[My psychology professor wrote this as part of our lectures, and I thought everyone might like it!] People who are motivated by a high need for achievement set high and realistic standards for themselves for success and excellence. People achieve more when they have specific, focused goals. This is the reason you all set goals at the beginning of this course. Goals are divided into two separate categories: approach goals which seek a positive outcome; and avoidance goals which attempt to avoid an unpleasant outcome. People who focus on approach goals have greater well-being, better health, and even better sexual relationships than those who focus on avoidance goals. Mastery goals help a person develop persistence when they have slight failures and setbacks. Mastery goals are goals related to learning (when you want to master something). Performance goals have the focus on performing well for others. Performance goals often lead to giving up after failure while mastery goals lead to persistence. Self-fulfilling prophecies can be created by people's expectations of success or failure. Workers desire a sense of meaningfulness, control, variation in tasks, clear rules, feedback, and social support in the work they do. Motivation related to work depends on the circumstances. Other conditions that affect people's work motivation are the gender ratio of members in an occupation and whether the job provides opportunities for promotion and success. When a person’s goals and values are in harmony, their satisfaction and well-being increase. Having positive, intrinsically enjoyable experiences makes most people happier than having things (toys). Abraham Maslow believed that human motives could be ranked in a hierarchy of needs, from basic biological needs for survival to higher psychological needs for self-actualization. Maslow's theory has not been well supported by empirical evidence. A more recent approach suggests that people have four major psychological needs: autonomy, relatedness, competence, and self-esteem. (c) Dr. David Sperry
