Motivation: Why Do We Do What We Do? 95
(a) is behavior in which individuals unnecessarily place themselves in
physical jeopardy.
(b) What drive urges us to make motor movements even when our biological drives are
satisfied?
Answers: (a) Risk-taking behavior; (b) The activity drive.
A third general drive to be identified is the affectional drive,the need for
the kind of emotional nurturance that helps to sustain a sense of well-being and
an optimistic attitude toward life. The research psychologist Harry Harlow, a for-
mer president of the American Psychological Association, deprived a group of
rhesus monkeys of their biological mothers. He raised the monkeys in social iso-
lation. He discovered that, deprived of mother love, many of the monkeys dis-
played behavior somewhat similar to infantile autism,a pathological condition
characterized by a lack of interest in others, self-destructiveness, and a preoccupa-
tion with rigid, self-oriented behavior.
The psychoanalyst Erik Erikson, an important personality theorist, theorized
that the first stage of psychosocial development is trust versus mistrust(see
chapter 13). If an infant develops a sense of trust during the first two years of life,
this positive foundation will have a beneficial impact on future personality devel-
opment. If an infant develops a sense of mistrust during the first two years of life,
this negative foundation will have an adverse impact on future personality devel-
opment. A major factor in the development of a sense of trust is the meeting of
an infant’s need for affection.
(a) What drive is characterized by the need for the kind of emotional nurturance that helps
to sustain a sense of well being?
(b) What pathological condition is characterized by a lack of interest in others, self-
destructiveness, and a preoccupation with rigid, self-oriented behavior?
(c) According to Erik Erikson, what is the first stage of psychosocial development?
Answers: (a) The affectional drive; (b) Infantile autism; (c) Trust versus mistrust.
Acquired Motives: Exploring the Need to Achieve
Acquired motivesare motives in which learning plays a large role. This does not
mean that acquired motives do not have underpinnings in biological and general
drives. However, these drives have been modified by experience, and express
themselves in ways that are unique to the individual. One way to look at acquired
motives is to think of them as somewhat stable, persistent behavioral tendencies.
Quite a bit is known about a person if one is familiar with the pattern of that per-
