Proposes that a person will decide to behave or act in a certain way because they are motivated to select a specific behavior over other behaviors due to what they expect the result of that selected behavior will be.

Expectancy is the belief that one's effort (E) will result in attainment of desired performance (P) goals.

Instrumentality is the belief that a person will receive a reward (R) if the performance (P) expectation is met.

Valance is the value V(R) the individual places on the rewards based on their needs, goals, values and Sources of Motivation.

Motivational Force (MF) = Expectancy x Instrumentality x Valence

Description

Description

Description

Description

The 16 basic desires that motivate our actions and define our personalities as:

Acceptance, the need for approval

Curiosity, the need to learn

Eating, the need for food

Family, the need to raise children

Honor, the need to be loyal to the traditional values of one's clan/ethnic group

Idealism, the need for social justice

Independence, the need for individuality

Order, the need for organized, stable, predictable environments

Physical activity, the need for exercise

Power, the need for influence of will

Romance, the need for sex

Saving, the need to collect

Social contact, the need for friends (peer relationships)

Status, the need for social standing/importance

Tranquility, the need to be safe

Vengeance, the need to strike back/to win

Goals provide a sense of direction and purpose. Goal setting capitalize on the human brain's amazing powers: Our brains are problem-solving, goal-achieving machines.

Goals narrow attention and direct efforts to goal-relevant activities, and away from undesirable and goal-irrelevant actions.

Goals can lead to more effort; for example, if one typically produces 4 widgets an hour, and has the goal of producing 6, one may work more intensely than one would otherwise in order to reach the goal.

An individual becomes more prone to work through setbacks if pursuing a goal.