How does human motivation change during human development ac

How does human motivation change during human development across the life cycle?

Development differences in motivation through the life cycle...

What is development?

“development is a series of progressive changes that individuals characteristically show as they progress in time through the human life cycle” (Goebel.B.L & Brown.D.R. ,1981)

What is motivation?

Motivation is an inner personal drive and desire that we feel, it is this that determines our goal directed behavior. The strength and direction of behavior is determined by our need to survive, our thoughts and cognition's, our emotions and the affect of external events. (Deci & Ryan, 2000)

During development children adapt and grow, cognitive functioning is a product of neurological structures maturing and interacting. The cause of adaption includes both proximal (immediate) and distal (sociohistorical) factors. Psychologists have not determined a grand theory for motivation, due to this there are many theories of motivation that focus on one specific factor. These factors include a conceptual focus on needs, theories of the self, achievement, information processing, cultural, genetic and morality determinants of motivation. Though there are common theoretical differences among all.

Theories maintain 3 common differences:

1. Nature v's Nurture

2. Active v's Passive

3. Continuous v's stage

Early Adulthood

Age range- 21-44 yrs

Behavioral influences- sexual relationships,

reproducing, career goals,social bonds and culture.

Early Adulthood

Kohlberg- Moral development well adapted veiws of the right and wrong thing to do.

Maslow- Increase in self-actualization needs from childhood to early adulthood

Vygotsky- Cultural identity, influence on motivation determined by the socially acceptable beliefs followed by ones family/heritage.

Cognitive neuroscience- Brain structure fully matured, hormonal influence on sexual, bonding and pro social motivation

Deci & Ryan- intrinsic and extrinsic motives stable in general, though a focus of career autonomy and competence. Relatedness focus on social bonds and reproducing.

Adolescent

Piaget- Imagination mastered, logic, abstract and theoretical reasoning.

Cognitive neuroscience- Hormones, prefrontal cortex not fully matured, reduced inhibitory and increased reward sensitivity,dopamine peaks, sexual activity, sensation and novelty interested behavior (Fairchild, 2011).

Maslow- Esteem needs peak in adolescence, egocentric superficial relationships.

Deci and Ryan- social status, self obsessed and low intrinsic school motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000).

Vygotsky- If not in formal schooling should be in an apprenticeship role to master the skills and abilities of their culture.

Wigfield and Eccles-social cognitive perceptions of own experience influenced by culture, self-schema, value of the task and comparison to others. Task-specific beliefs, expected difficultly and affective memories influence motivation. Decreased perceptions of ability due to competition and comparison to theirs, (Wigfeild &Eccles, 2000).

Adolescent

Age range- 11-16 yrs

During this age the processes of further cognitive development makes complex imagination possible, reasoning and problem solving almost mastered and executive functioning. Teens have elevated levels of hormones, are rewards sensitive, impulsive, self- centred and concerned with their social status .

Intrinsic, extrinsic

Middle Adulthood

Age range-45-60 years

Deci & Ryan- Relatedness, competance and autonomy, career and family influece on motivation.

Sociocultural- culturally and socially acceptable, career and family life.

cognitive neuroscience- Brain structures matured and begin to decline in effeciency and number in the later stages of this age bracket.

Late Adulthood

Baby

Age range 65-

This age group is mostly motivated by maintaining positive relationships and the loss of loved ones. Relationships with spouse (if alive),children, grand kids and life long friends.

Motivational factors also include fear of death, optimal health, and financial concerns.

Late Adulthood

Maslow- only some people achieve the highest level of needs.

Deci & Ryan- relatedness focus on positive relationships with loved ones, competence focus on ensuring all desires have been fulfilled in life.

We are born with reflexes that are pre wired responses to stimuli. They work together to enable newborns to survive and communicate. The reflexes mostly disappear through the first year of life, though some are permanent (withdrawal) and others become voluntary.

-Motivation and goal directed behavior during this age is focused on surviving, feeding and communicating especially with their mother.

-An interesting study has shown new born's to modify their sucking behavior to hear their mothers voice (Decasper & Spence, 1986).

Middle Adulthood...

Child...

Child....

Piaget- Concrete operational stage- Symbolic and logic thought, classification on multiple levels,

Maslow-Children have the lowest love needs, males evolve from the lowest love needs as adolescents to the highest male love needs in young alulthood.

Self determination theory- Deci & Ryan- self determined Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation decrease from 9-12 years then slowly stabilizes, effective autonomy support is vital component of maintaining motivation, competence influence by task orientated goals not performance.

Wigfield & Eccles-Ability beliefs over estimated generally,clear ideas of what they are good at and the value of the task.

Age range- 7-11

basic cognitive processes, memory increases, ability to perform higher order processes increase, intrinsic and self-determined extrinsic motivation decreased between 9-12yrs, abilities are still somewhat over estimated though by year 7 more realistic perception of self.

Neonate

Birth to 3 Months

Motivation is centered around survival and communication. Development has been broken in to stages by psychological Pioneer Piaget. this is the sensory motor stage, and is broken in to 6 sub stages Reflex, primary circular, secondary circular, coordination of secondary circular, tertiary circular, mental combination.

Some senses are developed in the womb, though all of the senses mature and gain proficiency after birth, most are well developed by the end of the first year.

Infant...

Age range 2- 7ys

Children become more efficient at remembering, thinking and reasoning though abstract thought is still not mastered at this age. Imagination is developed and the ability to classify a group of objects on multiple levels arises.

Development of the brain and neurological framework has slowed down some what, though neurons are still susceptible to molding.

Infant...

Stages of Cognitive Development-Piaget - pre operational stage- Stage like, active process. development is expressed in terms of perception and appearance, concentration, reversibility, egocentrism,

Information processing theories- continuous, passive process, encoding, recall, retrieval how they develop long and short term memory, brain storage capacity and processing speed an influential characteristic of development.

Learning (conditional) theories- Pavlov and Skinner are the pioneers of this framework. They view development as a continuous, nurture responsive process. Main concepts include metacognition, repetition and positive reinforcement.

Cognitive neurological theories- Physical changes and maturation of the brain during development, higher order cognitive functions are enabled by the brain structures and the neural framework adapting and changing. Studies of specific brain activations, grey and white matter and chemical involvement.

Sociocultural theories- Vygotsky- the focus of development is centered around the individual and their environment as a whole unit, and not separated. Main concepts outline cultural influence in the form of habits, skills, abilities and tools as important developmental aspects. Concept of the Zone of proximal development. Language and communication focus.

Self determination Theory-Deci & Ryan- Competence, autonomy, relatedness. Speed of processing and difficulty of action influence the competence and autonomy of behavior. Relatedness most benificial with positive connections.

Credits

Conclusion....

Development through the life cycle is inevitable, however we can become more efficient and effective in our motivational lives.

Intrinsic goals foster greater benefits on behavior, extrinsic goals and the cost of rewards exist on a fine line between helpful and harmful.

Baby's are equip with reflexes, these reflexes dissipate and voluntary behavior takes over. Many factors can affect this transition, some before birth, and others after birth.

The development of motivation within an individual is a product of both proximal and distal factors. This factors consist of neurological development,cognitive frameworks, emotions and external parameters such as environment, other peoples behavior and culture.

References...

Bitan, T., Burman, D., Lu, D., Cone, N., Gitelman, D., Mesulam, M., et al. (2006). Weaker top-down modulation from the left inferior frontal gyrus in children. Neuro Image , 33, 991-998.

Bjorklund, D., & Blasi, C. H. (2012). Child and Adolescent development. Belmont: Wadsworth

Deci.E.L, & Ryan.R.M. (2000). The "what"and "why" of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behaviour. Psychological Inquiry , 11, 227-268

Fairchild, G. (2011). The developmental psychopathology of motivation in adolescence. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience , 1, 414-429.Fifer, W. (2005). Normal and abnormal prenatal Development. The Cambridge encyclopedia of child development , 173-192.

Gillet, N., Vallerand, R., & Lafreniere, M.-A. (2012). Intrinsic and Extrinsic school motervation as a function of age: the mediating role of autonomy support. Social Psychology of Education , 15, 77-95

Gottfried, A., Marcoulides, G., Gottfried, A., & Oliver, P. (2009). A latent curve modle of parental motivational practices and developmental decline in math and science academic intrinsic motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology , 729-739.

Goebel.B.L, & Brown.D.R. (1981). Age Differences in Motivation Related to Maslow's Need Hierarchy. Developmental Psychology , 17 (6), 809-815.

Gordon, I., Martin, C., Feldman, R., & Leckman, J. (2011). Oxytocin and social Motivation. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience , 1, 471-493.

Li, S.-C. (2013). lifespan development of neuromodulation ofadaptive control and motivation as an otogenetic mechanism for developmental nieche construction. Developmental Science , 16 (2), 317-319

.Decasper, A., & Spence, M. (1986). Prenatal maternal speech influences newborns' perception of speech sounds. Infant Behaviour and Development , 133-150.

Feldman, R. (2007). Parent-infant synchromy. Current Directions in Psychological Science , 340-345.

Kohlberg, L. (1981). Essays on Moral Development, Vol. I: The Philosophy of Moral Development. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row.

Kohlberg, L., & Hersh, R. (1977). Moral development. Theory in to Practice , 16 (2), 53-59.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

Holinger, P. (2008). Further Issues in the Psychology of Affect an Motivation: a Developmental perspective. Psychoanalytic psychology , 25 (3), 425-442.

Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2001). Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the understanging snd imitation of action. Nature Reviews Neuroscience , 661-670.

Sweeny, J., Mintun, M., Kwee, S., Wiseman, M., Brown, D., Rosenberg, D., et al. (1996). Positron emission tomography study of voluntary saccadic eye movements and spacial working memory. Journal of Neurophysiology , 454-468.

Roth, T., Lubin, F., Funk, A., & Sweatt, J. (2009). Lasting epigenetic influence of early-life adversity on the BDNF gene. Biological Psychiatry , 760-769

Further reading on the development of senses...

sight- Fantz, R. (1963). Pattern vision in newborn infants. Science , 296-297.

smell-Macfarlane, A. (1975). olfaction in the development of social preferences in the humane neonate. CIBA Foundation Symposism 33: Parent-infant interaction. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Schaal, B., Marlier, L., & Soussignan, R. (2000). Human foetuses learn odours from their pregnant mothers diet. Chemical senses , 729-737.

hearing-Decasper, A., & Spence, M. (1986). Prenatal maternal speech influences newborns' perception of speech sounds. Infant Behaviour and Development , 133-150.