Understanding Motivation

We humans engage in all kinds of behaviors for all kinds of reasons. We know, from our everyday experience, what it feels like to have, or to lack, the motivation to engage in particular activities. We know what it is to observe others’ behavior and speculate about their motivation. In this course we will link those everyday experiences and speculations to broad, psychological principles of motivation that help us understand why people do what they do, and help us explain people’s varied and sometimes unexpected responses to such social inputs as praise, incentives, exclusion, and competition.