IV.14.7. Personality and feelings

Author: Yuri Petrovich Platonov, Doctor of Psychology, Professor of St. Petersburg State University, Rector of the St. Petersburg State Institute of Psychology and Social Work, Honored Worker of Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

The diversity of human needs also determines the diversity of motives for behavior and activity, however, some motives are quite often updated and have a significant impact on human behavior, while others act only in certain circumstances. Let's consider the main types of motives.

Self-affirmation motive

The desire to establish oneself in society; associated with self-esteem, ambition, self-love. A person tries to prove to others that he is worth something, strives to obtain a certain status in society, wants to be respected and appreciated. Sometimes the desire for self-affirmation is referred to as prestige motivation (the desire to obtain or maintain a high social status).

Thus, the desire for self-affirmation, for increasing one’s formal and informal status, for a positive assessment of one’s personality is a significant motivational factor that encourages a person to work intensively and develop.

Motive for identification with another person

The desire to be like a hero, an idol, an authoritative figure (father, teacher, etc.) This motive encourages you to work and develop. It is especially relevant for teenagers who try to copy the behavior of other people.

The desire to be like an idol is an essential motive of behavior, under the influence of which a person develops and improves.

Identification with another person leads to an increase in the individual’s energy potential due to the symbolic “borrowing” of energy from the idol (object of identification): strength, inspiration, desire to work and act as the hero (idol, father, etc.) did. By identifying with the hero , the teenager becomes bolder.

Having a model, an idol with whom young people would strive to identify themselves and whom they would try to copy, from whom they would learn to live and work, is an important condition for an effective socialization process.

Power motive

The individual's desire to influence people. Power motivation (the need for power) is one of the most important driving forces of human action. This is the desire to take a leadership position in a group (collective), an attempt to lead people, determine and regulate their activities.

The motive of power occupies an important place in the hierarchy of motives. The actions of many people (for example, managers of various ranks) are motivated by the motive of power. The desire to dominate and lead other people is a motive that encourages them to overcome significant difficulties and make enormous efforts in the process of activity. A person works hard not for the sake of self-development or satisfaction of his cognitive needs, but in order to gain influence on individuals or a team.

A manager may be motivated to act not by the desire to benefit society as a whole or an individual team, not by a sense of responsibility, i.e. not by social motives, but by the motive of power. In this case, all his actions are aimed at gaining or maintaining power and pose a threat to both the cause and the structure that he heads.

Procedural-substantive motives

Inducement to activity by the process and content of the activity, and not by external factors. A person likes to perform this activity, to demonstrate his intellectual or physical activity. He is interested in the content of what he is doing.

The action of other social and personal motives (power, self-affirmation, etc.) can enhance motivation, but they are not directly related to the content and process of activity, but are only external to it, therefore these motives are often called external, or extrinsic. In the case of the action of procedural-substantive motives, a person likes and encourages the process and content of a certain activity to be active.

ALSO SEE: Law (but) and morality (but): arguments for and against

An individual is encouraged to play sports by procedural-substantive motives when the process and content of the game cause satisfaction, and not by factors that are not related to sports activities (money, self-affirmation, power, etc.)

The meaning of activity during the actualization of procedural and content motives lies in the activity itself (the process and content of activity are the factor that encourages a person to show physical and intellectual activity).

IV.14.7. Personality and feelings

A person’s feelings not only form an integral part of his personality (since any experience is always personal in nature), but they themselves are important for the formation of his personality, for his acquisition of certain qualities and traits. The role of feelings in self-awareness and self-knowledge A person learns his capabilities in mental activity, in the work of memory, in the flight of fantasy on the basis of those acts and operations that he systematically carries out in the sphere of thinking, memory and imagination. Thanks to such activity, he becomes convinced of what he is capable of, to what extent he has certain qualities of mind, memory, etc. But the process of self-knowledge also occurs on the basis of a person’s experience of a number of different feelings. What can a person discover in himself through the experience of certain feelings? The experience of feeling often arises as an involuntary emotional reaction of a person to a particular incident or event. The person himself may be surprised by the emotional strength of the impression made on him, the nature of the emotional response manifested in him, and the duration of the experience that arose. Thus, he may be horrified that instead of sympathy for a person’s failures, he experienced a state of schadenfreude, instead of goodwill - jealousy, instead of indignation at a hooligan act - fear. The man suddenly discovered aspects of his nature that he did not accept. And it may turn out that instead of the fear that he believed he would have in such a situation, a person develops a state of mobilization and readiness to fight back; instead of indifference, he experienced the warmth of excitement for another person. So he discovered some new sides of himself that he himself did not know about. A sufficiently strong experience that arises on a certain occasion can reveal to the person himself that there are values in the world for him that, as it seemed to him, were indifferent to him, but in fact they are significant to him. So, he can realize that he is concerned and affected by certain social and civic values, he can realize how dear a certain person is to him. Art, some of its genres, specific creations of artists suddenly acquire greater attractiveness for a person, although before they may not have bothered him. Based on the experiences that arise, a person not only better understands what he is not indifferent to, but his own passions and interests are clearly revealed to him. The acute experience of certain phenomena in the sphere of morality, the bright feeling of love that has awakened in him, not only reveals to him new values that excite him in the world, but also reveals something new for him in himself. Experiences experienced - happy or unhappy love, (experienced great grief - change to some extent the person himself, make him more mature, because new milestones have appeared in life experience that change his attitude to certain things, to ideas about happiness, about his future.The variety of experienced experiences, their content, strength reveal some of the personality qualities inherent in a person: weak or strong emotional susceptibility to various kinds of influences, greater or lesser emotional contagiousness, etc. Based on the experienced experiences and changes in life experience, a person begins differently realize oneself. And this entails some shifts in his self-awareness. Thus, based on the emergence and stable presence of feelings that a person considers valuable and desirable, his self-esteem and self-respect change - they become higher. This is associated with changes in his well-being, in his self-awareness.An unexpected and strong experience of such feelings that a person does not accept and rejects gives rise to an internal conflict in him. And if unwanted feelings have a strong hold over him, then this leads not only to a decrease in self-esteem, but also to a desire to free himself from the burden of such experiences and associated personality traits. This need entails the activation of the process of self-regulation of feelings. Self-regulation in the sphere of feelings Self-regulation in the sphere of feelings occupies a fairly large place in a person’s mental life, since the emotional sphere is connected with different aspects of his inner life. The ways and forms of self-regulation are diverse. The ways a person regulates his emotional processes - moods and states, individual experiences or emotional attitudes towards various life phenomena - are quite complex psychologically. This is explained by the fact that the appearance of a feeling, although it is prepared by the entire course of development and well-being of the individual, is often experienced by a person as something unforeseen and unexpected (an explosion of anger during a disagreement, the experience of sadness from parting, aesthetic delight from listening to music, etc.). Therefore, the regulation of processes in the emotional sphere excludes acts that are in the nature of direct self-command, but acts in the form of psychological operations that are indirect in nature. We have already talked about one type of self-regulation in the sphere of feelings - this is the regulation of the expression of one’s experiences. But there are also other, quite important areas of application of self-regulation. It must be remembered that a person does not experience the different feelings that capture him in the same way. This concerns not only their strength, depth and duration, but also concerns the attitude of the person himself to the feelings he experiences. A person takes an appropriate position in relation to the feelings and emotional states that arise in him, based on the social norms that have been mastered and have already become his personal property. He approves of some of his experiences, is neutral towards others, and rejects others. Those feelings and moods that he approves of, considers valuable and elevating his personality, he strives to support in himself, to give them the opportunity to develop. He allows feelings to which he is neutral to develop unhindered. He tries, if possible, to suppress, weaken, and overcome the rejected feelings. The motives why a person wants to suppress this or that feeling are of a different nature. Sometimes a person is frightened not by the feeling itself, but by the strength of this feeling - a person has fallen deeply in love, and this creates in him a spiritual conflict of connection with a moral duty in relation to his already existing and dear family. Then the person seeks to weaken or suppress his feeling. Motives are of a different nature when a person is possessed by feelings and impulses that he considers immoral, unworthy, leading him to fall in his own eyes. For example, when he is overcome by an unworthy passion that he would like to eradicate from himself. What is the psychological mechanism for suppressing such feelings? Just as you cannot, by way of self-command, evoke in yourself a feeling that you do not experience, but consider desirable - for example, to love a person whom you only respect, so you cannot, by way of self-command, destroy in yourself the feeling that has captured you. We have to use workarounds. Thus, in the fight against a feeling and mood that a person considers dangerous for himself, he resorts to self-distraction, switching his attention and energy to activities that deprive him of the time and opportunity to live with this feeling. Acts of conscious self-distraction - Andrei Bolkonsky, after breaking up with Natasha Rostova, leaves for the army and burdens himself with many responsibilities - can also be supported by a special prohibition to think about certain phenomena and people, to recreate in one’s imagination pictures and episodes that have anything to do with them. A person’s actions take on a different character when he wants to suppress feelings and impulses that he considers immoral. Self-distraction only works when the unworthy passion has not yet truly taken root. In the case when the immoral feeling is already strong enough, the struggle for the best in oneself requires other psychological actions. A strong feeling can only be suppressed with the help of another, no less strong feeling. Based on a growing sense of shame in front of oneself and others, fear of losing the respect of other people and inciting horror in oneself at the prospect of moral failure, feelings that resist those rejected become stronger in a person. Thus, a warrior can painfully condemn himself for the feeling of fear that forced him to run away or leave a comrade in trouble. Acts of self-regulation have different features when feelings arise in a person that he considers valuable and dear. He then strives to support this feeling within himself, to give it the opportunity to develop unhindered. First of all, such feelings are protected from possible ridicule, irony, etc., which could dampen these feelings. Hence the desire to hide from insensitive, unkind people the dear experiences of friendship, love, civic impulses, etc. A person strives not to allow himself impressions that can distract him from dear feelings and motives, arouse in him other impulses and tendencies. This is where a person’s desire arises, when he is possessed by such cherished feelings, to avoid encountering harsh impressions, not to take part in entertainment in vulgar company, etc. Self-regulation associated with maintaining a good vitality, a cheerful mood, despite emerging difficulties, occurs in the form of acts of self-encouragement, bringing oneself into a state of readiness to fight difficulties, and developing an attitude to approach life’s complications actively. Thus, a person uses a whole series of actions that are aimed at mastering his emotional sphere. The implementation of such work becomes for her an indicator of the process of self-control, the process of improving herself as an individual.

Topics to prepare for seminar classes

The concept of feelings. Feelings and emotions. Physiological mechanisms of emotions. The essence of electrophysiological studies of emotional states. Qualitative differences in the emotions of animals and humans. A person's mastery of the expression of feelings. Forms of experiencing feelings. Higher feelings and their socio-historical nature. The personal nature of human experiences. Personality as a subject of feelings. Self-regulation activities in the sphere of emotions and feelings.

Topics for essays

The role of education of feelings in the formation of personality. Stress and affect as special mental states and the causes that cause them.

Literature

Kovalev A.G. Education of feelings. M., “Pedagogy”, 1971. Luk A. N. About the sense of humor and wit. M., “Art”, 1968. Jacobson P. M. Psychology of feelings. M., Uchpedgiz, 1961. Yakobson P. M. Emotional life of a schoolchild. M., “Enlightenment”, 1966.

Extrinsic (external) motives

This is a group of motives when the motivating factors lie outside the activity. In the case of extrinsic motives, activity is encouraged not by the content or process of the activity, but by factors that are not directly related to it (for example, prestige or material factors). Let's consider some types of extreme motives:

motive of duty and responsibility to society, group, individuals;
motives of self-determination and self-improvement;
the desire to gain the approval of other people;
the desire to obtain a high social status (prestigious motivation). In the absence of interest in the activity (procedural-content motivation), there is a desire for those external attributes that the activity can bring - excellent grades, getting a diploma, fame in the future;
motives for avoiding troubles and punishment (negative motivation) are motivations caused by the awareness of some troubles and inconveniences that may arise if an activity is not performed.

If, in the process of activity, extrinsic motives are not supported by procedural-substantive ones, i.e., interest in the content and process of the activity, then they will not provide the maximum effect. In the case of extreme motives, it is not the activity itself that is attractive, but only what is associated with it (for example, prestige, fame, material well-being), and this is often not enough to motivate activity.

Methods for studying and diagnosing motivation

Let us briefly outline the most popular methods for studying and diagnosing motivation:

Q-sort by F. Stefanson . The test is suitable for studying human behavior in a group. The technique reveals the severity of six main motives: dependence, independence, sociability, unsociability, acceptance of the “struggle,” avoidance of the “struggle.” The essence of the test is that the subject needs to distribute a list of statements about himself for consistency: from “completely true” to “completely false.”
Test of humorous phrases by A.G. Shmeleva and A.S. Babina . This is a projective test. The subject is asked to distribute the aphorisms into groups and give a name to each group. This will be a motivational portrait of the individual. And the number of cards in each group shows how dominant each of the motives is.
List of personal preferences of A. Edwards . The test taker needs to choose one statement from a pair. There are several pairs in total. The result is a hierarchy of motives.

There are tests to determine group motivation, motivation for success and failure, the hierarchy of motives and needs, the study of educational motivation and many others. In general, questionnaires, personality questionnaires and projective techniques are used to diagnose motivation. Motivation of certain types of activities, its experimental studies

There are several theories regarding the motivation of activities. Let's look at the most popular one.

S. L. Rubinshtein identified the following types of activities and motivation: • play, • work, • educational, • creative.

Among the motives of gaming activity one can highlight: • the desire for pleasure (S. Freud, C. Jung); • the desire to “be like an adult” (A. N. Leontiev, L. S. Vygotsky, D. B. Elkonin).

Theories regarding work motivation: • the more people are satisfied with their work, the better and more willingly they perform it, it is important to encourage workers (V. Vroom and E. Deasy); • all people are lazy, you need to intimidate them, force them to work, but at the same time, work in itself can bring satisfaction, it is as natural as playing or relaxing (D. McGregor); • for women, relationships within the team are more important, for men the importance of work is more important (V.A. Yadov and A.G. Zdravomyslov).

Experimental studies of educational motivation can be divided into groups:

Motivation of first graders. It is the attendance at school itself that is attractive, not the learning (L.I. Bozhovich).
Motivation of younger preschoolers. Motivation predominates due to a sense of duty (I.M. Verenikina). Sometimes social motivation is noticeable, that is, the desire to please mom, dad, teacher (M.V. Matyukhina).
Motivating middle school students. Interest in a specific subject prevails. At the same time, there is a noticeable motive to earn one’s place among one’s peers (L.I. Bozhovich).
Motivation of high school students. The main motive is preparation for further education (V.L. Muntyan).
Motivation of students. Motivation is associated with the desire to get a prestigious job, as well as with an interest in a fun student life. Interest in studying is rare; more often the desire to get “crusts” is noticeable (A.N. Pechnikov and G.A. Mukhina).

All that remains is to consider creative activity. Its main motive is the need for self-realization, self-actualization, self-expression and self-improvement. As a rule, a true creator is not interested in the material side of the issue or the recognition of his works by society. Although the latter would be a nice bonus.

Self-development motive

The desire for self-development, self-improvement. This is an important motive that encourages an individual to work hard and develop. According to A. Maslow, this is the desire to fully realize one’s abilities and the desire to feel one’s competence.

As a rule, moving forward always requires a certain amount of courage. A person often holds on to the past, to his achievements, peace and stability. Fear of risk and the threat of losing everything holds him back on the path of self-development.

Thus, a person often seems to be “torn between the desire to move forward and the desire for self-preservation and security.” On the one hand, he strives for something new, and on the other, fear of danger and something unknown, the desire to avoid risk restrains his movement forward.

Maslow argued that development occurs when the next step forward objectively brings more joy, more inner satisfaction than previous acquisitions and victories, which have become something ordinary and even boring.

Self-development and movement forward are often accompanied by intrapersonal conflict, but do not constitute violence against oneself. Moving forward is anticipation, anticipation of new pleasant sensations and impressions.

When it is possible to actualize a person’s motive for self-development, the strength of his motivation for activity increases. Talented coaches, teachers, and managers know how to use the motive of self-development, pointing out to their students (athletes, subordinates) the opportunity to develop and improve.

What motivates people: typology of motives

Self-affirmation motive

- the desire to establish oneself in society; associated with self-esteem, ambition, self-love. A person tries to prove to others that he is worth something, strives to obtain a certain status in society, wants to be respected and appreciated. Sometimes the desire for self-affirmation is referred to as prestige motivation (the desire to obtain or maintain a high social status).

The motive for identification with another person is the desire to be like a hero, an idol, an authoritative figure (father, teacher, etc.). This motive encourages you to work and develop. It is especially relevant for teenagers who try to copy the behavior of other people.

The desire to be like an idol is an essential motive of behavior, under the influence of which a person develops and improves.

Identification with another person leads to an increase in the individual’s energy potential due to the symbolic “borrowing” of energy from the idol (object of identification): strength, inspiration, and the desire to work and act as the hero (idol, father, etc.) did. By identifying with the hero, the teenager becomes bolder.

Power motive

- the individual’s desire to influence people. Power motivation (the need for power) is one of the most important driving forces of human action. This is the desire to take a leadership position in a group (collective), an attempt to lead people, determine and regulate their activities.

Procedural-substantive motives

- motivation to activity by the process and content of activity, and not by external factors. A person likes to perform this activity, to demonstrate his intellectual or physical activity. He is interested in the content of what he is doing. The action of other social and personal motives (power, self-affirmation, etc.) can enhance motivation, but they are not directly related to the content and process of activity, but are only external to it, therefore these motives are often called external, or extrinsic. In the case of the action of procedural-substantive motives, a person likes and encourages the process and content of a certain activity to be active.

For example, a person goes in for sports because he simply likes to demonstrate his physical and intellectual activity (ingenuity and unconventional actions in sports are also significant factors for success). An individual is encouraged to play sports by procedural-substantive motives when the process and content of the game cause satisfaction, and not by factors that are not related to sports activities (money, self-affirmation, power, etc.).

Extrinsic (external) motives

- such a group of motives when the motivating factors lie outside the activity. In the case of extrinsic motives, activity is encouraged not by the content or process of the activity, but by factors that are not directly related to it (for example, prestige or material factors). Let's consider some types of extreme motives:

motive of duty and responsibility to society, group, individuals;
motives of self-determination and self-improvement;
the desire to gain the approval of other people;
the desire to obtain a high social status (prestigious motivation). In the absence of interest in the activity (procedural-content motivation), there is a desire for those external attributes that the activity can bring - excellent grades, getting a diploma, fame in the future;
motives for avoiding troubles and punishment (negative motivation) are motivations caused by the awareness of some troubles and inconveniences that may arise if an activity is not performed.

Self-development motive

- desire for self-development, self-improvement. This is an important motive that encourages an individual to work hard and develop. According to A. Maslow, this is the desire to fully realize one’s abilities and the desire to feel one’s competence.

A. Maslow argued that development occurs when the next step forward objectively brings more joy, more internal satisfaction than previous acquisitions and victories, which have become something ordinary and even boring.

Achievement motive

— the desire to achieve high results and mastery in activities; it manifests itself in the choice of difficult tasks and the desire to complete them. Success in any activity depends not only on abilities, skills, knowledge, but also on motivation to achieve. A person with a high level of achievement motivation, striving to obtain significant results, works persistently to achieve his goals.

Achievement motivation (and behavior that is aimed at high results) even for the same person is not always the same and depends on the situation and subject of activity. Some people choose complex problems in mathematics, while others, on the contrary, limiting themselves to modest goals in the exact sciences, choose complex topics in literature, striving to achieve high results in this area. What determines the level of motivation in each specific activity? Scientists identify four factors:

the importance of achieving success;
hope for success;
subjectively assessed probability of achieving success;
subjective standards of achievement.

Prosocial (socially significant) motives are motives associated with awareness of the social significance of an activity, with a sense of duty, responsibility to a group or society. In the case of prosocial (socially significant) motives, the individual identifies with the group. A person not only considers himself a member of a certain social group, not only identifies with it, but also lives by its problems, interests and goals.

A person who is driven to action by prosocial motives is characterized by normativity, loyalty to group standards, recognition and protection of group values, and the desire to realize group goals. Responsible people, as a rule, are more active and perform their professional duties more often and more conscientiously. They believe that the common cause depends on their work and efforts.

It is quite important for a manager to update the corporate spirit among his subordinates, since without identification with the group (company), namely, with its values, interests, and goals, it is impossible to achieve success.

A public figure (politician) who identifies more than others with his country and lives by its problems and interests will be more active in his activities and will do everything possible for the prosperity of the state.

Thus, prosocial motives associated with identification with the group, a sense of duty and responsibility are important in motivating a person to act. The actualization of these motives in the subject of activity can cause his activity in achieving socially significant goals.

Affiliation motive (from the English affiliation - accession)

- the desire to establish or maintain relationships with other people, the desire for contact and communication with them. The essence of affiliation is the intrinsic value of communication. Affiliative communication is communication that brings satisfaction, captures, and pleases a person.

An individual, however, can also communicate because he is trying to settle his affairs and establish useful contacts with the necessary people. In this case, communication is motivated by other motives, is a means of satisfying other needs of the individual, and has nothing in common with affiliative motivation.

The purpose of affiliative communication may be the search for love (or, in any case, sympathy) on the part of the communication partner.

Negative motivation

- motivations caused by the awareness of possible troubles, inconveniences, punishments that may follow in case of failure to perform an activity. For example, a schoolchild may be motivated to study by the demands and threats of his parents, or by the fear of receiving unsatisfactory grades. Studying under the influence of such a motive takes on the character of a protective action and is compulsory.

In the case of negative motivation, a person is encouraged to act by fear of possible troubles or punishment and the desire to avoid them. He reasons like this: “If I don’t do this, then trouble awaits me.” This is what drives action under the influence of negative motivation.

The forms of negative sanctions that can be applied and that can actualize negative motivation are varied:

verbal (verbal) punishment (condemnation, reprimand, etc.);
material sanctions (fine, deprivation of privileges, scholarships);
social isolation (neglect, ignorance, rejection by the group, social ostracism);
deprivation of liberty;
physical punishment.

The main disadvantage of negative sanctions is the short duration of their influence: they stimulate activity (or deter undesirable actions) only for the period of their action.

Negative motivation has a stronger influence on a person, the greater his confidence in the inevitability of punishment.

Thus, negative motivation, including punishment, is a fairly strong motivational factor that can motivate a person to activity, but is not without many disadvantages and undesirable consequences.
Current and potential motives
Motives that occupy a leading place, are constantly updated and have a significant motivational influence on human activity are called active. Motives located at the bottom of the motivational hierarchy, which have little influence on a person’s activity and often do not appear at all, are called potential, since at a given specific period of time they do not exert a motivating influence, but can be actualized under certain circumstances.

Under the influence of certain factors, potential motives acquire motivating significance (become active motives).
For example, after a conversation with a manager, a subordinate’s social motive (responsibility), which was passive (did not encourage activity), acquires greater motivating significance and becomes active. The dynamism of the hierarchy of motives
The hierarchy of motives is not an absolutely stable motivational complex; it changes over time and age (depending on circumstances and the influence of people). For example, a subordinate is motivated to work by the manager's demands and the desire to avoid trouble. Later, this motive has less influence on his activity, and the cognitive motive may acquire leading importance.

The motivational sphere is quite dynamic: the meaning and influence of individual motives change (accordingly, the hierarchy of motives also changes). Various factors can change this hierarchy, however, despite the dynamism of the motivational sphere, each person is characterized by relative stability of the hierarchy of motives. It can be argued that the motives that motivate us to activity are relatively stable, unchanged over a certain period of time. The relative stability of the hierarchy of motives is predetermined by the fact that the personality in general and motives in particular (but not motivation, which also depends on situational factors) are not so easily subject to change. And if it is relatively easy to change or develop a child’s motivational sphere, then doing this with an adult is much more difficult.

Thus, despite the influence of various factors that can change the hierarchy of motives, there is reason to consider it relatively stable.

Activity is stimulated not by one, but by several motives. The more motives determine activity, the higher the overall level of motivation. For example, when an activity is motivated by five motives, the overall level of motivation is usually higher than in the case when a person’s activity is determined by only two motives.

Much depends on the driving force of each motive. Sometimes the power of one motive prevails over the influence of several motives. In most cases, however, the more motives are actualized, the stronger the motivation. If you manage to use additional motives, the overall level of motivation increases.

Therefore, the overall level of motivation depends on:

on the number of motives that encourage activity;
from the actualization of situational factors;
on the driving force of each of these motives.

Based on this pattern, a manager, in an effort to increase the motivation of his subordinates, must fulfill three conditions:

involve (update) as many motives as possible;

increase the motivating power of each of these motives;

update situational motivational factors.

This pattern also applies to motivational self-regulation.
When it is necessary to perform a certain activity, but there is not enough motivation, additional motives should be activated (involved) that can increase the overall level of motivation. Author: Yuri Platonov

Achievement motive

The desire to achieve high results and mastery in activities; it manifests itself in the choice of difficult tasks and the desire to complete them. Success in any activity depends not only on abilities, skills, knowledge, but also on motivation to achieve. A person with a high level of achievement motivation, striving to obtain significant results, works persistently to achieve his goals.

ALSO SEE: How to relieve psychological stress and free yourself from irritation or anger

What determines the level of motivation in each specific activity? Scientists identify four factors:

the importance of achieving success;
hope for success;
subjectively assessed probability of achieving success;
subjective standards of achievement.

ELEPHANT

The most important characteristics of a motive are the strength and stability of the motive. The strength of the motive is an indicator of the irresistible desire of the individual and is assessed by the degree and depth of awareness of the need and the motive itself, by its intensity. The strength of the motive is determined by both physiological and psychological factors. The first should include the power of motivational arousal, and the second should include knowledge of the results of activity, understanding of its meaning, and freedom of creativity. In addition, the strength of the motive is determined by emotions, which is especially pronounced in childhood.

At one time, J. Atkinson proposed a formula for calculating the strength of a motive (aspiration): M = P x B x 3, where; M is the strength of the motive, P is the motive for achieving success as a personal property, B is the subjectively assessed probability of achieving the goal, 3 is the personal significance of achieving this goal.

The stability of a motive is assessed by its presence in all main types of human activity, by the preservation of its influence on behavior in difficult conditions of activity, by its preservation over time. In essence, we are talking about the stability (rigidity) of attitudes, value orientations, and intentions.”

Achievement motive

- a steady desire to achieve results in work, the desire to do something well and quickly, to achieve a certain level in some matter. The achievement motive includes the desire for mastery, for competition (competitiveness, leadership), for satisfying work, for fame, etc. The achievement motive was then differentiated into two: the desire to succeed and the desire to avoid failure.

Success motive

- orientation towards success in various types of activities, as opposed to orientation towards avoiding failures. Success-oriented people prefer to choose medium and difficult tasks because they prefer to take calculated risks; and those motivated to fail choose either easy tasks (they guarantee success) or difficult ones (since failure is not perceived as a personal failure). Success in activity depends not only on the motive itself, but also on its strength. Thus, optimal productivity occurs at an average level of motivation (Yerkes-Dodson law).

Motive to avoid failure

- a more or less stable desire of a person to avoid failures in those life situations where the results of his activities are assessed by other people.

Power motive -

the ability of a person to carry out his will despite the resistance of other people. The power motive is based on the need to feel strong and to demonstrate one’s power in action. The sources of power are: reward, coercion and normative power (the power of the expert).

Affiliation motive

(desire for people) - the desire for such contacts with people that involve trust, cooperation, affiliation and the exclusion of manipulation. The affiliation motive has two forms: hope of affiliation (HA) and fear of rejection (FR).

Feelings are one of the most striking manifestations of a person’s personality, acting in unity with cognitive processes and volitional regulation of behavior and activity. The content of feelings determines the individual’s stable relationship to what she learns and does. To characterize a personality largely means to say that in general this particular person loves, what he hates, despises, what he is proud of, what he is happy about, what he is ashamed of, what he envies, etc. The subject of an individual’s stable feelings, the intensity, nature and frequency of experiences in the form of emotions, affects, stressful states and moods reveal to the observer the emotional world of a person, his feelings and thereby his individuality. That is why, when analyzing emotional processes, it is necessary to move from considering transient states to stable feelings that characterize a person’s personality.

It is customary to distinguish between lower and higher feelings:

Lower feelings are associated with the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of a person’s physical or physiological needs.

A special group of feelings consists of higher feelings : moral, aesthetic, intellectual. Higher feelings reflect the spiritual world of a person and are associated with analysis, comprehension and assessment of what is happening and what determines his personality.

Moral or ethical feelings are a form of experiencing value or, conversely, the inadmissibility of other actions, actions, thoughts, intentions of a person from the point of view of the attitude required of him to society, to the interests of society, to the norms of behavior developed by society. These experiences can arise only on the basis of correlating the actions of people with the norms expressing social requirements for human behavior. They depend on knowledge of the norms of behavior, the requirements of morality accepted in a given society, and express a person’s attitude towards other people. Such feelings include feelings of camaraderie, friendship, love, reflecting varying degrees of attachment to certain people and the need to communicate with them. The attitude towards one's responsibilities assumed by a person in relation to other people and to society is called debt. Failure to comply with these duties leads to the emergence of a negative attitude towards oneself, expressed in feelings of guilt, shame and remorse. They also include feelings of pity, envy, jealousy and other manifestations of attitude towards a person.

Prosocial (socially significant) motives

Motives associated with awareness of the social significance of the activity, with a sense of duty, responsibility to the group or society. In the case of prosocial (socially significant) motives, the individual identifies with the group. A person not only considers himself a member of a certain social group, not only identifies with it, but also lives by its problems, interests and goals.

GOS / GENERAL / 36 Hierarchy of motives Leontiev

Personality as a hierarchy of motives and meanings of activity (school of A.N.

Leontiev and its modern development)

A.N. Leontyev (1903-1979) - an outstanding Russian psychologist, organizer of science, creator of the theory of activity (Vygotsky’s successor).

The leading concept of his concept is the category of activity.

It is considered as a process, the internal contradictions and transformations of which give rise to the psyche as a necessary moment of its development.

The initial and main form of activity is external, sensory-practical activity .

internal processes
arise that acquire relative independence and the ability to be separated from practical activity through interiorization; there are transitions in the opposite direction - from internal to external activity through exteriorization. Both forms have a common structure.

In subject

activities are distinguished into relatively independent units -
actions and operations.
In internal activity, these are
motive, goal, condition. The peculiarity of the analysis of integral activity
associated with the identification of its units is that it is aimed at revealing its internal systemic connections and relationships.
When identifying such units of activity, the following three questions can be asked: “For what purpose is the activity being performed?”
(motive of activity), “What is it aimed at?” (goal), “In what ways is it implemented?” (means) .

Personality according to Leontiev is an internal moment of activity.

A child becomes a person only as a subject of social relations.
The concept of personality is usually compared with the concept of the individual. “The concept of “individual” expresses the indivisibility, integrity and peculiarity of a specific subject, which arise already at the early stages of life development. An individual is a product of phylogenetic and ontogenetic development.
Personality is a relatively late product of human socio-historical and ontogenetic development; it is created by social relations into which the individual enters in his activities .

The structure of personality is revealed to him through the concept of motive and activity.

the basis of personality is the hierarchy of motives for activity; in order to understand the structure of personality, it is necessary to analyze its activity, the driving force of which is motive.

activity is determined by motive and hierarchy of needs

.
At the same time, human needs are generated by the development of activity. the activity diagram looks like activity-need-activity. That is, human needs develop during activity. In this case, activity is understood in a global sense. A person’s needs are first vital (not biological!) and activities are aimed at realizing basic needs, then this activity turns around,
i.e. a person begins to satisfy his vital needs in order to act. "We eat to work."

Motive is the driving force of activity, a need that has a specific subject. motives – meaning-forming and stimulating motives.

Sense-forming ones differ in that they occupy a more significant place in the hierarchy. have no direct motivating force.

Motives are not separated from consciousness, but they are not always realized. there is a category that hides true motives - the concept of motivation

. We can always answer the question of why we did something

Personality is viewed as a hierarchy of motives

: Motives conflict and come into conflict, personality is formed from the awareness that there are true motives.

Emotions help you realize your own true motives.

Emotions act as internal signals that reflect the relationship between motives and the success of a particular activity. Based on our emotions, we can guess our motives.

analysis of one’s own emotions is a task for personal meaning, for the relationship of motives that characterize a person. A personality is a reflective person who monitors his emotions; when he becomes sad, he thinks: what is this, who am I, that I feel sad? This is a task for meaning.

Personal meaning is understood as a reflection in the mind of the person of the relationship between motive and goal. Whether the meaning can change when the motive of activity changes.

For example, a student’s reading of scientific literature acts as a conscious goal for him. The motive may be the desire to prepare oneself for a future profession, or the desire to formally pass the exam. Knowing that personal meaning is determined by the relationship of motive to goal, in these two cases we will interpret the semantic content of the student’s activity differently. Does that mean people have different meanings?

personal development

:
personality is born twice.
The first time - she can be called
“a child with bittersweet” (5-6 years old).
He understands that he acted dishonestly, despite the fact that he is not scolded.
The child becomes multi-motivated, there are different oppositely directed motives, the child is not yet fully aware of them, but he feels them.
The second time -
the emergence of a correlation of motives with each other and the subordination of some to others - the formation of personal meaning occurs, and therefore the formation of personality.
Personality structure

-
stable hierarchy of motives.
A person’s motivational sphere is multi-peaked; a struggle arises between these peaks;
a harmonious personality
is not one that does not know the internal struggle, but one that periodically revises its priorities, harmonizes different motives, that is, the
personality structure includes a struggle of motives
.
If this struggle becomes the main feature, this is a tragic personality.
problem I

: how self-awareness and personality relate. The sense of self is not the center of personality. The center of personality is in the existence of a person, in his many activities and social relations. Polemic with Rubinstein: personality is the connectedness of internal conditions that refract all external influences, that is, external conditions act through internal ones; For Leontiev, a person’s personality is created by social relations into which the individual enters in his activity (the subject is through the external).

Modern development:

Dmitry Alekseevich Leontiev.

personality as a unity of the possible and necessary

: a person can, using reflexive consciousness, go beyond the boundaries of the necessary into the possible.

Man as necessary: passive, driven, controlled, predictable being

Check as possible: a “reflexive person”, acting as a subject of his own activity

Rethinking his father's theory, he tries

understand the level of human activity at which he not only develops, but also builds himself.

The main theses of the new, “possibility

» theory of personality according to D.A. Leontiev:

Personality psychology covers a group of phenomena that belong to the realm of the “possible”, and these phenomena are not generated by cause-and-effect patterns. Phenomena are not expected, this is not an automated mechanism, “possible” psychology - personality - non-deterministic person
A check can live at intervals of “necessary”
(under the pressure of life, the mechanics of energy-saving functioning)
, then at intervals of the “possible”
(self-determination, life based on the use of human potential, energy-consuming).
the transformation of possibilities into reality occurs not as a result of any causal determination, but as a result of self-determination, through the choice and decision-making of the subject. Even “meanings”, “values” and “truths” in human life are not automatic, self-acting mechanisms; they influence a person’s life only through his self-determination in relation to them as a subject
.
Throughout a person’s life, the degree of determination of the same psychological phenomena may change.
Self-determination of one’s life activity by a person, as the subject’s voluntary influence on the cause-and-effect patterns affecting this life activity, becomes possible through the use of reflexive consciousness
.
The level of personal development determines the nature of the relationship between variables in the individual: at a lower level, the nature of the relationship between variables is more rigid and deterministic in nature; at a higher level of development, some act in relation to others only as prerequisites, without defining them unambiguously.
An empirical indicator of action in the field of the possible, and not the necessary, is unprovoked departure from the boundaries set by the situation. Through choice
meaningful and variable possibilities
Recognition of psychological reality and the significance of the category of the possible takes us from a clear and clearly structured world to a world where uncertainty reigns, and coping with its challenge is the key to adaptation and effective functioning. existential worldview.
The introduction of the category of the possible supplements the description of the interaction of a person as a subject with the world with an existential dimension, and in such an “extended” description a place is found for both an orientation towards certainty and an orientation towards uncertainty

Opportunities are never actually embodied themselves, this happens only through the activity of the subject, who perceives them as opportunities for himself, selects something from them and makes his “bet”, investing himself and his resources in the implementation of the chosen opportunity

— it is proposed to consider people as being on the path to self-realization, the measure of which is people’s own steps

made in this direction, as well as
the efforts made
.
However, self-realization here is not the realization of what is laid down by heredity or environment, but the path of free decisions and choices of the person himself, not determined by environment and heredity
. Key concepts for personality psychology developed by D.A. Leontiev, are: the space of the possible, reflexive consciousness and action (

does not fit into traditional actions, conscious responsible action based on personal causality and promoting the individual in the dimension of the personal path).

One of the key problems of personality psychology

for D.A. Leontyev is the implementation of a person’s transition from the mode of determinism to the mode of self-determination when connecting reflexive consciousness

Mechanisms of personality transition from the mode of determination to the mode of self-determination

- these are
certain psychotechnical actions or “existential psychotechniques
”, developed in various cultures, and conceptualized mainly by existential philosophy, existential psychology, as well as a dialogical approach to understanding a person and his life.

(Awareness of responsibility for choice, investing oneself in the chosen alternative, Identifying the alternative nature of any choices and searching for non-obvious alternatives, Awareness of the price that has to be paid for each of the possible choices, i.e. - existential calculation. Look at yourself from the outside. Inclusion of reflective consciousness , and thoughtful reflection and awareness of all options and alternatives leads to the ability to make any choice).

a person uses 2 strategies to determine his identity

social identity strategy
assumes defining oneself through belonging to a group;
in this case, as a rule, a person renounces his own personality completely or partially
, through its minimization in the world of large social groups.\
personal identity strategy
assumes: independence and autonomy; discovering the boundary between me and “not me,” which allows a person to identify himself, to make something his own, thereby expanding himself, the boundaries of himself, and also to distinguish himself from another. continuity of oneself over time. the presence of myself as a certain point in the world, a certain, unique, unique place that I occupy in the world and which no one else occupies, the ability in any group to say: Who am I? I-I!

In society, this is a critical mass of people who have support and a source of their own activity within themselves, are capable of action and take responsibility for it.

Bratus B.S. “The semantic sphere of personality”

Personality

as
that is not reducible to other dimensions
(temperament, individual properties, etc.),
it is not self-sufficient.
It does not carry the ultimate meaning in itself.

of its existence.
This meaning is acquired depending on the emerging relationships. The meaning of the essence of personality is in the essence of man:
It is not the personality that acts, loves and fights, but the person with the personality. Through her.

Become an individual =

*Take a certain position in life (interhuman, moral)

*Recognize it and take responsibility for it

*Approve it with your actions, deeds, your whole life.

It is the general semantic formations (if they are conscious - personal values) that are the main forming units of the individual’s consciousness

.
They determine the main and relatively permanent relationships of a person to the main spheres of life (to the world, to other people, to himself).
These relationships have 2 sides: dynamic and meaningful.

Dynamic side

–
the totality of basic relationships to the world, to people and to oneself, set by dynamic semantic systems
, forms in its unity a moral position characteristic of a person.

Meaning formations are the main constitutive units of personality consciousness

.
Their specific functions: creating an image, that perspective of personality development that does not follow directly from the current situation.
Meaning formations are the basis of this possible future. Human activity is assessed and regulated by: Success and Moral assessment.

Levels of the semantic sphere of personality:

0. Situational meanings

(there’s no point in standing in line, we won’t get tickets anyway, since there are fewer of them than there are people in front of us). Meaning here plays a regulatory role in understanding the situation.

1. Egocentric

(the starting point is personal gain). All people are divided into those who help and those who hinder.

2. Group-centric

.
People: our own and others. Not only personal gain, but also the benefit and well-being of a certain group of close people.
3. Prosocial

.
internal semantic drive to create results that will bring equal benefit to others.
Vasilyuk “Psychology of experiences.” Lee Model:

explores human experiences in various critical situations and, based on the analysis of these experiences and people’s behavior, builds a model of people’s “life worlds”.

Everyone's life world

a person has 2 aspects:
the inner world (the consumer’s consumption and his relationship to himself and the surrounding world. SIMPLE: 1 need; COMPLEX: many needs) and the external world (objects that satisfy the consumer’s needs. SIMPLE: one object to satisfy; COMPLEX: many objects)
.

Thus, 4 types of psychological life worlds are possible.

1.externally light and internally simple life world

.
In the extreme case, such a subject has only one need and one object to satisfy it. He is passive, for him there is no time, no space and only 2 states: pleasure, which is life, and displeasure, equal to death. Actually, such a creature does not have a psyche. The prototype of such a creature is the embryo in the womb. Subsequently, this life world manifests itself in infantile experiences, unrealistic desires for positive and avoidance of negative emotions that do not take into account the realities of life.
The psyche of such a person at each moment of time contains only one attitude or experience. T.O., Internal necessity: satisfying the need “here and now”, normal living conditions are a given of these benefits.

such a critical situation is stressful for a person.

2.externally difficult and internally simple life world.

For such a person, the external world is full of problems and obstacles to satisfying his only need, which is of absolute value.

Internal necessity: realization of motive, satisfaction of needs

critical situation: frustration

3.internally complex and externally easy life world. Such a person simultaneously combines several motives and experiences from which he consciously makes a choice based on the principle of value, that is, the need for consciousness appears. But, having chosen a motive, a person does not encounter any psychological problems in its implementation, the result is always equal to the goal, the implementation is equal to the plan. Such a person is characterized by internal conflicts between value experiences. This type of lifeworld is realized in cases of moral choice.

Internal necessity: internal consistency, working with your values

critical situation: conflict

The fourth type is an internally complex and externally difficult life world. In this case, a person has several competing motives and various conditions that both help and hinder their implementation. To organize activities, a person must have not only a psyche and consciousness, but also a will. A person must consciously choose a motive and choose, or perhaps create, the conditions for its implementation, that is, the need for creativity appears. Such a life world is fully created when experiencing crisis situations.

Internal necessity: realization of the meaning of life, self-actualization

critical situation: crisis

The identified “life worlds” and experiences are components of a single psychological world of a person, and on the basis of the described model F.E. Vasilyuk builds a special system of psychological assistance

Affiliation motive

The desire to establish or maintain relationships with other people, the desire for contact and communication with them. The essence of affiliation is the intrinsic value of communication. Affiliative communication is communication that brings satisfaction, captures, and pleases a person.

The purpose of affiliative communication may be the search for love (or, in any case, sympathy) on the part of the communication partner.

Development of motivation in ontogenesis

Let us analyze the development of motivation at the main age stages (based on the classifications of L.I. Bozhovich, D.B. Elkonin, A.N. Leontyev, G. Allport):

From birth to one year . At this time, the child’s motivational sphere is not yet developed. He does not know how to set goals and organize activities that will help meet needs.
From 1 to 2 years . The child is aware of his desires and the possibility of choice, but for now he is dependent on external conditions. There is no subordination of motives, unsystematic actions are noticeable. In simple terms, a child wants everything at once. He is at the mercy of his desires, dependent on them and on those people who can satisfy these desires.
Three years . During this period, the formation of a hierarchy of motives begins, and subordination is noticeable. The child is no longer guided so much by the situation as by the attitudes of his parents and his relationships with people. That is, for example, if at 2 years old a child forgives someone for candy, then at 3 years old this will no longer be a good idea.
From 4 to 6 years . This is the peak of development of the motivational sphere. The child can already set goals and achieve them, sacrifice some desires for the sake of others, and a pronounced hierarchy of motives is noticeable.
From 7 to 11 years old . A child can be guided not only by his own desires, but also by the needs of other people. He learns to step into another person’s shoes and see the situation from different sides. As for the specifics of the activity, now the result is at the forefront, not the process. In this case, immediate motives and goals prevail. For example, a child does not yet think about which school subjects need to be given special attention in order to later receive a specific professional education.
From 12 to 16 years old . The old system of values, beliefs, and interests is being destroyed. Along with this, a restructuring of the motivational sphere occurs. A new system of interests is gradually being formed. The main feature of motivation at this stage is that the teenager is guided by the requirements, goals and objectives that he sets for himself. A teenager can plan for the distant future and predict the development of events. This period is the peak of the development of internal motivation.

At further stages of human development, the system of motives is structured and social motivation appears. A person thinks in terms of his entire life. For example, he thinks that drinking is not “cool”, but dangerous to health. Human behavior is becoming more and more reasonable and reasonable. Now it is not desires that control him, but he controls his desires.

The cycle of development of motivation: expansion of motives, movement towards hierarchization of motives, the relationship between motives and consciousness, the transition from direct to indirect motivation, the transition to existential needs.

Negative motivation

Motivations caused by the awareness of possible troubles, inconveniences, punishments that may follow in case of failure to perform an activity. For example, a schoolchild may be motivated to study by the demands and threats of his parents, or by the fear of receiving unsatisfactory grades. Studying under the influence of such a motive takes on the character of a protective action and is compulsory.

The forms of negative sanctions that can be applied and that can actualize negative motivation are varied:

verbal (verbal) punishment (condemnation, reprimand, etc.);
material sanctions (fine, deprivation of privileges, scholarships);
social isolation (neglect, ignorance, rejection by the group, social ostracism);
deprivation of liberty;
physical punishment.

The main disadvantage of negative sanctions is the short duration of their influence: they stimulate activity (or deter undesirable actions) only for the period of their action.

Negative motivation has a stronger influence on a person, the greater his confidence in the inevitability of punishment.

Thus, negative motivation, including punishment, is a fairly strong motivational factor that can motivate a person to activity, but is not without many disadvantages and undesirable consequences.

SEE ALSO: Psychology of conflict: stages, techniques and tactics of conflict confrontation

Motives and feeling

Motivation and personality formation Read more: Social determinants of self-awareness

4. Motives and feeling

Feelings are one of the main forms of a person’s experience of his relationship to objects and phenomena of reality, characterized by relative stability. In contrast to situational emotions and affects, which reflect the subjective meaning of objects in specific prevailing conditions, feelings highlight phenomena that have stable motivational significance. By revealing to the individual objects that meet his needs and inducing him to take action to satisfy them, feelings represent a concrete subjective form of existence for the latter. The formation of feelings is a necessary condition for the development of a person as an individual. By itself, knowledge of motives, ideals, and norms of behavior is not enough for a person to be guided by them; Only by becoming the object of stable feelings does this knowledge become real incentives for the activity of human feelings, socially conditioned and historical, like the human personality itself, changing in the course of the development of society. In ontogenesis, feelings appear later than situational emotions; they are formed as individual consciousness develops under the influence of the educational influences of family, school, art and other social institutions. The objects of feelings are, first of all, those phenomena and conditions on which the development of events that are significant for the individual and therefore perceived emotionally depends. Arising as a result of the generalization of emotional experience, the formed feelings become the leading formations of the emotional sphere of a person and begin, in turn, to determine the dynamics and content of situational emotions: for example, from a feeling of love for a loved one, depending on the circumstances, anxiety for him or grief during separation can develop , joy at meeting, anger if a loved one did not live up to expectations, etc. Such situational emotions clarify the content of feelings in relation to the prevailing conditions and, prompting certain actions, contribute to the development of activity caused by the feeling. Sometimes feelings and the emotions associated with them can cause conflicting attitudes towards their object.

In the process of personality formation, feelings are organized into a hierarchical system, in which some feelings occupy a leading position, while others remain potential, unrealized tendencies. Content of dominant feelings. determines one of the most important characteristics of a person’s orientation.

The most common classification of feelings distinguishes their individual subtypes according to the areas of activity in which they manifest themselves. A special group consists of the highest feelings, which contain all the richness of a person’s emotional relationship to social reality.

The area of moral feelings includes everything that determines a person’s attitude towards social institutions, towards the state, towards a certain class, party, towards other people, towards himself. Cognitive activity gives rise to cognitive, or intellectual feelings in a person. Their subject is both the process of acquiring knowledge and its result; The pinnacle of intellectual feelings is the generalized feeling of love for truth. Among the highest feelings, an important place is occupied by practical feelings associated with activity: work, study, sports. The highest feelings also include aesthetic feelings, which presuppose a conscious or unconscious ability to be guided by the concepts of beauty when perceiving the phenomena of the surrounding reality. Intellectual, practical, aesthetic feelings arise in unity with moral feelings and are enriched in connection with them.

5. Motives and will

Will is a human ability, manifested in self-determination and self-regulation of one’s activities and various mental processes. The main functions of the will are: the choice of motives and goals, the regulation of the impulse to action when their motivation is insufficient or excessive, the organization of mental processes into a system adequate to the activity performed by a person, the mobilization of physical and mental capabilities in a situation of overcoming obstacles in achieving set goals. The concept of “Will” was originally introduced to explain the motivation for actions carried out according to a person’s own decisions, but not in accordance with his desires. Then it began to be used to explain the possibility of free choice in the event of a conflict of human desires associated with the formulation of problems of “free will”. The ability to arbitrarily regulate actions and mental processes, subordinating them to one’s conscious decisions, is also explained by the presence of Will, as well as the manifestation in human actions of such qualities as persistence, determination, endurance, courage, etc. The variety of all situations requiring urgent volitional regulation ( overcoming obstacles, focus of action on the future, conflict of motives, conflict between the requirement of subordination to social norms and a person’s existing desire, etc.), can be reduced to three realities, which are based on the need to: fill the deficit of motivation to action in the absence of sufficient motivation; choice of motives, goals, types of action when they conflict; voluntary regulation of external and internal actions and mental processes.

As a social new formation of the psyche, conditioned by the development of work activity, will can be presented as a system of various mental processes or as a special internal action, including various external and internal means. The participation of thinking, imagination, emotions, motives, etc. in volitional regulation has led in the history of science to an exaggerated assessment of either intellectual processes (intellectualistic theories of the will) or affective processes (emotional theories of the will). Theories were created in which energy was considered the primary ability of the soul. Volitional regulation of behavior and actions is the voluntary regulation of human activity. It is formed and developed under the influence of control over his behavior by society, and then self-control of the individual. Volitional regulation manifests itself as a personal level of voluntary regulation, characterized in that the decision on volitional regulation comes from the individual and personal means are used in regulation. One of these means of personal regulation is a deliberate change in the meaning of an action, leading to a change in motivation, which can be achieved through a reassessment of the significance of the motive, through the attraction of additional motives, through anticipating and experiencing the consequences of the action, through the actualization of motives through an imaginary situation, etc. Development of volitional regulation is associated primarily with the formation of a rich motivational and semantic sphere, a strong worldview and beliefs of a person, as well as the ability to exert volition in special situations of action. The development of this ability is associated with the transition from external ways of changing the meaning of an action to internal ones.

VII. Self-awareness and motivation in ontogenesis

Period, stage of development	Leading activity	Leading party of socialization	Reference environment	Integration/rejection of personality	Features of motivation and self-awareness
1. Infancy (0-1). Stage of trust in the world	Direct emotional communication	adaptation stage	adults	+	reflection
2. Early age (1-3 years). Wealth stage.	object manipulation	mastering socially developed ways of working with objects	adults, peers	+	achievement motive, the motives of behavior are not realized and are not organized into a system according to the degree of significance.
3. Preschool age (3-6). Initiative selection stage.	role-playing game	mastering the social roles of relationships between people	adult peers, society	+	claims for recognition, development of self-esteem, feelings of pride and shame, knowledge of oneself as a subject of action
4. Junior school age (6-12). Mastery stage.	educational activities	mastering knowledge, developing the intellectual and cognitive sphere of the individual	teachers, peers, society, parents	+	the child’s need as a social being to communicate and live together with adults
5-a. Adolescence.	intimate-personal communication	stage of individualization, self-determination	peers teachers society	+	reflections on another person, the need for love and approval, an emotionally positive attitude towards oneself
5 B. Adolescence. Self-determination stage.	educational and professional. activity	sustainable conceptual socialization	peers society	+	motivation of educational activities
Youth (20-25). Stage of human intimacy	vocational training	stage of integration stable conceptual socialization	society colleagues family children	+	conscious motives represent the system, professional motivation
Stage of human maturity (up to 64).	work activity	labor stage of socialization	society, family	+	work motivation
.Late maturity (65 or more)	—	post-work stage of socialization	family	—	communication motivation

Conclusions: The main mechanism and the first impetus for the development of motivation at each age stage is a change in the objective conditions of the child’s life, the system of his relationships with people around him, designated in the literature as a discrepancy between the actual place occupied in the system of social relations and the child’s desire to change this place.

The stages of personality development are natural in nature and can be understood as the result of a restructuring of the child’s mental processes under the influence of his social experience. The age stage is characterized not by a simple set of individual psychological characteristics, but by the originality of some holistic structure of the child’s personality, which is determined by orientation. The need for new impressions is leading for mental development in ontogenesis, on the basis of which other needs develop - in communication, in activity, etc.

The internal position, defined as the system of needs and aspirations of the child, is subject to change under the influence of specific life circumstances.

The internal position expresses the child’s attitude to the objective position he occupies and to the position to which he claims. The child’s desire to maintain or change both the objectively occupied position and his internal position determines the real state of the motivational-need sphere.

Intensive development of the entire motivational sphere is characteristic, according to the periodization of D.B. Elkonin, for infancy, preschool age, adolescence, where the child primarily masters the norms of interpersonal relationships, tasks and motives of activity. It is noted that there may be sensitive stages for certain aspects of the motivational sphere - goal setting, social and cognitive motives, etc.

So, the theoretical understanding of the process of emergence and strengthening of motivation is based on knowledge and consideration of the entire set of needs and the organization of conditions to satisfy these needs, taking into account age-related characteristics.

VIII. Self-awareness of the individual as a social subject

Motivation and personality formation Read more: Social determinants of self-awareness

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on the number of motives that encourage activity;
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on the driving force of each of these motives.

Based on this pattern, a manager, in an effort to increase the motivation of his subordinates, must fulfill three conditions:

involve (update) as many motives as possible;
increase the motivating power of each of these motives;
update situational motivational factors.

This pattern also applies to motivational self-regulation. When it is necessary to perform a certain activity, but there is not enough motivation, additional motives should be activated (involved) that can increase the overall level of motivation.

Study all the motives of people’s behavior in the practical course “Psychology of Motivation and Influence”:

Psychology of Motivation and Influence: Practical Interactive Distance Course

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Motivational sphere of personality

Lectures on management – Motivational management – Motivational sphere of personality

Motivational sphere of personality

is a hierarchical system of personal motives. The structure of the motivational sphere is very complex. At the same time, motivation is built into a certain hierarchy not only within each type of activity, but also the motivation of various types of activity is ranked.

The motivational sphere, like other structural formations of the personality, manifests itself in many qualities. It depends on the characteristics of the prevailing motives which properties and qualities of a personality will be formed more easily and quickly, and which ones will be formed with great difficulty and more slowly.

Since the most general personality structure consists of sets of personality qualities that manifest themselves in relation to oneself, society and the activity performed, in the motivational-need sphere, accordingly, there are three types of personality orientation:

personal, collective and business. The possible predominance of one of them is manifested in the group of qualities corresponding to this orientation.

Social motives occupy a special place in the motivational sphere

, which significantly influence a person’s activity in an organization (the desire to gain high authority, self-esteem), as well as the motive of self-expression, self-actualization, which consists in the individual’s desire to demonstrate and develop his abilities, skills, and qualities. In the hierarchy of personal motives, these and other motives can be correlated, interact, and be leading or subordinate in different ways. Therefore, a leader, trying to understand this or that person, essentially must understand the structure of his motives, the peculiarities of the structure of his motivational sphere. In addition to the fact that the human motivational sphere has a complex structure, it also has very complex, subtle dynamics.

To the most important characteristics of the motivational sphere of personality

include plurality, structure, hierarchy, strength, stability of motives, their certainty and dynamism.

Plurality

motives is a consequence of an increase not only in the number of needs of modern man, but also in the means and objects of satisfying them. This property of motives is also manifested in the fact that the realization of one and the same need is usually associated with a combination of not only homogeneous, but also heterogeneous motives. Plurality reflects, first of all, the development of the content of motivation, which ensures a positive, stable attitude towards activity. It assumes the presence of a sufficient number of motives, measured using quantitative and qualitative indicators.

Structurality

motivation is assessed by the presence of certain types of it based on the desirability and sometimes the necessity of certain types of motives.

Hierarchy

motivation is determined on the basis of an assessment of the “dominance” of various groups of motives in accordance with a certain order of subordination and ranking.

Force

motivation as an indicator of an individual’s irresistible desire is assessed by the degree and depth of awareness (understanding, “appropriation,” “acceptance”) of the need and motive, and by its intensity.

Sustainability

motives is manifested in the long-term preservation of the effectiveness of motivation (at least most of the constituent motives). In addition, sustainable motives do not disappear as they are implemented in activities. For example, good earnings as a motive for work do not disappear when you receive a high monthly salary; the desire to earn encouragement does not disappear when receiving another thank you; management's acceptance of the opinions and suggestions of subordinates does not weaken the latter's desire for new creative searches, and more often than not even contributes to new searches. Usually, motives undergo only some changes - they become stronger or weaker, which largely depends on the characteristics of the activity and its organization.

Certainty,

the uniqueness of the motivational sphere of each person means that the motivational spheres of individuals differ in the content and structure of motivation, hierarchy, strength and stability of motives.

Dynamism

motivational sphere is manifested in changes in the strength of both individual motives and motivation in general. The dynamics of motives can be positive or negative regarding activity; the desire to complete a task can weaken, fade away, or strengthen and intensify. The dynamism of the motivational sphere of the individual is also manifested in changes in the structure of motivation and the hierarchy of the main groups of motives.

Assessing the characteristics of the motivational sphere is important for predicting successful activities. Research shows that sustainable, highly effective human activity requires the following factors:

the development of motives for a certain activity (their multiplicity), ensuring a positive attitude towards it;
sufficient strength of motives;
stability of motives;
a certain motivation structure;
a certain hierarchy of motives.

The motivational sphere characterizes a person only from one side. Along with it, other spheres are also distinguished: emotional, volitional, intellectual. They are all important and interdependent. For example, the dependence of the motivational sphere on the intellectual sphere is expressed in the fact that the first is formed and developed with the participation of the second. The emotional sphere influences motivation from the energetic side. The external expression of motivation and its dynamics in the process of behavior and activity depend on its characteristics. The stability of the motivational sphere largely depends on the characteristics of the volitional sphere. In turn, the motivational sphere also influences them. Its impact on the intellectual sphere is manifested in cognitive processes, determining the selectivity of perception, features of memory, imagination, thinking and speech of a person. Motivation also influences emotions, defining their characteristics. For example, the same phenomena cause joy in some people, but anger and indignation in others.

Will, as the ability to control one’s behavior, is also permeated with motives, which are included in volitional action as one of its most important components. Thus, while maintaining independence, motivation is closely related to other areas of the personality.