Overview: Conceptualizing and Measuring
Motivation and the Role of Evolution in
Motivation
[Note: After each question, the correct answer, the textbook page from which it comes,
and the question type is provided.]
1. Motivation can best be viewed as:
a. an on and off mechanism
b. a constant flow of behavior that can be directed in only one way
c. a constant flow of behavior that can be directed in many different ways
d. a state where one is either motivated or not motivated
[c 3 factual]
2. The concept of motivation is used to describe forces acting on or within an organism
that influence which of the following aspects of behavior?
a. initiation and direction
b. growth and maturation
c. speed and duration
d. verbal only
[a 4 factual]
3. A student studies hard to earn a slice of pizza. In this situation, studying might be
considered a _____ variable.
a. determination
b. persistence
c. performance
d. stimulus
[c 5 conceptual]
4. According to the stimulus-response analysis, motivation
a. can be measured directly
b. can be seen as an intervening variable
c. can be studied only in laboratory rats
d. can not be studied in humans
[b 5 factual]
TB01 - 1
,5. Which of the following is NOT a reason that motivation is difficult to study?
a. its presence must often be inferred rather than observed directly
b. it is often an intervening variable
c. it is a performance variable and therefore temporary in nature
d. it can usually be determined through a survey
[d 5 conceptual]
6. According to the authors of the text, two main characteristics of motivation are:
a. activation and inactivation
b. activation and direction
c. performance and intervention
d. persistence and performance
[b 6-7 factual]
7. Prof Psyche is studying motivation by examining how individuals make choices. This
approach involves which characteristic of motivation?
a. deprivation
b. direction
c. needs
d. activation
[b 7 conceptual]
8. Activation involves all of the following EXCEPT:
a. production of behavior
b. persistence of behavior
c. vigor of behavior
d. directionality of behavior
[d 7 factual]
9. A preference test can be a good indicator of:
a. directionality
b. vigor
c. activation
d. intervention
[a 7 factual]
10. A friend who persistently tries to find a date for the dance is displaying the _____
component of motivation.
a. vigor
b. nomothetic
c. activation
d. homeostasis
[c 7 conceptual]
TB01 - 2
, 11. Going to a movie theater and selecting a romantic comedy indicates which
component of motivation?
a. direction
b. activation
c. persistence
d. vigor
[a 7 conceptual]
12. Preference may be considered an index of motivation because it shows:
a. activation of behavior
b. persistence of behavior
c. differences between several choices of behaviors
d. that persistence and activation are linked
[c 7 conceptual]
13. The nomothetic approach to the study of motivation involves the development of:
a. general or universal laws
b. ideas about individual differences
c. ideas about how learning causes behavior
d. ideas about how behavior is influenced by genetic factors
[a 7-8 factual]
14. Categories of analysis used in the study of motivation include all of the following
EXCEPT:
a. nomothetic vs. idiographic
b. innate vs. acquired
c. internal vs. external
d. instinct vs. attribution
[d 8 factual]
15. Theorists who emphasized instincts in the past, or who advocate ethology today are
most likely to use which approach to the study of motivation?
a. cognitive
b. mechanistic
c. innate
d. acquired
[c 8 factual]
16. Needs are generally viewed as _____ sources of motivation, while goals emphasize
_____ sources of motivation.
a. internal; external
b. external; internal
c. mechanistic; cognitive
d. problematic; innate
[a 8 conceptual]
TB01 - 3
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