Motivation And Extrinsic Motivation

1388 Words3 Pages

The author believes that goals and desires require an individual to be motivated to move from one state of being to the next. This motivation encompasses the emotional, cognitive, social, and biological drives that trigger behavior (Maslow, 1943). Accordingly, the word motivation befalls the frequently used description of why an individual achieves a goal, and the term motivation originates from the Latin root movere, which means “to move.” Therefore, motivation stands as the state that “moves” an individual to act in a particular way. For instance, when one is lying on the beach on a warm summer day and begins to feel hot, the physical need to cool down might cause one to stand up, go to the water for a dip. If the heat remains too over-bearing, …show more content…

Sometimes people remain driven to do something because of external reward, or the by the avoidance of an objectionable consequence, as when one obeys the permitted speed limit to avoid a costly speeding ticket. When the motivation directs a conclusion that is outside of the self, it is considered an extrinsic motivation. In extrinsic motivation, a person performs an action because it leads to an outcome that is separate from the person (Ryan & Deci, 2000). For instance, giving a student money for every A grade, proffering a bonus to a salesman for the most contracts signed, or tipping a stylist for a good haircut. The student, salesman, and hairdresser remain motivated to labor for the external rewards. On the other hand, intrinsic motivation is the form of motivation in which an individual implements an action because the deed itself is enjoyable, satisfying, interesting, or rewarding in some internal …show more content…

The author trusts that all humans have some level of motivation as long as they exist. In turn, there are several well-known classic approaches that consider motivation such as instinct, drive reduction, arousal, incentive, and humanistic approaches. It is beyond the scope of this paper to describe all in detail, but a brief synopsis of each follows: (1) Instinct approach theorists suggest that humans have many diverse instincts that are biologically determined and cause innate patterns of behaviors such as reproducing, territorial protection, curiosity, acquisition, and fight, flight or freeze to name a few (McDougall, 1908). (2) Drive-reduction theory proposes that individuals have needs that are essential for survival and this need cause a tension to act called a drive. These drives entail primary drives for physical needs such as water and food, and acquired drives realized through conditioning or experience such as the need for income or social acceptance; whereas, one must meet the need to reduce the drive to return to a state of homeostasis (Hull, 1943). (3) Theorists who support an Arousal approach believe that humans are motivated by stimulation and people develop an optimal level of stimulus tension; whereas, task performances may suffer if the level is too high such as severe test anxiety or even too low such as boredom

Open Document