11 THEORIES OF MOTIVATION IN PSYCHOLOGY AND THEIR AUTHORS - GEOGRAFÍA - 2025

The motivation theories explaining how arises, develops, increases and decreases motivation in humans. In psychology, motivation is defined as a series of processes that initiates, guides and maintains all behaviors related to the ability to achieve a goal.

Motivation has to do with both thoughts and emotions and behaviors, which is why it is one of the most important processes at the mental level. Motivation is related to all situations in daily life that require some type of action, from going to the kitchen for a glass of water to starting to study a career to improve our job opportunities.

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Thus, it is a very broad psychological process that affects us at all times, which is why it has been of great interest to experts in human behavior throughout history.

There are many different factors that affect motivation, including those that are biological, social, cognitive, and emotional. Because of this, there are all kinds of motivational theories that feed back each other and that explain different parts of the process of acting on the basis of goals.

Throughout history, many different motivational theories have been proposed, and today there is still no consensus on how best to explain this psychological phenomenon. In this article we will see some of the most important ones, in order to understand how this process works in the best possible way.

Most important theories of motivation

- Hertzberg's two factor theory

Frederick Herzberg

One of the first explanations of how motivation works that appeared in the field of psychology was the theory of the two factors, proposed by Frederick Herzberg in the 50s of the last century. This psychologist conducted surveys of more than 200 employees to understand what caused the positive and negative feelings they felt towards their work.

After analyzing all his answers, Herzberg realized that there were mainly two types of factors that determined the level of satisfaction that employees showed towards their job responsibilities: those of motivation, and those of hygiene.

On the one hand, motivating factors are those that lead employees to strive, innovate, feel satisfied and work harder. Among the most important are the feeling of being recognized in one's job, how enjoyable the tasks to be performed are, and the feeling that one's career is progressing.

On the other hand, hygiene factors are those that cause lack of motivation and job satisfaction if they are not present. Some of the most common are salary, job benefits, or good relationships with bosses and co-workers.

Interestingly, both types of factors seemed to work independently: the presence of several hygiene factors does not increase motivation beyond a certain point, and the absence of motivational factors does not decrease satisfaction beyond a certain level.

- Maslow's Pyramid of Needs

Hierarchy of needs: the basic ones are physiological and the highest ones are those of self-realization

One of the most successful theories of motivation both within and outside the field of psychology was the one proposed by Abraham Maslow in his work "A Theory of Human Motivation" in 1943. In this article, the researcher argued that our needs are hierarchical; that is, the most basic ones have to be fulfilled before those of the higher levels are activated.

Thus, most individuals start their life acting from the lowest levels of motivation, and as they cover their needs, they can move on to the next. According to Maslow's theory, the types of motivation that exist are organized into five different levels: physiological needs, security, belonging, esteem and updating.

Physiological needs

This level includes all the needs that must be covered to guarantee the survival and reproduction of the individual. Therefore, it incorporates elements such as the search for food, water, warmth, shelter and sex. They are found at a very low level in the brain, and have an absolute priority over all other types.

Security needs

Once survival goals have been achieved, the person begins to care more about their long-term well-being and safety. At this level we find goals related, for example, with the financial level, physical health and stability, both on a personal level and the environment in which the individual lives.

Membership needs

The third level of Maslow's theory of motivation has to do with the need to connect with other people, whether in the form of a friendship or in a relationship. Those who are at this point are focused on forming strong and stable relationships, based on love and mutual respect.

Esteem needs

The fourth level of Maslow's pyramid has to do with the need to feel respected by other people and by yourself. Those who are at this point usually try to make a difference, contribute something to the world and stand out in something specific, either at work or personal level.

Upgrade needs

The last level described by Maslow is the rarest, and it is estimated that less than 10% of the population operates from it today. Those here are primarily focused on getting the most out of it in all areas, and reaching their full potential.

- Theory of the need for achievement

David mcclelland

Another of the most important theories about personality is that developed by McClelland on the need for achievement. This researcher realized that while most people seek success because of the external rewards it provides, other individuals feel the need to improve simply by achieving personal achievement.

Many of the classical motivation theories (especially those coming from behaviorism) did not contemplate the possibility that a person would act in a motivated way if there was no external reinforcement that would drive them to do so. For McClelland, however, some individuals need to push themselves to be better simply for the satisfaction of doing so.

This theory of motivation is very useful in explaining why certain people are capable of very difficult achievements in situations where it seems that there is not enough reward, as could be the case of a scientific researcher who excels in his field after many years of hard work without any external recognition.

- Theory of basic needs

Building on McClelland's work, some researchers realized that the need for achievement was not the only one that could lead an individual to struggle to achieve difficult goals or to face difficult situations. According to the latest research on basic needs, there are three main motivations: achievement, affiliation and power.

In this theory, the need for achievement is the same as in McClelland's. People who are motivated in this way act to make themselves feel good about reaching their goals, and external rewards are not that important to them.

The need for membership is completely different. Individuals with this basic need are motivated primarily by their need to be accepted and liked by others. They tend to feel uncomfortable with conflict, and seek social support in everything they do. Because of this, their goals are often determined by what they think the people around them want.

Finally, people with a need for power feel the desire to control all aspects of their life and that of others. They normally seek to achieve positions of status, in which they can influence other individuals; and they are much more concerned with their social position than the goals they achieve or the accomplishments they achieve.

- Evolutionary theory of motivation

Source: Human_evolution_scheme.svg: M. Gardederivative work: Gerbil

One of the most important currents in current psychology is evolutionary. From this perspective, human behaviors, thoughts and feelings are studied from the point of view of our development as a species, examining why each of these elements was formed in the distant past as an adaptation to the environment.

The evolutionary theory of motivation defends, therefore, that our desires, instincts, impulses and goals are directly related to the environment in which we develop as a species. Thus, our way of acting would be determined by what would have meant a greater probability of survival and reproduction in our evolutionary past.

A very important part of the evolutionary theory of motivation is the optimization theory. According to this paradigm, humans always seek to maximize the rewards we obtain while minimizing the energy we expend to obtain them. In this way, at all times we are carrying out cost-benefit analysis.

- Expectations theory

Expectations theory defends that people will choose how to act based on the consequences they expect to derive from their behaviors. Therefore, according to this theory, the goals of individuals are 100% pragmatic and depend on the context in which they move.

However, the theory of expectations is not based only on the rewards that are believed to be achievable, but also on how likely the person determines that these will be given. Thus, people tend to try harder to achieve something that we know will occur if certain conditions are met, than if we believe that a reward is only probable.

On the other hand, when an individual's motivation is analyzed based on this theory, three elements are examined: expectations, instrumentality, and valence. Based on these three characteristics, people's desire to act will increase and decrease along with their likelihood of acting in a focused way.

Expectation is the belief that one's own efforts will lead the person to achieve the goals that have been set. This element is based on the individual's past experiences, their self-esteem, and the perception of how difficult it is to achieve a specific goal.

Instrumentality, on the other hand, is the probability that is attributed to getting a certain reward if one acts correctly. Lastly, the valence is the value attributed to this reward.

- Impulse reduction theory

Clark hull

Drive reduction theory focuses on the idea that humans act primarily to satisfy our needs as much as possible, with the goal of maintaining a state of equilibrium known as homeostasis. This theory was first proposed in 1943 by Clark Hull.

Hull believed that humans are only motivated to act at times when there are alterations in our state of homeostasis. These alterations can come from very different sources, from the simplest such as hunger, to the more complex such as the loss of a job or the death of a family member.

In addition to this, the drive reduction theory makes a distinction between primary and secondary motivations. The primary ones are those that have to do with the direct satisfaction of our natural impulses, such as hunger, thirst, or the need for sex.

On the other hand, secondary motivations are those related to the indirect satisfaction of our impulses. For example, the desire to get money is because with this element we can buy food or shelter, which in turn can help us meet our primary needs.

- Arousal theory

Stanley schachter

The arousal theory was proposed by psychologists Stanley Schachter and Jerome E. Singer. His main idea was that our motivation depends on the activation of the nervous system, which causes a psychological state of alertness and stimulation and results in what is known as arousal.

Schachter and Singer studied the brain status of several patients and found that dopamine, a neurotransmitter responsible for levels of alertness and pleasure, causes very important changes in motivation. Based on this discovery, psychologists determined that differences in motivation have to do with sensitivity to this substance.

In fact, it has been proven that when a person reaches a goal important to them, they receive a dose of dopamine that causes great pleasure and increases the probability that they will behave in a motivated way in the future. Therefore, for those who defend this theory, the goals should be as reinforcing as possible in order to maintain an adequate mental state.

- Incentive theory

The incentive theory in motivation is based on the principles of behaviorism, which establish that people only act in a directed way in response to an incentive, which can be both internal and external.

In this way, those who defend this point of view believe that people do not act to be happy or because we believe that an activity is satisfactory, but in a purely utilitarian way.

Thus, according to the incentive theory, humans would only act to avoid punishments or to obtain rewards, both of which can come from both the environment or other people, as well as from our own interior. For example, an individual might seek a job with the goal of avoiding starvation, or to improve their social status.

From the incentive theory, elements such as values ​​are left aside to study in greater depth others such as the probability of receiving a reward or punishment if a certain action is carried out.

- Temporal theory

The time theory of motivation was developed by researchers Piers Steel and Cornelius König. Both psychologists wanted to study how time and deadlines affect human motivation, with the goal of understanding phenomena such as procrastination and goal setting.

The studies of both psychologists allowed them to discover that a person's motivation increases as the end of the period they have to carry out a specific action approaches. In this way, procrastination would be an essential component of human nature, since motivation is always low when time is short.

- Festinger theory

One of the most important contributions of the entire 20th century to the field of psychology was the concept of cognitive dissonance, proposed by the researcher Leon Festinger. According to this psychologist, when there is a discrepancy between our thoughts or beliefs and our actions, we tend to feel deeply uncomfortable.

If this discomfort reaches a very high level, we will be motivated to act in such a way that we can get rid of it. Generally, this will translate into behaviors that are more aligned with our beliefs, since it is very difficult to change the way we see the world.

However, Festinger also believed that in cases where cognitive dissonance is very powerful, we can completely change our beliefs in order to adapt to an environment that does not correspond to what we think.

References

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