Abstract
You will by now have come across mention of the concept of motivation in several chapters and here Evans looks at it in depth. He first outlines the history of the concept and then discusses it from a present-day standpoint. You may come to recognize that the history of the concept of motivation is also the history of psychology itself. It starts with notions of needs and drives stemming from the stimulus-response behaviourism of Pavlov and others and leads on to the humanistic psychologists such as Maslow and Rogers.
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References
Atkinson, J.W. and Birch, D. (1979) An Introduction to Motivation. Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand.
Coleman, J. (1961) The Adolescent Society. Glencoe, Ill: Free Press.
Feather, N. and Raphelson, A. (1974) Fear of success in Australian and American student groups: motive or sex-role stereotype? Journal of Personality, 42, 190–201.
Fransella, F. and Frost, K. (1977) On Being a Woman. London: Tavistock Publications.
Horner, M. (1970) Femininity and successful achievement: a basic inconsistency. In J. Bardwick, E. Douvan, M. Horner and D. Gutman (eds), Feminine Personality and Conflict. Belmont, Ca: Brooks-Cole.
Horner, M. (1972) Toward an understanding of achievement-related conflicts in women. Journal of Social Issues, 28, 157–175.
Hoffman, L. (1974) Fear of success in males and females: 1965 and 1971. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 353–358.
Kelly, G.A. (1969) Man’s construction of his alternatives. In B. Maher (ed.), Clinical Psychology and Personality: The selected papers of George Kelly. New York: Krieger.
Medrick, M.T.S., Tangri, S.S. and Hoffman, L.W. (eds) (1975) Women and Achievement: Social and motivational analysis. New York: Halsted Press.
Murrell, H. (1976) Motivation at Work. London: Methuen.
Rachlin, H. (1976) Introduction to Modern Behaviorism. San Francisco: Freeman.
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Annotated reading
Atkinson, J.W. and Birch, D. (1979) Introduction to Motivation. Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand. This book covers the area of human motivation well from the point of view of internal trait motives interacting with environmental contingencies. It fills in the details of recent research in achievement motivation and allied topics. At times the mathematical statements of theory might be too much for certain arts-biassed students, but the essential logic — all that is needed for an introductory appreciation — is clear.
Evans, P. (1975) Motivation. London: Methuen. This is a short book which should not present the reader with any difficulty. It is very much a theoreticalcum-historical overview of approaches to the study of motivation, leaving it to other texts, such as the one above, to fill in details of particular approaches. It also has chapters on instinct and on biologically based motivations such as hunger, thirst, sex, and sleep. This might interest a student who wishes to extend the chapter’s coverage at a still introductory level.
Medrick, M.T.S., Tangri, S.S. and Hoffman, L.W. (eds) (1975) Women and Achievement: Social and motivational analysis. New York: Halsted Press. A collection of previously published papers, many in obscure journals. As in other contexts, it is often rewarding to read what a much-quoted author actually did say. In particular you will find Horner’s early paper on fear of success.
Rachlin, H. (1976) Introduction to Modern Behaviorism. San Francisco: Freeman. This is the best introductory book for the student who is interested in following up the idea mentioned in the chapter that ‘Motivation = Reinforcement’. In line with that view, it is no surprise that the word ‘motivation’ does not occur in the index! (Reinforcement, however, does.
Ward, C. (1979) Is there a motive in women to avoid success? In O. Harenett, G. Boden and M. Fuller (eds), Women: Sex-role stereotyping. London: Tavistock Publications. This is an up-to-date account of the work on the topic.
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© 1982 The British Psychological Society
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Evans, P.D. (1982). Motivation. In: Psychology for Occupational Therapists. Psychology for Professional Groups. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16882-8_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16882-8_12
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