Motivation refers to the state within a person that drives behavior towards a goal, satisfying our physiological and psychological needs. It is a process that initiates, directs and sustains behavior, and it has three aspects which include;

1.    The driving state within the organism for instance, set emotions by biological needs, environmental stimuli or mental process such as thoughts and memories.

2.    The behavior directly by the driving state.

3.    The goal towards which the behavior is directed to.

THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

They include:

1.    The instinct theory

2.    The driving reduction theory

3.    Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory

4.    The opponent process theory

5.    The arousal theory

The instinct theory:

The instinct theory is an inborn, unlearnt, fixed personal behavior that is characteristic of the entire species. An instinct does not improve with practice. For instance, nobody teaches birds to fly, as William James attributes humans as well as animal behavior to instinct.

The drive reduction theory:

according to this theory, human beings have certain biological needs that are to be met in order to survive, and this gives rise to an internal state of tension or a arousal called the drive, and we are motivated to reduce it, for instance, when we are in need for food, we are motivated to look for it.

The drive theory is derived from the biological theory of homeostasis i.e. the tendency of the body to maintain an internally balance state, in order to ensure physical survive. The reduction theory can not however fully account to a broad range of human motivation.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:

Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in 1970 proposed a theory of needs to account for the range of human motivation. The theory arranges needs in order of urgency, ranging from physical needs of security needs, love and belonging needs to extreme needs involving desire for respect, confidence and finally to self actualization, meaning doing what you are best suited and realizing ones’ own potential to the maximum.

 Diagram showing Maslow’s hierarchy of needs