motivation in relation to psychology

In psychology, motivation is the desire and action towards a behavior aimed at achieving a certain goal. It is one of the important concepts in psychology and in other areas such as school, and business. Motivation is simply what causes an individual to act. It involves forces that activate behavior like emotional forces, biological forces, cognitive and social forces (Lepper & Greene, 2015). Experts indicate that the term motivation is mostly used to describe why a person does something. There are numerous factors that guide and direct motivations. There are however, various components and theories of motivation as proposed by psychologists. However, motivation is divided into two. It can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is where a person’s desire for change originates from with. For example, a person who may want to learn something out of interest can be said to have intrinsic motivation. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is when the desire is from outside the person. For example, a student who does an assignment due to fear of punishment is doing it out of extrinsic motivation. Other examples of extrinsic motivators include paychecks, prizes and rewards among others (Weiner, 1972).