Theorists have tried to study human behavior since ancient times in an attempt to find explanations for social phenomena, so that these explanations are supported by empirical evidence.
Many theorists put forward possible explanations that include the causes of human behavior, relying in their theses on specific concepts or ideas. Together, these theories have helped us gain a better understanding of the mechanisms behind human behavior. One of the human behaviors that many theories have been presented to explain is motivation.
Since we see that each of the theories has its own specific framework, looking at the ideas on which these theories are based can help us gain a more comprehensive understanding of motivation. According to the Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology, motivation is the force that sparks, directs, and maintains behavior towards the achievement of a specific goal.
Motivation is what drives us to take some kind of action. It can be just simple actions, such as getting a snack to quell hunger, or important actions, such as moving around the country. When we turn towards taking action, it is either because of motivation or as a result of our attraction towards achieving the goal.
Understanding the motivation behind your behavior can help you feel more satisfied with life and improve the decision-making process so that your decisions are more effective. When you understand the forces that direct your actions, which are the result of the influences of your biological and cognitive functions, emotions, and social factors, you will be able to understand how to change your course when you feel a lack of desire to do something despite the importance of doing it.
No single theory of motivation explains all aspects of human behavior. However, the explanations, which are based on theories, that we will present in this article can help you develop new ways of increasing your motivation in areas where you lack it.
7 Theories about the motivation behind human behavior in psychology
1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a gradual model that takes the form of a pyramid, in which the basic human needs are placed in order so that the highest need can only be satisfied after the need that precedes it in order has been satisfied. According to this theory, our basic needs are survival needs. These are the basic motives behind behavior, which is logical, as it is unreasonable to seek social position when you are unable to obtain food or water.
You need to satisfy your biological needs before you feel the urge to address other factors in life. The longer you suffer from an unmet need, the stronger your motivation gets. For example, the longer you stay awake, the greater your fatigue and the greater your need for sleep.
Returning to the context of needs’ order, once the lowest need is satisfied, the next level of needs in the pyramid becomes the source behind the behavioral motivation, and so on until all of your needs are satisfied, then you achieve the maximum degree of your potential. The first four needs in Maslow's hierarchy are called "deficiency needs," meaning that you have the motivation to compensate for the deprivation in these needs. These are the needs in Maslow's hierarchy:
1.1. Physiological needs
They include the vital requirements for survival, such as air, food, water, sleep, and shelter. Your vital functions are disturbed unless these needs are satisfied. All other needs remain secondary as long as these physiological needs are not yet satisfied.
1.2. Security needs
After the physiological needs are satisfied, the need for security and safety becomes an urgent need, as humans long for stability and a sense of confidence and control, This includes emotional security and financial security, such as getting a job, maintaining health stability, and avoiding the risk of accidents and injuries.
1.3. Social needs
The third level of human needs includes the need for personal relationships and the human feeling of being a member of a group. This means having friends, having warm relationships, sharing love and trust with others, and feeling accepted and loved.
1.4. Esteem needs
Maslow classifies recognition needs into two categories: self-respect and a sense of respect for others. Maslow explained that a person's need to feel respected by others is felt at an early age in their life and that it precedes a person's need to feel self-esteem.
Maslow assumes that it is not necessary for a person to fully satisfy one of their needs to move on to the next. He also explains that the deficiency needs can be satisfied with a little more or a little less than what is required before the person begins to direct their focus and efforts towards satisfying the next need. For example, you don't need to get eight hours of sleep in order to direct your focus towards issues that concern your physical safety.
The "growth" needs are at the top and last level of the pyramid. These needs do not result from a deficiency in something; they stem from an aspiration to develop the personality. While theoretically all people are capable of reaching the highest level of self-actualization, many are not.
The reason is that progress towards this level is often hindered by the unmet needs of the lower level due to various circumstances in life, such as job loss, chronic health conditions, divorce, drastic life changes, loss of friends, and natural disasters. Life experiences make people sometimes progress towards a higher level of needs, and sometimes they fall back to a lower level, depending on their needs at some point.
The process of self-actualization differs from one person to another. In Maslow's theory, it does not mean that a person should live an ideal life; rather, people can focus on this need—the need for self-actualization—in very individual and personal ways. For example, for a person who has children, self-fulfillment may mean being a model parent, while for another person, this need may manifest in achieving athletic excellence.
In all cases, regardless of what self-actualization means to a person, it involves good mental health and a sense of contentment and security. People who fulfill themselves are characterized by the following:
- Creative and have a sense of humor.
- They accept themselves, and they accept others as they are.
- They maintain deep and meaningful relationships.
- They can live without relying on others.
- They have an accurate perception of reality and self-awareness.
- They live a life of meaning and purpose.
- They live moments of true happiness.
- They feel empathy for others.
- They value life and have a high level of mental alertness.
Maslow concluded that our behavior usually stems from more than one motive. For example, you may be motivated to complete a project at work on deadline to satisfy the need for earning the respect of your coworkers (recognition needs), in order to maintain your feeling of being accepted by others in the company (the need to belong), so that you maintain a sense of job security (security needs), and then you can secure food, drink, and living necessities for yourself and your family (physiological needs).
In sum, this theory reminds us that human behavior is based on satisfying unmet needs.
2. Clayton Alderfer's ERG Theory
Focusing on improving employee job performance has been one of the main concerns of theories that investigate human motivation. Among these theories is the theory of "Clayton Alderver." The reason for focusing on this aspect of human life is that most people are employees or employers. These systems in human relations keep people's daily needs met.
For example, you need people who work in the grocery store, people who work in the field of exchange stock markets, and doctors who examine you when you are sick. Clayton remodeled the hierarchy in Maslow's theory and created a theory based on three foundations, which are existence, engagement, and growth, with a primary focus on recognition and job performance.
Here are the needs in Clayton's theory:
2.1. Existential needs
They include physical and physiological needs. They correspond to the needs at the first two levels of Maslow's hierarchy.
2.2. Attachment needs
They include social needs and the need to establish relationships with others, which are the same needs found in the third and fourth levels of Maslow's hierarchy.
2.3. Growth needs
Growth needs are what drive a person to be productive and live a meaningful life, which is the same need for self-actualization in "Maslow". Unlike Maslow's theory, Alderver did not assume that lower level needs must be satisfied before one can focus on higher level needs. This means that the importance of these needs varies from one person to another.
Alderfer assumed that once lower needs are satisfied, they become less important to a person. However, the more people are interested in satisfying a particular need, the more important that need becomes.
For example, after you achieve good relationships at work, this need becomes less important because it has been satisfied. But the higher you rise in your job level, the more urgent the need for success at work becomes. In this part, the difference between the theories of Alderfer and Maslow becomes clear. According to Maslow's hierarchy, the minimum need must be met before moving to the higher level, and thus the needs of Maslow do not lose their importance even if they are satisfied.
While the priority of needs in Alderfer's theory differs from person to person, at the same time, he addresses how stable each category of these needs is. Therefore, the needs for existence are the most stable and, thus, the easiest to prove. While the needs for attachment that depend on your relationships are less stable, the needs for growth are the least stable because they differ from one person to another.
Alderfer suggested a process he called regression, which is a phenomenon he observed when people were no longer able to satisfy higher needs as they shifted their focus back to lower needs. This is essential in work environments, as it has been observed that when an employee is given a sense of independence, they are likely to shift their focus to the sense of security or belonging that the job gives them.
This is a key point that employers should know, because it shows that if employees are not given opportunities to grow, their focus is likely to shift towards meeting their social needs by spending working hours communicating with colleagues. These employees will continue to receive their salary without achieving the required productivity, which means wasting the company's money.
According to people who provide coaching in the field of employment, this theory has other effects on the work environment. Managers need to identify the various common needs of their employees.
In Alderfer's model, focusing on only one need at a time will not motivate employees. If you are an employer, you can recognize early that your employees' needs are not fully met. Then you will be able to take steps to address the needs that your employees cannot satisfy, thus keeping them motivated.
3. McClelland’s theory of human motivation, “acquired needs”
David McClelland took a different approach to thinking about needs. He stated that the needs of the individual evolve over time and are acquired through experiences. Therefore, his research did not focus on satisfaction. McClelland assumed that humans are driven by three main needs, which are achievement, belonging, and power. He suggested that people's behavior and their sense of enthusiasm are affected by these factors, as one of them dominates the others, and that the ultimate motivation that guides an individual's behavior is the result of the events of their own life.
McClelland used the objective perception test, or what is called the projective test, to assess the dominant needs of people. This test is done by presenting a vague picture to the person who is the subject of research and then asking them to come up with a story based on the picture. The story will include answers about the identity of the people in the picture, what they do, and why they do it. The experts analyze the story the person tells until they work out the mechanism by which the person's mind works and what the sources of motivation are for them.
These are McClelland's three primary motivations:
3.1. Achievement
People who are motivated by the desire to achieve are motivated by opportunities to show their competence to others. This is why they enjoy working on individual projects so that they can take all the credit for their success.
They avoid tasks with a high level of difficulty, just as they avoid tasks that are very simple. The reason is that the first type exposes them to the risk of failure, and the second type does not involve any demonstration of their potential to achieve success. These people are also motivated by their desire to receive immediate appreciation for their efforts and achievements.
These people always seek to improve their previous performance. They focus on achieving the goal and often enjoy working to achieve additional goals that represent an increasing challenge. The best examples of these people are those who work in the field of sales. There are clear goals they have to achieve, and at the same time, they have the chance of getting instant praise for their efforts.
Employers can benefit from understanding of this theory. They must assign their achievement-driven employees challenging tasks that are achievable at the same time. They must provide continuous positive feedback to this type of employee. Also, the dilemmas that employers may encounter must be taken into account. When working at low job levels, employees who are motivated by the desire to achieve accomplishment are often promoted because of their outstanding performance.
However, when they are handed a leadership position, their desire for achievement leads to major problems. Leading other people requires spending time training, coaching subordinates, and meeting with them to get work done, as opposed to tasks they enjoy doing themselves.
In addition, because people with a high need for achievement prefer to do the work themselves, they find it difficult to hand over tasks to someone else. They tend to micromanage, and they want employees to work in carefully defined ways. So they may become arrogant bosses because their expectations are very high.
3.2. Belonging
People who are motivated by the desire to belong move forward by feeling accepted by their peers. These people follow social norms and communicate a lot with others.
They tend to avoid interpersonal conflict situations at all costs because they enjoy personal interaction. Employers should also take advantage of this fact, as these people do well in collaborative environments.
However, there are also disadvantages that must be taken into account. It is possible that the need to belong is one of the disadvantages that people who occupy administrative positions suffer from, as they are often overly concerned about other people's perceptions of them.
They may find it difficult to provide negative feedback or punish employees for mistakes or for a decrease in their job performance. Therefore, they may create a work environment headed by mid-level employees in terms of performance. This may cause some of the high performing employees to leave the company.
3.3. Power
McClelland divides power into two categories: power as a trait of personality and institutional power. People who are motivated by power, which is one of their qualities, feel the need to control others. They prefer to be in prestigious positions that enable them to influence reality.
The position is ideal for these people if it provides them with the privilege of controlling others without being affected by the level of their job performance.
On the contrary, people who seek institutional power need to affect other employees to meet the needs of the organization. People who are motivated by institutional power are often more efficient managers than those who seek personal power. In order to benefit employers from this theory, they must provide access to leadership positions for these employees.
As for the disadvantages, the desire to obtain power is undoubtedly an important characteristic that effective managers must possess, but this desire can be a destructive factor if power takes the form of a privilege that only brings benefits to the owner of the power.
It is important for managers to understand the needs that are most important for their employees to motivate them as much as possible.
Employees who have a high need for achievement are more likely to be influenced by having acceptable goals. On the contrary, employees who crave power try to influence other employees, which can be either positive or negative for the company.
As for the employees who are looking to satisfy the need for belonging, they are motivated by feeling accepted by their colleagues. To increase their motivation, they must also be aware of common pitfalls associated with their source of motivation.
4. Victor Vroom's Expectation Theory
Victor Vroom assumed that people decide to do something based on the results they expect to get from doing that action. In the work environment, it can be said, for example, that someone works longer hours because they expect an increase in salary.
Vroom suggests that people reach a high level of enthusiasm and productivity if two conditions are met, namely:
- A person's belief that their efforts will lead to success.
- A person's belief that they will achieve gains from their efforts.
Meaning that people rush to work hard when they see that there is a mutual relationship between their efforts, their achievements, and the gains that they get. This theory assumes that people's behavior is the result of conscious choices that aim to achieve the greatest amount of pleasure and reduce pain as much as possible at the same time. Vroom uses three variables in his theory: expectation, tool, and equivalence.
4.1. The expectation
Expectation includes the thought process based on the assumption that an individual's effort will lead to desired performance. For example, "If I work harder, my performance will get better."
This is affected by three factors:
- Owning the specific resources (e.g., materials, information, and time).
- Possessing the skills required to get the job done.
- Receiving support in your endeavor to get the work done (receiving support from your manager).
4.2. The tool
It is the thought process that involves an individual's expectation that he will receive a reward if he achieves the required performance. For example, "If I perform well, I will be rewarded appropriately."
This is influenced by these factors:
- Having a clear understanding of how performance relates to rewards.
- Confidence that others will make the right decision regarding awarding those who deserve it. For example, you trust that your manager will award bonuses in proportion to the employee's skill, level of responsibility, and amount of knowledge.
- Transparency in the process of receiving results.
4.3. The equivalence
It is the individual's perception of the value of the reward. In order for this element to be motivating, the person must want to obtain the result more than their desire not to achieve it.
For example, if a person's motivation is to get more money, the idea of taking extra time off from work may not excite them. Vroom's expectation theory relies on the individual's perceptions, meaning that methods that may work to increase enthusiasm among the majority of employees may not work for some of them.
In sum, what drives people to do anything is their expectation that they will get the desired result if they achieve their goal; otherwise, they are less motivated if they do not see that the result is worth the effort or because they do not think that doing the work will actually lead to obtaining the reward.
Therefore, if managers want to keep their employees motivated, they need to provide achievable goals and rewards that employees desire.
5. The Hawthorne effect
The Hawthorne Effect was first explained in the 1950s, when researchers noted that people tend to work harder and then perform better when they feel the attention of others.
The original series of studies focused on changing the lighting in Hawthorne laboratories in Chicago and then assessing the impact of this change on workers' performance.
Improved lighting made the workers feel like they were being watched, which led to a temporary increase in their productivity without any change in work practices.
This indicates that an employee's feeling that management cares about them can be a motivating factor for people in all kinds of behaviors, such as eating habits, exercise, work practices, and cleaning habits, as these fields are highly susceptible to immediate modification.
These experiments have led to a significant change in people's understanding of the work relationship with productivity and how people's performance can be improved.
These studies and the theory that resulted from them were placed in a social context and showed that employees' performance is affected by the work environment and the people around them as much as it is affected by their innate abilities.
This theory has been tested in subsequent studies, including one that focused on the hand-washing practices of medical personnel. This study found that when employees knew they were being monitored, they complied with hand washing standards 55% more often than when they were not being monitored.
This theory changed the way most managers think about motivating employees, increasing their productivity, and achieving job satisfaction. The results of studies that tested the validity of this theory showed that improving employee performance is affected by a complex set of attitudes.
Regardless of the potential scrutiny that someone may practice on the employee’s work, the special attention given to employees makes them feel proud and motivates them to work harder because they feel like the center of positive attention from the supervisors.
Managers who applied this mechanism, giving their employees some autonomy or making them feel real appreciation, were able to increase the enthusiasm of their employees. This series of studies suggested that when employees work in groups, they feel a kind of duty towards the group that makes them perform well. This has a positive influence on their motivation to succeed.
The results of this theory improved researchers' understanding of what motivates people. The research was added to other theories because it added the factor of socialization needs when influencing people's motivations and behaviors.
6. The active adaptation theory of Burrhus Skinner
In contrast to other theories, active adaptation theory does not assess an individual's personality. It is based on the idea that people act according to the kind of reward they think they will earn as a result of doing the work.
Skinner assumed that the best way to understand motivation and behavior is to evaluate the causes of action and the consequences of doing the action. The theory addresses three types of factors that influence behavior:
6.1. Neutral factors
Responses that do not increase or decrease the possibility of repeating the behavior. When there is no reward or punishment, reinforcement does not occur. This leads to inhibiting the behavior, which is known as the extinction of the behavior. For example, if your partner sends you frequent text messages throughout the day and you don't respond, they may eventually stop texting.
6.2. Boosters
Environmental responses that increase the possibility of repeating a behavior.
6.3. Punishments
Environmental responses that reduce the possibility of repeating a behavior.
The idea of active adaptation is relatively well known, but you may not know the ways in which this theory is practiced in your daily life. You probably use the principles of this theory either to start a new habit or when you try to modify or get rid of it. You may use it to motivate your children to behave in a certain way or to not act this way.
In the work environment, this theory is used to create motivational systems. If managers want to enhance behavior in their company, they give rewards. If they want to reduce a certain behavior, they impose penalties for doing it. To understand how to use active adaptation in your daily life, try to think of a situation that involves a motivation that leads to a certain behavior leading to a certain result.
A common example is the habit of leaving your clothes and sneakers near your bed at night. This habit can help motivate you to run as your first activity since waking up. This is called reinforcement.
Since boosters—in our example, your shoes and tracksuit—are specific for a certain condition, leaving them in the locker won't have the same reinforcing effect. You probably won't run on the day you leave your gym clothes in the locker. However, if you go out for a run, you'll be rewarded with satisfaction for starting your day with healthy behavior.
Seeing your work clothes as soon as you wake up will not have the same effect on you as seeing your running clothes and sneakers.
Another example, suppose you want your child to sit quietly during an important phone call, and your child complies with orders and sits quietly.
When your call is over, you may want to reward your child for good behavior, depending on the things you know your child enjoys. So you might offer to spend some time playing a game, or you might give them a piece of candy. This is another example of positive reinforcement.
But suppose your child misbehaves, and you deprive them of watching TV for a week. Your child will be less likely to misbehave in the future when they remember this consequence of their unwanted behavior.
You can also give your dog a treat if you are trying to train them or get them to do something. For example, you give your dog a treat when they come home after being allowed out for the last time before bed. You may be training your dog to sit, and when they comply and sit, you give them a treat. Over time, the dog will associate the reward with the desired behavior.
After this explanation, think about ways you reward yourself when you reach your goals or even when you complete a small task, such as allowing yourself to watch your favorite TV show for ten minutes after you exercise for ten minutes straight.
Time is an important component of this theory. It should not separate between performing the behavior and providing the reward or punishment for a long time in order for the relationship between the two factors, the performance and the outcome, to be strengthened. This theory is also considered reliable in a variety of situations, which is why it is so popular.
7. The goal-setting theory of Edwin Locke
The goal-setting theory refers to the effects of setting goals on the future performance of an individual. Locke assumes that goals are the primary driver of an individual's behavior. This theory gives great importance to the specificity of the individual's goal, the difficulty of achieving it, and the individual's acceptance of their goals.
The theory does not stop there; rather, it provides measures of how goals can be incorporated into incentive programs to increase people's motivation. Locke found in his research that people who set specific and difficult goals got better results than people who set easy and general goals. Locke introduced five basic principles for goal setting: clarity, challenge, commitment, feedback, and task complexity.
The Locke framework for effective goal setting includes the following:
- Setting challenging goals that are achievable, specific, and measurable as well is known as a smart goal. These types of goals motivate you to focus on exactly what you want and help you measure your progress.
- Commitment to the goal, without feeling that you have to do the activity, it is not expected that you will make enough effort to achieve the goal, even if it is specific and difficult.
- Participating in the goal setting process. This increases the feeling of self-motivation, and reduces the feeling of pressure caused by pursuing goals that you are not enthusiastic about.
This helps you avoid low performance and lack of dedication to work. Participation in defining your goals ensures a reasonable amount of complexity in tasks, complexity enough to get you excited and at the same time not make you feel overwhelmed.
- The existence of support sources, such as encouragement from others, and other resources, like moral support.
- Practical knowledge of results, because your goals must be quantifiable. Therefore, you must receive a sufficient amount of feedback in order to stay motivated.
One of the most effective ways to maintain motivation is to set high-quality goals for yourself. Let's take this example, let's say you want to lose 20 kg of weight. You could say:
- “I want to lose this weight within the next 12 months, so I am going on a diet.” However, the goal is a bit vague and not defined enough, as you did not specify the weight you want to reach or the methods that you will follow.
- “I want to lose 1 kg every week for the next 12 months. I will train for half an hour, five days a week. I will eat three servings of fresh vegetables every day instead of junk food.” The goal is set because it includes concrete steps that you plan to take.
According to this theory, the simple act of setting a strategic goal increases your chances of reaching that goal.
In conclusion
We hope that this article has helped you gain a better understanding of the mechanism of motivation and helped you choose the means to help you motivate yourself when you want to make a change in your life.
But remember, you do not have to adopt one of these theories. You can take parts of each and apply them to your life to help you feel motivated to succeed in your endeavors.
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