Motives for activity
You already know that activities
is a conscious activity of a person aimed at satisfying needs and achieving the goals set by a person.
Emerging needs force a person to actively look for ways to satisfy them, for example, if a person wants to eat, then he can prepare food for himself or go for a snack in a cafe or restaurant.
But what directly influences human activity and behavior? Why and for what purpose does he perform any actions at all? What motivates him to this or that action?
Psychologists call this a motive, that is, something that encourages a person to act, directing him to satisfy a certain need.
Motives are individual for each person.
One day, a passerby, walking past the construction site of Chartres Cathedral, asked the masons: “What are they doing here?”
“I like to carry stones,” answered the first.
“I earn my living,” said the second.
- And I’m building a temple.
As we can see, the three responses of people engaged in a common cause (building a cathedral) reflect completely different motives.
Human motives
- This is an important factor for achieving success in any activity. Motive forces a person not to stop halfway towards achieving a goal, but to work with full dedication and avoid disappointment.
Sometimes motives can conflict with one another, and the currently stronger motive pushes out the weaker one. For example, the motive to finish reading a chapter may become weaker than the motive to eat if a feeling of hunger arises.
Most of our motives are expressed in the form of an answer to the question: “Why am I doing this?” “I am studying in order to...” “I want to get a profession... so that...”
In simple terms, the motive
- this is the reason underlying the choice of all human actions and actions.
It is worth noting that motive is very often confused with concepts such as need or goal.
Need
- This is, first of all, a person’s desire to make up for the lack of something.
Target
– this is the final result towards which human activity is aimed.
For example, hunger
- this is a person’s need for food,
the desire to eat
is a motive, and
food
is the ultimate goal.
Psychologists distinguish the following types of human motives.
According to psychologists, the following types of motives can be distinguished: internal and external, positive and negative, stable and unstable.
External motives.
These are motives that are not related to the content of any activity, but are determined by circumstances external to the person. For example, if your friend got a new cell phone, then you may be motivated to earn money and buy yourself the same or even better one.
Internal motives.
Associated with the activities of only the person himself. For example, you play sports because it gives you positive emotions.
Moreover, if you share your thoughts with your friends, then for someone your internal motive may become external.
Positive motives
based on positive incentives. For example, if I study well, my parents will buy me a new game console.
Negative motives
based on negative incentives. Often negative motives are associated with the threat of punishment. For example, if I don't get up on time in the morning, I'll be late for school and might get a diary entry.
Stable motives.
These motives are based on satisfying natural human needs. Thirst, hunger, absence of pain and so on.
Unstable motives
constantly require external support. For example, the desire to lose weight, give up bad habits, and so on.
All these types of motives perform three main functions.
First, a call to action. That is, identifying those motives that force a person to act;
Secondly, the direction of activity. With the help of this function, a person determines how he can achieve his goal and satisfy his need.
Thirdly, control and maintenance of behavior aimed at achieving the goal. Keeping in mind his ultimate goal, a person will adjust his activities taking into account its achievement.
self-motivation stands above all types of motives that shape human behavior.
- this is a person’s impact on his state when motivation from the outside ceases to act on him properly.
For example, when something doesn’t work out for you and things go very badly, you want to give up everything, give up, but you find reasons for yourself to continue trying.
Self-motivation is very individual, since everyone decides for themselves how to motivate themselves. However, according to psychologists, there are general methods that have a positive effect on most people.
For example, take a blank sheet of paper and divide it into two parts with a line.
On the left side, write what you think has a negative impact on you, and on the right side, write something that has a positive effect on you. For example, “I don’t like going to school, it’s boring there” - in the left column, and “I like going to school, because there I have fun with my friends” - in the right. Then cut the sheet and leave only the part with positive phrases. Now all you have to do is read them immediately after waking up or before going to bed. Make this reading your daily practice and after a while you will begin to notice changes in yourself and your life.
Psychologists also include self-hypnosis, the development of personality strength, familiarity with the biographies of famous and successful people who have achieved outstanding results in their field of activity, as well as the visualization method, which consists of a mental representation of what is desired, as general methods of self-motivation.
Motives, their types. Motivation of human behavior
Motive – caused satisfaction of needs, motivation to activity.
There are realized and unrealized motives. A person may have motives for performing an action, but this does not mean that he always implements them. For example, the presence of a need for music does not at all mean that a person will do anything to satisfy it. It may also be that the object of need does not cause any orientation of the personality.
Motives are classified on various grounds. The simplest classification in relation to activity.
Motives that motivate activity that are not related to it are called external, and motives that are directly related to the activity itself are called internal. For example, the motive for learning may be associated with the desire to receive a good grade and praise, or perhaps with the desire to learn. In the first case we can talk about an external motive, in the second - about an internal one.
Conscious motives are characterized by the fact that a person is aware of what motivates him to act, what is the content of his needs. The higher the degree of awareness of the motive, the more actively the person acts. Conscious motives determine life goals that guide the activities of an individual over a long period of his life. These include interests, beliefs, and worldview of the individual.
Interests represent an individual’s emotionally charged desire to understand some object or phenomenon. Interests reveal the emotional orientation of the individual (a person is interested in what gives him satisfaction); cognitive (manifested in the desire to know), volitional (associated with the need to overcome difficulties that arise on the way to achieving goals).
Motive determines the type of behavior of an individual, giving it a certain direction. Along with the concept of “motive”, the term “motivation of behavior” is used. Motivation is usually understood as a set of motives that determine human behavior as a whole.
Based on the same need, motives for different activities may arise. And the same activity can be caused by different motives. Thus, the motive answers the question: why does a person perform this activity? Therefore, when revealing a personality, characterizing individual actions and deeds, it is necessary to take into account the motives that led a person to certain actions.
14. Level of aspirations and self-esteem of the individual. Their types, meaning in life and professional activity, methods of determination .
Self-esteem is an individual’s assessment of himself, his capabilities, qualities and place among other people.
. With its help, the behavior of the individual is regulated. Self-esteem determines whether a person is satisfied with himself or not. Experimental studies have shown that much depends on his individual characteristics—in particular, on his reaction to failure. It was found that a person is more concerned not so much with achieving success, but with avoiding failure. And if one has to choose between tasks of varying degrees of difficulty, then a person chooses either the easiest tasks or the most difficult ones. Some - because they are convinced of success (the element of risk is minimal), others because failure in this case will be justified by the exceptional difficulty of the task. There will be no wounding of the “I-image”.
The role of self-esteem in personality development is very great. It generates self-affirmation and regulates all activities and behavior. Self-esteem arises in the process of life as one assimilates the moral principles of a given society, in the process of communicating with other people. The assessment of others is an important source of assessment of one’s own personality. However, as experience accumulates, her role from those around her decreases. And assessments of the results of one’s own activities are beginning to become increasingly important in human behavior. A personal attitude towards one’s own capabilities and actions arises while constantly checking with the assessments of others.
Self-esteem can be adequate and inadequate (overestimated and underestimated).
Adequate self-esteem allows a person to measure his strengths with the assigned tasks, treat himself critically, and correctly correlate his strengths with tasks of varying difficulty and with the demands of others. This ensures a favorable emotional state and self-confidence of the individual.
With inadequate inflated self-esteem, a person overestimates himself in situations that do not provide a reason for this. He often takes on things that he clearly cannot do. Such a person is often guided by his own principles, regardless of the opinions of others, and as a result, he often loses the necessary interpersonal contacts. Excessively inflated self-esteem can lead to the formation of personality traits such as self-affirmation, arrogance, conceit, etc., and in some cases to pathological mental disorders.
A constant underestimation of an individual’s performance by others and the individual himself forms low self-esteem. Inadequate low self-esteem leads to underestimation of oneself, which can lead to increased anxiety, vulnerability, and a painful opinion about oneself, which can result in disruption of contacts with others. Many problems for people with low self-esteem seem insoluble. Such a person reacts sharply to criticism, is sensitive to approval, often suffers from loneliness, he, as a rule, has reduced activity, initiative, and lacks faith in success. As a result, he becomes distrustful and sometimes unfriendly towards others.
Excessively low self-esteem can contribute to the emergence of an inferiority complex, persistent self-doubt, isolation and other qualities that inhibit personal development. A person is greatly influenced by the assessment that others give him and the assessment of the results of his activities by the person himself.
The concept of level of aspiration was introduced by the German psychologist K. Lewin. It has been shown that the level of aspirations in experimental conditions is formed under the influence of success or failure in activity. In case of success, the level of aspirations usually increases, the person shows readiness to solve more difficult problems, and in case of failure, it decreases accordingly. However, the decisive factor in its formation is not the objective success or failure itself, but the subject’s experience of his achievements, both successful and unsuccessful, i.e. the formation of an internal, relatively stable desire for success in various activities. In psychology, this state of personality is considered as a motive for achievement.
Knowing the level of aspirations allows us to better understand the motivation of a student’s behavior. The level of a person’s aspirations can be adequate to the capabilities or inadequate (underestimated, overestimated). Inflated claims can contribute to the emergence of a persistent negative emotional state, called the “affect of inadequacy.” This condition occurs most often in connection with failure in activity and is characterized either by ignoring the very fact of failure, or by an unwillingness to admit that one is the culprit.
In the pedagogical process, it is important to take into account the characteristics of the level of aspirations of students. The correspondence of aspirations to possibilities is one of the conditions for the harmonious development of a person. And inconsistency is the source of various conflicts for the child, both with other people and with himself, which can lead to various deviations in personality development. Self-esteem and aspirations form certain behavioral reactions to those actions that can be caused by the “I-image”. This largely determines a person’s expectations, i.e. his idea of what should happen.
1. Motives of human activity.What guides a person’s actions? Why do we often perform actions with meaning that we cannot understand? Is a person guided in his activities only by conscious motives or do unconscious motives play an equally important role in his life? Let us try to understand these difficult questions and give an answer worthy of modern Marxist thought.
What is a motive? Without much difficulty, I managed to find a definition of motive that is typical of Soviet psychology, typical, but not the only one in its understanding of motives, as we will see later. However, we will dwell on it for now. “A motive
is a conscious impulse that determines an action to satisfy some need.
Arising on the basis of a need, the motive represents its more or less adequate reflection. Motive is a certain justification and justification for volitional action and shows a person’s attitude to the requirements of society. Plays an important role in assessing actions and deeds, since it depends on them what subjective meaning the action has for a given person” [1] .
This is the definition of motive we find in classical Soviet psychology. However, it would be a mistake to assume that Soviet psychological science limited its understanding of motives to only representing them as conscious impulses. Motives can be both conscious and unconscious, as A.N. points out using the example of children’s motivations to go to school. Leontiev in his work “Activity. Consciousness. Personality." The child, Leontyev writes, is not aware of the motives that prompt him to go to school: “Awareness of motives is a secondary phenomenon, arising only at the level of the individual and constantly being reproduced in the course of its development.
For very young children this task simply does not exist. Even at the stage of transition to school age, when the child has a desire to go to school, the true motive behind this desire is hidden from him, although he is not at a loss for motivations that usually reproduce what he knows. This true motive can only be clarified objectively, “from the outside,” by studying, for example, children’s games of “playing as a student,” since in a role-playing game the personal meaning of play actions and, accordingly, their motive are easily revealed. To understand the real motives of his activity, the subject is also forced to take a “roundabout path”, with the difference, however, that on this path he is guided by signals-experiences, emotional “tags” of events” [2] .
In addition to the understanding of motives, both existing consciously and unconsciously, developed in the USSR by the activity direction of psychology, another understanding of motives is emerging in the West, which also claims to have a Marxist basis. Its founders are Freudo-Marxist scientists, among whom the most prominent are Erich Fromm and Wilhelm Reich. According to their understanding, the motives of human activity are rational
- cognizable by human thinking, and rational - not comprehended by reason, thinking, not expressible in logical concepts, initially inherent in each individual.
The doctrine of the irrational motives of human activity was developed by Sigmund Freud, and was not accepted by the Soviet psychological school, which in many ways met with hostility the attempts to develop Marxist psychology on the basis of a number of postulates developed by Freud, undertaken by Freudo-Marxists.
Freudo-Marxism, acting as a philosophical and psychological attempt to creatively combine Marxism and Freudianism, and undertaking to develop a new understanding of man, borrowed from Freudianism the doctrine of the irrational motives of human activity. Largely based on the Marxist materialist concept of man and society, neo-Freudianism has achieved some success in studying the question of the motivations of human actions. Irrational motives
, according to his teaching, must be understood not as special counter-rational forces supposedly underlying the human spirit and even existence itself, but as motives that contradict the conscious impulses of the individual and, through their intervention, disrupt the course of a person’s rational activity, deviating him from the tasks set consciously or even unconsciously. These motives are not the fruit of forces incomprehensible to reason; they come from the human subconscious and are dictated on the one hand by human physiology, and on the other hand by his social nature. Irrational impulses express the contradiction of a person’s interests, aspirations and needs with social reality; having originated and emerged as such, not yet being motives, they are suppressed, shifting to the subconscious sphere of the psyche. Consciousness loses information about them, but meanwhile they do not disappear or fade, but, transforming into a new form, periodically break into consciousness, prompting a person to take certain actions that are not logical in the general chain of behavior. We can see examples of such behavior all the time. Thus, the desire to tell something important to another, little-known person may arise in a person just at the moment when this is precisely not worth doing, but on the contrary, it is worth building a schematic conversation. The reason for such an irrational desire is the desire to find a true friend and a sincere interlocutor, suppressed by consciousness, suppressed not by chance, but under the influence of personal experience acquired in bourgeois society. Such an irrational impulse, caused by the positive qualities of the interlocutor, can lead to excessive frankness and the actual breakdown of business negotiations. Having become acquainted with this example, the reader can easily recall a large number of examples of the influence of irrational motives on his activities.
A special place among irrational motives is occupied by impulses of a sexual nature, caused by suppressed sexuality that breaks through under certain conditions. An example of actions caused by such motivation is the case when an aging teacher gives low grades to beautiful girls and inflates the scores of young students. This woman does all this not because she considers it necessary for a deeper study of her subject, although she most likely explains this behavior to herself in this way, but because she experiences jealous envy of young women and an unconscious desire for sexual contact to the young men.
The irrational nature of irrational motives is expressed in the almost complete impossibility of an individual to independently understand the nature of some of his own desires and actions, the motives of which are unconscious irrational, that is, going beyond the boundaries of the logic of human thinking and being the product of another logic that has already lost its former meaning, but is preserved in a suppressed form in the subconscious, motives. Irrational motives for the person himself are expressed in incomprehensible, but obsessive desires to commit some action, to do something beyond the scope of the tasks at hand and often harmful. Psychoanalysis, as a special scientific school, and in particular Marxist psychoanalysis, pays special attention to the irrational motives of people’s activities, considering them as an expression of subconscious mental processes and in its practice pursuing the goal of helping a person resolve suppressed mental contradictions. How do the processes we are talking about take place? Suppressed mental contradictions, breaking through into consciousness, find their expression in the irrational motives of human activity. I examined in detail the study of origin, development, and resolution in my work “Dialectical Psychology,” where it is also noted that mental contradictions are nothing more than a reflection of the contradictions existing in the objective world.
So, let's summarize our research. What are motives, what are they, and how can they be defined? Firstly, the definition of motives given at the beginning is incomplete and needs clarification; secondly, motives are divided into conscious
and
unconscious
, and conscious motives exist only in a rational form, while unconscious motives can be both rational and irrational.
This is what our definition of motives looks like: A motive is a conscious or unconscious, rationally comprehended or incomprehensible impulse for a given person that determines an action to satisfy some need.
Arising on the basis of a need, the motive represents its more or less adequate reflection. Motive is a certain justification and justification for volitional action and shows a person’s attitude to the requirements of society. Plays an important role in assessing actions and deeds, since it depends on them what subjective meaning the action has for a given person. Table of contents
The structure of the human motivational sphere.
Home Favorites Random article Educational New additions Feedback FAQThe motivational sphere of the individual 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 manifested 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.
In the motivational sphere, a special place is occupied by social motives that 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.
The most important characteristics of the motivational sphere of the individual include multiplicity, structure, hierarchy, strength, stability of motives, their certainty and dynamism.
The multiplicity of motives is a consequence of the 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.
The structure of motivation is assessed by the presence of certain types of motivation based on the desirability and sometimes the necessity of certain types of motives.
The hierarchy of 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.
The strength of 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.
The stability of 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.
The certainty and originality 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.
The dynamism of the 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.
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Motives and goals - what are they?
A motive is what motivates a person to engage in any activity that is aimed at satisfying a need for something.
When a person has a motive, he has the energy to achieve certain results and perform actions.
The motive can also be aimed not only at carrying out any activity, but also at refusing it .
A motive cannot always be explained in itself; it is understandable only when considering the factors that make up the general mental structure of a person - it is an impulse that forces a person to move towards some goal.
The set of stable motives that orient the activity of an individual determine the direction of the individual, his aspiration towards life goals.
A goal is something that a person consciously strives for, the result of his activities aimed at achieving a certain result. It can also be the process of any activity itself, involvement in it.
In order to set a goal, first of all, a person must have motivation for it - for example, self-affirmation, material wealth, self-realization. In this case, the goal is often determined by several motives.
Goals also motivate a person to act.
Moreover, the more specifically they are stated, the greater the motivating force they have.
General, unspecified goals provide little incentive to take any action.
MOTIVE AS STABLE PROPERTIES (PERSONAL DISPOSITIONS)
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The point of view that a motive is a stable personality characteristic is mainly characteristic of the work of Western psychologists, but has supporters in our country.
In Western psychology, stable (dispositional) and variable factors of motivation (M. Madsen [M. Madsen, 1959]), stable and functional variables (H. Murray [N. Murray, 1938]), personal and situational determinants (J. Atkinson [ J. Atkinson, 1964) are considered as criteria for separating motive and motivation. The authors note that stable personality characteristics determine behavior and activity to the same extent as external stimuli. Personal dispositions (preferences, inclinations, attitudes, values, worldview, ideals) must take part in the formation of a specific motive.
A number of domestic psychologists (K.K. Platonov, V.S. Merlin, M.Sh. Magomed-Eminov) also believe that personality traits can also act as motives, along with mental states. B.V. Zeigarnik, relying on the term “trait” introduced by G. Allport to denote the mechanism of personality development, believes that this is not a personality trait, but a trait-motive, a trait-interest.
However, taking personality properties as a motive also does not solve the problem, especially since many personal properties (dispositions) are rather needs, for example, the desire for activity, for pleasure, the need for new impressions, libido, the need for self-preservation, for knowledge, the desire for self-esteem , to creativity, artistic need. At the same time, stable personality traits (interests and inclinations, preferences and ideals, attitudes and worldview) can influence the decisions a person makes; that is, personality properties can be included in the basis of a person’s actions and actions.
MOTIVE AS CONDITION
This approach (motive as a state) is outlined in the “Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary” (1983) and in the work of R. A. Piloyan (1984), in which he writes that a motive is a special state of a person that forces him to act or inaction. J. Guilford (1956) also does not exclude state as a factor in the initiation and maintenance of activity, and E. R. Hilgard (1957) directly writes that a motive is any state of the body that has an impact on its readiness to the beginning or continuation of a certain behavior. To these authors we can add those who take emotions for motives, because they are essentially also states.
Of course, it cannot be denied that the motivation to act or act may be due to the occurrence of a particular state. After all, the experience of need (as one of the components of a person’s needs) is also a state, and it is this experience that gives impetus to a person’s manifestation of mental and physical activity. However, to reduce a motive only to a state is just as unlawful as to take a need as a motive. Therefore, it is difficult to agree with the view developed by A. M. Meyerovich (1987) (interesting in itself) that the motive for activity is the “model of the required state.”
The author uncritically accepts the position of A. N. Leontyev that the need, not yet “knowing” its subject, is not capable of directing and regulating activity; on this basis, he believes that the image of an object that does not actually exist cannot arise on the basis of need. This arises, writes A. M. Meyerovich, the problem of determining the link that mediates the connection between the need and the “unknown” object capable of satisfying it. In his opinion, it is a reflection in the consciousness of the state of the individual that arises in a situation of satisfying a need. The formation of an image of an object of need is preceded by anticipation, modeling of the “needed” state of the individual (i.e., anticipation of a state of satisfaction). This “model of the required state” is, according to A. M. Meyerovich, the motive of activity, reflecting what it is done for.
One can agree with the author that such anticipation can take place and that it has a motivating force, but it is difficult to accept it alone as a motive. Indeed, in essence, the “need state model” is one of the types of goals (target state).
MOTIVE AS FORMULATION
This understanding of motive was proposed by the Polish psychologist and psychotherapist K. Obukhovsky (1972). It is very close to the understanding of another Polish psychologist, A. Levitsky: “A motive is a mental process that stimulates us from within to set a goal and adopt appropriate means of action” (quoted from: K. Obukhovsky, 1972, pp. 20-21) . K. Obukhovsky replaced the word “process” with the word “formulation”, believing that the motive is the formulation of the goal and means. He deliberately narrows the concept of “motive”, not including the motivating factors associated with the state of tension as a consequence of the need; Only the substantive side is left behind the motive (the motive as an argument, an argument that can be given by another person, therefore the author writes that the motive can be suggested). K. Obukhovsky (1972, p. 17) considers motive as a factor that allows a person to formulate a decision to start an activity “If a person has not formulated the motive for an action committed or being performed. This practically means only that he had no motive for the action and, therefore, his action was unmotivated,” he writes. Thus, the wording helps a person understand
the purpose of the action and makes it possible to make a decision about starting the action.
The undoubted advantage of K. Obukhovsky’s point of view on motive is that it focuses on the awareness of the goal and the means of achieving it, and this brings it closer to the understanding of V. N. Myasishchev (1957), I. V. Imedadze (1989) and other authors motive as a basis
of your actions and deeds. However, one cannot help but see the limitations of such an understanding of motive only as an interpretation, an explanation of the cause of an action devoid of energy potential. Motive, according to K. Obukhovsky, only gives the character of rationality to a person’s activity, which arose, as it were, against his will. He directly writes that the factor that dynamizes action is something other than motive.
In the views of K. Obukhovsky, it remains unclear why the formulation and verbalization of a goal and means of achieving it (the latter he calls a program) enables a person to begin action.
And K. Obukhovsky himself understands that his interpretation of the motive does not allow him to get answers to questions about the reasons for actions and deeds. Thus, attaching a certain importance to attitudes in the formation of a motive, he writes that they help to understand why a person at a given moment and in a given situation chooses one and not another motive of behavior, but does not explain why the choice process itself arises, why a person makes an effort , in order to perform the often painstaking and nerve-wracking elimination of motives (i.e., certain arguments, arguments). From his point of view, this explanation is provided by needs that he does not include in the motive. However, wittingly or unwittingly, this psychologist himself came to the conclusion that without including needs in consideration, it is impossible to understand the reasons for a person’s behavior and actions and that the formulation of a goal and means of achieving it cannot fully explain a person’s conscious activity, that is, such activity that is aimed at achieving a pre-programmed result.
P. I. Ivanov (1967) also takes a similar position with K. Obukhovsky in his view of motive. He calls motives for action everything that determines the degree of acceptability of goals and the paths leading to achieving these goals. Motive is the answer to the question why a person sets this goal and not another, acts one way and not another. Therefore, all the above comments can be attributed to his opinion on this issue.
MOTIVE AS SATISFACTION
Satisfaction as a motive is considered by V. G. Aseev (1976), A. G. Kovalev (1969) and P. M. Yakobson (1969). This understanding of the motive is presented in most detail in the work of the last author. True, he uses the term "satisfaction." This seemingly small terminological inaccuracy significantly changes the essence of the issue under discussion. The fact is that satisfaction is a consequence of achieving a goal - satisfying a need. Satisfaction is an emotional state that arises as a result of the realization of a motive. Therefore, satisfaction can neither be the motive itself nor influence its formation, because the effect cannot be the cause of itself.
Another thing is satisfaction, understood by most psychologists and sociologists as an attitude towards
activities performed, lifestyle (T. A. Kitvel, 1974; N. G. Krupnoe and I. G. Stolyar, 1972; A. A. Murutar and P. A. Vikhalem, 1972; N. F. Naumova, 1970; K. R. Haav, 1978). Satisfaction has a long-term evaluative function, so it is a positive evaluative attitude, while dissatisfaction is a negative one. Based on a positive attitude towards his activity, the subject has a long-term motivational attitude towards its implementation. Thus, satisfaction is one of the factors influencing the decision to continue activities (mainly professional), but nothing more. Satisfaction enhances the motive rather than being a direct motivator. It can serve as a basis, i.e., the substantive side of the motive, to explain why a person has been engaged in this activity for such a long time. However, satisfaction does not always have a motivating effect. For example, complacency with the achieved result can reduce the strength of the motive.
Let's summarize briefly. There are psychologists who take as a motive any factor that, from the point of view of the person himself, has special significance as a stimulus for any activity, determining its course and results. K. Obukhovsky, rightly criticizing this approach, notes that in this case the motive may be the presence of alcohol in the blood, pain caused by a pin prick, and an obstacle to the goal, i.e., any external stimuli. Determination of behavior does not always mean its motivation. Motivation is the internal determination of behavior and activity, which, of course, can also be determined by external stimuli and the environment surrounding a person. But the external environment affects a person physically, while motivation is a mental process that transforms external influences into internal motivation.
B.F. Lomov notes that in the study of mental phenomena, an attempt to look for a single determinant of a particular phenomenon is a dead end. Any phenomenon is determined by a system of determinants. The validity of this idea is evident from what is presented in this chapter.
Let's consider a number of equalities: motive-need,
has motivating power, but lacks direction;
motive = the subject of satisfying a need,
has a direction, but does not explain its reason;
motive = reason,
provides an explanation of the reason and meaning of an action or deed, but lacks a motivating function. Monistic approaches to considering the essence of a motive, when they take for it a need, a goal, an intention, a motivation, personality traits, or states, do not justify themselves; There is no unity of views on other issues either. For example, opinions differ significantly about where the force that motivates an action or deed comes from. Some believe that it comes from a need, others from the object of satisfying the need, others from the personal meaning of the activity, and others from the emotional experience of the need. It is not surprising that for many authors (V.G. Aseev, V.I. Kovalev, R.S. Nemov) motive is only one type of motivation, along with needs, goals, aspirations, interests and intentions.
This is largely due to the fact that there is no clear understanding of these phenomena themselves: what a need is, what is taken as a goal, what are the relationships between need and need, determination and motivation, motivation and motive.
The acceptance by different authors of various psychological phenomena as motive leads some to pessimism and refusal to study motives as a psychological phenomenon, and others to the choice of the most “convenient” interpretation of motive for a particular scientific discipline. Thus, one of the teachers (L.P. Kichatinov, 1989), having examined a number of approaches to understanding the essence of motive, concluded that pedagogical needs are more consistent with an understanding of motive as the personal meaning of the subject’s activity. From his point of view, such an interpretation of the motive is pedagogically promising, since it indicates the main direction for its formation: to teach students to harmoniously combine the personal and social in their activities. Thus, the author put the pedagogical expediency of such an interpretation of the motive in the foreground, but whether this interpretation corresponds to reality does not really concern him. After all, it’s easier to take what you want for reality.
MOTIVATION AS A PROCESS
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