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.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allport, G. W. (1937). The functional autonomy of motives. The American Journal of Psychology, 50, 141–156.
Bagozzi, R. P. (1992). The self-regulation of attitudes, intentions, and behavior. Social Psychology Quarterly, 55(2), 178–204.
Baumeister, R. F. (2016). Toward a general theory of motivation: Problems, challenges, opportunities, and the big picture. Motivation and Emotion, 40, 1–10.
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.
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.
Berridge, K. C. (2004). Motivation concepts in behavioral neuroscience. Physiology & Behavior, 81(2), 179–209.
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.
Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1990). Origins and functions of positive and negative affect: A control-process view. Psychological Review, 97(1), 19.
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.
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.
Darwin, C., & Darwin, F. (1880). The power of movement in plants. London: John Murray.
Dunning, D. (1999). A newer look: Motivated social cognition and the schematic representation of social concepts. Psychological Inquiry, 10(1), 1–11.
Freud, S. (1955). Two encyclopaedia articles. In The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XVIII (1920–1922): 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.
Higgins, E. T. (2012). Beyond pleasure and pain: How motivation works. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Hull, C. L. (1943). Principles of behavior: An introduction to behavior theory. New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, Incorporated.
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.
Kruglanski, A. W. (2004). The psychology of closed mindedness. New York: Psychology Press.
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.
Kruglanski, A. W., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Intuitive and deliberate judgments are based on common principles. Psychological Review, 118(1), 97.
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.
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.
Kruglanski, A. W., & Webster, D. M. (1996). Motivated closing of the mind: “Seizing” and “freezing”. Psychological Review, 103(2), 263.
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.
Miller, G. A., Galanter, E., & Pribram, K. H. (1960). Plans and the structure of behavior. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Skinner, B. F. (1938). The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis. Oxford: Appleton-Century.
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.
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
Corresponding author
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
About this article
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
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9534-6