Michael Del Carmen

Professor Seligman
PSYC 1
23 November 2015
Motivation: The External and Internal Factors
Numerous people believe that success heavily relies on talent, but motivation plays a
large part in people succeeding or failing. In psychology, motivation can be controlled with
extrinsic motivation factors (Huitt). This is when the action leads to something separate from
the person and an example would be a child receiving compensation for good grades. If parents
implement this at a young age, many of them eventually develop intrinsic motivation which is
when the motivation is caused by ones self. People begin to monitor their own achievements and
they are motivated by succeeding and feeling satisfied (White 354). Motivation is also based of
things such as needs and drives. These allow people to do actually accomplish daily tasks and
keeps their lives moving (White 355). With motivation however people are motivated differently
by various things. There are people who strive for achievement which usually is a trait that is
shared with various famous individuals who work hard and want to make sure the keep
succeeding. This is called a nAch which focuses on wanting more challenges thrown at them.
People are different however and many of them have the need for affiliation, meaning that they
need friendly relationships and social interactions with others. The third example of a need is the
need for power which basically means completing a goal is not what makes the individual
happy, but having control over another person (White 356).
Certain individuals are motivated by various things such as challenges and succeeding in
order to make a name for themselves. Personally, I have had a lot of trouble staying motivated to

continue participating in hobbies or sports in order to be the best. The need for achievement is
important for me but throughout my life, it has not been a constant cycle of breakthrough talent. I
became fairly decent at certain things I have done such as, dancing, basketball, and other
hobbies. However, I have yet to be at the top of any of those sports or events but for most of my
life I have been stuck at the middle sometimes moving up, but usually moving back down.
I personally have been more motivated by extrinsic factors more so intrinsic which is the
real why I have not excelled at sports such as basketball. I had some intrinsic motivation but
overall, external factors have dominated my motivation throughout my life. If someone gives me
an incentive, more often than not, I will be motivated to complete the task or challenge. It
definitely differs with each and every person but personally if the request is interesting then that
would be enough motivation to do whatever is asked. Personally I would not call myself a
sensation seeker, however; the crazier something is, and usually that translates to the task being
more compelling or completely idiotic. There are many factors that have affected me and
emotions play a large role in whether or not I finish something to the fullest extent of my
abilities. The point is that numerous things will block a persons motivation and will dwindle the
persons want to do something. This is just how life works and that is what I have discovered. I
have learned to do things that would benefit me and will allow me to grow as a person. This
means that over time I have been more motivated by intrinsic factors because of the amount of
life there is to live. There is so much to achieve in the word and lacking motivation would hinder
my ability to live life the way I want to.

Works Cited
Ciccarelli, Saundra K., and J. Noland White. Psychology. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson Prentice Hall, 2014. Print.
Huitt, W. "Motivation to Learn: An Overview." Educational Psychology Interactive: Motivation.
N.p., 2011. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/motivation/motivate.html