Human Motivation

Solution Preview

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Please see response below, as well as two excellent APA resources for your final copy. I hope this helps and take care.

RESPONSE:

Your tentative outline might look something to the effect...

I. Introduction (about ¼- ½ page; introduce topic; Include a purpose statement: the purpose of this paper is to...).

II. Motivation and Learning
a. Relationship: Motivation, learning, stress and improved happiness and self-esteem
b. Illustrative examples

III. Conclusion (sum up main points)

Now let's look at some information to help you fill in the above outline.

In psychology, motivation refers to the initiation, direction, intensity and persistence of behavior (Geen, 1995). Motivation is a temporal and dynamic state that should not be confused with personality or emotion. Motivation is having the desire and willingness to do or learn something new. A motivated person can be reaching for a long-term goal such as becoming a professional writer or a more short-term goal like learning how to spell a particular word. Personality invariably refers to more or less permanent characteristics of an individual's state of being (e.g., shy, extrovert, conscientious). As opposed to motivation, emotion refers to temporal states that do not immediately link to behavior (e.g., anger, grief, happiness). (Motivation)

Motivation and Learning

Motivation is of particular interest to Educational psychologists because of the crucial role it plays in student learning. Similarly, it is also important to business managers who are interested in employees being motivated to learn new tasks and activities. However, the specific kind of motivation that is studied in the specialized setting of education differs qualitatively from the more general forms of motivation studied by psychologists in other fields (Education).

For example, motivation in education and learning can have several effects on how students learn and their behavior towards subject matter (Ormrod, 2003). It can:

1. Direct behavior toward particular goals
2. Lead to increased effort and energy
3. Increase initiation of, and persistence in, activities
4. Enhance cognitive processing
5. Determine what consequences are reinforcing
6. Lead to improved performance (Ormrod, 2003).

Because students are not always internally motivated, they sometimes need situated motivation, which is found in environmental conditions that the teacher creates (Education). For example, there are two kinds of motivation:

· Intrinsic motivation occurs when people are internally motivated to do something because it either brings them pleasure, they think it is important, or they feel that what they are learning is morally significant. (Intrinsic Motivation) For example, if a person has a mathematical ability, he or he will be motivated to learn algebra, which brings them happiness and a an increased sense of happiness.

· Extrinsic motivation comes into play when a student is compelled to do something or act a certain way because of factors external to him or her (like money or good grades) (Extrinsic Motivation). The American psychologist, Abraham ...