11 Types of Motivation: What They Are &

How to Use Them 2020

 July 15, 2020
 Evan Tarver

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are the two main types of motivation and represent all
motivational drivers. Intrinsic motivation describes all motivational-types driven by
internal rewards while extrinsic motivation describes all motivational-types driven by
external rewards. However, within these two broad categories are more granular types
of motivation that highlight specific motivating factors.

While it’s important to have a baseline understanding of general internal and external
rewards, the motivational-types that fall within these broad intrinsic or extrinsic
categories better identify specific rewards and incentives you can use to motivate. We’ll
therefore start with the main categories of motivation and then dive deeper into their
various types.

Main Types of Motivation

Here are the main types of motivation and the internal or external rewards they use to
motivate:
1. Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation represents all the things that motivate you based on internal rewards
like self-improvement or helping a friend in need. For example, you may be motivated to
get a promotion because you’ll learn valuable skills. Conversely, you might be motivated
to succeed because you want to positively affect the lives of the people around you.

However, while the above examples are positive, intrinsic motivation can also have
negative drivers. For example, you can motivate yourself to learn new things because
otherwise you’ll feel unfulfilled. The outcome of your actions is positive, but the specific
type of motivation you used was focused on stopping a negative outcome rather than
creating a positive outcome. For this reason and more, there are many types of intrinsic
motivation that all focus on a specific motivational reward or driver.

Regardless of positive or negative, intrinsic motivation is typically more sustainable than

extrinsic motivation because it usually focuses on positive or altruistic things you can
control. Conversely, extrinsic motivation typically focuses on things that are given to you
by someone else and therefore is not directly within your control to achieve.

2. Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation represents all the things that motivate you based on external
rewards like money or praise. These types of motivation are more common than
intrinsic motivators and include achieving things due to a tangible incentive, fear, or
expectation, all of which depend on external factors. For example, people want to get a
promotion because of the expected raise.

Like intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation can sometimes be negative. For example,
you can be motivated to perform better at your job due to fear of being fired. This shows
that extrinsic motivation, like its high-level counterpart, has many different motivational-
types that highlight a specific external motivational driver and explains how effective it is
at motivation.

As you can see, motivation is more complex than simply categorizing it as either an
internal or external incentive. For more information on general intrinsic and extrinsic
rewards and how they compare and contrast, check out my article on intrinsic vs
extrinsic motivation. Otherwise, keep reading for specific types of motivation that
leverage these reward systems on a granular level and can help you excel in life

Types of Internal Motivation

Here are the specific types of intrinsic motivation and the rewards they use to motivate:

3. Competence & Learning Motivation

Competence motivation, also known as learning motivation, states that people are
motivated more by the process itself rather than by the reward at the end. The reason is
that people who are motivated by competence motivation are literally motivated by the
act of learning or getting better as they move towards the completion of a goal or task
instead of the destination itself.

For example, if you want a promotion because you’ll learn valuable skills and not
because of the higher expected salary, you’re motivated by competence or learning
motivation. This is an extremely valuable motivator and should be used in almost any
motivational strategy. This is because new, relevant skills are often more valuable than
even money because, unlike material things, they’re assets that no one can take away
from you.

4. Attitude Motivation

Attitude motivation refers to the type of motivation that’s cultivated through the desire to
change the way you or other people think and feel. While it has some similarities to the
externally-focused social motivation below, people who are motivated by attitude
engage in actions and interactions with the express intent of making themselves and the
people around them feel better in a positive and uplifting way.

For example, if you’re motivated to work for a non-profit or volunteer in a soup kitchen
because making people feel good makes you feel good, you’re motivated by a change
in attitude. Similarly, if you’re a manager at a company and you get joy out of helping
your direct reports grow and succeed, you’re also taking part in attitude motivation.

5. Achievement Motivation

Achievement motivation states that people are driven by the desire to pursue and
achieve specific goals. People who are driven by this type of motivation desire the
achievement of a task or goal itself, and not necessarily because of the reward that’s
attached. For example, an entrepreneur might build a business for the goal of building a
world-class organization, and not necessarily because there’s money involved.

If you’re driven by achievement motivation, you are typically self-motivated and process-
oriented, meaning that you value the process of getting better more than the end result
itself. While the achievement of a goal might seem like an external reward, in actuality
this type of motivation is largely internal. This is because you aren’t enamored by the
glitz and glamour of a reward like money, but rather the feeling of accomplishment you
get when you complete a worthy task.

6. Creative Motivation

Many people are motivated by creativity or the innate drive for creative expression.
When you’re motivated by the desire to express yourself, you are tapping into creative
motivation. Examples of creative motivation include things in which you feel compelled
to create, such as the motivation to write a book, act in a movie, play the guitar, build a
product, or start a business.

Creative motivation typically manifests itself as an internal feeling that you have
something to say that needs to get out. Whether you want the entire world to see your
art or just a few people, anything you create in an attempt at self-expression is driven by
creative motivation. While the things you create can be tangible they can also be
intangible or ephemeral.

7. Physiological Motivation

Often, humans are driven by some internal force beyond their explanation. For example,
this is sometimes the case when you pursue someone out of love. Your actions are
motivated by deep physiological feelings that are primal and cannot be ignored,
regardless of how hard we try. This represents the physiological motivational factors
that are both internal and outside of our control.

Consider Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs. All humans are motivated by basic needs such
as food and shelter, as well as higher-level psychological needs and self-fulfillment.
These needs are innate in all of us and we are internally-motivated to achieve them at
all costs, making it helpful when trying to understand the thought process of yourself or
others.

Types of External Motivation

Here are the specific types of extrinsic motivation and the rewards they use to motivate:

8. Incentive Motivation

Incentive motivation, unlike achievement motivation, says that people are motivated
more by the reward than by the achievement of the goal itself. Instead of being
motivated by the pursuit of a task, those who are motivated by incentives are driven to
take action because of an expected (and often specific) reward. For example, if you
want a promotion because of the higher salary and not because the new responsibility
makes you feel fulfilled, you are motivated by incentives over achievement.

However, incentive motivation isn’t a bad thing. In fact, while it seems like the opposite
of achievement motivation, the two can actually be used together. For example, if you
want a promotion, you can be motivated both by the higher salary as well as the more
complex and fulfilling work. In scenarios like this, it’s a win-win, because you are
externally rewarded as well as internally fulfilled. Seek goals or tasks that have
incentives as well as elements of achievement motivation.

9. Fear Motivation
Fear motivation is a motivational type that uses consequences to drive people into
action. Fear motivation can be thought of as a “negative motivator” in that you aren’t
motivated by a reward but by the avoidance of pain or consequences. Rather than
incentivizing yourself or others with positive motivators, fear motivation uses
punishment or negative motivators—like getting fired—as a way to keep you
productively moving towards specific goals, tasks, or deliverables.

While fear motivation sounds bad, it can actually be used as a positive. For example, if
you need to get in shape, you can plan a summer pool party at your house or apartment
complex, and use the fear of showing up out of shape as motivation to stick with the
gym and your diet. Think of fear motivation as positive stressors or positive constraints
that help you outsmart your future self, overcome bad habits, and live the life you want
(but might be too afraid to go after).

10. Power Motivation

Power motivation is a motivational factor that says people are motivated by control over
their own lives and the lives of others. Everyone wants choices, and people are often
motivated to increase their overall life-options and control the environment around them.
For this reason, power motivation manifests itself in the desire to affect the direction of
our lives and the lives of those around us.

Power motivation, taken to its extreme, can be seen in real-world horrors like Nazi
Germany and other scenarios where the hunger to control others outweighs any moral
obligation or code. However, when scaled back, power motivation can actually be
positive. For example, while it might be bad to control others, trying to place control over
your own life can be a good thing. Power motivation, then, motivates you to be
intentional in your thoughts and actions so you manifest the life you want.

11. Affiliation & Social Motivation

Humans are social creatures, and social motivation—also known as affiliation

motivation—states that people are motivated by social factors like belonging and
acceptance. Humans have an innate desire to connect with others, and social
motivation causes us to seek connections by contributing to a social group. While it may
seem internally motivating, acceptance is often the motivating factor, which isn’t
something you can give yourself within a group.

Evolutionary psychology tells us that all humans are motivated by these social factors.
For this reason, it’s important to always seek new connections as well as continue to
grow the connections you already have. Finding a group of people who love and accept
you can motivate you to new heights and result in true happiness.
When to Use Different Types of Motivation
The best motivational strategy is to blend multiple types together, giving yourself
maximum motivation. However, certain situations might call for a specific blend of
motivational forces and factors. To help, check out the different situations below and
which types of motivation are best for each.

Types of Motivation in Business

Business is a unique setting because often you’re trying to motivate yourself as well as
those around you. Sometimes, you’re trying to motivate others even more than yourself.
To help you achieve maximum motivation and productivity for you and your team, it’s
important to consider the following types of motivation.

The types of motivation in business include:

 Achievement motivation
 Incentive motivation
 Fear motivation
 Power motivation
 Competence motivation
 Attitude motivation
 Creative motivation
 What Is Perception?
By 
Kendra Cherry 


 Medically reviewed by 
Steven Gans, MD 
Updated on July 09, 2020
Print 

Hero Images / Getty Images

Table of Contents
 What Is Perception?
 Types of Perception
 How It Works
 Impact of Perception
 Tips and Tricks
 Potential Pitfalls
 History of Perception

Perception is the sensory experience of the world. It involves both

recognizing environmental stimuli and actions in response to these stimuli.

Through the perceptual process, we gain information about the properties

and elements of the environment that are critical to our survival. Perception
not only creates our experience of the world around us; it allows us to act
within our environment.

What Is Perception?
Perception includes the five senses; touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste. It
also includes what is known as proprioception, a set of senses involving the
ability to detect changes in body positions and movements. It also involves
the cognitive processes required to process information, such as recognizing
the face of a friend or detecting a familiar scent.

Learn more about how we go from detecting stimuli in the environment to

actually taking action based on that information.

Types of Perception
Some of the main types of perception include:

 Vision 
 Touch
 Sound
 Taste
 Smell

There are also other senses that allow us to perceive things such as balance,
time, body position, acceleration, and the perception of internal states. Many
of these are multimodal and involve more than one sensory modality. Social
perception, or the ability to identify and use social cues about people and
relationships, is another important type of perception.

How It Works
The perceptual process is a sequence of steps that begins with the
environment and leads to our perception of a stimulus and action in
response to the stimulus. It occurs continuously, but you do not spend a
great deal of time thinking about the actual process that occurs when you
perceive the many stimuli that surround you at any given moment.

For example, the process of transforming the light that falls on your retinas
into an actual visual image happens unconsciously and automatically. The
subtle changes in pressure against your skin that allow you to feel objects
occur without a single thought.

Perception acts as a filter that allows us to exist and interpret the world
without becoming overwhelmed by the abundance of stimuli.1

Steps in the Perceptual Process

1. The Environmental Stimulus

2. The Attended Stimulus
3. The Image on the Retina
4. Transduction
5. Neural Processing
6. Perception
7. Recognition
8. Action

Impact of Perception
In order to see the impact of perception, it can be helpful to look at how the
process works. This varies somewhat for every sense. In the case of visual
perception:

1. The environmental stimulus: The world is full of stimuli that can

attract attention through various senses. The environmental stimulus
is everything in the environment that has the potential to be
perceived.
2. The attended stimulus: The attended stimulus is the specific object
in the environment on which attention is focused.
3. The image on the retina: This involves light actually passing through
the cornea and pupil and onto the lens of the eye. The cornea helps
focus the light as it enters the eye, and the iris of the eye controls the
size of the pupils in order to determine how much light to let in. The
cornea and lens act together to project an inverted image onto the
retina.
4. Transduction: The image on the retina is then transformed into
electrical signals in a process known as transduction. This allows the
visual messages to be transmitted to the brain to be interpreted.
5. Neural processing: The electrical signals then undergo neural
processing. The path followed by a particular signal depends on what
type of signal it is (i.e. an auditory signal or a visual signal).
6. Perception: In this step of the process, you perceive the stimulus
object in the environment. It is at this point that you become
consciously aware of the stimulus.
7. Recognition: Perception doesn't just involve becoming consciously
aware of the stimuli. It is also necessary for the brain to categorize
and interpret what you are sensing. The ability to interpret and give
meaning to the object is the next step, known as recognition.
8. Action: The action phase of perception involves some type of motor
activity that occurs in response to the perceived and recognized
stimulus. This might involve a major action, like running toward a
person in distress, or something as subtle as blinking your eyes in
response to a puff of dust blowing through the air.

The perceptual process allows you to experience the world around you and
interact with it in ways that are both appropriate and meaningful.

Take a moment to think of all the things you perceive on a daily basis. At
any given moment, you might see familiar objects in your environment, feel
the touch of objects and people against your skin, smell the aroma of a
home-cooked meal, and hear the sound of music playing in your next-door
neighbor's apartment. All of these things help make up your conscious
experience and allow you to interact with the people and objects around
you.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

By Dr. Saul McLeod, updated December 29, 2020

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a

five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a
pyramid.
From the bottom of the hierarchy upwards, the needs are: physiological (food and
clothing), safety (job security), love and belonging needs (friendship), esteem,
and self-actualization.
Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals can
attend to needs higher up.
  Table of contents

1. Deficiency needs vs. growth needs

2. Five-stage model hierarchy
3. Eight-stage model hierarchy
4. Self-actualization
5. Educational applications
6. Critical evaluations
7. References

Deficiency needs vs. growth needs

This five-stage model can be divided into deficiency needs and growth needs. The
first four levels are often referred to as deficiency needs (D-needs), and the top
level is known as growth or being needs (B-needs).
Deficiency needs arise due to deprivation and are said to motivate people when
they are unmet. Also, the motivation to fulfill such needs will become stronger
the longer the duration they are denied. For example, the longer a person goes
without food, the more hungry they will become.
Maslow (1943) initially stated that individuals must satisfy lower level deficit
needs before progressing on to meet higher level growth needs. However, he later
clarified that satisfaction of a needs is not an “all-or-none” phenomenon,
admitting that his earlier statements may have given “the false impression that a
need must be satisfied 100 percent before the next need emerges” (1987, p. 69).
When a deficit need has been 'more or less' satisfied it will go away, and our
activities become habitually directed towards meeting the next set of needs that
we have yet to satisfy. These then become our salient needs. However, growth
needs continue to be felt and may even become stronger once they have been
engaged.

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Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs video
Growth needs do not stem from a lack of something, but rather from a desire to
grow as a person. Once these growth needs have been reasonably satisfied, one
may be able to reach the highest level called self-actualization.
Every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a
level of self-actualization. Unfortunately, progress is often disrupted by a failure
to meet lower level needs. Life experiences, including divorce and loss of a job,
may cause an individual to fluctuate between levels of the hierarchy.
Therefore, not everyone will move through the hierarchy in a uni-directional
manner but may move back and forth between the different types of needs.

The original hierarchy of needs five-stage

model includes:
Maslow (1943, 1954) stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs
and that some needs take precedence over others.
Our most basic need is for physical survival, and this will be the first thing that
motivates our behavior. Once that level is fulfilled the next level up is what
motivates us, and so on.
1. Physiological needs - these are biological requirements for human survival,
e.g. air, food, drink, shelter, clothing, warmth, sex, sleep.
If these needs are not satisfied the human body cannot function optimally.
Maslow considered physiological needs the most important as all the other needs
become secondary until these needs are met.
2. Safety needs - once an individual’s physiological needs are satisfied, the
needs for security and safety become salient. People want to experience order,
predictability and control in their lives. These needs can be fulfilled by the family
and society (e.g. police, schools, business and medical care).
For example, emotional security, financial security (e.g. employment, social
welfare), law and order, freedom from fear, social stability, property, health and
wellbeing (e.g. safety against accidents and injury).
3. Love and belongingness needs - after physiological and safety needs have
been fulfilled, the third level of human needs is social and involves feelings of
belongingness. Belongingness, refers to a human emotional need for
interpersonal relationships, affiliating, connectedness, and being part of a group.
Examples of belongingness needs include friendship, intimacy, trust, and
acceptance, receiving and giving affection, and love.
4. Esteem needs are the fourth level in Maslow’s hierarchy and include self-
worth, accomplishement and respect. Maslow classified esteem needs into two
categories: (i) esteem for oneself (dignity, achievement, mastery, independence)
and (ii) the desire for reputation or respect from others (e.g., status, prestige).
Maslow indicated that the need for respect or reputation is most important for
children and adolescents and precedes real self-esteem or dignity.
5. Self-actualization needs are the highest level in Maslow's hierarchy, and
refer to the realization of a person's potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal
growth and peak experiences. Maslow (1943) describes this level as the desire to
accomplish everything that one can, to become the most that one can be.
Individuals may perceive or focus on this need very specifically. For example, one
individual may have a strong desire to become an ideal parent. In another, the
desire may be expressed economically, academically or athletically. For others, it
may be expressed creatively, in paintings, pictures, or inventions.