What is a

motivational theory
Motivation is the study of why people think despite 2.________ difficulty, while others
and 1.________ as they do. In the context of give up at the slightest provocation, or why
academic achievement, motivational concerns some students set such 3._____________ high
would be addressed if we were to ask, for goals for themselves that failure is bound to
example, why some students complete tasks occur.

Motivational psychologists would want to examine what the individual is

doing, or the choice of behavior; how long it takes before an individual initiates the
activity, or the latency of behavior; how hard the person actually works at the
activity, or the 4.___________ of behavior; how long the individual is willing to
remain at the activity, or the 5._________ of behavior; and what the individual is
thinking and feeling while engaged in the activity, or the cognition and emotional
reactions accompanying the behavior.

There have been a few major 6._______ in the scientific study of motivation, which had its origin
around 1930.

The Mechanistic Period: 1930-1960. The major 7.__________ concerns of the day were activity
level, appetites and aversions, homeostasis, chemical controls and neural structures,
incentives, defense mechanisms, and degrees of motivation. These topics were primarily
associated with drive theory. The experimental study of motivation was linked with the search
for the motors of behavior and was associated with 8.__________concepts such as instinct,
drive, arousal, need, and energization.

The arrival of Cognition: 1960-1970. In 1969, four theoretical 9._________ dominated

motivation: associationistic theory (John Watson), drive theory (Hull and Spence), cognitive
theory (Kurt Lewin and John Atkinson), and psychoanalytic theory (Sigmund Freud). The
specific research areas analyzed in the 1960s included exploratory behavior, affiliation, balance
(dissonance), frustration, and aggression. Furthermore, motivation was related to the other
process areas of learning, perception, and 10.___________.

Contemporary Motivation Research: 1970-1990. The topics researched include attribution

theory, achievement motivation, anxiety, and, to a much lesser extent, level of aspiration,
affiliation, biochemical correlates of motivation, and reinforcement.