Motivation
http://www.analytictech.com/mb021/motivation.htm
"According to Maslow, lower needs take priority. They must be fulfilled before the others are activated...But the poor tend to be more religious than the rich. Both within a given culture, and across nations. So the theory makes the wrong prediction here."
- Can attest to that. Plus the fact that approval from people are not high priority, turns that order of needs topsy-turvy.
For some, the focus is self-actualization first and everything else flows from there and comes together in due course, In fact, more effectively so.
Eg. If one knows self well, it would be the approval of selected family, friends, community that matter to that person and not all and sundry - ie. the person does not live for the approval of others; does not feel the need to "belong" to everyone; is resourceful enough to find a "safe" place to work (subjective), job security and to ensure physiological needs are met (or if not, then adapted to).
Re: the Cognitive Evaluation theory - Err, well, intrinsically motivated people appreciate the extrinsic motivation too :0) ... ie. disagree with "The belief is that the presence of powerful extrinsic motivators can actually reduce a person's intrinsic motivation, particularly if the extrinsic motivators are perceived by the person to be controlled by people"
- Hmmm..but then again, maybe the last part is true...and that's perhaps why some indirect hints are counter-productive. This carrot dangling may be perceived as a "threat" and while it works for many people, it does not work for all.
RTB said "The relgious are desperate especially the poor."
- Good point but not only the poor. People who come to the end of themselves, when they reach the limit of their own abilities and find (or believe) themselves still shortchanged.
And another thing, there are many wealthy religious people, and that would probably be thanks to their parents' upbringing, but somewhere up along the family tree, there must have been someone who was either poor or had come to the end of themselves.
This is also why the next generation is more detached from the former, unless they are very close. Still nothing like experience as the best teacher of all.
The relgious are desperate especially the poor.
If you are left in absolute poverty while other countries exploit you for cheap labour you either don't believe or god is testing you....
Oh no not Maslow again. Thought I left him behind in college :P
the common interpretation of 'someone being religious' and 'someone trying to attain self actualisation' is different..
going to church on a regular basis or bowing down five times a day doesnt mean the person is religious in the true sense. it may be religion for him but if this ritual is not with a sense of spirituality, its just another day-to-day activity...
so, just making a statement that poor tend to be more religious than the rich doesnt make much of a sense to me.
i think the pyramid of life is still valid..