Emotional drive, otherwise known as motivation, is defined by Princeton University's WordNet as "the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior." Psychologists have formulated a number of theories as to the nature of motivation. Motivation can be harnessed and directed toward specific goals if proper techniques are used.
Extrinsic vs. Instrinsic Motivation
Motivation can be divided into extrinsic and intrinsic factors, according to Florida International University's Encyclopedia of Psychology. Extrinsic factors include money, social status, good grades or other forms of recognition and rewards. Intrinsic factors include moral imperative, pleasure and sense of accomplishment. Intrinsic motivation is considered the more powerful of the two, because if you are intrinsically motivated, you don't have to be "bribed" with external rewards to accomplish a task.
Unconscious Motivation
Psychologist Sigmund Freud and his followers believed that most of the factors that influence human motivation have been repressed into the unconscious mind, yet they still influence behavior. According to Freud, many of these motivations are rooted in childhood conflicts such as sibling rivalry. They represent the individual's attempts to symbolically resolve these conflicts. A middle child from a large family, for example, may exhibit a strong need to achieve as an adult in order to obtain the attention and recognition that was denied to him as a child.
Self-Control
A person is said to have self-control when his conscious mind is able to focus his motivation on the achievement of a rationally selected goal. Victor Vroom, business professor at the Yale School of Management, says this type of motivation is achieved when motivation is linked to effort and performance in particular ways. According to Vroom, conscious motivation is maximized when a person believes that increased effort will improve performance, that increased performance will maximize rewards (whether extrinsic or intrinsic), and that the available rewards are desirable.
Modern Psychology--Theories of Motivation
Modern psychologists have developed a number of theories to partially or completely explain human motivation. Instinct theory, for example, asserts that a significant portion of human motivation arises from unconscious instinctive responses such as the "fight or flight" reaction. Drive theory focuses on the conscious motivation that results from an attempt to relieve tension caused by unmet biological needs such as hunger, thirst and safety. Incentive theory is designed to explain behavior that is subject to social rewards and punishments, such as job performance. Many other theories of motivation have been developed.
Application
A number of psychologists and laymen have proposed prescriptive techniques designed to teach people how to harness motivation to achieve specific goals and develop greater self-control. Author and speaker Dr. Philip E. Humbert advocates placing primary emphasis on effective goal-setting as a tool to motivate yourself. According to Humbert and many other theorists and advisers, goals should follow the SMART example--specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound in order to maximize motivation. They should be recorded so that they can be reviewed periodically.
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