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Psych 101
Motivation
Motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. via wikipedia
Motivation can come from a lot of things, places, feelings, thoughts and people. Motivation can be the drive to leave a legacy behind. Motivation can be trying to live up to the expectations of others. Motivation can come from just wanting to be successful. Motivation can be trying to help others be successful. Motivation can be wanting a better life for you and your family. Motivation can be not letting others down. Motivation can be you just want to be happy. Motivation can be you wanted to go after your dreams. Motivation can be you don’t want to end up like “that guy” or “that woman”. Motivation can be you wanted to make history. Motivation can be, you just want to say, I tried and at the end of the day you did the best you could. Motivation can come from and be a lot of things.
Motivation is the force that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It is what causes us to take action, whether to grab a snack to reduce hunger or enroll in college to earn a degree. The forces that lie beneath motivation can be biological, social, emotional or cognitive in nature. Researchers have developed a number of different theories to explain motivation. Each individual theory tends to be rather limited in scope. However, by looking at the key ideas behind each theory, you can gain a better understanding of motivation as a whole. I will first address Motivation as instinct theory. According to instinct theories, people are motivated to behave in certain ways because they are evolutionarily programmed to do so. An example of this in the animal world is seasonal migration. These animals do not learn to do this; it is instead an inborn pattern of behavior. William James created a list of human instincts that included such things as attachment, play, shame, anger, fear, shyness, modesty and love. The main problem with this theory is that it did not really explain
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