The Four Theories Of The Sociocultural Theory Of Motivation

Motivation is the driving force behind anything a person does; it is what drives a person to perform any task or action no matter how multifaceted or minuscule. There are many thoughts on where motivation stems from. In the field of psychology, there are four main theories thought to be the basis of motivation: biological, that motivation is based on physical and mental needs, cognitive, that motivation is a direct product of individual processing and interpretation, sociocultural, that motivation is based on social interactions, and behavioral, that motivation is based on reinforcement.

The fist theory of motivation is biological. Biological motivation focuses on fulfilling one’s biological needs as a source of motivation such as: hunger,

77, 2012) and relies on the idea that motivation and development stem from social interactions and experiences. Although Vygotsky is referred to often in regards to shaping sociocultural theories, he based many of his ideas off the French philosopher Fredrick Engles to “understand how history and society impacted how humans developed and learn” (Hickey, para. 4, 2009), who believed understanding stemmed from social context (Hickey, 2009). This particular theory answered questions as to why external factors such as racism and poverty would affect motivation. Sociocultural theories of motivation

Behavioral motivation puts emphasis on the idea that a person is motivated to make a decision or perform a task based on the reinforcement received at the end. Essentially, motivation is categorized into two types: intrinsic (internal) and extrinsic (external) motivation (Sincero, 2012). Intrinsic motivation comes for a place of a person’s internal enjoyment of pleasure of completing a goal or task and does not entail any external rewards; for example, a person goes to the gym because they enjoy the way their body feels after a run, not because they lose weight. Conversely, extrinsic motivation involves a person receiving some kind of external reinforcement for task completion. In relation to the gym example, a person goes to the gym because they receive the reward of better health and weight loss. Also, “bigger salary, more job benefits, and high grade are rewards that lead to extrinsic motivation” and “crowds cheering a person and competition are abstract sources of extrinsic motivation (Sincero, para. 4, 2012). As well, negative reinforcement, such as getting fired, failing a class, or getting punished are also sources of extrinsic motivation. The average person is more motivated to complete a task when there is a higher chance of a reward waiting for them upon