Motivation Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Motivation Theories - Essay Example121-123). In fact, without this fuel human beings would be inactive, leading a casual life. According to the dictionary meaning of motivation, it is an internal state or condition (sometimes described as a need, desire, or want) that serves to activate or energize doings and give it direction. In the field of psychology, human motivation has long been studied as a way to explain an individuals behaviour. In reality, motivation is inferred rather than measured. The demonstration is made due to behavioural changes that result from external stimuli. It is also a performance variable because changes in a souls motivation are frequently of a temporary nature with many plenty, what is high priority today may become singularly unimportant tomorrow.Abraham Maslow first introduced the theory of Motivation in the grade 1954 in his book Motivation and Personality which stated how people satisfied various personal needs in the context of their work. He p ostulated, based on his observations as a humanistic psychologist, that there is a general pattern of needs recognition and satisfaction that people follow in generally the selfsame(prenominal) sequence. He also theorized that a person could not recognize or pursue the next higher need in the hierarchy until her or his presently recognized need was substantially or completely satisfied, a concept called Prepotency (Gawel, 1997). His theory influences a number of fields, including education. This wide influence is due in character reference to the high level of practicality of Maslows (1954) theory. Many people find they can understand what Maslow (1954) says. They can recognize some features of their experience or behavior which is true and diagnosable but which they have never put into words. Below is given the original model of Maslows hierarchy of needs (1954).According to Maslow et al. (1954), there seems to be a hierarchy into which human needs arrange themselves, as per t he above figure. The psychological needs form the base of the model and hence require being satisfied first. These are the basic human needs to sustain life itself-food, clothing, and shelter. Until these basic needs are satisfied to the degree needed for the sufficient operation of the body, the majority of a persons activity will probably be at this level, and the others will provide little motivation. When these needs are somewhat satiated, other needs emerge. Once physiologic needs become gratified, the safety, or security needs become predominant. These needs are essentially the need to be free of the fear of physical hazard and deprivation of the basic physiologic needs. In other words, this is a need for self-preservation. In addition to the here and now, there is a concern for the future. Once physiological and safety needs are fairly well satisfied, social or affiliation will emerge as dominant in the need structure. Since people are social beings, they have a need to belo ng and to be accepted by various groups. When social needs become dominant, a person will strive for meaningful relations with others. After individuals begin to satisfy their need to belong, they generally want to be more than just a share of their group. They then feel the need for esteem- both self-esteem