Breaking Down Motivation

Breaking Down Motivation

Christiana Silva

COLL100

American Military University

Yolanda Benoit

Breaking Down Motivation

Motivation is what get people through the day, accomplish goals and through life. Motivation is what defines a person and shows their personalities. Although all people respond to motivation, we all have our own methods we respond to. Today, I am going to explain two different types, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and how they both can drive people towards their goals.

Every person has their own methods they respond to. Not every individual can learn the same way, or can be inspired to do something by the same methods. First of all, intrinsic motivation can show how an individual is motivated based on self-accomplishment and how it can benefit them.(3) Intrinsic motivation is where an individual can find inspiration from inside themselves to complete a task. They will be motivated for the benefit of learning for their own pleasure and for making them a better person. This can be positive because an individual can find the motivation from within to work towards their goals. It can make them a more confident person. This can be a negative type of motivation because if an individual doesn’t care about the benefit from it or doesn’t sense a feeling of self-improvement, they might feel like the task at hand is pointless.

Extrinsic motivation is when an individual feeds off of an external source to push themselves. This external source can be acceptance from others, cash rewards, getting off of work early, or for a promotion.(1) For example, studying for good grades based on a cash reward from parents, etc. This can be a positive type of motivation because an individual has a goal to work towards. They can see what they want and physically work towards something they want in life. This can be a negative type of motivation, because if there is no external source of reward then an individual may not be motivated at all. These individuals may only work towards the bare minimum to be accepted. Extrinsic motivation has shown to be found in high levels in people with goals of physical appearance because they are worried about self-image towards others and their appearance in society. Self-consciousness plays a role in this type of motivation, as well.(2) As far as academics, extrinsic motivation is displayed in low levels because some students cannot find something to push them for subjects they are not as interested in.(1)

Both, extrinsic and intrinsic motivations are goal oriented, although towards very different things. They both have a goal and sense of acceptance in the end.(4) The extrinsic motivator will work