One of the most easily observable psychological phenomenon is human motivation. It is that desire to move from one point in life to another, especially through various accomplishments that tend to satisfy unmet human needs. Whenever one need is satisfied, we tend to want to achieve the next, often bigger one. For instance, when individuals finish school and are job hunting, all they are looking for is to satisfy their basic needs - food, clothing and shelter. After satisfying the basics, one does not stop there. An individual who was previously keen on acquiring basic needs starts looking for greener pastures, and he or she wants to achieve more in life. People who have undergone the most difficulties in life also end up being the most successful and will do just about anything, even risking their lives to achieve these desires. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Bandura’s social cognitive theory explain what motivates behavior in individuals to achieve more in life.
The relevance of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs to this phenomenon is that people are motivated by the desire to fulfill certain needs, as the theory explains. After fulfilling one need, another desire often emerges. The first level of needs includes deficiency needs which include basic needs. The next level of needs is the psychological needs which are safety, esteem and love, and eventually growth which results in self-actualization. The longer these needs are denied, the greater the desire to fulfill these desires become. An individual can only achieve self-actualization once they have completed the lower level needs (McLeod, “Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs”).
The implications of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is that man can survive if they have access to food. When he can get enough food and food no longer becomes a problem, his needs shift and lead to psychological hunger. When these needs are achieved, he continues to desire for higher needs. These needs are, therefore, arranged in a hierarchy, and achievement of one stage often leads to the next stage (McLeod, “Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs”).
There are various instances where individuals can move to the next stage in the hierarchy of needs without having achieved the lower levels of need. For instance, in India, most people are still struggling to achieve basic needs, and yet these individuals have achieved psychological needs such as love. Most people in the society also fail to move on to the self-actualization stage and are satisfied once they have achieved basic needs and psychological needs. The self-actualization stage fails to apply to most people in the society as the society acknowledges the psychological needs to be satisfactory. Although these human needs have been proved to be universal across the globe, the stages are not always adhered to by all individuals in the society (McLeod, “Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs”).
The relevance of Bandura’s social learning theory to the phenomenon is that any behavior is acquired from the environs via various processes. The learning process occurs through stimuli and response. The observational learning theory uses role models to educate behavior. Children are more likely to imitate behavior if it matches with their individual’s needs. The consequence that results from this behavior is likely to influence the behavior of children. Influential people in a child’s life often reinforce positive behavior by encouraging it or discourage it through punishment (McLeod, “Bandura Social Learning Theory”).
For the behavior to be acquired the theory involves four processes which include attention, retention, reproduction and motivation. Behavior will only catch an individual’s attention if it has a significant influence on their individual needs, which make it worth imitating. For the behavior to be remembered, it has to be memorable even after the experience is long gone. An individual’s abilities will also determine their ability to reproduce this behavior. A behavior might be admirable, but the individual might lack the resources to enable them to imitate this behavior. An individual will be motivated to imitate behavior if its rewards override the efforts invested in the behavior (McLeod, “Bandura Social Learning Theory”).
The social learning theory accounts for behavior but fails to put feelings and thoughts into consideration. Bandura later modified the theory and named it the social cognitive theory. The theory attributes fulfillment to self-efficacy. Individuals who master self-efficacy can deal with more difficulties and conquer them. Social experiences act as a learning experience for most people in the society and they are able to achieve more. The theory fails to acknowledge the influence of biological aspects to the outcomes of behavior (McLeod, “Bandura Social Learning Theory”).
In conclusion, the social cognitive theory and Maslow’s social learning theory have a great influence on behavior. People are motivated by the desire to accomplish certain human needs of which the basic needs are essential for human survival. Psychological needs are essential, and most people are satisfied with this stage. It is only very few individuals in society who pursue growth which leads to self-actualization. According to the social cognitive theory, most individuals in the society often acquire self-efficacy skills through social experience which often leads to their success and their ability to overcome difficulties. People who go through the most difficult experiences learn from these experiences and are able to acquire life skills. Role models are therefore a crucial element to the learning process, but for their behavior to be imitated, it has to be relevant to the needs of the learner.
Works Cited
McLeod, Saul. Bandura Social Learning Theory. 2016. Web. 27 June 2016. <http://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html>.
—. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. 2014. http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html. 27 June 2016.
