vs. Motivational Traits
|
Other Topics: |
There
are also other important distinctions regarding motivation to keep in
mind. The definitions introduced earlier suggest that motivation
refers to short-lived internal states such as hunger or anger, but
there is also in psychology a long history of conceptualizing and
measuring motivational factors as relatively enduring dispositions or
traits (e.g., Allport, 1937; Heckhausen, 1967, 1991; Jackson, Ahmed,
& Heapy, 1976; McClelland et al., 1953; Murray, 1938). For
example, an individual may not only be trying hard to build a strong
business, which could reflect achievement motivation, but may also
place high value on and invest much effort into doing many things
better than others and into improving on a previous personal
performance. This individual may then be described as generally
achievement motivated, which constitutes the enduring trait of high
achievement motivation.
There
are purposes for which conceiving motivation in terms of enduring
dispositions is very useful. For example, as many search committees
and search firms know, when one is selecting college professors or
corporate executives, it would be helpful to ascertain the kinds of
goals that typically interest them, because that knowledge may shed
light on their likely performance and fitness for the position.
However, characterizing someone in terms of motivational traits can
also blind one to the fact that these traits are generalizations about
an individual’s goal pursuits, that each goal pursuit represents a
decision that is influenced by a given set of factors, and that these
factors, and the decisions they produce, are subject to change.
Especially for counselors and therapists, the possibility of changing
motivation, and the methods for producing change, are central to their
enterprise. Thus, although motivational dispositions can be useful
ways to describe individuals, they are not fixed quantities, but
changeable.
Accordingly,
this book is focused more on motivational states and conditions, which
cumulatively may lead to traits, than on the motivational traits
themselves. When one can change people’s decisions about the kinds
of goals to pursue, one has by that fact also changed motivational
traits.
|
