Motivation is the activation or energization of goal-orientated behavior. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but, theoretically, it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. This article refers to human motivation. According to various theories, motivation may be rooted in the basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, or it may include specific needs such as eating and resting, or a desired object, hobby A hobby horse is a wooden or wickerwork toy made to be ridden just like a real horse . From this came the expression "to ride one's hobby-horse", meaning "to follow a favorite pastime", and in turn, hobby in the modern sense of recreation, goal A goal or objective is a projected state of affairs that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve—a personal or organizational desired end-point in some sort of assumed development. Many people endeavor to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines, state of being, ideal An ideal is a principle or value that one actively pursues as a goal. Ideals are particularly important in ethics, as the order in which one places them tends to determine the degree to which one reveals them as real and sincere. It is the application, in ethics, of a universal. It is roughly similar to the relative intrinsic values, or it may be attributed to less-apparent reasons such as altruism Altruism is selfless concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and a core aspect of various religious traditions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Sikhism, and many others. Altruism is the opposite of selfishness, selfishness In ethical philosophy, rational selfishness, or rational egoism or egotism is the principle that an action is rational if and only if it maximizes one's self-interest. The view is a normative form of egoism. However, it is different from other forms of egoism, such as ethical egoism and psychological egoism. While psychological egoism is about, morality Morality is a sense of behavioral conduct that differentiates intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good (or right) and bad (or wrong). A moral code is a system of morality (for example, according to a particular philosophy, religion, culture, etc.) and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code. Immorality is, or avoiding mortality Death is the termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. The word refers both to a particular process and to the condition that results thereby. The nature of the latter has been for millennia a central concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical enquiry. Belief in some kind of afterlife or rebirth. Conceptually, motivation should not be confused with either volition or optimism The Oxford English Dictionary defines optimism as having "hopefulness and confidence about the future or successful outcome of something; a tendency to take a favourable or hopeful view." The word is originally derived from the Latin optimum, meaning "best." Being optimistic, in the typical sense of the world, ultimately means.^[1] Motivation is related to, but distinct from, emotion Emotion is a complex psychological and physiological phenomenon involving an individual's state of mind and its interaction between that individual and their environment. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience". Emotion is associated with mood, temperament,.

Motivation concepts

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from within the individual instead of from outside.^[2] Intrinsic motivation has been studied by social Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. By this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all of the psychological variables that are measurable and educational Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations. Educational psychology is concerned with how students learn and develop, often focusing on subgroups such as gifted children and those psychologists since the early 1970s. Research has found that it is usually associated with high educational achievement and enjoyment by students. Intrinsic motivation has been explained by Fritz Heider's attribution theory Attribution theory is a social psychology theory developed by Fritz Heider, Harold Kelley, Edward E. Jones, and Lee Ross, Bandura's work on self-efficacy Self-efficacy has been defined in a variety of ways: as the belief that one is capable of performing in a certain manner to attain certain goals, as a person’s belief about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. It is a belief that one has the capabilities to,^[3] and Ryan and Deci's cognitive evaluation theory. Students are likely to be intrinsically motivated if they:

• attribute their educational results to internal factors that they can control (e.g. the amount of effort they put in),
• believe they can be effective agents in reaching desired goals (i.e. the results are not determined by luck),
• are interested in mastering a topic, rather than just rote-learning to achieve good grades.

Extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the individual. Common extrinsic motivations are rewards like money and grades, coercion Coercion is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner (whether through action or inaction) by use of threats, intimidation, trickery, or some other form of pressure or force. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way. Coercion may involve the actual infliction of physical pain/ and threat of punishment. Competition is in general extrinsic because it encourages the performer to win and beat others, not to enjoy the intrinsic rewards of the activity. A crowd cheering on the individual and trophies are also extrinsic incentives.

Social psychological research has indicated that extrinsic rewards can lead to overjustification The overjustification effect occurs when an external incentive such as money or prizes decreases a person's intrinsic motivation to perform a task. According to self-perception theory, people pay more attention to the incentive, and less attention to the enjoyment and satisfaction that they receive from performing the activity. The overall effect and a subsequent reduction in intrinsic motivation. In one study demonstrating this effect, children who expected to be (and were) rewarded with a ribbon and a gold star for drawing pictures spent less time playing with the drawing materials in subsequent observations than children who were assigned to an unexpected reward condition and to children who received no extrinsic reward.^[4]

Self-control

The self-control of motivation is increasingly understood as a subset of emotional intelligence Emotional intelligence describes the ability, capacity, skill or, in the case of the trait EI model, a self-perceived grand ability to identify, assess, manage and control the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups. Different models have been proposed for the definition of EI and disagreement exists as to how the term should be used; a person may be highly intelligent according to a more conservative definition (as measured by many intelligence tests An intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. The term "IQ", from the German Intelligenz-Quotient, was devised by the German psychologist William Stern in 1912 as a proposed method of scoring early modern children's intelligence tests such as those), yet unmotivated to dedicate this intelligence to certain tasks. Yale School of Management The Yale School of Management is the graduate business school of Yale University and is located on Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The School offers M.B.A. and Ph.D. degree programs. As of January 2010, 417 students were enrolled in its Master of Business Administration program. The School has 97 faculty members ( professor Victor Vroom Victor Vroom is a business school professor at the Yale School of Management, who was born on 9 August 1932 in Montreal, Canada. He holds a PhD from University of Michigan's "expectancy theory Expectancy theory is about the mental processes regarding choice, or choosing. It explains the processes that an individual undergoes to make choices. In organizational behavior study, expectancy theory is a motivation theory first proposed by Victor Vroom of the Yale School of Management" provides an account of when people will decide whether to exert self control to pursue a particular goal.

Drives and desires can be described as a deficiency or need that activates behavior that is aimed at a goal or an incentive. These are thought to originate within the individual and may not require external stimuli to encourage the behavior. Basic drives could be sparked by deficiencies such as hunger, which motivates a person to seek food; whereas more subtle drives might be the desire for praise and approval, which motivates a person to behave in a manner pleasing to others.

By contrast, the role of extrinsic rewards and stimuli can be seen in the example of training animals by giving them treats when they perform a trick correctly. The treat motivates the animals to perform the trick consistently, even later when the treat is removed from the process.

Motivational theories

The incentive theory of motivation

A reward In neuroscience, the reward system is a collection of brain structures which attempts to regulate and control behavior by inducing pleasurable effects, 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 In psychology and marketing, two concepts or stimuli are associated when the experience of one leads to the effects of another, due to repeated pairing. This is sometimes called Pavlovian association for Ivan Pavlov's pioneering of classical conditioning 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 Habits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously, without one being conscious about them. Habitual behavior often goes unnoticed in persons exhibiting it, because a person does not need to engage in self-analysis when undertaking routine tasks. Habituation is an extremely simple form of learning, in. Motivation comes from two sources: oneself, and other people. These two sources are called intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, respectively.

Applying proper motivational techniques can be much harder than it seems. Steven Kerr notes that when creating a reward system, it can be easy to reward A, while hoping for B, and in the process, reap harmful effects that can jeopardize your goals.^[5]

A reinforcer Reinforcement is a term in operant conditioning and behavior analysis for the delivery of a stimulus, after a response, that results in an increase in the future rate or probability of that response . The response strength is assessed by measuring frequency, duration, latency, accuracy, and/or persistence of the response after reinforcement stops 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.

Drive-reduction theories

There are a number of drive theories. The Drive Reduction Theory grows out of the concept that we have certain biological drives, such as hunger. As time passes the strength of the drive increases if it is not satisfied (in this case by eating). Upon satisfying a drive the drive's strength is reduced. The theory is based on diverse ideas from the theories of Freud Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud (6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939), was a Jewish Austrian neurologist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychiatry. Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of repression, and for creating the clinical practice of psychoanalysis for treating to the ideas of feedback Feedback describes the situation when output from an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or occurrences of the same (i.e. same defined) event / phenomenon (or the continuation / development of the original phenomenon) in the present or future. When an event is part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or control systems, such as a thermostat A thermostat is a device for regulating the temperature of a system so that the system's temperature is maintained near a desired setpoint temperature. The name is derived from the Greek words thermos "hot" and statos "a standing". The thermostat does this by switching heating or cooling devices on or off, or regulating the.

Drive theory has some intuitive or folk validity. For instance when preparing food, the drive model appears to be compatible with sensations of rising hunger as the food is prepared, and, after the food has been consumed, a decrease in subjective hunger. There are several problems, however, that leave the validity of drive reduction open for debate. The first problem is that it does not explain how secondary reinforcers reduce drive. For example, money satisfies no biological or psychological needs, but a pay check appears to reduce drive through second-order conditioning. Secondly, a drive, such as hunger, is viewed as having a "desire" to eat, making the drive a homuncular Homunculus is a term used, generally, in various fields of study to refer to any representation of a human being. Historically it referred specifically to the concept of a miniature though fully-formed human body, for example, in the studies of alchemy and preformationism. Currently, in scientific fields, a homunculus may refer to any scale model being—a feature criticized as simply moving the fundamental problem behind this "small man" and his desires.

In addition, it is clear that drive reduction theory cannot be a complete theory of behavior, or a hungry human could not prepare a meal without eating the food before he finished cooking it. The ability of drive theory to cope with all kinds of behavior, from not satisfying a drive (by adding on other traits such as restraint), or adding additional drives for "tasty" food, which combine with drives for "food" in order to explain cooking render it hard to test.

Cognitive dissonance theory

Suggested by Leon Festinger Leon Festinger (New York City, May 8, 1919 – New York City, February 11, 1989), was an American social psychologist, responsible for the development of the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, Social Comparison Theory, and the discovery of the role of propinquity in the formation of social ties as well as other contributions to the study of social, this occurs when an individual experiences some degree of discomfort resulting from an incompatibility between two cognitions. For example, a consumer may seek to reassure himself regarding a purchase, feeling, in retrospect, that another decision may have been preferable.

Another example of cognitive dissonance is when a belief and a behavior are in conflict. A person may wish to be healthy, believes smoking is bad for one's health, and yet continues to smoke.

Need theories

Need hierarchy theory

Abraham Maslow Abraham Harold Maslow was an American psychologist. He is noted for his conceptualization of a "hierarchy of human needs", and is considered the founder of humanistic psychology's theory is one of the most widely discussed theories of motivation.

The theory can be summarized as follows:

• Human beings have wants and desires which influence their behavior. Only unsatisfied needs influence behavior, satisfied needs do not.
• Since needs are many, they are arranged in order of importance, from the basic to the complex.
• The person advances to the next level of needs only after the lower level need is at least minimally satisfied.
• The further the progress up the hierarchy, the more individuality, humanness and psychological health a person will show.

The needs, listed from basic (lowest-earliest) to most complex (highest-latest) are as follows:

• Physiology Physiology is the science of the functioning of living systems. It is a subcategory of biology. In physiology, the scientific method is applied to determine how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells and biomolecules carry out the chemical or physical function that they have in a living system. The word physiology is from Ancient Greek: φύσις (hunger, thirst, sleep, etc.)
• Safety Safety is the state of being "safe" , the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be considered non-desirable. This can take the form/Security Security has to be compared to related concepts: safety, continuity, reliability. The key difference between security and reliability is that security must take into account the actions of people attempting to cause destruction/Shelter/Health At the time of the creation of the World Health Organization , in 1948, health was defined as being "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity"
• Belongingness Belongingness is the human need to be an accepted member of a group. Whether it is family, friends, co-workers, or a sports team, humans have an inherent desire to belong and be an important part of something greater than themselves. The motive to belong is the need for "strong, stable relationships with other people." This implies a/Love Love is the emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. In religious context, love is not just a virtue, but the basis for all being , and the foundation for all divine law (Golden Rule)/Friendship In a comparison of personal relationships, friendship is considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association can be thought of as spanning across the same continuum. The study of friendship is included in sociology, social psychology,
• Self-esteem Self-esteem is a term used in psychology to reflect a person's overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame. A person's self-esteem may be reflected in their behaviour, such as in assertiveness, shyness, confidence or caution. Self-esteem can apply/Recognition/Achievement
• Self actualization Self-actualization is a term that has been used in various psychology theories, often in slightly different ways . The term was originally introduced by the organismic theorist Kurt Goldstein for the motive to realize one's full potential. In his view, it is the master motive—indeed, the only real motive a person has, all others being merely

Herzberg's two-factor theory

Frederick Herzberg Frederick Irving Herzberg was a psychologist who became one of the most influential flaming homosexuals, as well as many names in business management. He is most famous for introducing job enrichment and the Motivator-Hygiene theory. His 1968 publication "One More Time, How Do You Motivate Employees?" had sold 1.2 million reprints by 1987's two-factor theory Two-factor theory was developed by Frederick Herzberg, a psychologist who found that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction acted independently of each other. Two Factor Theory states that there are certain factors in the workplace that cause job satisfaction, while a separate set of factors cause dissatisfaction, a.k.a. intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, concludes that certain factors in the workplace result in job satisfaction Job satisfaction describes how content an individual is with his or her job. The happier people are within their job, the more satisfied they are said to be. Job satisfaction is not the same as motivation, although it is clearly linked. Job design aims to enhance job satisfaction and performance, methods include job rotation, job enlargement and, but if absent, they don't lead to dissatisfaction but no satisfaction.^[6]

The factors that motivate people can change over their lifetime, but "respect for me as a person" is one of the top motivating factors at any stage of life.

He distinguished between:

• Motivators; (e.g. challenging work, recognition, responsibility) which give positive satisfaction, and
• Hygiene factors Hygiene factors are job factors that can cause dissatisfaction if missing but do not necessarily motivate employees if increased; (e.g. status, job security Job security is the probability that an individual will keep his or her job; a job with a high level of job security is such that a person with the job would have a small chance of becoming unemployed, salary A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis and fringe benefits) that do not motivate if present, but, if absent, result in demotivation.

The name Hygiene factors is used because, like hygiene, the presence will not make you healthier, but absence can cause health deterioration.

The theory is sometimes called the "Motivator-Hygiene Theory" and/or "The Dual Structure Theory."

Herzberg's theory has found application in such occupational fields as information systems and in studies of user satisfaction (see Computer user satisfaction).

Alderfer's ERG theory

Alderfer, expanding on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, created the ERG theory (existence, relatedness and growth). Physiological and safety, the lower order needs, are placed in the existence category, while love and self esteem needs are placed in the relatedness category. The growth category contains our self-actualization and self-esteem needs. Alderfer argues that there are three groups of core needs — existence, relatedness, and growth hence the label: ERG theory. The existence group is concerned with providing our basic material existence requirements. They include the items that Maslow considered to be physiological and safety needs. The second group of needs are those of relatedness- the desire we have for maintaining important interpersonal relationships. These social and status desires require interaction with others if they are to be satisfied, and they align with Maslow's social need and the external component of Maslow's esteem classification. Finally, Alderfer isolates growth needs' an intrinsic desire for personal development. These include the intrinsic component from Maslow's esteem category and the characteristics included under self-actualization.

Self-determination theory

Self-determination theory, developed by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, focuses on the importance of intrinsic motivation in driving human behavior. Like Maslow's hierarchical theory and others that built on it, SDT posits a natural tendency toward growth and development. Unlike these other theories, however, SDT does not include any sort of "autopilot" for achievement, but instead requires active encouragement from the environment. The primary factors that encourage motivation and development are autonomy, competence feedback, and relatedness.^[7]

Broad theories

The latest approach in Achievement Motivation is an integrative perspective as lined out in the "Onion-Ring-Model of Achievement Motivation" by Heinz Schuler, George C. Thornton III, Andreas Frintrup and Rose Mueller-Hanson. It is based on the premise that performance motivation results from the way broad components of personality are directed towards performance. As a result, it includes a range of dimensions that are relevant to success at work but which are not conventionally regarded as being part of performance motivation. Especially it integrates formerly separated approaches as Need for Achievement with e.g. social motives like dominance. The Achievement Motivation Inventory (AMI) (Schuler, Thornton, Frintrup & Mueller-Hanson, 2003) is based on this theory and assesses three factors (17 separated scales) relevant to vocational and professional success.

Cognitive theories

Goal-setting theory

Goal-setting theory is based on the notion that individuals sometimes have a drive to reach a clearly defined end state. Often, this end state is a reward in itself. A goal's efficiency is affected by three features: proximity, difficulty and specificity. An ideal goal should present a situation where the time between the initiation of behavior and the end state is close. This explains why some children are more motivated to learn how to ride a bike than mastering algebra. A goal should be moderate, not too hard or too easy to complete. In both cases, most people are not optimally motivated, as many want a challenge (which assumes some kind of insecurity of success). At the same time people want to feel that there is a substantial probability that they will succeed. Specificity concerns the description of the goal in their class. The goal should be objectively defined and intelligible for the individual. A classic example of a poorly specified goal is to get the highest possible grade. Most children have no idea how much effort they need to reach that goal.^[8]

Models of behavior change

Social-cognitive models of behavior change include the constructs of motivation and volition. Motivation is seen as a process that leads to the forming of behavioral intentions. Volition is seen as a process that leads from intention to actual behavior. In other words, motivation and volition refer to goal setting and goal pursuit, respectively. Both processes require self-regulatory efforts. Several self-regulatory constructs are needed to operate in orchestration to attain goals. An example of such a motivational and volitional construct is perceived self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is supposed to facilitate the forming of behavioral intentions, the development of action plans, and the initiation of action. It can support the translation of intentions into action.

Unconscious motivation

Some psychologists believe that a significant portion of human behavior is energized and directed by unconscious motives. According to Maslow, "Psychoanalysis has often demonstrated that the relationship between a conscious desire and the ultimate unconscious aim that underlies it need not be at all direct."^[9] In other words, stated motives do not always match those inferred by skilled observers. For example, it is possible that a person can be accident-prone because he has an unconscious desire to hurt himself and not because he is careless or ignorant of the safety rules.^{[citation needed]} Similarly, some overweight people are not hungry at all for food but for fighting and kissing. Eating is merely a defensive reaction to lack of attention.^{[citation needed]} Some workers damage more equipment than others do because they harbor unconscious feelings of aggression toward authority figures.^{[citation needed]}

Psychotherapists^[who?] point out that some behavior is so automatic that the reasons for it are not available in the individual's conscious mind. Compulsive cigarette smoking is an example. Sometimes maintaining self-esteem is so important and the motive for an activity is so threatening that it is simply not recognized and, in fact, may be disguised or repressed. Rationalization, or "explaining away", is one such disguise, or defense mechanism, as it is called. Another is projecting or attributing one's own faults to others. "I feel I am to blame", becomes "It is her fault; she is selfish". Repression of powerful but socially unacceptable motives may result in outward behavior that is the opposite of the repressed tendencies. An example of this would be the employee who hates his boss but overworks himself on the job to show that he holds him in high regard.^{[citation needed]}

Unconscious motives add to the hazards of interpreting human behavior and, to the extent that they are present, complicate the life of the administrator. On the other hand, knowledge that unconscious motives exist can lead to a more careful assessment of behavioral problems. Although few contemporary psychologists deny the existence of unconscious factors, many^[who?] do believe that these are activated only in times of anxiety and stress, and that in the ordinary course of events, human behavior—from the subject's point of view—is rationally purposeful.

Intrinsic motivation and the 16 basic desires theory

Starting from studies involving more than 6,000 people, Professor Steven Reiss has proposed a theory that find 16 basic desires that guide nearly all human behavior.^[10][11][12] The desires are:

In this model, people differ in these basic desires. These basic desires represent intrinsic desires that directly motivate a person's behavior, and not aimed at indirectly satisfying other desires. People may also be motivated by non-basic desires, but in this case this does not relate to deep motivation, or only as a means to achieve other basic desires.

Other theories

• Reversal theory
• Motivating operation

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.

Employee motivation

Workers in any organization need something to keep them working. Most times the salary of the employee is enough to keep him or her working for an organization. However, sometimes just working for salary is not enough for employees to stay at an organization. An employee must be motivated to work for a company or organization. If no motivation is present in an employee, then that employee’s quality of work or all work in general will deteriorate.

Keeping an employee working at full potential is the ultimate goal of employee motivation. There are many methods to help keep employees motivated. Some traditional ways of motivating workers are placing them in competition with each other.^{[citation needed]}

When motivating an audience, you can use general motivational strategies or specific motivational appeals. General motivational strategies include soft sell versus hard sell and personality type. Soft sell strategies have logical appeals, emotional appeals, advice and praise. Hard sell strategies have barter, outnumbering, pressure and rank. Also, you can consider basing your strategy on your audience personality. Specific motivational appeals focus on provable facts, feelings, right and wrong, audience rewards and audience threats.^[13]

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.^{[citation needed]}

Applications

Education

Motivation is of particular interest to educational psychologists because of the crucial role it plays in student learning. However, the specific kind of motivation that is studied in the specialized setting of education differs qualitatively from the more general forms of motivation studied by psychologists in other fields.

Motivation in education can have several effects on how students learn and how they behave towards subject matter.^[14] It can:

1. Direct behavior toward particular goals
2. Lead to increased effort and energy
3. Increase initiation of, and persistence in, activities
4. Enhance cognitive processing
5. Determine what consequences are reinforcing
6. Lead to improved performance.

Because students are not always internally motivated, they sometimes need situated motivation, which is found in environmental conditions that the teacher creates.

There are two kinds of motivation:^{[citation needed]}

• Intrinsic motivation occurs when people are internally motivated to do something because it either brings them pleasure, they think it is important, or they feel that what they are learning is significant.
• Extrinsic motivation comes into play when a student is compelled to do something or act a certain way because of factors external to him or her (like money or good grades).

Note also that there is already questioning and expansion about this dichotomy on motivation, e.g., Self-Determination Theory.

Motivation has been found to be a pivotal area in treating Autism Spectrum Disorders, as in Pivotal Response Therapy.

Motivation is also an important element in the concept of Andragogy (what motivates the adult learner).

Sudbury Model schools' approach to motivation

Sudbury Model schools adduce that the cure to the problem of procrastination, of learning in general, and particularly of scientific illiteracy is to remove once and for all what they call the underlying disease: compulsion in schools. They contend that human nature in a free society recoils from every attempt to force it into a mold; that the more requirements we pile onto children at school, the surer we are to drive them away from the material we are trying to force down their throats; that after all the drive and motivation of infants to master the world around them is legendary. They assert that schools must keep that drive alive by doing what some of them do: nurturing it on the freedom it needs to thrive.^[15]

Sudbury Model schools do not perform and do not offer evaluations, assessments, transcripts, or recommendations, asserting that they do not rate people, and that school is not a judge; comparing students to each other, or to some standard that has been set is for them a violation of the student's right to privacy and to self-determination. Students decide for themselves how to measure their progress as self-starting learners as a process of self-evaluation: real life-long learning and the proper educational evaluation for the 21st century, they adduce.^[16] According to Sudbury Model schools, this policy does not cause harm to their students as they move on to life outside the school. However, they admit it makes the process more difficult, but that such hardship is part of the students learning to make their own way, set their own standards and meet their own goals. The no-grading and no-rating policy helps to create an atmosphere free of competition among students or battles for adult approval, and encourages a positive cooperative environment amongst the student body.^[17]

Business

At lower levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, such as physiological needs, money is a motivator, however it tends to have a motivating effect on staff that lasts only for a short period (in accordance with Herzberg's two-factor model of motivation). At higher levels of the hierarchy, praise, respect, recognition, empowerment and a sense of belonging are far more powerful motivators than money, as both Abraham Maslow's theory of motivation and Douglas McGregor's theory X and theory Y (pertaining to the theory of leadership) demonstrate.

Maslow has money at the lowest level of the hierarchy and shows other needs are better motivators to staff. McGregor places money in his Theory X category and feels it is a poor motivator. Praise and recognition are placed in the Theory Y category and are considered stronger motivators than money.

• Motivated employees always look for better ways to do a job.
• Motivated employees are more quality oriented.
• Motivated workers are more productive.

The average workplace is about midway between the extremes of high threat and high opportunity. Motivation by threat is a dead-end strategy, and naturally staff are more attracted to the opportunity side of the motivation curve than the threat side. Motivation is a powerful tool in the work environment that can lead to employees working at their most efficient levels of production.^[18]

Nonetheless, Steinmetz also discusses three common character types of subordinates: ascendant, indifferent, and ambivalent whom all react and interact uniquely, and must be treated, managed, and motivated accordingly. An effective leader must understand how to manage all characters, and more importantly the manager must utilize avenues that allow room for employees to work, grow, and find answers independently.^[19]

The assumptions of Maslow and Herzberg were challenged by a classic study^[20] at Vauxhall Motors' UK manufacturing plant. This introduced the concept of orientation to work and distinguished three main orientations: instrumental (where work is a means to an end), bureaucratic (where work is a source of status, security and immediate reward) and solidaristic (which prioritises group loyalty).

Other theories which expanded and extended those of Maslow and Herzberg included Kurt Lewin's Force Field Theory, Edwin Locke's Goal Theory and Victor Vroom's Expectancy theory. These tend to stress cultural differences and the fact that individuals tend to be motivated by different factors at different times.^[21]

According to the system of scientific management developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor, a worker's motivation is solely determined by pay, and therefore management need not consider psychological or social aspects of work. In essence, scientific management bases human motivation wholly on extrinsic rewards and discards the idea of intrinsic rewards.

In contrast, David McClelland believed that workers could not be motivated by the mere need for money—in fact, extrinsic motivation (e.g., money) could extinguish intrinsic motivation such as achievement motivation, though money could be used as an indicator of success for various motives, e.g., keeping score. In keeping with this view, his consulting firm, McBer & Company, had as its first motto "To make everyone productive, happy, and free." For McClelland, satisfaction lay in aligning a person's life with their fundamental motivations.

Elton Mayo found out that the social contacts a worker has at the workplace are very important and that boredom and repetitiveness of tasks lead to reduced motivation. Mayo believed that workers could be motivated by acknowledging their social needs and making them feel important. As a result, employees were given freedom to make decisions on the job and greater attention was paid to informal work groups. Mayo named the model the Hawthorne effect. His model has been judged as placing undue reliance on social contacts at work situations for motivating employees.^[22]

In Essentials of Organizational Behavior, Robbins and Judge examine recognition programs as motivators, and identify five principles that contribute to the success of an employee incentive program:^[23]

• Recognition of employees' individual differences, and clear identification of behavior deemed worthy of recognition
• Allowing employees to participate
• Linking rewards to performance
• Rewarding of nominators
• Visibility of the recognition process

Online communities

Motivation to participate and contribute represents one of the most important element in the success of online communities (and virtual communities). See more at: Online participation

See also

References

1. ^ Seligman, Martin E.P. (1990), Learned Optimism, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., p. 101, ISBN 0-394-57915-1
2. ^ http://giftedkids.about.com/od/glossary/g/intrinsic.htm
3. ^ Bandura, A. (1997) (), Self-efficacy: The exercise of control, New York: Freeman, p. 604, ISBN 9780716726265, http://books.google.com/?id=mXoYHAAACAAJ
4. ^ Lepper, M.R., Greene, D. & Nisbett, R.E. (1973) Undermining children's intrinsic interest with extrinsic rewards: A test of the overjustification hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28(1), pp. 129-137.
5. ^ Kerr, Steven (1995) On the folly of rewarding A, while hoping for B. http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~wstarbuc/mob/kerrab.html
6. ^ Knghts and Willmott 2007, organizational behaviour and management
7. ^ Deci, Edward L.; Ryan, Richard M. (1985), Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior, New York: Plenum, ISBN 0-30-642022-8
8. ^ Locke and Latham (2002)
9. ^ Maslow, Motivation and Personality, p. 66.
10. ^ Reiss, Steven (2000), Who am I: The 16 basic desires that motivate our actions and define our personalities, New York: Tarcher/Putnam, p. 288, ISBN 1-58542-045-X, http://books.google.com/?id=EbOjA5oAsEUC
11. ^ Reiss, Steven (2004), "Multifaceted nature of intrinsic motivation: The theory of 16 basic desires", Review of General Psychology 8 (3): 179–193, doi:10.1037/1089-2680.8.3.179, http://nisonger.osu.edu/papers/Multifaceted%20nature%20of%20intrinsic%20motivation.pdf
12. ^ Intrinsic motivation doesn't exist, researcher says": An article summarizing the view of Steven Reiss
13. ^ Thomas, Jane. Guide to Managerial Persuasion and Influence. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004. Print.
14. ^ Ormrod, 2003
15. ^ Greenberg D. (1992) Freedom Nurtures Culture and Learning, Education in America: A View From Sudbury Valley.
16. ^ Greenberg, D. (2000). 21st Century Schools, edited transcript of a talk delivered at the April 2000 International Conference on Learning in the 21st Century.
17. ^ Greenberg, D. (1987). Chapter 20, Evaluation, Free at Last — The Sudbury Valley School.
18. ^ Steinmetz, L. (1983) Nice Guys Finish Last: Management Myths and Reality. Boulder, Colorado: Horizon Publications Inc.
19. ^ Steinmetz, L.L. (1983) Nice Guys Finish Last: Management Myths and Reality. Boulder, Colorado: Horizon Publications Inc. (pp. 43–44)
20. ^ Goldthorpe, J.H., Lockwood, D., Bechhofer, F. and Platt, J. (1968) The Affluent Worker: Attitudes and Behaviour Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
21. ^ Weightman, J. (2008) The Employee Motivation Audit: Cambridge Strategy Publications
22. ^ Human Resources Management, HT Graham and R Bennett M+E Handbooks(1993) ISBN 0-7121-0844-0
23. ^ Robbins, Stephen P.; Judge, Timothy A. (2007), Essentials of Organizational Behavior (9 ed.), Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, http://wps.prenhall.com/bp_robbins_eob_9/64/16396/4197506.cw/index.html

Further reading

• Baumeister, R.F.; Vohs, K.D. (2004), Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory, and applications, New York: Guilford Press, p. 574, ISBN 1572309911, http://books.google.com/?id=7CeE67IrVDUC&dq
• Carver, C.S.; Scheier, M.F. (2001), On the self-regulation of behavior, New York: Cambridge University Press, p. 460, ISBN 0521000998, http://books.google.com/?id=U9xi8wlfWccC&printsec
• Cervone, D.; Shadel, W.G.; Smith, Ronald E.; Fiori, Marina (2006), "Self-Regulation: Reminders and Suggestions from Personality Science", Applied Psychology: an International Review 55 (3): 333–385, doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.2006.00261.x, http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118628287/abstract
• Cofer, Charles N; Appley, Mortimer H (1967), Motivation: Theory and Research, New York, London, Sydney: John Wiley & Sons
• Fishbein, M.; Ajzen, I. (1975), Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley
• Gollwitzer, P.M. (1999), "Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans", American Psychologist 54: 493–503, doi:10.1037/0003-066X.54.7.493, http://www.ub.uni-konstanz.de/kops/volltexte/2008/5559/
• Jones, Ishmael (2008), The Human Factor: Inside the CIA's Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture (New York: Encounter Books), ISBN 978-1594033827
• Murphy, Jim (2009), Inner Excellence, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 978-0-07-163504-2

Categories: Human behavior | Experimental psychology | Cognition | Motivation

See Also:

What Links Here:

Recently Viewed Pages:

• Meaning of Life: Encyclopedia
• Home
• SPQR
• People: Blogs
• Death
• Spqr
• Body
• Computers: Internet: On the Web: Message Boards: Directory
• Expatriates
• Blogs

Most Popular Pages:

• Home
• John Locke: Encyclopedia
• Cutest Baby Picture: News
• French Alphabets: Answers
• Stabbing: News
• Society: People: Pen Pals: Prisoners and Inmates: Directory
• Truvia: Answers
• Meaning of Life: Encyclopedia
• Search Terms
• SPQR

Related 'Motivation' Searches: