Motivation ( Souders, 2021)

Motivation is an internal process. Whether we define it as a drive or a need, motivation is a

condition inside us that desires a change, either in the self or the environment. When we tap into
this well of energy, motivation endows the person with the drive and direction needed to engage
with the environment in an adaptive, open-ended, and problem-solving sort of way (Reeve, 2015).

The essence of motivation is energized and persistent goal-directed behavior. When we are
motivated, we move and take action.

Motivation is influenced by the satisfaction of needs that are either necessary for sustaining life or
essential for wellbeing and growth. Physiological needs for food, water, and sex (yes sex) serve the
organism to maintain life and also provide satisfaction from doing so.

Psychological needs for autonomy, mastery, and belonging direct our behavior in much the same
way. As do the needs for achievement, power, closure, meaning, and self-esteem. Some of these
needs will become motives as will all the intrinsic activities we engage in.

Our environment and social context will play a significant role in terms of extrinsic motivation. We
will also be motivated by goals, values, and desires to experience specific emotions associated with
certain end-states (Reeve, 2015).

The best way to explain motivation is to show what it looks like in everyday life. Here is an example of possible
motivational reasons a person could have to engage in exercise.

Type of
Reasons to Exercise Real-Life Examples
Motivation

Intrinsic Children run, jump, and chase simply for the sheer fun of
Fun, enjoyment
motivation it.

Performers get “in the zone” when their pursuits optimally

Personal challenge Flow
challenge their skills.

External
Forced to do so Athletes exercise because their coach tells them to do so.
regulation

Accomplish a goal Goal Runners strive to run a mile in six minutes or less.

Health benefits Value Patients exercise to lose weight or to strengthen the heart.

People watch others exercise and become inspired to do

Inspiration Possible self
the same.

Pursuit of a
Achievement Snow skiers race to the bottom of the mountain, trying to
standard of
strivings beat their previous best time.
excellence

Satisfaction from a As exercisers make progress, they feel more competent,

Competence
job well done more effective.
 Opponent Vigorous jogging can produce a runner’s high, a euphoric
An emotional kick
process rebound to the pain.

Being in nature can induce a good mood such that people

Good mood Positive affect exercise spontaneously, skipping along without even
knowing why.

People exercise because they think that is what they

Alleviate guilt Introjection should or ought to do to please others or to relieve their
sense of guilt.

Relieve stress and After a stressful day, people go to the gym, which they see
Personal control
anxiety as a structured and controllable environment.

Spend time with Exercise is often a social event, a time to enjoy hanging
Relatedness
friends out with friends.

Motivation, when seen in the real world, and when measured by science, becomes visible and
detectable through behavior, level of engagement, neural activation, and psychophysiology. Some
would also include self-report in this list, but studies show that self-reports have proven to be
highly unreliable sources of information (Reeve, 2015).

Behavior

So how does motivation behave? With presence, intensity, and quality. Motivation is visible
through gestures and facial expressions, intense effort, immediacy (or as psychologists like to call it
short latency).

The presence of motivation can also be inferred from the levels of persistence and decisiveness in
choosing one goal over another, which taken together make for a high probability of occurrence
(Atkinson & Birch, 1970; 1978; Bolles, 1975; Ekman & Friesen, 1975).

Engagement

Motivation can also be inferred from the level of engagement.

For example, in a coaching scenario or a motivational interview, a competent practitioner will

enthusiastically and generously contribute to the flow of conversation (agentic engagement),
express interest and enjoyment (emotional engagement), process deeply and pay attention
(cognitive engagement), and persist in these efforts as if time and the outside world didn’t exist
(behavioral engagement). And yes, for many of us, we don’t have those kinds of conversations
often.
Psychophysiology

There are five psychophysiological expressions of motivation:

Psychophysiological
Expressions

Chemicals in saliva or blood, such as cortisol (stress) or catecholamines (fight-or-

Hormonal activity
flight reaction).

Contraction and relaxation of the heart and blood vessels (as in response to an
Cardiovascular activity
attractive incentive or a difficult/challenging task).

Eye behavior—pupil size (extent of mental activity), eye blinks (changing

Ocular activity
cognitive states), and eye movements (reflective thought).

Electrical changes on the surface of the skin (as in response to a significant or

Electrodermal activity
threatening event).

The activity of the musculature, as with facial expressions (specific emotion),

Skeletal activity bodily gestures, or shifting one’s weight from side to side during a boring hallway
conversation (desire to leave).

Motivation Process
Our motivation, when it originates from internal motives, as categorized into needs, cognitions, and
emotions, is often experienced as more immediate and potent than extrinsic motivation.

Since we don’t exist in a vacuum, however, these inner experiences cannot take place without some
degree of the external influence, be it in the form of consequences, incentives, or other forms of
pressure arising out of the social context of our environment.

Our physiological and psychological needs drive us, our cognitions direct us, and emotions land
intensity and energy to our pursuits. When the combination of antecedent conditions and the
internal motives align, they create a ripe environment for engagement, which propels the action
behavior.

When these behaviors, in turn, create more positive motivational and emotional states, they
reinforce the behavior through a positive feedback loop and increase the likelihood of repetition
(Reeve, 2015).
Motivation Cycle

Motivation is a dynamic process, and our motives vary over time. Raising and falling as circumstances change,
and as time passes, motives contribute to the ongoing stream of behavior. To further complicate matters, we
are driven by a multitude of different motives at any one point in time.

One motive, usually the one most situationally appropriate, will be strongest and dominate our attention
while other motives will be subordinate and lie relatively dormant. Although typically the strongest motive will
have the most considerable influence on our behavior, as circumstances change, each subordinate motive can
become dominant.

The below example shows how a student’s motivation to read varies over time in strength, starting relatively
strong then weakening when compared to the need to hang out with friends or to eat a snack (Reeve, 2015).

The awareness of how motivation varies over time is particularly important when it comes to goal setting.

When we differentiate the motivational and the performance-based advantages versus disadvantages for those
who adopt a short-term goal, as in eating less than 2000 calories today, versus performers who adopt a long-
term goal, as in losing 20 pounds this year, we must consider the type of activity they are engaging in before
making recommendations.

Short term goals work better for uninteresting activities as they boost commitment by providing feedback on
progress more often, which further reinforces the effort to persist (Reeve, 2015).

Motivation to perform routine or boring activities can be improved; however, by providing clarity of goals and
choice in how to perform a task. Clarity and choice can fuel a sense of mastery and autonomy, and both, in
combination, can increase overall motivation as they satisfy basic psychological needs.

When it comes to interesting tasks, or as Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi (1990) calls them autotelic activities, long-
term goals work better as they often provide for greater flexibility and more autonomy in how to pursue them.
Short terms milestones can feel intrusive for interesting activities. Autotelic activities are already engaging, and
we are often intrinsically motivated to perform them because they produce enjoyment. But most importantly,
we are motivated to pursue them in the absence of external rewards or incentives.
 Sources of Motivational Needs
 elicited by stimulus associated/connected to innately connected stimulus
behavioral/external 
 obtain desired, pleasant consequences (rewards) or escape/avoid
undesired, unpleasant consequences
 imitate positive models

social     acquire effective social competence skills

 be a part of a dyad, group, institution, or community

 increase/decrease stimulation (arousal)
 activate senses (taste, touch, smell, etc.
biological
 decrease hunger, thirst, discomfort, etc.

 maintain homeostasis, balance

 maintain attention to something interesting or threatening
 develop meaning or understanding
 increase/decrease cognitive disequilibrium; uncertainty
cognitive
 solve a problem or make a decision
 figure something out

 eliminate threat or risk

 increase/decrease affective dissonance
 increase feeling good

affective   decrease feeling bad

 increase security of or decrease threats to self-esteem

 maintain levels of optimism and enthusiasm

 meet individually developed/selected goal
 obtain personal dream
 develop or maintain self-efficacy
conative 
 take control of one's life
 eliminate threats to meeting goal, obtaining dream

 reduce others' control of one's life

 understand purpose of one's life
spiritual 
 connect self to ultimate unknowns
Theories of motivation

Many of the theories of motivation address issues introduced previously in these materials. The
following provides a brief overview to any terms or concepts that have not been previously
discussed.

Behavioral

Each of the major theoretical approaches in behavioral learning theory posits a primary factor in
motivation.  Classical conditioning states that biological responses to associated stimuli energize
and direct behavior (Huitt & Hummel, 1997a).  Operant learning states the primary factor
is consequences: the application of reinforcers provides incentives to increase behavior; the
application of punishers provides disincentives that result in a decrease in behavior (Huitt &
Hummel, 1997b).

Cognitive

There are several motivational theories that trace their roots to the information processing approach
to learning (Huitt, 2003b).  These approaches focus on the categories and labels people use to help
identify thoughts, emotions, dispositions, and behaviors.

One cognitive approach is attribution theory (Heider, 1958; Weiner, 1974).  This theory proposes that every
individual tries to explain success or failure of self and others by offering certain "attributions."  These attributions are
either internal or external and are either under control or not under control.  The following chart shows the four
attributions that result from a combination of internal or external locus of control and whether or not control is possible.

Internal External
No Control Ability Luck
Control Effort Task Difficulty

In a teaching/learning environment, it is important to assist the learner to develop a self-attribution

explanation of effort (internal, control).  If the person has an attribution of ability (internal, no
control) as soon as the individual experiences some difficulties in the learning process, he or she
will decrease appropriate learning behavior (e.g., I'm not good at this).  If the person has an external
attribution, then the person will have a believe that nothing the person can do will help that
individual in a learning situation (i.e., responsibility for demonstrating what has been learned is
completely outside the person).  In this case, there is nothing to be done by the individual when
learning problems occur.

A second cognitive approach is expectancy theory (Vroom, 1964) which proposes the following
equation:

Motivation = Perceived Probability of Success (Expectancy) *

Connection of Success and Reward (Instrumentality) *
Value of Obtaining Goal (Valance, Value)

Humanistic Theories

One of the most influential writers in the area of motivation is Abraham Maslow (1954), who
attempted to synthesize a large body of research related to human motivation. Prior to Maslow,
researchers generally focused separately on such factors as biology, achievement, or power to
explain what energizes, directs, and sustains human behavior.  Maslow posited a hierarchy of
human needs based on two groupings: deficiency needs and growth needs.  Within the deficiency
needs, each lower need must be met before moving to the next higher level.  Once each of these
needs has been satisfied, if at some future time a deficiency is detected, the individual will act to
remove the deficiency.  The first four levels are:

1) Physiological: hunger, thirst, bodily comforts, etc.;

2) Safety/security: out of danger;

3) Belonginess and Love: affiliate with others, be accepted; and

4) Esteem: to achieve, be competent, gain approval and recognition.

According to Maslow, an individual is ready to act upon the growth needs if and only if the
deficiency needs are met.  Maslow's initial conceptualization included only one growth need--self-
actualization. Self-actualized people are characterized by: 1) being problem-focused; 2)
incorporating an ongoing freshness of appreciation of life; 3) a concern about personal growth; and
4) the ability to have peak experiences.  Maslow later differentiated the growth need of self-
actualization, specifically naming two lower-level growth needs prior to general level of self-
actualization (Maslow & Lowery, 1998) and one beyond that level (Maslow, 1971).  The growth
needs in this revised formulation are:

5) Cognitive: to know, to understand, and explore;

6) Aesthetic: symmetry, order, and beauty;

7) Self-actualization: to find self-fulfillment and realize one's potential; and

8) Self-transcendence: to connect to something beyond the ego or to help others find self-
fulfillment and realize their potential.

Maslow's basic position is that as one becomes more self-actualized and self-transcendent, one
becomes more wise (develops the ability to efficiently and effectively make decisions and solve
problems based on personal experience) and becomes fluid in interacting with the environment in a
wide variety of situations.  Maslow's ultimate conclusion that the highest levels of self-actualization
are transcendent in nature is especially important as it comes from someone who spent most of his
professional life investigating the topic.

Norwood (1999) proposed that Maslow's hierarchy can be used to describe the kinds of information
that individual's seek at different levels.  For example, individuals at the lowest level seek coping
information in order to meet their basic needs. Information that is not directly connected to helping
a person meet his or her needs in a very short time span is simply left unattended.

Individuals at the safety level need helping information.  They seek to be assisted in seeing how
they can be safe and secure. 

 Enlightening information is sought by individuals seeking to meet their belongingness needs.

Quite often this can be found in books or other materials on relationship development.  

Empowering information is sought by people at the esteem level.  They are looking for
information on how their ego can be developed.  Finally, people in the growth levels of cognitive,
aesthetic, and self-actualization seek edifying information