Applications of Motivation Psychology
Much has been studied and researched about motivation psychology and for good reasons. Motivation is the force that drives humans to act, achieve, and succeed. All areas of human life have an element of motivation in it from work to personal and social aspects.
Education is one area where the study of motivation psychology is of great use. You do not have to be an educational psychologist to know that motivation plays a crucial role in learning. Different settings, however, generate different types of motivation. Motivation psychology in education varies from that in the workplace, for instance.
Motivation psychology in the field of education is about how motivation affects student's learning and behavior towards a particular subject. Studying motivation psychology in students reveals how motivating factors affect the behavior of students towards their academic goals; how motivation increases a student's effort, persistence, energy and initiative in school work and activities; how motivation improves cognitive processes and result to overall improved learning. Psychologists have long discovered that the factors that motivate students are not always internal so the study of motivation psychology in students can help educators discover the external factors that motivate students such as the classroom environment.
In the world of business, there are several applications of motivation psychology including consumer motivation, which looks at what factors motivate a customer to purchase a certain product or why a customer would choose a certain brand over others. Obviously, businesses spend tons of money studying consumer motivation psychology in order to come up with relevant marketing strategies to attract more customers.
Employee motivation is another major priority in business, or at least in businesses that value their employees and realize how much the success of their business depends on keeping employees motivated. Low employee retention costs a business because recruitment and training are expensive operations.
There are several motivation psychology theories used in the workplace such as Maslow's "hierarchy of needs", which places basic money-oriented needs (food, shelter, clothing, etc,) at the bottom of the hierarchy. Maslow believed that while these basic needs are the initial motivator of a person/employee, there are other higher-level needs that are better motivators such as security, belongingness, esteem or recognition and self-actualization. The concept that money or financial incentives is the least of the factors that bring about long-term motivation in the workplace is shared by many motivation psychology theories.
The study of motivation psychology can also be applied in more personal areas such as relationships; health care, for example, the role of motivation in fitness and weight loss; or even in the treatment of substance abuse or a disorder such as bulimia. Knowing what motivates a person is the first step to bringing about desired changes.
