Human Motivation (with InfoTrac) [Hardcover]

Robert E. Franken (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0534555306 | ISBN-13: 978-0534555306 | Edition: 5

This book provides a thorough introduction to the basic facts and major theories of human motivation. Throughout the book, the author addresses the types of questions that often arise, such as "Why are some people more organized than others?" and "Why do people dream?" In his exploration of day-to-day human motivation, Franken provides a topical organization that shows students how biology, learning, and cognition interact with individual differences to produce human behavior.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Robert E. Franken is a professor Emeritus at the University of Calgary, with a research focus on better understanding curiosity and exploratory behavior. He is currently living part of the year in Vancouver, British Columbia and part of the year in the Rocky Mountains. Much of his research addresses understanding sensation seekers who are motivated by the need to experience varied, novel, and complex sensations and are willing to take risks in order to experience such.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing; 5 edition (October 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0534555306
• ISBN-13: 978-0534555306
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #663,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FRANKEN: HUMAN MOTIVATION, FIFTH EDITION, May 22, 2009

By 

Stephen E. Buggie "Tropical Steve" (Gallup NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Human Motivation (with InfoTrac) (Hardcover)

I teach an upper division college course with this textbook; the course is, "Psychology of Motivation." I continue to use the 2002 Fifth Edition, because the newer Sixth Edition is 98% identical to the Fifth. First, the fact that this book has reached six editions shows that it is highly successful; it is the most popularly chosen text for motivation courses. EMOTION is a large topic in the book, with five chapters. Students have responded positively to the book. As is true with other upper division textbooks in psychology, the book has a "plain appearance," lacking color printing, and other features that are common with lower division textbooks. There is no study guide, and no review questions at the ends of chapters. Some topics overlap with other psychology courses: these topics are sleep, drug addiction, sexuality. One of the most interesting specialized topics is the sensation-seeking personality --- people who love sports that are "dangerous to life and limb." Physiological topics are also covered ---- most interesting of which is the role of the brain's amygdala in negative motives and emotions ---- the amygdala is the brain's seat of prejudicial beliefs. Prof. Stephen Buggie, Univ. of New Mexico, Gallup NM 87301

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Infotrac deal is actually worth it, May 20, 2007

By 

Dedra R. Wolff "Geeky Mom" (Maryland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Human Motivation (with InfoTrac 1-Semester Printed Access Card) (Hardcover)

Hard to evaluate a textbook, but this one I have an opinion about. The text itself is pretty standard fare, but the online features really drive the concepts home. I am in a CD-ROM/Distance Learning Course and find that the extra "browsing" really suites my learning style and doesn't feel like hard work. I enjoy the supplemental reading and it is really helping me with sources for my midterm. At first, I balked at the price, but now I am really thankful for the online section.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Strict Evolutionary standpoint, November 16, 2011

By 

Brooke Bilicke - See all my reviews

This review is from: Human Motivation (with InfoTrac) (Hardcover)

Franken is completely sold on the theory of evolution and tries to connect all motivation theories back to evolution. He is extremely one sided. This is not fair to students. We should be given texts that show all view points, not just one. The only positive about this book is that Franken reviews motivation theories by dissecting them into biological, learned and cognitive theories. But again, he keeps dragging the theory of evolution into each motivation theory as if it is fact - evolution is just a theory and it should not be used as the foundation of all psychological theories. I would have appreciated his book more if he had just reviewed the motivation concepts by themselves and not tried to connect them all to the theory of evolution. As a student, I feel cheated.