PSYC 2230 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Redback Spider, Parental Investment, Stamen

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2230
• Professor: Frank Marchese

Document Summary

Motivation & the role of evolution in motivation. The concept of motivation: motivation is the concept we use when we describe the forces acting on or within an organism to initiate and direct behaviour. Intense behaviors are considered to be the result of higher levels of motivation: a highly motivated behaviour will often be persistent even though the intensity of the behaviour may be low. The measurement of motivation: as scientists, we almost never measure motivation directly, we manipulate some stimulus condition and then measure some behaviour in the form of a response. The study of motivation: categories of analysis: nomothetic vs. idiographic, nomothetic approach involves the development of general universal laws. Research of this type studies groups of people or animals and determines how they are similar. By examining those properties that make each person unique. The idiographic approach is most clearly seen in the humanist and actualization theorists.