Essay Sample on Psychological Motivational Factors

Introduction

Motivation at work place represents psychological processes of reason, incentive or interest that makes a person willing to do a specific action (Maslow, 2013). Motivation at work can be of two main types, which are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Maslow, 2013). Intrinsic motivation is the internal reasons that make people do certain actions out of pleasure, desire or importance to achieve personal satisfaction. Extrinsic motivation represents the external factors that motivate a person to do or adopt certain actions (Maslow, 2013). In this case, Freda is affected by a psychological behavior known as bulimia that affects her decision to work as a model.

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Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder that is characterized by binging and purging intended to reduce weight loss (Coon & Mitterer, 2013). People suffering from bulimic nervosa always turn to food as a cure for their negative emotions making them engage in bingeing behaviors, followed by a series of purging to ensure that they do not gain weight from bingeing episodes (Coon & Mitterer, 2013). Bulimic people binge a lot of food then vomit or take a lot of laxatives to avoid weight gain. These habits can cause severe health problems such as muscle spasms, kidney damage, hair loss, menstrual irregularities, and tooth erosion among others (Coon & Mitterer, 2013). Freda is scared that when she takes the modeling career, she will be faced with criticism of her size and beauty. Freda's career choice of becoming a full time model is one of the popular jobs where a person's body and beauty is put on the spotlight. She is also shy, and she needs privacy.

Individuals suffering from this disorder are always dissatisfied with their bodies and have low self-esteem. They always have a distorted view of themselves and always fear becoming fat (Poulsen et al., 2014). People suffering bulimic nervosa also have family dynamics such as family problems, (Poulsen et al., 2014). In this case, Freda is aware of her family's inability to pay for their home, and so she feels obligated to take the job to help her family from foreclosure.

There are different theories that explain psychological factors related to motivation. Some of these theories are incentive theory that state that a reward, either tangible or intangible is given after occurrence of certain behaviors (Dweck, 2013). In this case, Freda is motivated to work through positive reinforcement where she believes she will get money in return to help her family out of misery. Another theory is Maslow's theory of the hierarchy of motives (Dweck, 2013). The first need in this hierarchy is the satisfaction of our basic needs which includes shelter, food and clothing. Another need in this hierarchy is esteem need, which requires that a person's esteem is respected and recognized (Dweck, 2013). Freda is very shy and fears that her privacy will be intruded when she decides to take on the modeling career.

The last need in the hierarchy is self-actualization (Dweck, 2013). In this case, Freda is torn between pursuing her education which she is good at and going for modeling. Another psychological factor that will affect her motivation at work is the instinct theory states that people behave in a specific way because they are evolutionarily programmed to behave so (Maslow, 2013). For instance, people are generally shy because they are evolutionarily programmed to be shy, and Freda is naturally shy, and this will affect her motivation at work as modeling is a high profile job.

Conclusion

In conclusion, for Freda to comfortably work as a model, she needs to get treatment for her eating disorder, and in particular bulimia. This can be done through drugs that relieve obsessive fears of weight gain and medical diet to restore health. Freda may also need behavioral counseling that will help her monitor her food intake, and help her change her perceptions about weight gain and beauty. She also needs to integrate with her work as a model and understand the various psychological factors that affect her motivation to work through guidance by a psychologist.

References

Coon, D., & Mitterer, J. O. (2013). Psychology: A journey. Cengage Learning.

Dweck, C. S. (2013). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development. Psychology press.

Maslow, A. H. (2013). A theory of human motivation. Simon and Schuster.

Poulsen, S., Lunn, S., Daniel, S. I., Folke, S., Mathiesen, B. B., Katznelson, H., & Fairburn, C. G. (2014). A randomized controlled trial of psychoanalytic psychotherapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy for bulimia nervosa. FOCUS, 12(4), 450-458.