Understanding Motivation: Internal Processes and Environmental Influences

Description

This lecture delves into the concept of motivation, exploring its internal processes and the influence of the environment. Topics covered include the definition of motivation, the relationship between drive and direction, the impact of rewards on motivation, and the downside of positive reinforcement. The lecture also discusses the Self-Determination Theory, different types of motivation (autonomous vs. heteronomous), and the quality of motivation. Furthermore, it examines the role of need satisfaction in motivation, the path to autonomous motivation, and strategies to motivate oneself and others. Through various examples and experiments, the instructor provides insights into how motivation affects behavior and decision-making.

Official source

https://mediaspace.epfl.ch/media/0_eadh5zil

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Related lectures (39)

Related concepts (36)

Motivation

Motivation is the reason for which humans and other animals initiate, continue, or terminate a behavior at a given time. Motivational states are commonly understood as forces acting within the agent that create a disposition to engage in goal-directed behavior. It is often held that different mental states compete with each other and that only the strongest state determines behavior. This means that we can be motivated to do something without actually doing it. The paradigmatic mental state providing motivation is desire.

Work motivation

Work motivation is a person's internal disposition toward work. To further this, an incentive is the anticipated reward or aversive event available in the environment. While motivation can often be used as a tool to help predict behavior, it varies greatly among individuals and must often be combined with ability and environmental factors to actually influence behavior and performance. Results from a 2012 study, which examined age-related differences in work motivation, suggest a "shift in people's motives" rather than a general decline in motivation with age.

Self-determination theory

Self-determination theory (SDT) is a macro theory of human motivation and personality that concerns people's innate growth tendencies and innate psychological needs. It pertains to the motivation behind people's choices in the absence of external influences and distractions. SDT focuses on the degree to which human behavior is self-motivated and self-determined. In the 1970s, research on SDT evolved from studies comparing intrinsic and extrinsic motives, and from growing understanding of the dominant role that intrinsic motivation played in individual behavior.

Behavior

Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as well as the inanimate physical environment. It is the computed response of the system or organism to various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary.

Reinforcement

In reinforcement theory, it is argued that human behavior is a result of "contingent consequences" to human actions The publication pushes forward the idea that "you get what you reinforce" This means that behavior when given the right types of reinforcers can change employee behavior for the better and negative behavior can be weeded out. The model of self-regulation has three main aspects of human behavior, which are self-awareness, self-reflection, and self-regulation. Reinforcements traditionally align with self-regulation.