Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
HSS – 3207
21 April 2011
Arguably, motivation can be termed as one of the most interesting topics in the study
individual and as it is his driving force. Motivation leads a person toward achieving his or her
Depending upon the individual, motivation or drive can take its origin from both internal and
external source. Motivation cycle one the other hand, is the longing for something that is
followed by the action to get the desired thing and that leads to the achievement of another
thing. When one desire is fulfilled it leads to another and thus the desire moves in a circular
pattern and this motion of motivation is called the motivation cycle. The rest of this paper
will try to illuminate the certain aspects on motivation and its different theories and
“The term motivation as popularly used, refers to the cause or why of behavior. Used
in this sense motivation would cover all of psychology, since psychology is the study of
human behavior. But we know that many aspects of behavior can be explained as the result of
maturation and learning. Psychologists then usually narrow the concept of motivation to
those factors that energize behavior and give it direction.” (Hilgard, Atkinson and Atkinson
302) . Motivation is the inward urge or desire that stimulates an individual to do something to
satisfy that specific desire. As motivation is an inward or innate process and derives from the
internal desires of an individual he or she cannot be motivated by others, but they can
Mahmood 2
motivation. Motivation has been categorized into two types; they are intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the motivation that can be derived from the delight of the
task alone and does not require any external pressure. This kind of motivation exists purely
within the individual. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation takes its origin from the
external factors, such as good grades, pay rise, promotion, and punishment and so
perform better and try to beat each other to achieve the reward.
theories can be used as tools for better understanding about motivation and the numerous
factors that are surrounding it. A chart showing different motivational theories in a
C
M
v
i
r
D
o
t
-
e
n
g
n
I
d
e
N
o
r
B a
v
t
i
c t
a v
i
o
d
r
e
l
a
n
i
t
c
u n
o
e
t
h
T
i
r
o
h
t
i
r
o
e s
e
y
r
s
h
t
i
r
o
e s
e
Incentive theory suggests that individuals are motivated by the prospect of getting a
tangible or intangible reward after finishing an action. “This this is done by associating
positive meaning to the behavior.” (Motivation). It has been proven by studies that an
finishing his job and the performance level drops when duration lengthens. Also if this
process is alowed to be continued for a long time, then this action will transfromed into a
habit.
based on the diverse ideas given by Sigmund Freud. This theory proposes that, human beings
have certain biological drives like hunger and others that gains strength in the passing of time
and if these drives are not satisfied. And when the drive has been satisfied it will lose its
strength. There is another theory known as the Cognitive dissonance theory. It was suggested
by Leon Festinger. Although this theory is not fully concerned with motivational theory but it
suggests that, “people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by
Among all the motivational theories proposed by psychologist over the decades none
has gained so much popularity as the Need hierarchy theory. This theory was proposed by
Abraham Maslow, a leader in the development of humanistic psychology in his in his 1943
paper A Theory of Human Motivation. The gist Maslow’s theory is that, human beings have
desires that infulences their behavoir but only the unsatisfaied desires can influence human
actions. Maslow categorized the various human desires and arranged them in a hierarchial
order of importance. An individual will only advance in this hierarchy of needs when the
lower level of desires have been satisfied and the more that person will advance in that
hierarchy “the more individuality, humanness and psychological health a person will show.”
the two-factor theory. Herzberg’s theory suggests that, there are certain factors in the
workplace that results in job satisfaction. However, if those factors are absent they do not
motivators and hygiene factors. According to Herzberg the motivators such as challenging
work, recognition, responsibility and the hygiene factors such as job security, salary and so
on do not necessarily creates motivation but if these factors are absent they can certainly
create demotivation.
proposed another theory that is known as the ERG theory. This theory says that there are
three types of core need — existence, relatedness, and growth. The existence needs group is
Mahmood 5
concerned with the basic material existence requirements, the relatedness group is concerned
with the desire we have for maintaining important interpersonal relationships and the growth
The Self-determination theory was proposed by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan. This
behavior. This theory hypothesizes a natural inclination towards growth and development.
The self-determination theory requires active encouragements from the external factors that
is, the environments and believes that autonomy, competence feedback, and relatedness are
The broad theories are the latest development in the field of motivational theory. The
latest broad theory is known as the Temporal Motivation Theory and it is developed by Piers
Steel and Cornelius Konig. This theory combines the primary aspects of all other major
motivational theories such as Incentive, Drive, Need, Self-Efficacy and Goal Setting theory
The goal-setting theory falls under the category of cognitive motivational theories.
This goal-setting theory is based on the view that, individuals have sometimes a drive to
reach a clearly defined goal or aim. Often this goal or aim is a reward in itself. The efficiency
of a goal is affected by three features. They are: proximity, difficulty and specificity.
McGaugh and Thompson 250) It is motivation that keeps us moving, doing what we do. But
the interesting fact is that, this motivation is not static. It is constanly moving in a circualr
motiopn which brings to our second segment of discussion that is, the motivation cycle.
The concept of motivation cycle is based on the notion that, when an individual
accpplishes a task or satisfies a drive he or she doesn’t stop. Often the accomplished goal
Mahmood 6
leads to other drives. A person never gets contented. One goal leads to other drives or
From the above diagram we can see that a motivation cycle is completed in four steps.
They are: need, drive, incentive and reward. If we follow this cycle then the process of
want. When the stimuli remains constant we do not feel need. The tendency to restore a
behavior to remedy the need. For example, a person who is thirsty needs something to drink
Drive is a motivational state created by the need. For example a hungry person may
seek food to satisfy the drive for hunger which is his need. Drives are basically action based
motion or component which functions to satisfy the desire of the motivated behavior. Drive is
Incentive is the third component within the motivation cycle. Incentive is the
appropriate object or situation of simply the goal toward which the motivated individual is
directed. Incentive has the power to satisfy the drive. For example, if a person is hungry then
food will be incentive for him. Incentive can be anything. Food, drink, wealth, promotion,
recognition and so on. Incentive can be both positive and negative, for example a loaf of
bread can be a positive incentive for a hungry person but a piece of chocolate will be negative
The last component of the motivation cycle is the reward. When an individual
achieves his or her incentive and derives satisfaction from it then he enjoys the reward.
Reward brings a stable state within the mind and the body of the individual. If a person is
completely satisfied then homeostasis sate is attained for that particular need.
Motivation is the driving force of the living beings in the world. The role of motivation
cycles can be observed best in business and learning centers. Students and employees are
constantly being motivated by their teachers and employers to do better. The above given
Here, the first stage of the motivation cycle is need. Need is the state or condition
which indicates the lack of something vital or desired which an individual will strive to
obtain. This need can be various types of intrinsic or extrinsic drives like hunger, thirst and so
on. When an individual feels this drive or need, it motivates him or her to find a means to
satisfy that drive. This brings us to the second step that is the buildup of tension. In this stage,
the drives gain its strength, and it strongly steers the person toward some kind of focused
activities, which enables the person to satisfy the drive. When the drive is satisfied the
tension is reduced and the person feels relived, or he enjoys some sort of reward. And this
very satisfaction leads him towards another need, and the cycle continues.
If we want to explain the above process through an example, then the concept of
motivation cycle will become even clearer. Suppose a student is asked by his teacher to
prepare a research paper that must be submitted within a certain period of time. The
command of the teacher towards the student creates the need, and this drive creates an
Mahmood 9
extrinsic motivation in the student. Thus the first step of the cycle end the second begins. In
the second step, a tension builds up in the mind of the student, and this tension can be the
desire of the student to prove his competence or the fear of getting a poor mark. So in the
third stage the student engages himself in focused activities such researching on the topic and
getting his paper ready. In the fourth step when the student submits his paper and gets the
evaluation from his teacher, he feels satisfied that he has successfully completed the assigned
the task and this satisfaction creates in him, a new drive and that is to do better next time and
So in conclusion we can say that human beings have an unlimited wants and desires.
As soon they fulfill one of their desires it leads them toward another desire. And thus the
cycle continues to move on and on. It is this motivation and its continuous movement in
circular motion that enables us to pursue evermore challenging projects. So we can say it is
the motivation and motivation cycle that prevents the human civilization from coming to an
abrupt halt.
Mahmood 10
Works Cited
"BOLA: Maslow and Human Motivation." BOLA : Business Open Learning Archive. Web.
Harlow, Harry F., James L. McGaugh, and Richard F. Thompson. Psychology. San
Hilgard, Ernest R., Richard C. Atkinson, and Rita L. Atkinson. Introduction to Psychology.
<http://www2.kpr.edu.on.ca/acvi/gray/motivationOsych/motivationPsych.ppt>.
"Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs>.
<http://imclicking.blogspot.com/2009/07/motivation-cycle.html>.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation>.
<http://www.muskingum.edu/~cal/database/general/motivation.html>.
<http://tip.psychology.org/motivate.html>.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-factor_theory>.