Main content
MCAT
Course: MCAT > Unit 11
Lesson 4: Motivation and attitudes- Motivations and attitudes questions
- Motivation article
- Physiological concept of positive and negative feedback
- Instincts, Arousal, Needs, Drives: Drive-Reduction and Cognitive Theories
- Maslow's hierarchy of needs
- Incentive theory
- Biological and Sociocultural Factors Food, Sex, and Drugs
- Components of attitudes
- Attitude influences behavior
- Behavior influences attitude
- Cognitive dissonance
- Situational approach
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Incentive theory
Created by Shreena Desai.
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- Could you more accurately distinguish between the Drive Reduction theory vs. Incentive?(14 votes)
- Drive reduction theory focuses on internal factors in motivation; it posits that people are motivated to take action in order to lessen the state of arousal caused by a physiological need. This theory is best applied to innate biological drives that are critical for immediate survival.
Incentive theory on the other hand, states that people are motivated by external rewards. For example, a person who is motivated to do to work everyday because he/she enjoys receiving a fat paycheck, an external incentive.(44 votes)
- if incentives drive all actions then how could anyone be altruistic?(2 votes)
- tricky question. Did you ever see that episode of Friends where they prove that no good deed is truly selfless, because you will feel good about your actions, and feel happy knowing that you made someone else happy? haha i feel like the answer is in there somewhere.(18 votes)
- Would it be accurate to say that Incentive theory is based on positive reinforcement and drive reduction theory is based on negative reinforcement?(3 votes)
- Negative reinforcement occurs when you take away a "bad" stimulus to increase a certain behavioural response. This in turn, causes a reinforcement of said response. The way I see it is this:
If you look at the example in the video for the drive reduction theory, then the problem is thirst, which you take away by doing lunges. In other words, you can reduce thirst (remove a negative stimulus) by doing lunges, which reinforces the exercise. So, IMO drive reduction theory is associated with negative reinforcement.(2 votes)
- Is there a way to set continuous play? I like to watch the videos while I workout and it's not easy to keep tapping the buttons to get to the next videos?(3 votes)
- A bit late, but yes, now they have added an autoplay function(1 vote)
- Literally every other resource says that incentives can be either positive or negative, which conflicts with the information in this video. Unfortunately it seems that a lot of these videos on the P/S section are inaccurate(2 votes)
- What does "removal of a punishment is NOT given to encourage a certain behavioral response". (at minute) This means a negative reinforcement which is to encourage a behavioral response? Please clarify! 2:20(2 votes)
- Which of the five schools of thought discussed in the "Instincts, Arousal, Needs, Drives: Drive-Reduction and Cognitive Theories" video does this theory fall in?(1 vote)
- The closest school of thought that I associate the incentive theory with is the drive reduction theory. However, the drive reduction theory appears to focus on physiological/internal needs, while the incentive theory is more related to external factors, which leads me to believe they are different.(1 vote)
- What does the incentive theory say about once the incentive or opportunity for getting the reward is removed?(1 vote)
- She said that negative reinforcement is something taken away to encourage a response (). Punishment, negative or positive, is always going to discourage a behavior. 2:18(1 vote)
- Based on my readings of Incentive Theory,this theory says that motivation is both the pursuing of rewards (as stated in the video) and avoiding punishments (not much focused on here).
While an incentive to work hard may be to receive a promotion, another incentive may be to not get fired. Regardless, both incentives influence the motivation to work hard.
Is this understood correctly?
*(My understanding of Drive-Reduction Theory is that motivated to based on a desire to reduce your internal drives, which would be a source of internal/external uncomfortable states)(1 vote)
Video transcript
Voiceover: In this video, I'm going
to talk about the Incentive Theory. And hopefully, clarify a few points that
may be confusing. So the Incentive Theory states, that a
reward, tangible or intangible, is presented after the
occurrence of an action. With the intention of causing the behavior
to occur again, and this is done by associating a positive
meaning to the behavior. Now remember, that's the key point. Positive meaning to the behavior. For example, the incentive for performing
well at work is getting a promotion. Or an added benefit as a reward or maybe even something intangible like job
satisfaction and pride of accomplishment. The incentive for an NFL player or even a
team to practice hard and win games during the season is winning the Super Bowl and
being recognized as champions in the end. An incentive for getting good grades and
being a well-rounded high school student is getting a
scholarship reward to college. So studies have shown if the reward is
given immediately, then the effect of behavior
occurring again is greater. These rewards have to be obtainable in
order to be motivating, so they can't be impossible to reach or that person isn't gonna feel motivated to perform that
behavior again. If someone feels like the reward is
impossible to get, then they're going to be less motivated to
strive for it. The Incentive Theory focuses on positive
reinforcement, remember I said, the key is positive meaning to the
behavior. So it focuses on positive reinforcement as
opposed to negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is given after a
response, and it's to increase the future frequency or magnitude of the
behavioral response. And this is only done through continuous
positive stimulation. So the person has to be continually
motivated or positively stimulated in order to see that behavior
occurring over and over. The removal of a punishment is not the given to encourage a certain
behavioral response; this would be called negative
reinforcement, and it's not what Incentive Theory is focused
on. Incentive theory's focused on conditioning
an incentive to make a person happier, not the other way around like in
the Drive Reduction theory. Skinner, the most distinguished
psychologist of the Incentive Theory, said that a person will more
likely do an action that is positively received,
while he will more likely avoid an action that is
negatively received. This theory views the stimulus as something that attracts a person towards
it, rather than something that prompts a
person to reduce it or totally eradicate it. As children, we were continuously given
incentives from our parents, as a way to learn right from wrong and strive
higher in whatever task was at hand. So there you have it. That's the Incentive Theory in a nutshell. And hopefully, I was able to clarify a few points that may be confused with the Drive
Reduction theory.