Skip to main content
Log in

Aspects of motivation: reflections on Roy Baumeister’s essay

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Motivation and Emotion Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Reflecting on Roy Baumeister’s guidelines for a general theory of motivation, we relate his ideas to our own perspectives and interests. In those terms we consider, among others, the role of motivation in cognitive processes, the emergence of motives from basic needs, the mental representation of motives in memory, and the issue of free will. Roy’s paper compellingly demonstrates the indispensability of motivation to psychological phenomena writ large, and it aptly identifies critical junctures where further motivational research is needed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allport, G. W. (1937). The functional autonomy of motives. The American Journal of Psychology, 50, 141–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bagozzi, R. P. (1992). The self-regulation of attitudes, intentions, and behavior. Social Psychology Quarterly, 55(2), 178–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumeister, R. F. (2016). Toward a general theory of motivation: Problems, challenges, opportunities, and the big picture. Motivation and Emotion, 40, 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bélanger, J. J., Kruglanski, A. W., Chen, X., & Orehek, E. (2014). Bending perception to desire: Effects of task demands, motivation, and cognitive resources. Motivation and Emotion, 38(6), 802–814.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bélanger, J. J., Kruglanski, A. W., Chen, X., Orehek, E., & Johnson, D. J. (2015). When Mona Lisa smiled and love was in the air: On the cognitive energetics of motivated judgments. Social Cognition, 33(2), 104–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berridge, K. C. (2004). Motivation concepts in behavioral neuroscience. Physiology & Behavior, 81(2), 179–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1982). Control theory: A useful conceptual framework for personality—social, clinical, and health psychology. Psychological Bulletin, 92(1), 111.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1990). Origins and functions of positive and negative affect: A control-process view. Psychological Review, 97(1), 19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Custers, R., & Aarts, H. (2005). Positive affect as implicit motivator: on the nonconscious operation of behavioral goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(2), 129.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Custers, R., & Aarts, H. (2007). In search of the nonconscious sources of goal pursuit: Accessibility and positive affective valence of the goal state. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43(2), 312–318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darwin, C., & Darwin, F. (1880). The power of movement in plants. London: John Murray.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dunning, D. (1999). A newer look: Motivated social cognition and the schematic representation of social concepts. Psychological Inquiry, 10(1), 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1955). Two encyclopaedia articles. In The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XVIII (19201922): Beyond the pleasure principle, group psychology and other works (pp. 233–260).

  • Higgins, E. T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: a theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review, 94(3), 319.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Higgins, E. T. (2012). Beyond pleasure and pain: How motivation works. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hull, C. L. (1943). Principles of behavior: An introduction to behavior theory. New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, Incorporated.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jasko, K., Chernikova, M., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2015). Individual differences in the tendency to initiate and maintain commitment. Unpublished Manuscript. University of Maryland, College Park.

  • Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York, NY: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kruglanski, A. W. (2004). The psychology of closed mindedness. New York: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kruglanski, A. W., Bélanger, J. J., Chen, X., Köpetz, C., Pierro, A., & Mannetti, L. (2012). The energetics of motivated cognition: A force-field analysis. Psychological Review, 119(1), 1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kruglanski, A. W., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Intuitive and deliberate judgments are based on common principles. Psychological Review, 118(1), 97.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kruglanski, A. W., Jasko, K., Chernikova, M., Milyavsky, M., Babush, M., Baldner, C., & Pierro, A. (2015). The rocky road from attitudes to behaviors: Charting the goal systemic course of actions. Psychological Review, 122(4), 598–620.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kruglanski, A. W., Pierro, A., Mannetti, L., & De Grada, E. (2006). Groups as epistemic providers: Need for closure and the unfolding of group-centrism. Psychological Review, 113(1), 84.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kruglanski, A. W., & Webster, D. M. (1996). Motivated closing of the mind: “Seizing” and “freezing”. Psychological Review, 103(2), 263.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lau, S., Hiemisch, A., & Baumeister, R. F. (2015). The experience of freedom in decisions—questioning philosophical beliefs in favor of psychological determinants. Consciousness and Cognition, 33, 30–46.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, G. A., Galanter, E., & Pribram, K. H. (1960). Plans and the structure of behavior. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mowrer, O. H. (1956). Two-factor learning theory reconsidered, with special reference to secondary reinforcement and the concept of habit. Psychological Review, 63(2), 114.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mowrer, O. H., & Solomon, L. N. (1954). Contiguity vs. drive-reduction in conditioned fear: The proximity and abruptness of drive-reduction. The American Journal of Psychology, 67(1), 15–25.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Oettingen, G., Pak, H. J., & Schnetter, K. (2001). Self-regulation of goal-setting: Turning free fantasies about the future into binding goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(5), 736.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pica, G., Pierro, A., Bélanger, J. J., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2013). The motivational dynamics of retrieval-induced forgetting a test of cognitive energetics theory. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(11), 1530–1541.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pica, G., Pierro, A., Bélanger, J. J., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2014). The role of need for cognitive closure in retrieval-induced forgetting and misinformation effects in eyewitness memory. Social Cognition, 32(4), 337–359.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sinclair, L., & Kunda, Z. (1999). Reactions to a black professional: Motivated inhibition and activation of conflicting stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(5), 885.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, B. F. (1938). The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis. Oxford: Appleton-Century.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiner, B. (1980). A cognitive (attribution)–emotion–action model of motivated behavior: An analysis of judgments of help-giving. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(2), 186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Katarzyna Jasko’s work on this project was supported by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (the Mobility Plus project 1115/MOB/13/2014/0).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marina Chernikova.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Arie Kruglanski, Marina Chernikova, and Katarzyna Jasko declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kruglanski, A.W., Chernikova, M. & Jasko, K. Aspects of motivation: reflections on Roy Baumeister’s essay. Motiv Emot 40, 11–15 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9534-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9534-6

Keywords

Navigation