PSY 355 wk 1

Motivation

Humans behave based on motivation. If individuals are not motivated to do something, for one reason or another, the individual will not do it. Other factors drive individuals to perform daily to new tasks based on one’s incentives. There is a close relationship between motivation and behavior and that is shown by how the former is exhibited in the latter.

To be motivated is to be moved into action or a thought by a motive or incentive (Deckers, 2005).  One’s actions or behaviors do not occur on their own, but by one’s internal motives or environmental incentives (Deckers, 2005). The goal of a motive is to achieve the incentive, but this requires energy in order for the behavior or the action to take place. 

Motivation can have external factors, as opposed to the internal drivers of intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation drives one to do things for tangible rewards or pressures, rather than for the fun of it. Most individuals have jobs that have a reward system and even local stores have the same thing.  This can be an incentive for employees to work for a particular company or a customer to shop at a certain store. For example, supermarkets have loyalty cards and discounts that save money for the individual, so they would continue to shop at that particular store.  Jobs show this reward system by allowing discounts for employees, commissions, paid vacations and paid sick leave. Extrinsic motivation is everywhere either if one is shopping, or an employee or for personal goals.

Even though external motives tend to drive us, but one is also motivated by internal factors, opposed to the external drivers.  Individuals have personal goals or something that motivates them internally. Internal motivation can include our human nature or evolutionary history and our life experiences or personal history (Deckers, 2005). Intrinsic motivation can drive one to do things just for the fun of it, or because one believes it is a good or right thing to do. One’s hobbies or passion can motivate individuals in emotional ways, or even in tasks that are incredibly difficult to pursue. If an individual is allowed to behave in ways that are internally motivated, one tends to get a much better results than using external motivation.

However you look at motivation, it depends on behavior for internal and environmental source. The feelings of pleasure, instincts, drives, and psychological needs are internal sources of motivation (Deckers, 2005). In order for behavior to be induced, at least two of those sources have to happen; either one alone will not do it (Deckers, 2005). Internal needs affect external wants which reflect back to our internal needs to satisfy desires. One example is the nicotine in cigarettes. The chemicals in the tobacco alter the internal drive to make one create an external incentive.

Motivation is exhibited in ones behavior on a daily basis. Health concerns can be an external incentive to change ones behavior for the better. For example, a person who is pre-diabetic and who does not want to have to check their blood sugar every day and prick their finger will be motivated to become healthy and lose weight so that the no longer have that worry. In this case the way motivation is shown through the person’s behavior is through the lifestyle change that has occurred.

Since motivation affects individuals on a daily basis all of our behavior is directly affected by our internal and external incentives. Personality and experiences shape the way each person reacts to stimuli around them. What creates one’s personality and experiences is based on how we are raised and what our likes and dislikes are. This creates one’s motivation to be displayed in one’s behavior. 

References

Deckers, L. (2005). Motivation Biological, Psychological, and Environmental (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.