motivation

Introduction
The study of motivation
- Physiological, psychological, and philosophical approaches
- Debates in motivational study
  - The nomothetic versus ideographic approach
  - Innate versus acquired processes
  - Internal needs versus external goals
  - Mechanistic versus cognitive processes
Historical overview
- Philosophers’ contributions
- Physiologists’ contributions
- Behaviourism
Biological approaches to motivation
- Genetic contributions
- Motivation as arousal
  - The James-Lange theory
  - The Cannon-Bard theory
  - The Schachter-Singer model
  - The inverted-U function
  - Sleep processes and stress reactions
- Biological monitoring systems
  - Hunger
  - Thirst
  - Sexual motivation
Behavioristic approaches to motivation
- Drive
- Learned motives
  - Classical conditioning
  - Instrumental learning
  - Observational learning
- Incentive motivation
Cognitive motivation
- Expectancy-value theory
- Attribution theory
- Cognitive dissonance
- Self-perception theory
- Self-actualization
Applications in society
Summary

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images & Videos

Marble bust of Aristotle with a beard and draped robe, showing detailed facial features and wavy hair, set against a dark background.

A close-up black-and-white image of an actress with wide, frightened eyes.

Diagram that presents Maslow's hierachy of needs in the shape of a triangle split into five levels. The bottom level is labeled physiological needs; the next level up is safety needs, and the level above that is love needs. The next level is esteem needs. At the top of the triangle is need for self-actualization.

At a Glance

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motivation summary

Sigmund Freud — Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud, 1921.

motivation

behavior

Written by

Charles N. CoferAll

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Oct. 10, 2026 •History

motivation, forces acting either on or within a person to initiate behaviour. The word is derived from the Latin term motivus (“a moving cause”), 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...

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