Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

FIGURE 4
The major approaches to motivation.
Instinct 
People and animals 
are born with 
preprogrammed 
sets of behaviors 
essential to their 
survival. 
Drive reduction 
When some basic 
biological 
requirement is 
lacking, a drive is 
produced. 
Arousal
People seek an optimal 
level of stimulation. If the 
level of stimulation is too 
high, they act to reduce 
it; if it is too low, they act 
to increase it. 
Incentive
External stimuli 
direct and energize 
behavior. 
Cognitive
Thoughts, 
expectations, and 
understanding of 
the world direct 
motivation. 
Hierarchy of needs
Needs form a 
hierarchy; before 
higher-order needs 
are met, lower- 
order needs must 
be fulfilled.
Study Alert
Use Figure 4 to learn the 
distinctions among the 
diff erent explanations for 
motivation (instinct, drive 
reduction, arousal, incen-
tive, cognitive, and Maslow’s 
hierarchy of needs).
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316 Chapter 
10 
Motivation and Emotion
at all costs. From a cognitive perspective, we see his careful consideration of various 
strategies to extricate himself from the boulder. 
In short, applying multiple approaches to motivation in a given situation pro-
vides a broader understanding than we might obtain by employing only a single 
approach. We’ll see this again when we consider specifi c motives—such as the needs 
for food, achievement, affi liation, and power—and draw on several of the theories 
for the fullest account of what motivates our behavior.