Motivation

Needs

Where does motivation start? The most fundamental motivational concept is that of need. The concept of need is derived from the fact that the survival of living organisms is conditional. They must take certain actions to sustain their health and well being, and if they do not take those actions, they suffer, and if the need deprivation is too great, they die. This principle even applies to plants; they need water, minerals, and sunlight, although we would not call plants motivated, because they are not conscious. Plants act automatically, given a conducive environment, to fulfill their needs.

Vegetative, or nonconscious, goal-directed actions also occur within the bodies of conscious organisms. For example, the beating of the heart, the oxygenation of the blood by the lungs, digestion, the production of enzymes and antibodies, and many other physiological processes occur within the body that are not consciously controlled. But all such processes, for example, homeostasis, unless the mechanisms break down, are directed to satisfying needs and thus maintaining the organism's life.

Organisms that possess the faculty of consciousness first become aware of needs through the automatic sensations of pleasure and pain. If your body is functioning well, for example, you are getting food and digesting it properly, and you feel pleasure. If something goes wrong (e.g., you burn your finger by touching a hot stove), you feel pain.

Sensory feedback informs people that physical needs are being satisfied or frustrated and is an impetus to act—to repeat that which yielded pleasure and avoid that which caused pain. Getting sensory feedback, however, is not sufficient to sustain human life long range. Such feedback does not identify what the totality of one's needs are, nor what is required to satisfy them. Consider, for example, hunger. Feeling hunger pangs does not tell one what one's specific, dietary needs are, or how to obtain the right foods. This all must be discovered by a process of conceptual thought and gradual knowledge acquisition—a discovery process that has taken the human race thousands of years to accomplish.

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