Motivational Theories in Training

Training programs within companies are very important, and can be very costly if not done correctly. Many training programs implement one of four motivational theories stated in Muchinsky’s text. These theories include expectancy theory, goal-setting theory, self-regulation theory, and work design theory (Muchinsky, 2012). These four theories each have their own advantages and disadvantages, which makes using them depend on the situation and environment that the training is occurring. None of these theories are better than the other but when used appropriately, they can have a great positive impact on an organization’s training program.

Expectancy theory is a theory of motivation based on the perceived relationship between how much effort a person puts forth, and the performance that is based off of the effort (Muchinsky, 2012). In Applying expectancy theory to residency training: Proposing opportunities to understand resident motivation and enhance residency training, researchers attempt to connect expectancy theory to medical residency. Many residents are putting forth great amounts of effort during this time of their training, and their efforts are reflected in the knowledge and skills they gain (Shweiki, 2015).

            Current medical programs for residents are lacking in motivation recently because the program for residents has not changed much (Shweiki, 2015). Since there was a lack of innovation within the programs, many researchers were curious as to what made medical residents so determined to stay focused within this intense training period. The training program for medical residents is extremely taxing mentally and physically, so keeping motivation is key to finishing the program.

            The study showed that expectancy theory was extremely applicable to the residents (Shweiki, 2015). Seeing that the residents were motivated by expectancy theory can help innovate new program ideas to help residents keep their motivation high, and help them learn more while in their program.

            Goal-setting theory is another motivational theory that can help to motivate individuals. Goal-setting theory is when an individual sets a goal for themselves, and exerts the necessary amount of effort to obtain the goal (Muchinsky, 2012). There are many positives of using goal setting theory, as it can make tasks that people are not keen on accomplishing more tolerable when there is a goal they want to obtain in sight that requires these tasks to be done. There are a few ways to implement goal-setting theory.

            There was a study done in 2013 where researchers wanted to know if a person’s passion could influence the goals they set for themselves, and if it could have a negative impact on their ability to obtain those goals. If a person felt their knowledge was above average, they felt competent and would set higher goals for themselves (Thorgren, 2013). If they felt as though they were not competent enough with the materials needed to obtain the goal set, they would not make a goal that challenged them, and choose to make a goal that would not be intimidating and easier to obtain.

            Their research seems to point to the idea that not just the passion for a specific subject can push a person to strive for higher goals, but the risk and fear of failure will make a person feel less secure in their knowledge, causing them to not strive as much as they possibly can. From this research, it seems that goal-setting theory can have major drawbacks if the person setting the goal is not comfortable with the confines they are setting it within, but can be extremely beneficial if set within a parameter that the person feels very comfortable with.

            One case of using goal-setting theory where it can be extremely helpful would be in an academic setting. A study done in 2014 was done to examine the motivation behind academic achievement. A new idea behind the motivation of academic achievement is goal-setting theory (Dishon-Berkovits, 2014). Since this research is of a newer idea, there has not been a lot of repeated studies done on it, but the initial findings seemed very promising.

The study used college students that were enrolled into an introductory course. There were two groups of students within this experiment: those with assigned performance goals, and those with assigned learning goals. The student’s internal achievement goals were measured as well as their academic performance. The study found that more academic success came from assigned learning goals as opposed to the assigned achievement goals (Dishon-Berkovits, 2014).  This study can help teachers assign their coursework in a way that will encourage students to learn more, as well as be more enthusiastic about learning.

Another frequently used motivation technique is self-regulation theory. Self-regulation is more of an umbrella term for many different theories that all branch from the same idea (Muchinsky, 2012). The main idea behind this motivational theory is that the person keeps themselves in line with a goal they would like to achieve, and accurate feedback enhances the likelihood of the goal becoming achieved (Muchinksy, 2012). Using self-regulation can be useful for people who are very self-driven.

A recent study done is 2012 used self-regulation as a method of determining whether or not environmental factors were present in either helping or undermining the upkeep of a healthy lifestyle (Booker, 2012). The researcher’s believed that using self-regulation, people would be able to maintain a healthy lifestyle regardless of the external factors present.

The researchers had concluded that self-regulation was a useful method for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, but found their sample to be slightly skewed. The researchers had used groups that were made up of a good amount of young adults. These young adults did not fare well using the self-regulation method because the negative environmental factors were too great to overcome (Booker, 2012). More research would need to be done in this case to see if young adults have a more difficult time dealing with the environment and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, or if the sample was merely not diverse enough to get an accurate reading.

Another study was done in recent years about how adults used a self-regulation method for motivation while obtaining online degrees. Jaeger (2013) is interested in seeing what motivates students in an online setting to push forward with obtaining their degree. The researchers found that with obtaining an online degree, many students used self-regulation as their method of motivation because they felt they needed to further their education to better themselves (Jaeger, 2013).

Jaeger did find that the study should be reproduced since it was one of the first research projects to delve into the motivation behind obtaining an online degree. Many of the students were well regulated enough to make the findings valid within their case (Jaeger, 2013). Looking at both research articles, it seems that self-regulation theory depends on the personality type of the person using it as well as the environmental factors that are at play.

The last main method of motivation is work design theory. Work design theory is based off the idea that a job and the environment of the work place can have a big impact on the effort exerted by an employee (Muchinsky, 2012). If the work environment is not properly stimulating, it is likely that the employee will not be productive. Finding the right environment type can depend on the type of job it is, as well as the employee that is in the job position.

In Getting what the occupation gives: Exploring multilevel links between work design and occupational values, the researchers aimed to discover the link between work motivation and work design (Dierdorff, 2013). These researchers decided to describe the ways that occupations are linked to work design, and how work design affects these occupations. They had a sample of 805 people from 230 different occupations and they found that many of these individual’s achievements, performance, were related to work characteristics (Dierforff, 2013). They also found that many of these work characteristics were key to job satisfaction.

            The last article up for discussion, Giving time, time after time: Work design and sustained employee participation in corporate volunteering, discusses giving employees something besides their job to help make them feel fulfilled (Grant, 2012). This article integrates work design theory as well as volunteer theories in order to explain how employees who may feel their jobs are not fulfilling their needs for tasks, knowledge, and social interactions may seek to fulfill them in volunteer positions. People will repeatedly join volunteering positions to continually fulfill their needs that are not being met at their current jobs. When the employees feel fulfilled by the volunteer positions, they may seek employment elsewhere. This article explains that current jobs need to ensure that they are challenging enough to their employees, or that they offer some sort of corporate volunteering to help fulfill employee’s needs.

             Each motivational theory has its strengths and weaknesses, which makes choosing one theory to be the best overall near impossible. There is no theory that is better than the rest as many are situational and can also be combined for different effects. All in all, motivational theories that are being put into place need to be carefully picked for the specific environment as well as the people that need motivation. If the environment and people are not carefully analyzed to find the best fit or combination of theories, then they will not be effective. If chosen correctly, motivational theories within training programs could help keep businesses cost effective and more employee friendly.

References

Booker, L., & Mullan, B. (2012). Using the temporal self-regulation theory to examine the

            influence of environmental cues on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. British Journal of

            Health Psychology Br J Health Psychol, 745-762.

Dierdorff, E., & Morgeson, F. (2013). Getting What the Occupation Gives: Exploring Multilevel

            Links Between Work Design and Occupational Values. Personnel Psychology, 687-721.

Dishon-Berkovits, M. (2014). A study of motivational influences on academic

            achievement. Social Psychology of Education Soc Psychol Educ, 327-342.

Grant, A. (2012). Giving Time, Time After Time: Work Design and Sustained Employee

            Participation in Corporate Volunteering. Academy of Management Review, 589-615.

Hsu, D., Shinnar, R., & Powell, B. (2014). Expectancy theory and entrepreneurial motivation: A

            longitudinal examination of the role of entrepreneurship education. Journal of Business

            and Entrepreneurship, 26(1), 121-140.

Jaeger, M., & Adair, D. (2013). The influence of students’ interest, ability and personal situation

            on students’ perception of a problem-based learning environment. European Journal of

            Engineering Education, 84-96. Shweiki, E., Beekley, A., Jenoff, J., Koenig, G., Kaulback, K., Lindenbaum, G. Martin, N.

            (2015). Applying Expectancy Theory to residency training: Proposing opportunities to

            understand resident motivation and enhance residency training. AMEP Advances in

            Medical Education and Practice, 6, 339-346.

Muchinsky, P. (2012). Psychology applied to work: An introduction to industrial and

            organizational psychology (10th ed.). Summerfield, NC: Hypergraphic Press.

Thorgren, S. Wincent, J. (2013). Passion and challenging goals: Drawbacks of rushing into goal-

            setting processes. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(11), 2318-2329.

Neuron Worksheet

Part I: In the text boxes provided, identify the structures of a basic neuron.

Box 1- Soma

Box 2- Dendrites

Box 3- Axon Hillock

Box 4- Nucleus

Box 5- Axon

Box 6- Node of Ranvier

Box 7- Myelin Sheath

Box 8- Terminal Buttons

 Part II: In the space provided, explain the process a neuron undergoes when going from a resting potential to an action potential to the release of its neurotransmitters.

When a neuron is inactive or the neuron is unstimulated with an electric charge of around negative 70 millivolts this is called the resting potential of the neuron (Carlson, 2013). Potential is the term that is used when the neuron is resting and has a negative charge or the term can be used in action potential where the neuron has a positive charge. At a resting potential the neuron will have a charge that is similar to what is outside the neuron and the ions that are present try to remain balanced on both sides of the neuron’s membrane (Carlson, 2013). This can be a difficult thing for the neuron to manage as some ions like chloride and sodium have a hard time passing into the membrane while others like potassium are able to free and easily pass through the cell. When the neuron is at rest there is more sodium outside it then inside it and more potassium on the inside than there is on the outside. When the neuron becomes activated or stimulated the neuron charges in order to reach the neural threshold which causes the neuron to fire, or the membrane of the neuron changes permeability (Carlson, 2013). The neuron is then able to change the electric charge from negative to positive running along the entire membrane. Carlson (2013), states that the stimulation must reach the neuron’s neural threshold or the neuron is unable to fire. At this time the channels open allowing sodium ions to freely flood into the neuron depolarizing the neuron and creating the needed action potential, an electrical impulse which will run down the length of an axon until it reaches a synapse. This is the point between two neurons where data is exchanged among them. Carlson (2013), states that the action potential causes a transfer of data or information from the axon of one neuron to the other neuron’s dendrites through the use of neurotransmitter chemicals. The dendrites of the neurons do not physically touch but rather have a small space in which to pass chemical messages back and forth from. The action potential of the neuro causes the neurotransmitters to release across this small space and bond or link with molecules at receptor sites on the opposite neuron. The bonding that happens causes the next neuron to change its potential from resting making the membrane permeable and allowing the flow of ions to take place ether decreasing or increasing the probability that the neural impulse will occur (Carlson, 2013). This marks the cycle of the change from resting to action potential in the next neuron while the first one begins to return to resting again.

Reference:

Carlson, N. R. (2013). Physiology of behavior. (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Biological Psychology Worksheet

1. What are the core assumptions of the biopsychological approach?

One major assumption is mental events in an individual cause biological consequences and biological events cause a mental consequence in turn.  Biological psychology’s, also known as behavioral neuroscience, approach is using science and biology principles, and applying these to studying mental processes of individuals. The main focus resides on all human behavior having a biological cause. This branch of psychology studies how mental processes either effect or get affected by bodily mechanisms and a person’s behavior. This assumption describes a complex link between a psychological and biological approach to the behavior of people which is believed to be linked together according to biopsychology.

2. What historical disciplines converge to create biological psychology?

The roots of biological psychology have a few historical disciplines which have converged to create the overall approach. Biological psychology seeks to support and address the relationship which is a vital one between the mind as well as the body through integral pathways in the brain. The history of the approach is rooted in physiology as well as philosophy and gains information from disciplines like neuroscience which helped lead to biological psychology’s creation. The creation of this approach is rooted in the works of scientists, philosophers, early psychologists, and physiologists.  

3. What are some of the earliest examples of a biological approach to studying behavior?

A major part of psychology’s history is the biological psychology approach which can trace the roots back to the same point of start as the entire field of psychology. An early example of biopsychology is from Plato who believed that a person’s brain was responsible for behavior and the person’s ability to reason.

4. What are some examples of modern careers that have resulted from studying biological psychology?  Include an overview of the careers.

There have been a variety of modern careers created such as neuroscientists and pharmacists which both came about from the development of this approach. Neuroscientists examine a person’s brain development, the person’s sensations and memories, and other concepts relating to the person’s mind. Neuroscientist work with other doctors and scientists as well as spend a lot of time researching different topics.For a pharmacist, they specialize in chemicals in a person’s brain and how to balance the chemicals, which is generally done through the use of medicine that counteracts behaviors that are associated with unbalanced chemicals.  

5. How is biological psychology viewed by other professionals in psychology today?

This field of psychology is much like any other approach in psychology.  Professionals will be mixed on the reviews for it with some agreeing that there are some aspects of the approach that are good and some that disagree with some of the aspects of the approach. In a lot of cases the approach is useful and can be combined often with other approaches to create a more comprehensive approach.  Some professionals may challenge the approaches assumptions or some aspects of the approach, such as the belief that biological affects a person’s mental processes.  There are however many benefits which have come from the approach like the understanding of functioning in the brain which makes it hard for the professionals to deny.

Carlson, N. R. (2013). Physiology of Behavior (11th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc..