Motivation is a psychological
feature that arouses an organism to act towards a desired goal and elicits,
controls, and sustains certain goal directed behaviors. It can be considered a
driving force; a psychological one that compels or reinforces an action toward
a desired goal. For example, hunger is a motivation that elicits a desire to eat.
Motivation is an inner drive to behave or act in a
certain manner. It's the difference between waking up before dawn to pound the
pavement and lazing around the house all day. These inner conditions such as
wishes, desires, goals, activate to move in a particular direction in behavior.
Motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their
goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic
or extrinsic.
The term is generally used for humans but it can also be used to describe the
causes for animal behavior as well.
According to various theories, motivation may be rooted in a basic need
to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, or it may include specific
needs such as eating and resting, or a desired object, goal, state of being, ideal,
or it may be attributed to less-apparent reasons such as altruism,
selfishness, morality,
or avoiding mortality.
Conceptually, motivation should not be confused with either volition
or optimism.
Motivation is related to, but distinct from, emotion