What is Motivation?
- Apr 22, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: May 2, 2021
Motivation is a driving force behind human actions. It's meant to stay goal-oriented to strive toward meaning and a life worth living. Motivation helps us to express our full potential when encountering many challenges. Without Motivation can lead to mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorder.
What kind of Motivation
Motivation can be an internal or an external feeling that strives a person to fulfill a certain goal. This inner build-up is a behavioral feeling to get up and do something. This accomplishment will make the individual feel good in the end. It’s the course of energy anyone can carry when putting their mind to get a task done.
Everyone has different motives, it can represent extrinsic or intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is reward-driven and inspired by outside forces. It's either a reward or recognition that can strive them to take part in the class. Intrinsic motivation for students, like to invest in certain subjects and classwork. It’s something that can get them excited or have inner inspiration to do it for fun. Or use an extrinsic motive who has an interest in getting good grades.
I had a conversation with a teacher to give me advice on motivation for students learning. He sent me a video of a marshmallow test that can tell a kid’s motivation in the future. With one marshmallow on the plate given to a child. The adult tells them, “you can eat this marshmallow, or you can wait till I come back to give you another one.” The video is to test a child's motivation and patience to eat what they have now or they can get something better.
Think of this video as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Most of the kids are eating the marshmallow without waiting for another one. This is intrinsic because they like to enjoy what they have now. In the video, one kid waits for the lady to come back with another marshmallow. This is extrinsic, he decided to wait for his reward. These two motives are very useful in different situations of how you work for something.
Intrinsic motivation is someone's interest in the subject that inspires them. Involved in an activity that you enjoy, your engagement is more important than a reward. When this happens there’s this sense of excitement when learning something new.
Extrinsic motivation is reward-driven. In school, it's a reward or recognition that can strive them to take part in the class. Students may engage in activities that aren’t enjoyable to them but want to have a good grade. Extrinsic motivation is not a bad thing when it comes to rewards. This can be an effective tool when to stay motivated and on task. This can be easier for someone who finds things uninteresting and unenjoyable.
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