Tuesday, September 10, 2013

How To Set Goals

By David Johne


Several psychological theories exist, such as rational motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, push and pull, self-control, drives, need theories, incentive theory, escape-seeking dichotomy, cognitive dissonance theory, drive-reduction theory, self-determination theory, temporal theory, achievement theory, and other cognitive theories like goal-setting theory, basic desires theory, attribution theory, and approach versus avoidance theory. Some of the major theories are analyzed here.

Intrinsic or internal and extrinsic or external motivations are two major theories in motivating people. People having intrinsic motivating attitude have internal interest or enjoyment in performing each task, without any pressure or influence from external factors, such as desire for name, fame, power, position, money, or other types of rewards. This intrinsic motivating approach is highly useful to students.

According to Plato, the individual justice gets achieved through maintenance of these three separate parts in correct hierarchy. The logical part rules the actions of human beings aided by the spirited rules. The appetitive part obeys the logical part and executes the actions. The logistikon or the logical part of soul is the thinking part that loves truth as its motivation and yearns to learn it.

Push and pull motivations also work on several occasions. A typical example is the tourism industry, where push motives are purely internal, such as rest and recuperation, relaxation, or even escapism. On the other hand, the pull motivations are climate of a tourist destination, such as a summer place in winter or a cooler place in summer. Cultural images, landscapes, scenic beauties, and other attractions also act as pull motivators.

In contrast, Machiavellianism theory is the employment of duplicity and cunningness in general conduct or statecraft. Machiavelli proposed this theory of motivation in his treatise, Il Principe or The Prince. Psychologists use the principles of Machiavelli to explain the tendency of people to remain unemotional, detached from morality, and manipulate others.

An example of such unconscious or conscious motivation is marriage or wedding. A person having genes that desire multiple partners would marry and then break up, rationalizing the behavior with a false conviction 'I loved the other person at that time'. As such, it is a deep subject in psychology that should be studied and analyzed carefully.




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