Brett Favre's Motivation Theory

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Motivation Evaluation Jamie Hantsbarger PSY 230 January 15, 2012 Playing football was the life of former NFL Quarterback Brett Favre. In 2008, the Green Bay quarterback announced his retirement after playing football for 17 years. A few months after that decision, Favre made another, even bigger decision; he no longer wanted to retire. Since Green Bay had already filled their starting position, Favre was traded to the New York Jets on August 7, 2008 (OfficialBrettFavre.com, 2012). The media made such a huge deal about Favre’s’ un-retirement. What the media did not realize is that Favre’s decision was just that; his own decision. His motivation to play the game out-weighed every other aspect of him playing; age, health, what others’…show more content…
At the heart of his psychoanalytic view, Freud developed his theory of motivation. It consists of four basic propositions; determinism, drive, conflict, and the unconscious. Therefore, according to Freud’s theory, we have little control of the forces that determine human behavior and experience. People were put here for a reason and are just pawns of giant chess game. According to the Motivational Theory, Brett Favre was put on this earth to play football; he lives for football. The forces within Favre drove him to keep playing football. The level of conflict Favre has going inside is insanely high. As a superstar football player made a big decision to come back and play more football, there were many people he feels he must please to keep his fame. The anxiety level that comes along with these conflicts has to be tremendous on oneself. Fourth, and final motivation proposition is what is unconscious to us; the behaviors we have no control over and conflicts which cause anxiety. For Brett Favre, his mind is so focused on football, which in any decision he makes, consciously or unconsciously, football is his game. In his mind, he was not done playing football. While Freud believed people behaved unconsciously, humanistic theorists believed…show more content…
Henry Murray’s theory of needs is a well-known representative for the diversity tradition in human motivation. According to Murray, people have needs that must be met in order to achieve self-fulfillment, and satisfaction in one’s life. Playing football fulfilled Favre’s goals and dreams. The need for aggression, dominance, affiliation with his team, and understanding of the game were met during any game Favre would play. There is no question why Favre made the decision to continue playing football in 2008. Nearly all of his psychogenic needs are met simply by playing a game of football. His needs for achievement and accomplishment were met while playing the game. For some reason, Favre must not have felt accomplished enough to quit in

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