Motivation

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Motivation is a word used to refer to the reason or reasons for engaging in a particular behavior, especially human behavior as studied in psychology and neuropsychology. These reasons may include basic needs such as food or a desired object, goal, state of being, or ideal. The motivation for a behavior may also be attributed to less-apparent reasons such as altruism or morality. According to Geen, motivation refers to the initiation, direction, intensity and persistence of human behavior.

Etymology

Motive is the root word of motivation.

History of the concept

Philosophers have addressed the issue of motivation in order to explain why people think or act, feel or behave in the ways they do. Jeremy Bentham, for example argued that people are primarily hedonistically in An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation:

“Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain, and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do” (Bentham 1789).

Main article: Philosophy of motivation

Types of motivation

The different types of motivation can be discussed with relation to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs which is a theory that Abraham Maslow proposed in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation, which he subsequently extended. His theory contends that as humans meet 'basic needs' and overcome deprivation, they seek to satisfy successively 'higher needs' that occupy a set hierarchy.

[[Image:Maslow's hierarchy of needs.png|thumb|right|400px|This diagram shows Maslow's hierarchy of needs, represented as a pyramid with the more primitive needs at the bottom

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often depicted as a pyramid consisting of five levels: the four lower levels are grouped together as deficiency needs associated with physiological needs, while the top level is termed growth needs associated with psychological needs. While deficiency needs must be met, growth needs are continually shaping behaviour. The basic concept is that the higher needs in this hierarchy only come into focus once all the needs that are lower down in the pyramid are mainly or entirely satisfied. Growth forces create upward movement in the hierarchy, whereas regressive forces push prepotent needs further down the hierarchy.

Physiological motivation

Basic physiological needs for food drink sleep and activity etc have to be met on a regular basis:

• Exploratory behavior
• Hunger as motivation
• Sex drive
• Thirst as motivation
• Tiredness as motivation

Cognitive motivation

• Achievement motivation
• Aspirations

Social motivation

• Affiliation motivation

Motivational concepts

Reward and reinforcement

A reward, tangible or intangible, is presented after the occurrence of an action (i.e. behavior) with the intent to cause the behavior to occur again. This is done by associating positive meaning to the behavior. Studies show that if the person receives the reward immediately, the effect would be greater, and decreases as duration lengthens. Repetitive action-reward combination can cause the action to become habit.

Rewards can also be organized as extrinsic or intrinsic. Extrinsic rewards are external to the person; for example, praise or money. Intrinsic rewards are internal to the person; for example, satisfaction or accomplishment.

Some authors distinguish between two forms of intrinsic motivation: one based on enjoyment, the other on obligation. In this context, obligation refers to motivation based on what an individual thinks ought to be done. For instance, a feeling of responsibility for a mission may lead to helping others beyond what is easily observable, rewarded, or fun.

A reinforcer is different from reward, in that reinforcement is intended to create a measured increase in the rate of a desirable behavior following the addition of something to the environment.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation is when people engage in an activity, without obvious external incentives, such as a hobby.

Extrinsic motivation is when people engage in an activity for external rewards and monetary incentives

Punishment, coercion and negative reinforcement

The most obvious form of motivation is coercion, where the avoidance of pain or other negative consequences has an immediate effect. Extreme use of coercion is considered slavery. While coercion is considered morally reprehensible in many philosophies, it is widely practiced on prisoners, students in mandatory schooling, within the nuclear family unit (on children), and in the form of conscription. Critics of modern capitalism charge that without social safety networks, wage slavery is inevitable. However, many capitalists such as Ayn Rand have been very vocal against coercion^{[How to reference and link to summary or text]}. Successful coercion sometimes can take priority over other types of motivation. Self-coercion is rarely substantially negative (typically only negative in the sense that it avoids a positive, such as forgoing an expensive dinner or a period of relaxation), however it is interesting in that it illustrates how lower levels of motivation may be sometimes tweaked to satisfy higher ones.

Theories of motivation

Because motivation is a core concern of psychology most of the main theoretical approaches to the subject have developed their own theories of motivation.

Main article: Theories of motivation

Factors affecting motivated performance

A number of factors can modify the effects of motivation:

• Aptitude
• Commitment
• Delay of gratification
• Enthusiasm
• Fear of success
• Intention
• [[Motivation training
• Persistence
• Preference
• Procrastination
• Satiation
• Temptation

Controlling motivation

The control of motivation is only understood to a limited extent. There are many different approaches of motivation training, but many of these are considered pseudoscientific by critics. To understand how to control motivation it is first necessary to understand why many people lack motivation.

Early programming

Modern imaging has provided solid empirical support for the psychological theory that emotional programming is largely defined in childhood. Harold Chugani, Medical Director of the PET Clinic at the Children's Hospital of Michigan and professor of pediatrics, neurology and radiology at Wayne State University School of Medicine, has found that children's brains are much more capable of consuming new information (linked to emotions) than those of adults. Brain activity in cortical regions is about twice as high in children as in adults from the third to the ninth year of life. After that period, it declines constantly to the low levels of adulthood. Brain volume, on the other hand, is already at about 95% of adult levels in the ninth year of life.

Main article: developmental aspects of motivation

Psychoneurology of motivation

Main article: Psychoneurology of motivation

Organization

Besides the very direct approaches to motivation, beginning in early life, there are solutions which are more abstract but perhaps nevertheless more practical for self-motivation. Virtually every motivation guidebook includes at least one chapter about the proper organization of one's tasks and goals. It is usually suggested that it is critical to maintain a list of tasks, with a distinction between those which are completed and those which are not, thereby moving some of the required motivation for their completion from the tasks themselves into a "meta-task", namely the processing of the tasks in the task list, which can become a routine. The viewing of the list of completed tasks may also be considered motivating, as it can create a satisfying sense of accomplishment.

Most electronic to-do lists have this basic functionality, although the distinction between completed and non-completed tasks is not always clear (completed tasks are sometimes simply deleted, instead of kept in a separate list).

Other forms of information organization may also be motivational, such as the use of mind maps to organize one's ideas, and thereby "train" the neural network that is the human brain to focus on the given task. Simpler forms of idea notation such as simple bullet-point style lists may also be sufficient, or even more useful to less visually oriented persons.

Main article: Planned behavior

Drugs

Some authors, especially in the transhumanist movement, have suggested the use of "smart drugs", also known as nootropics, as "motivation-enhancers". The effects of many of these drugs on the brain are emphatically not well understood, and their legal status often makes open experimentation difficult.

Converging neurobiological evidence also supports the idea that addictive drugs such as cocaine, nicotine, alcohol, and heroin act on brain systems underlying motivation for natural rewards, such as the mesolimbic dopamine system. Normally, these brain systems serve to guide us toward fitness-enhancing rewards (food, water, sex, etc.), but they can be co-opted by repeated use of drugs of abuse, causing addicts to excessively pursue drug rewards. Therefore, drugs can hijack brain systems underlying other motivations, causing the almost singular pursuit of drugs characteristic of addiction.

Main article: Effect of drugs on motivation

Motivation in applied psychology settings

Main article: Motivation in clinical psychology

Main article: Motivation in educational psychology

Main article: Motivation in organizational psychology

Motivation in animals

Main article: Animal motivation

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See also

• Behavior
• Equity theory
• Goal setting
• Goal
• Incentives
• Instinctive behavior
• Instrumentality
• Successories
• Social cycle theory
• Operant conditioning
• Flow (psychology)
• Motivation crowding theory
• Organismic theory

Key texts

Papers

• Bentham, J., (1789). An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation.

• Deci, E. L. & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum.

• Ormond, J. E. (2003). Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, Fourth Edition. Merrill Prentice Hall.

• Spevak, P. A. & Karinch. (2000). Empowering Underachievers, First Edition. New Horizon Press.

Additional material

Papers

• Bernard, L. C., Mills, M. E., Swenson, L., & Walsh, R. P. (2006). An evolutionary theory of human motivation. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 131, 129-184. Full text

• Geary, D. C. (2005). The motivation to control and the origin of mind: Exploring the life-mind joint point in the tree of knowledge. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61, 21-46. Full text