanceEscape from a dangerous situation.
InfavoidanceAvoid humiliation.
NurturanceGive sympathy & gratify the need of a helpless object
OrderAchieve arrangement.
PlaySeek enjoyable relaxation of stress.
RejectionExclude or expel
SentienceSeek & enjoy sensuous impression.
SexForm erotic & sexual relationship
SuccoranceRemain close to a devoted protector.
UnderstandingInterested in formulation, analysis & generation.


Types of motives:-

It is of 2 types. The first type consists of innate, biological, primary motives. They originate from biological needs like hunger, thirst, sleep, sex, etc. The second type consists of adopted & learned motives.

(A) PRIMARY DRIVES/INNATE:-

  1. Hunger:- Whenever a person works there is a loss of energy & to compensate the energy loss he feeds or eat.
  • B.D. Anand discovers eating center in lateral hypothalamus on destroying these centers in the brain the hunger dies in man.
  • The hunger drive due to oral factors like- movement of lips, teeth, tongue. Chewing movement of mouth & secretion of saliva etc. It is proved by miller’s experiment. He gave milk to 1 group of a rat by mouth & other groups by the tube which was again given to both groups only the second group took the milk.
  1. Thirst drive:-
  • The various parts of the body need water because the use of water in various parts, water is required. The need of water generates the thirst drive produced by drying of throat & mouth.
  • The brain has a drinking center. This part of the hypothalamus is osmoreceptor & regulate blood concentration.
  1. Sex:- It is one of the main biological drives. Although it is not important as hunger & thirst drive still it is a powerful drive. This drive in various animals depends on various hormonal secretions. Gonads are called the sex gland. In male testes & female ovaries work as glands.
  1. Sleep:- Whenever the person work fatigue arises which is reduced by sleep. The experiment in this direction shows that reticular formation in the brain conducts the sleeping & walking function.

RAS– Reticular activating system is present in the area of cortex.

      Two types of sleep are:

  1. REM- Rapid eye movement sleep. It is associated with dreaming & called a dream sleep.
  2. NREM- Non-Rapid eye movement sleep.No eye movement takes place & person sleep.
  1. α -8-13 cycle/sec.
  2. β-active awareness,> 13 cycle/ sec.
  3. δ– Sleep<4 cycle/sec.
  4. θ-4-7 cycle/ sec. drowsiness.

(B) SOCIOGENIC MOTIVES:-

1) Approval Motivation:- The person thinks that other person may not only think this act & behavior to be right & good from a social & ethical point of view but may also approve them. This motive is found in all when the person is highly motivated then he performs only socially approved things & not approved. In studies, it was seen that people with high approval motive & high degree of ego defense & such persons become aggressive by other’s opinions and change their own motive soon.

2) Affiliation Motivation:- In the presence of this motive the person is pleased to make relation with others, in the presence or company with others. People who spend most of their time in family, club friend, etc. have this motive in excess. This motive effectively impresses a person’s behavior.

3) Achievement Motivation:- It is a sort of permanent tendency in man which is related to achievement or success. It is seen that the person who is rich in this motive likes to do things in which they are praised. Man can be driven actively for many behaviors due to this motive like in any field of behavior. He can make efforts for the level of excellence. He can work for success in some selected fields. He can make efforts to achieve the highest place in any competition. He can make efforts for the betterment of his life. He can be proved & happy with his success. If he fails to achieve her goal he blames himself for his failure.

4) Power Motivation:- Is that motive with the person is satisfied by controlling the means by which the behavior of others is affected. A person with this motive possesses many qualities like the feeling of satisfaction, controlling other people, feeling satisfied by making others do according to their wishes.

5) Aggressiveness Motive: The person in this, wants to attack other people, fight, abuse them, he wants to injure, pain and destroy others in this way. Freud describes 2 instincts of man- life & death. Death instinct includes aggressive motives. But this instinct is not innate but acquired & develops due to learned behavior.

6) Gregariousness:- The tendency of living in a group is known as gregariousness. This motive is found in some or other quantities in nearly all the people of society. It is seen that every man needs another man’s co-operation because co-operation makes the work convenient. Alone he is afraid but become bold in a group.

7) Acquisitiveness:- It is the tendency in which the person wants to collect & preserve useful & attractive things. People of various societies & various cultures show a different amount of this tendency. This motive develops from the age of 3 years. This tendency is high in societies where the individual property is given preference.

8) Self Assertion:– It is the tendency of the person by which he wants to prove himself powerful and strong. When the individual attains this motive he develops the feeling of superiority contrary to it, when he fails to achieve this motive he develops a feeling of inferiority. It is seen that when there is an obstruction in the child’s learning anger is produced with the development of experience this motive develops.

9) Pugnacity:- It refers to dispute or quarrel. The reason for war is this tendency. The reason for the production of their tendency is -obstruction in the fulfillment of physiological need, education & that environment from which the individual acquires this tendency. The children are brought up in the environment of jealousy, revenge, self-exhibition, quarrel and their environment give them to the training of pugnacity.

(C) PERSONAL MOTIVES:-

Are those which the person learns on the basis of his own experience.

1) Life Goal:-When even a person comes in contact with another person he decides one or another goal of his life like other people. Once the goal of his life is made, a person works in the direction of attainment of this goal.

2) Level of Aspiration:– It is related to a life goal. The wish of attaining any type of goal is called aspiration and the intensity of attaining the goal is called the level of aspiration. It gives the idea of an individual’s aim & the effort made by a person to attain the goal. Because of the high level of aspiration & lack of abilities when he fails to achieve his desired goal as a result of anxiety, maladjustment, imbalance takes place.

3) Unconscious Motives:- The propagator of psychoanalytic school. Freud gave great emphasis on unconscious motives in the description of human behavior. In the description of dreams to he lays great importance to the unconscious mind.

Other General Needs:-

  • Curiosity:-

The modern psychologist has not considered this motive as a physiological motive. Curiosity is the motive in which the person not only discovers the objective in his environment but also tries to gain knowledge from them.

White (1959) on the basis of their experiment said that children satisfy their curiosity by game. The relation of curiosity is with the efforts of attaining knowledge.

  • Altruistic want:-

This need of a person is related to those wishes by which he keeps others and shows sympathy to others. This need developed since childhood. Cultural differences are evident in this need. The individual in which this need is prominent their behavior is humanitarian.

  • Urge to escape:-

To save one’s self from dangers and the tendency to escape is found in all individuals. This natural tendency of man is especially evident when there is any probability of danger.

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