Definition
Motivation refers to a collection of reasons that activates an individual to participate in a given behavior. The word not only describes Human behavior but also animal behavior as well.
Types of motivation
There are two types of motivations namely intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation takes place when a person is engaged in a particular activity such as a hobby without any external incentives. Intrinsic motivation is mainly associated with educational prosperity and enjoyment by students. A person is likely to be intrinsically motivated if they attribute their educational achievements to interior factors that they have control of, or if their achievements are not because of luck, and lastly if the person has an urge to master a particular topic and not only to score high grades (Kerr, 57).
In communities and organizations, intrinsic motivation is characterized by the participation and contribution of members towards achieving a common goal. In sports intrinsic motivation comes from the person himself where the athlete competes because he/she has a love for the sport (Bandura, 100).
Extrinsic motivation is the motivation that comes from the exterior of a person. Money is a major example; other examples may be fear of punishment and intimidation. In sports, a person participating in a particular sport may be motivated to perform well by the cheering crowd. Presents are also forms of incentives that motivate an athlete or any other person to work harder. Extrinsic incentives may sometimes deteriorate motivation for example kids rewarded with felt pens for drawing, later on, show little interest in playing with them (Maslow, 43).
Motivation sources
Success in a task is one of the sources of motivation, people generally tend to love what they do well, and are willing to do it again to the best of their ability. People are also afraid of failure and they work extra hard to avoid failure for example students who feel that they are not good in Mathematics find all possible means to avoid anything that may make them engage in doing it (Maslow, 47).
Another source of motivation is self-esteem and confidence. For example, for a student to improve on his performance, he should be made to have a feeling that he can be able to do a particular task and given a sense of success. It is important to note that there is a psychology involved in everything a person does and is concerned with feelings of success/failure, high/low self-esteem, and high/ low self-confidence and all this has an impact on motivation (Maslow, 52).
Feedback is also another source of motivation for example in the case of students; the feedback given to them helps them shape their views. Research has shown that very young kids in school are able to differentiate a clever pupil and a stupid pupil by monitoring the oral feedback they are given by their teachers therefore the pupils are able to have a clear picture of the position they stand at the class table. It is therefore important for teachers to be very careful when it comes to giving praise to students. They should be able to know which students to give praise and which ones not to, they should also be careful about the feedback they give their students that is if it recognizes effort ideas, and potential (Kerr, 56).
Another source of motivation is drugs, for example, researchers have found out that the use of smart drugs known as nootropics to be motivation enhancers. The effect of these drugs on the human brain is not well known because experimentation on them is considered illegal by most governments. Biological evidence also shows that addictive drugs such as alcohol, cocaine, Mandrax, and Bhang motivates individuals towards natural rewards and also towards fitness-enhancing rewards such as food, water, and Sex.
Motivation and behavior
Behavior refers to the way a person reacts to his surroundings and the present and past experiences that may cause his reactions. A person’s reaction to a new experience is greatly influenced by his past experience that is if the person past experience was positive then he will respond positively to the same experience and if the experience had negative impacts then he will respond negatively to the same experience (Kerr, 59).
Motivation can have a direct impact on a person’s behavior for example in the case of students, motivation may have several effects on the student’s behavior towards a subject matter, that is, it may have direct behavior towards particular goals, lead to a student increasing effort and energy and may finally lead to improved performance. All this comes from the favorable environmental conditions a teacher creates (Kerr, 61).
Conclusion
Motivation acts as an activator on human behavior. Motivation may be intrinsic or extrinsic where intrinsic motivation mainly takes place when a person is engaged in a particular activity such as a hobby without any external incentives. Extrinsic motivation on the other hand is the motivation that comes from a person’s exterior. Motivation, therefore, is known to have a direct impact on how a person behaves.
Works cited
Bandura, A. Believe, attitude, intention and behavior. Freeman (1997) 96-101.
Kerr, Steven. Motivation and personality. New York Press (1995) 56-72.
Maslow, S. Motivation and behavior. Putman (2002) 22-52.