Sources Of Motivation

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Sources of Motivation Motivation can be defined in a number of different ways. Most often motivation is described as a driving force, or a push that moves a person in a particular direction. Motivation can come from either internal sources such as biological and psychological variables, the need for food, or friendship, or from external sources, such as incentives and goals, for example graduating college or getting a promotion at work. "To be motivated is to be moved into action, or to decide on a change in action" according to the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1841/1960)" (Lambert Deckers, 2010, p. 3). Internal Motivation The most common internal source of motivation for a person is a biological variable, and that is the need for food, or hunger. Hunger drives or pushes a person to seek out food, to lessen the feeling of hunger. The strength of the push or drive is determined by how hungry a person is. For example if a person has not eaten for hours, maybe they have skipped lunch and it is well into the evening, the drive from their hunger may push them to find a fast food restaurant, or a nearby grocery store to sate the hunger feeling. But if a person is only mildly hungry the drive, or push of hunger will be less significant and a person may go home and take the time necessary to cook a full meal. External Motivation Another common source of motivation is money. As an external source of motivation, money can also be considered a psychological variable of motivation. A person wanting to make more than a stable, or a very significant amount of money during their life time will be motivated to not only go to college, but also graduate school to become a professional in their chosen career, and will be driven to achieve better than average. To attain better than average grades this person will also need to study hard and make personal scarifies, for

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