Theory
Motivation
theories
Trevor Eddolls looks
at why we do things
F
or most people, we only do things
that we want to do, or that we
feel we ought to do, or because
we’d rather do that than any of the
alternatives.
Certainly, as Solution Focused Hypnotherapists,
we’re helping people to be in control and make the
best decisions possible for them
about what they do. But what
psychological theories are there?
“You can motivate
What have psychologists come
by fear. And you can
up with about motivation? And
motivate by reward.
how can we use those theories to
But both of these
encourage our clients to do what’s
best for them?
methods are only
temporary. The only
lasting thing is selfmotivation.” – Homer
Rice (Coach)
Let’s start with a de?nition of
what we mean by motivation.
Motivation is what starts, steers,
and sustains (initiates, directs,
and maintains) a particular
behaviour. Motivation has at least
three components – activation,
persistence, and intensity.
So let’s take a look at some of those theories…
The ?rst theory is called the ‘incentive theory’,
and that basically assumes that we do anything
because we get rewarded (ie the incentive) for doing
anything. So a positive meaning is associated with a
behaviour. This is mummy telling a child they are a
‘good boy/girl’ for performing a particular action. It’s
your friends saying well done for doing something,
your country giving you a medal or your own TV
show, or your organization giving you a pay rise.
And you continue performing the behaviour while
8 Hypnotherapy Today
you’re rewarded. A bit like smokers getting rewarded
by their smoking friends by going outside together,
or people who can’t sleep getting up and opening the
whisky. Reinforcement encourages the behaviour,
lack of reinforcement extinguishes the behaviour. In
incentive theory, stimuli ‘attract’ a person towards
them and positive reinforcement keeps them doing
it. With a client, you can use intrinsic rewards –
the feeling that they are doing the right thing - or
extrinsic rewards – give them £5 for every day they
don’t have a cigarette!
Drive Reduction theory comes from the idea that
there are speci?c biological drives, e.g. hunger. If a
drive isn’t satis?ed, its strength increases – so if you
don’t eat for a long time, all you can think about are
your favourite menus! But once you have a meal,
the drive is reduced. Observable behaviour is more
complex than this, but that might be ascribed to
the primitive brain working in this way, and the
intellectual brain over-ruling which behaviours
occur.
Freud’s psychoanalytic theories of motivation
suggested that all action or behaviour resulted
from internal biological instincts that are either to
do with life (sexual) or death (aggression). Sullivan
and Erikson (1993) thought that interpersonal
and social relationships were fundamental. Adler
thought people were driven by power. Jung was
more focused on temperament and a search for the
soul or personal meaningfulness as a motivator.
Leon Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory
suggests that cognitive dissonance occurs when
a person feels a degree of discomfort because
there’s an inconsistency between two cognitions.
What that means is that they have a model of the