Introduction
Motivation consists of drives that make one behave in a certain way. People’s drives emanate from biological necessities such as hunger and the desire to produce (Segelman & Rider, 2008). They also emanate from psychological needs like the need to feel acknowledged and valued by others. People are motivated to do what they believe is in their best interest. This results in the ordinary activities that people engage in every day which have satisfactory results. Motivation accounts for differences in human behaviors. For example, two employees working for the same employer may behave quite differently in response to the same event. This is because they may be having different goals and thus may display different degrees of interest or involvement.
Aristotle’s theory
Aristotle’s theory states that there are four causes of motivation that make a person behave in a certain way. These causes are efficient, final, formal and material. The efficient cause is the trigger that causes a person to behave in a certain way. For example, when one sights a delicious meal, he feels like eating. The sighting of the delicious meal results in the need of eating it (Segelman & Rider, 2008). The second cause is final which refers to the purpose of certain behavior. For example, the goal of taking the delicious food will be to get satisfied and be healthy. The formal cause according to this theory means bringing together the motivational concept to hypotheses. For example, according to Darwin’s theory of evolution people were motivated to take sweets things because they provided a lot of energy which was necessary during the scarcity periods. The fourth cause is a material cause which according to Aristotle’s theory means the material which makes a certain thing. For example, the brain is a material cause of motivated behavior. The need for eating a delicious meal was an activity that occurred in the brain. On seeing the delicious meal it clicked in the brain which resulted in the desire of eating the meal (Deckers, 2010).
Freud’s theory
Freud’s theory states that human beings have basic biological urges that must be satisfied. These biological instincts are the source of mental or psychic energy that makes human behavior and that it is channeled in new directions over the course of human development (Segelman & Rider, 2008). Biological instincts are forces that provide unconscious motivation for action. According to this theory, each person has psychic energy that is used to satisfy basic urges. This psychic energy is divided into the id which seeks immediate gratification even when biological needs cannot be appropriately met. For example, when infants are wet and hungry they will cry until their needs are met. The second component of personality is the ego which is a side of the individual that tries to find realistic ways of gratifying the instincts. For example, a hungry child may be in a position of telling the mother what she wants instead of just crying. When the ego gets mature, the child may also be in a position of postponing the need (Deckers, 2010). The third component of personality is the superego which insists that people find socially acceptable or ethical outlets of the id’s undesirable impulses. For example, when children grow up they have parental voices in their heads that prevent them from violating the rules of the society.
Reference list
- Deckers, L. (2010). Motivation: Biological, psychological and Environmental. New York: Pearson Education.
- Segelman, C., &Rider, E. (2008).Life-Span Human Development. London: Cengage Learning.