Psychology: Understanding Psychology: Student Web Activity: Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Motivation and Emotion

"4 3-Legged Racers"

Introduction
Imagine you are at your annual family reunion and everyone has spent hours eating and visiting. Now it is time to start some games! As family team captain, it's your responsibility to inspire your team to win the three-legged race. Your father, who is super competitive, should not need any encouragement, but your 3-year-old baby brother is tired and cranky. It's your thirteen-year-old step-sister's first time at the reunion, and she's afraid she'll be embarrassed. What can you do to motivate your team members to secure a win for the family? Luckily, you remember the discussion about motivation in your psychology class and the information you found at the Motivation Web site.

Destination Title: Motivation
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Directions

Start at the Motivation Web site.
Browse through the site, taking notes as you go.

Read through the information, and then answer the following questions.

1. Describe the differences between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

2. Give examples of the different aspects of biological needs.

3. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, at which level is each team member (in the example above [introduction]) responding?

4. Using information about motivations, predict the behavior of each team member if the team loses the race.

5. On a separate sheet of paper, make a chart with three columns and label the columns "motivating factor" and "intrinsic/extrinsic" and "action." For each person, including yourself, describe the factor that best describes the motivation of each team member, whether the motivation is intrinsic or extrinsic, and what action you could introduce to secure a win for the family.