What is Motivation

Motivation is of particular interest to Educational psychologists because of the crucial role it plays in student learning.  Motivation in education can have several effects on how students learn and their behaviour towards subject matter (Ormrod, 2003).  Motivation has been found to be a pivotal area in treating Autism Spectrum Disorders, as in Pivotal Response Therapy.  Motivation is also an important element in the concept of Andragogy (what motivates the adult learner).  Motivation by threat is a dead-end strategy, and naturally staff are more attracted to the opportunity side of the motivation curve than the threat side.  Motivational strategies need to be applied individually and changed frequently so that they do not become ineffective through over use.

Motivation

According to Geen, motivation refers to the initiation, direction, intensity and persistence of human behaviour.  Some authors distinguish between two forms of intrinsic motivation: one based on enjoyment, the other on obligation.  There is currently no universal theory to explain the origin or elements of intrinsic motivation, and most explanations combine elements of Fritz Heider’s attribution theory, Bandura’s work on self-efficacy and other studies relating to locus of control and goal orientation. 

Note that the idea of reward for achievement is absent from this model of intrinsic motivation, since rewards are an extrinsic factor.  In work environments, money may provide a more powerful extrinsic factor than the intrinsic motivation provided by an enjoyable workplace.  Successful coercion sometimes can take priority over other types of motivation.  The self-control of motivation is increasingly understood as a subset of emotional intelligence; a person may be highly intelligent according to a more conservative definition (as measured by many intelligence tests), yet unmotivated to dedicate this intelligence to certain tasks. 

Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs theory is the most widely discussed theory of motivation.  Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory, aka intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, concludes that certain factors in the workplace result in job satisfaction, but if absent, lead to dissatisfaction.  To understand how to control motivation it is first necessary to understand why many people lack motivation. 

It is usually suggested that it is critical to maintain a list of tasks, with a distinction between those which are completed and those which are not, thereby moving some of the required motivation for their completion from the tasks themselves into a “meta-task”, namely the processing of the tasks in the task list, which can become a routine.  However, the specific kind of motivation that is studied in the specialized setting of education differs qualitatively from the more general forms of motivation studied by psychologists in other fields. 

Because students are not always internally motivated, they sometimes need situated motivation, which is found in environmental conditions that the teacher creates.  There are two kinds of motivation: Intrinsic motivation occurs when people are internally motivated to do something because it either brings them pleasure, they think it is important, or they feel that what they are learning is significant. 

At lower levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, such as Physiological needs, money is a motivator; however it tends to have a motivating effect on staff that lasts only for a short period (in accordance with Herzberg’s two-factor model of motivation).  At higher levels of the hierarchy, praise, respect, recognition, empowerment and a sense of belonging are far more powerful motivators than money, as both Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation and Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and theory Y (pertaining to the theory of leadership) demonstrate. 

According to the system of scientific management developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor, a worker’s motivation is solely determined by pay, and therefore management need not consider psychological or social aspects of work.  In essence scientific management bases human motivation wholly on extrinsic rewards and discards the idea of intrinsic rewards. 

In contrast, David McClelland believed that workers could not be motivated by the mere need for money– in fact, extrinsic motivation (e.  , money) could extinguish intrinsic motivation such as achievement motivation, though money could be used as an indicator of success for various motives, e.

Motivation is of particular interest to Educational psychologists because of the crucial role it plays in student learning.  Motivation has been found to be a pivotal area in treating Autism Spectrum Disorders, as in Pivotal Response Therapy.  Motivation by threat is a dead-end strategy, and naturally staff is more attracted to the opportunity side of the motivation curve than the threat side.  Motivation is the key to performance improvement. 

Motivation is, in effect, a means to reduce and manipulate this gap.  Motivational strategies need to be applied individually and changed frequently so that they do not become ineffective through over use.  Motivation is a pivotal concept in most theories of learning.  Motivation to achieve is a function of the individual’s desire for success, the expectancy of success, and the incentives provided.  Motivation is divided into two basic types: integrative and instrumental. 

Motivation is an important factor in L2 achievement.  Motivation’s philosophy is based on commitment towards ‘enhancing the quality of life of people with disabilities’ through the provision of appropriate mobility devices (wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs), professional services such as physiotherapy, economic empowerment (via job fairs, vocational training, job placements) and advocating basic human rights.  Motivation depends on many factors with the primary factor being the power of your dreams.