Motivation
Academic definitions

Many academic definitions of motivation have been proposed but there is little consensus on its precise characterization. This is partly because motivation is a complex phenomenon with many aspects and different definitions often focus on different aspects. Some definitions emphasize internal factors. This can involve psychological aspects in relation to desires and volitions or physiological aspects regarding physical needs. For example, John Dewey and Abraham Maslow use a psychological perspective to understand motivation as a form of desire while Jackson Beatty and Charles Ransom Gallistel see it as a physical process akin to hunger and thirst.

Some definitions stress the continuity between human and animal motivation, but others draw a clear distinction between the two. This is often emphasized by the idea that human agents act for reasons and are not mechanistically driven to follow their strongest impulse. A closely related disagreement concerns the role of awareness and rationality. Definitions emphasizing this aspect understand motivation as a mostly conscious process of rationally considering the most appropriate behavior. Another perspective emphasizes the multitude of unconscious and subconscious factors responsible.

Other definitions characterize motivation as a form of arousal that provides energy to direct and maintain behavior. For instance, K. B. Madsen sees motivation as "the 'driving force' behind behavior" while Elliott S. Vatenstein and Roderick Wong emphasize that motivation leads to goal-oriented behavior that is interested in consequences. The role of goals in motivation is sometimes paired with the claim that it leads to flexible behavior in contrast to blind reflexes or fixed stimulus-response patterns. This is based on the idea that individuals use means to bring about the goal and are flexible in regard to what means they employ. According to this view, the feeding behavior of rats is based on motivation since they can learn to traverse through complicated mazes to satisfy their hunger, which is not the case for the stimulus-bound feeding behavior of flies.

Some psychologists define motivation as a temporary and reversible process. For example, Robert A. Hinde and John Alcock see it as a transitory state that affects responsiveness to stimuli. This approach makes it possible to contrast motivation with phenomena like learning which bring about permanent behavioral changes.

Another approach is to provide a very broad characterization to cover many different aspects of motivation. This often results in very long definitions by including many of the factors listed above. The multitude of definitions and the lack of consensus have prompted some theorists, like psychologists B. N. Bunnell and Donald A. Dewsbury, to doubt that the concept of motivation is theoretically useful and to see it instead as a mere hypothetical construct.
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