Defining Motivation Well Known And Unsolved - 3147 Words

Defining motivation: Well-known and unsolved When we see a person acting in an abnormal way, we cannot help but think â€Å"why are they doing that?† We form judgements about people and question the reasoning behind their actions in an attempt to better understand their situation. This ability to understand intentions plays an important role in today’s society, allowing us to relate to one another and form deep connections through picturing ourselves in that same position. Nevertheless, there are times when we are unable to relate, and unable to understand why someone chooses to act in a certain way, say a certain thing, or be a certain type of person. This desire – this motivation to do something – has been felt by each and every human being†¦show more content†¦That being said, the characteristics when defining a concept include being 1. Simple and easy to understand; 2. Useful in the field to which it relates; 3. Specific enough to refer to one and only one possible entity, being the definiendum; 4. Measurable; 5. Reflect current scientific knowledge (Gupta, 2008). The nature of motivation has traditionally been separated into two qualitatively distinct forms: a) intrinsic interest and; b) extrinsic motivation (Deci Ryan, 1985). This assumption has served as the foundation of many psychological theories and experiments. Yet, when this same concept is viewed from a neurological standpoint, there is evidence to suggest that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations activate the same areas in the striatum that are associated with rewards, implying that they may both part of the same reward based system. (Murayama et al., 2010) This, along with other examples (see Shultz Lepper, 1998), suggest that neuroscience and computational theories may be able to account for complex phenomena in much simpler terms. This could allow for greater generalizations and uniformity in future models of the brain, leading to insights we might not have otherwise made. Whether it is a morning cup of coffee, the