Theories of Motivation

We will learn and understand what motivates behavior.

In the 1900s, psychologist William McDougall proposed that humans were motivated by a variety of instincts. Instincts are natural or inherited tendencies of an organism to make a specific response to certain environmental stimuli without involving reason. Instincts occur in almost the same way among all members of a species.

Instinct & Behavior

You may go out to dinner with your friends because you need to satisfy your hunger, which is an extrinsic motivation. You also may go out to dinner with your friends because you enjoy the taste of the restaurant’s food and you wish to socialize with your friends, both of these things being intrinsic motivations.

Motivation