Motivation

Motivation has been shown to have roots in physiological, behavioral, cognitive, and social areas. Motivation may be rooted in a basic impulse to optimize well-being, minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure. It can also originate from specific physical needs such as eating, sleeping or resting, and sex. Motivation is an inner drive to behave or act in a certain manner. Types of theories and models[edit] Motivational theories[edit] A class of theories about why people do things seeks to reduce the number of factors down to one and explain all behaviour through that one factor. Conscious and unconscious motivations[edit] A number of motivational theories emphasize the distinction between conscious and unconscious motivations. Freud is associated with the idea that human beings have many unconscious motivations that cause them to make important decisions because of these unconscious forces, such as choosing a partner. Psychological theories and models[edit] Rational motivations[edit]

Mindset (book) Carol S. Dweck (born October 17, 1946) is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University.[1] She graduated from Barnard College in 1967 and earned a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1972. She taught at Columbia University, Harvard University, and the University of Illinois before joining the Stanford faculty in 2004. Contributions[edit] Professor Dweck has primary research interests in motivation,[2][3][4][5][6][7] personality, and development. "In a fixed mindset students believe their basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits. This is important because (1) individuals with a "growth" theory are more likely to continue working hard despite setbacks and (2) individuals' theories of intelligence can be affected by subtle environmental cues. Selected publications[edit] Dweck, C. Sources[edit] See also[edit] Goal orientation References[edit]

Interview with Alfie Kohn | LearnCentral Flow (psychology) Concentrating on a task is one aspect of flow. In positive psychology, flow, also known colloquially as being in the zone, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting loss in one's sense of space and time. Flow shares many characteristics with hyperfocus. However, hyperfocus is not always described in a positive light. Just as with the conditions listed above, these conditions can be independent of one another. Ideas similar to flow have been recognized throughout history and across cultures. Flow theory postulates three conditions that have to be met to achieve a flow state: Schaffer (2013) proposed 7 flow conditions: Young child, painting a model Flow may occur in challenging sports such as eventing. Csikszentmihályi writes about the dangers of flow himself:

Punished by Rewards Our basic strategy for raising children, teaching students, and managing workers can be summarized in six words: Do this and you'll get that. We dangle goodies (from candy bars to sales commissions) in front of people in much the same way that we train the family pet. In this groundbreaking book, Alfie Kohn shows that while manipulating people with incentives seems to work in the short run, it is a strategy that ultimately fails and even does lasting harm. Our workplaces and classrooms will continue to decline, he argues, until we begin to question our reliance on a theory of motivation derived from laboratory animals. Drawing from hundreds of studies, Kohn demonstrates that people actually do inferior work when they are enticed with money, grades, or other incentives. Step by step, Kohn marshals research and logic to prove that pay-for-performance plans cannot work; the more an organization relies on incentives, the worse things get.