What motivates humans is of interest to educators, business management, politicians, entrepreneurs, law enforcement, and people like you. There are a variety of things that motivate all human beings. You have reasons why you choose to do what you do--your choices--which are based on theories that support why you do what you do.
Twenty Motivational Theories That Drive People
The academic community offers you theories to explain what motivates you. Motivational theories are useful tools if you are an instructor, an employer, a politician, law enforcement solving crimes or an entrepreneur. When you understand the basics of these twenty academic theories of human motivation you can even apply them to understanding yourself.
- Acquired Needs Theory
- Affect Perseverance Theory
- Attitude-Consistency Behavior
- Attribution Theory
- Cognitive Dissonance Theory
- Cognitive Evaluation Theory
- Consistency Theory
- Control Theory
- Disinformation Bias Theory
- ERG Theory (Existence, Relatedness, Growth)
- Escape Theory
- Expectancy Theory
- Extrinsic Motivation Theory
- Goal-Setting Theory
- Intrinsic Motivation Theory
- Investment Model Theory
- Opponent-Process Theory
- Reaction Theory
- Self-Discrepancy Theory
- Side-Bet Theory
Goals, Ego, Achievement, and Desire for Power Inject Motivation
Setting different kinds of goals motivates people differently and is the concept behind the goal-setting motivational theory. In particular, goals that motivate you to seek power, achievement, and affiliations fall under the motivational theory of achievement and power. When your motivation is to give credence to what supports your ego, this is called the attribution theory.
Escaping and Interacting are Opposites
When your reality is uncomfortable enough that you want to be free from it, this motivational theory is called the escape theory. On the other hand, when you find yourself emotionally reacting to the opposite of the emotions you feel (such as anger at another person's happiness), this is known as the opponent-process motivational theory.
Consistency of Beliefs Needs Support
To have consistent motivation requires belief in what you are doing and is an aspect of the self-discrepancy motivational theory. Motivation that leads you to identify what does or does not support your beliefs is called disconfirmation theory. Whether you find the support for your beliefs or not to motivate you, the perseverance of sticking to your beliefs is called the affect perseverance theory.
Alignment of Different Factors Affect Outcomes
The factors of your life that motivate you have to align internally to be comfortable and this is called the consistency motivational theory. When there is no alignment, then you feel uncomfortable and there is no motivation, according to the cognitive dissonance theory. The attitude-consistency theory is what your actions are when there are factors that align your attitude and behavior toward what motivates or does not motivate you.
The Rewards of the Possible Affect Commitment
Extrinsic motivation is your ability to see the rewards your actions bring. Believing your actions will get you what you seek because they are doable is described by the expectancy theory, which aligns with the cognitive evaluation theory as well. The degree of your motivational commitment depends on what you have invested in the task and is called the investment model theory.
The Id Seeks Value Reinforcement
Your sense of self, or the Id, seeks motivation for value-based internal rewards and this is known as the intrinsic motivation theory. Seeking motivation that fulfills your needs of existence, relatedness, and growth are explained by the ERG (existence, relatedness, growth) theory. Any perception of a threat to your freedom motivating action from you is the reaction motivational theory.
