motivation : Social and self regulation

The self-control of motivation is increasingly understood as a subset of emotional intelligence; a person may be highly intelligent according to a more conservative definition (as measured by many intelligence tests), yet unmotivated to dedicate this intelligence to certain tasks. Victor Vroom's "expectancy theory" provides an account of when people will decide whether to exert self control to pursue a particular goal. Self control is often contrasted with automatic processes of stimulus-response, as in the behaviorist's paradigm of B.F. Skinner.

Drives and desires can be described as a deficiency or need that activates behaviour that is aimed at a goal or an incentive. These are thought to originate within the individual and may not require external stimuli to encouarge the behaviour. Basic drives could be sparked by deficiencies such as hunger, which motivates a person to seek food; whereas more subtle drives might be the desire for praise and approval, which motivates a person to behave in a manner pleasing to others.

By contrast, the role of extrinsic rewards and stimuli can be seen in the example of training animals by giving them treats when they perform a trick correctly. The treat motivates the animals to perform the trick consistently, even later when the treat is removed from the process.

Maslow's Theory
Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of human needs theory is the most widely discussed theories of motivation.

The theory can be summarized as thus:

Human beings have wants and desires which influence their behaviour, only unsatisfied needs can influence behaviour, satisfied needs cannot.
Since needs are many, they are arranged in order of importance, from the basic to the complex.
The person advances to the next level of needs only after the lower level need is at least minimally satisfied.
The further the progress up the hierarchy, the more individuality, humanness and psychological health a person will show.
The needs, listed from basic (lowest, earliest) to most complex (highest, latest) are as follows:

Physiological
Safety and security
Love
Self esteem
Self actualization
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Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
Frederick Herzberg's two factor theory, concludes that certain factors in the workplace result in job satisfaction, while others lead to dissatisfaction.

He distinguished between: motivation and hygiene

Motivators; (e.g. challenging work, recognition, responsibility) which give positive satisfaction, and
Hygiene factors; (e.g. status, job security, salary and fringe benefits) which do not give positive satisfaction, although dissatisfaction results from their absence.
The theory is sometimes called the Motivator-Hygiene Theory.

Alderfer’s ERG Theory
Created by Clayton Alderfer, Maslow's hierarchy of needs was expanded, leading to his ERG theory (Existence, Relatedness and Growth). Physiological and safety, the lower order needs, were placed in the Existence category. Love and self esteem needs were placed in the Relatedness category. The Growth category contained the self actualization and self esteem needs.

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