- Key People:
- Kenneth Wartinbee Spence
- Neal E. Miller
motivation
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What is motivation?
Motivation refers to the forces that act on or within a person to initiate behavior. Psychologists study these forces to explain changes in an individual's behavior, inferring motivation from behavioral changes in response to stimuli.
Motives are categorized as primary (unlearned, like hunger) or secondary (learned, like achievement), and as "pushes" (internal triggers) or "pulls" (external goals); most situations involve both. Motivation is a performance variable, with changes often being temporary.
The study of motivation occurs at physiological, psychological, and philosophical levels. In society, motivational methods are used to achieve goals, though ethical concerns exist regarding control and manipulation.
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What is behavior?
Behavior, studied in behavioral science, encompasses human actions and seeks to understand behavior in society. Motivation plays a key role, with behavioristic approaches exploring how motives are learned and how internal drives and external goals combine with learning to produce behavior. Determinism suggests every behavior has an antecedent cause, often attributed to motivation rather than randomness. Social behavior, influenced by both cooperation and competition, enhances an individualās ability to gather resources and form alliances for survival and reproduction.
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How are motivation and behavior connected?
Motivation and behavior are connected because motivation is the force that initiates behavior, derived from the Latin term "motivus," meaning "a moving cause". Psychologists analyze motivation to understand changes in behavior in response to internal or external stimuli.
Motives can be categorized as primary (unlearned, like hunger) or secondary (learned, like achievement). They can also be classified as "pushes" (internal changes triggering motive states) or "pulls" (external goals influencing behavior). Motivation, whether innate or acquired, activates reaction tendencies, energizes responses, and sustains behavior over time. It combines with learning to generate a response, influencing behavior through internal drives and external goals.
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What are different types of motivation that influence behavior?
Motivation, derived from the Latin "motivus," refers to the forces that initiate behavior within a person. Psychologists categorize these forces into primary (unlearned, basic) and secondary (learned, differing between individuals) motives. Primary motives include hunger, thirst, and avoidance of pain, while secondary motives include achievement and power.
Motives can also be classified as "pushes," which are internal changes triggering motive states, and "pulls," which are external goals influencing behavior. Many situations involve a combination of both. Behaviorists examine how motives are learned and interact with internal drives and external goals to produce behavior, with concepts such as drive, learned motives, and incentives being prominent. Incentive motivation concerns how goals influence behavior, with the stimulus characteristics of the goal producing motivating properties.
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Can you give examples of how motivation affects behavior in daily life?
Motivation, derived from the Latin "motivus," refers to the forces that initiate behavior within a person. It significantly influences daily actions. For example, if you're motivated to improve your health (a secondary motive), you might exercise regularly and choose nutritious foods.
According to expectancy-value theory, your behavior is a function of your expectations and the value you place on a goal. If you believe that studying diligently (effort) will lead to a good grade (success), and you value academic achievement, you will be motivated to study. Conversely, if you don't believe your effort will pay off, or you don't value the outcome, your motivation will be lower.
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How can someone improve their motivation to change their behavior?
To boost your motivation for behavior change, use motivational methods, such as incentives, to help shape behavior. Setting clear goals and having a plan will help you track your progress. Understand that motivation can be temporary, and external goals influence behavior.
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motivation, forces acting either on or within a person to initiate behaviour. The word is derived from the Latin term motivus (āa moving causeā), which suggests the activating properties of the processes involved in psychological motivation.
Psychologists study motivational forces to help explain observed changes in behaviour that occur in an individual. Thus, for example, the observation that a person is increasingly likely to open the refrigerator door to look for food as the number of hours since the last meal increases can be understood by invoking the concept of motivation. As the above example suggests, motivation is not typically measured directly but rather inferred as the result of behavioral changes in reaction to internal or external stimuli. It is also important to understand that motivation is primarily a performance variable. That is, the effects of changes in motivation are often temporary. An individual, highly motivated to perform a particular task because of a motivational change, may later show little interest for that task as a result of further change in motivation.
Motives are often categorized into primary, or basic, motives, which are unlearned and common to both animals and humans; and secondary, or learned, motives, which can differ from animal to animal and person to person. Primary motives are thought to include hunger, thirst, sex, avoidance of pain, and perhaps aggression and fear. Secondary motives typically studied in humans include achievement, power motivation, and numerous other specialized motives.
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Motives have also sometimes been classified into āpushesā and āpulls.ā Push motives concern internal changes that have the effect of triggering specific motive states. Pull motives represent external goals that influence oneās behaviour toward them. Most motivational situations are in reality a combination of push and pull conditions. For example, hunger, in part, may be signaled by internal changes in blood glucose or fat stores, but motivation to eat is also heavily influenced by what foods are available. Some foods are more desirable than others and exert an influence on our behaviour toward them. Behaviour is, thus, often a complex blend of internal pushes and external pulls.
The study of motivation
Physiological, psychological, and philosophical approaches
Motivation has been studied in a variety of ways. For instance, it has been analyzed at the physiological level using electrical and chemical stimulation of the brain, the recording of electrical brain-wave activity with the electroencephalograph, and lesion techniques, where a portion of the brain (usually of a laboratory animal) is destroyed and subsequent changes in motivation are noted. Physiological studies performed primarily on animals other than humans have demonstrated the importance of certain brain structures in the control of basic motives such as hunger, thirst, sex, aggression, and fear.
Motivation may also be analyzed at the individual psychological level. Such analyses attempt to understand why people act in particular ways and seek to draw general conclusions from individual cases. Through studies of individuals, for example, it has been found that both men and women proceed through a series of identifiable stages of arousal during behaviours leading to and culminating in sexual intercourse. The finding may be applied to people in general.
Motivation of an individual is also influenced by the presence of other people. Social psychologists have been active in discovering how the presence of others in a given situation influences motivation. For example, students and teachers behave in predictable ways in the classroom. Those behaviours are often quite different, however, from the way students and teachers behave outside the classroom. Studies of conformity, obedience, and helping behaviours (which benefit others without reward) are three areas in this field that have received considerable attention.
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Finally, motivation is sometimes also approached from a more philosophical direction. That is, analyses of motivation are understood, at least in part, by examining the particular philosophical point of view espoused by the theorist. For example, some motivational theorists conceive motivation to be an aversive state: one to be avoided. Sigmund Freudās view of motivational processes could be applied within this framework; his contention that blocked sexual energy could be displaced into acceptable behaviours implies that accumulation of sexual energy (motivation) is aversive. Other theorists see motivation as a much more positive experience. That is, motivation can produce behaviours that lead to increases in future motivation. The American psychologist Abraham H. Maslowās concept of self-actualization could be applied within this framework (see below Self-actualization).