Motivational states come in various degrees of strength. Motivation is commonly defined as what explains why people or animals initiate, continue or terminate a certain behavior at a particular time. 7.2.1 Indigenous education and learning.3.4.4 William McDougall's purposive psychology.3.4.1 Classical and operant conditioning.Specific interest has been given to the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in this field.
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Motivation is also of particular interest to educational psychologists because of its crucial role in student learning. In the field of business, a central question concerns work motivation, for example, what measures an employer can use to ensure that his employees are motivated. Research on motivation has been employed in various fields. Failing to fulfill this requirement results in cases of irrationality, known as akrasia or weakness of the will, in which there is a discrepancy between our beliefs about what we should do and our actions. A central idea in this field is that we should be motivated to perform an action if we believe that we should perform it. Motivation is closely related to practical rationality. Motivational states can also be categorized according to whether the agent is fully aware of why he acts the way he does or not, referred to as conscious and unconscious motivation.
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It has been argued that intrinsic motivation has more beneficial outcomes than extrinsic motivation. Motivation may be either intrinsic, if the activity is desired because it is inherently interesting or enjoyable, or extrinsic, if the agent's goal is an external reward distinct from the activity itself. Behaviorist theories try to explain behavior solely in terms of the relation between the situation and external, observable behavior without explicit reference to conscious mental states. On this view, the higher needs can only provide motivation once the lower needs have been fulfilled. Some of these needs, like for food and water, are more basic than other needs, such as for respect from others. Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs and the ERG theory, for example, posit that humans have certain needs, which are responsible for motivation. They are known as content theories and aim to describe what goals usually or always motivate people. Various competing theories have been proposed concerning the content of motivational states.
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But various other states, such as beliefs about what one ought to do or intentions, may also provide motivation. The paradigmatic mental state providing motivation is desire. This means that we can be motivated to do something without actually doing it. It is often held that different mental states compete with each other and that only the strongest state determines behavior. Motivational states are commonly understood as forces acting within the agent that create a disposition to engage in goal-directed behavior. Motivation is what explains why people or animals initiate, continue or terminate a certain behavior at a particular time. For other uses, see Motivation (disambiguation).