I Need Motivation Theories

Motivation involves the basic psychological

reasons for a person’s actions and behavior.

These are the forces or factors that cause a

person to act a certain way or to behave in the

manner that they do.

There are various types of motivations that can

influence a person. These include the following:

Primary or Basic Motivation

This mainly pertains to motives involved with

our need for self-preservation. This includes

needs such as hunger and thirst, warmth, sex,

avoidance of pain and other primary motives

which influence a person’s behaviour at a very

basic level.

Secondary Motivation

More known in psychology as “learned”

motivation, this type of “drives” differ from

one person to another. In many ways they involve

a person’s own sense of values and priorities in

life.

Many of the behaviour derived from secondary

motivation are conscious ones. That is, a person

consciously desires a particular goal or result,

and behaves in a way that brings them closer to

that particular goal. What drives them to do

something or to act in a particular way is the

longing for something which they currently do

not have or possess.

This kind of motivation generally falls into two

basic types: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation is likely to involve the

concept of rewarded behavior. Thus, by engaging

in a particular type of activity or behaving in

a particular manner, you are “rewarded” by a

desired end result.

For instance, you are motivated to save money

for a vacation. Hence, you resist the urge to

make impulsive purchases and in general become

more discriminating in how you spend your money.

After a time you find that you have a steadily

growing amount of savings which you set aside.

When you find that you have saved enough for

that trip, you utilize your savings for the

intended purpose and go on vacation. The

external motivation is the vacation, which is

also the reward for your act of saving for it.

Internal Motivation

On the other hand, there are other less-visible

types of motivation.

It would be a mistake to say that such behaviour

does not come without its own rewards. To be

more precise, the end goal is not a visible or

external thing, but more internal and

psychological. The achievement of these goals –

by itself also correctly seen as a reward – is

in general not visible to other persons.

Thus, for instance, a student is motivated to

get good grades (external motivation) or simply,

he desires to know more about a particular

subject (intrinsic motivation). Getting good

grades is the reward visible to others. For the

student, the fact that he has become an expert

in a particular subject or lesson is also a

psychological reward for his intrinsic desire to

learn.

Successful Motivated Behaviour

Good and effective actions or behaviour usually

involves the harmonizing of these two types of

motivation. If one is driven by both intrinsic

and extrinsic motivations, then inner conflict

is reduced and a person is more likely to devote

uninterrupted and harmonious actions towards a

particular task.

The inner and external rewards too, are good

reinforcing mechanisms. For many people, this is

really the means towards success. By choosing

goals that you desire – both in its intrinsic

and extrinsic rewards – you can harmonize your

own actions and devote your energies to your

goals. In such instances, the chances of

achievement increases greatly.

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