Motives of activity, mechanisms of formation of motives. Why is the problem of increasing motivation so important? Relating Causal Schemas to Emotions

Motive is defined as an object of need, or an objectified need. It is through the motive that the need receives its concretization and becomes understandable to the subject. Following the objectification of a need and the emergence of a motive, a person’s behavior changes dramatically. If previously it was undirected, then with the appearance of a motive it receives its direction, because the motive is what the action is performed for. As a rule, for the sake of something a person performs many separate actions. It should be noted that activity is performed, as a rule, not for the sake of one motive. Any special activity can be caused by a whole complex of motives. Multimotivation of human actions is a typical phenomenon. For example, a student at school may strive for academic success not only for the sake of the desire to gain knowledge, but also for the sake of material rewards from parents for good grades or for the sake of entering higher education. educational institution. Yet, despite the multimotivation of human activity, one of the motives is always leading, and the others are secondary. These secondary motives are incentive motives that do not so much “launch” as additionally stimulate this activity. Motives give rise to actions through the formation of goals. . For example, the class of conscious motives includes life goals. These are motives-goals. The existence of such motives is typical for most adults. A much larger number of motives belong to another class. It should be emphasized that until a certain age, any motives are unconscious. Unconscious motives appear conscious in special form. At least there are two such forms. This emotions And personal meanings. Personal meaning is another form of manifestation of motives in consciousness. Personal meaning is understood as the experience of increased subjective significance of an object, action or event that finds itself in the field of action of the leading motive. It should be noted that it is the leading motive that has a meaning-forming function. Incentive motives do not perform a meaning-forming function, but only play the role of additional incentives and only generate emotions. Another question is the question of how new motives are formed. When analyzing activity, the only way is to move from need to motive, then to goal and activity. IN real life The reverse process constantly occurs - new motives and needs are formed in the course of activity.

39. Bernstein's theory of physiology of movements

The concept of the physiology of movements that currently exists in psychology was formulated and experimentally substantiated by the outstanding Russian scientist N.A. Bernstein. Bernstein's object of study was the natural movements of a normal, intact organism, and mainly human movements. Bernstein's research focused on labor movements. To study movements, he had to develop a special method for recording them. Before Bernstein’s work, there was an opinion in physiology that a motor act is organized as follows: at the stage of learning to move, a program is formed and fixed in the motor centers; then, as a result of the action of some stimulus, it is excited, motor command impulses are sent to the muscles, and movement is realized. Thus, in the most general form, the mechanism of movement was described by the diagram of a reflex arc: stimulus - the process of its central processing (excitation of programs) - motor reaction. The first conclusion that Bernstein came to was that on the basis of such a mechanism no complex movement could be carried out. If a simple movement, for example a knee reflex, can occur as a result of direct transmission of motor commands from the center to the periphery, then complex motor acts that are designed to solve certain problems cannot be built in this way. Thus, Bernstein proposed a completely new principle of motion control, which was called the principle of sensory corrections. Thus, there is a whole list of factors that have a direct impact on the progress of the movement. Consequently, the central nervous system needs constant information about the progress of the movement. This information is called signals feedback. Thus, we can conclude that there is a certain scheme for the implementation of movement mechanisms. It was called the reflex ring circuit by Bernstein. This scheme is based on the principle of sensory corrections and is his further development. In addition to the reflex ring, Bernstein put forward the idea about the level construction of movements. In the course of his research, he discovered that depending on what information the feedback signals carry - whether they report the degree of muscle tension, the relative position of body parts, the objective result of movement, etc. - afferent signals arrive in different directions. sensory centers of the brain and accordingly switch to motor pathways at different levels. The essence of the principle of activity is to postulate the determining role of the internal program in the acts of vital activity of the organism. The principle of activity is opposed to the principle of reactivity, according to which this or that act - movement, action - is determined by an external stimulus; purposeful movement cannot be performed. If we assume that the central program is represented in the body in the form of a mechanism for implementing activity, then it is necessary to draw a conclusion: the principle of activity in concrete physiological terms and the recognition of the mechanism of circular movement control are strongly interconnected theoretical postulates. Thus, the following logical conclusion suggests itself: a person’s movement is the result of the manifestation of his activity.

ABSTRACT

Subject.The concept of motive. The mechanism of motive formation.

WITHpossession

The nature of the psyche. Psyche and activity

Personality orientation

Motive. Need. Interest

Mechanism of motive formation

Motivation in criminal behavior

Criminal motives

Literature

Nature of the psyche. Psyche and activity

Characteristics of mental phenomena. A specific range of phenomena that psychology studies stand out distinctly and clearly - these are our perceptions, thoughts, feelings, our aspirations, intentions, desires, motives, etc. - all that constitutes the internal content of our life and what as experiences seem to be given directly to us.

Every human action proceeds from one motive or another and is directed towards a specific goal; it solves a particular problem and expresses a certain attitude of a person to the environment. It thus absorbs all the work of consciousness and the entirety of direct experience. Every simplest human action - a real physical action of a person - is inevitably at the same time some kind of psychological act, more or less saturated with experience, expressing the attitude of the actor towards other people, towards those around him. One has only to try to isolate the experience from the action and everything that constitutes its internal content - the motives and goals for which a person acts, the tasks that determine his actions, the person’s relationship to the circumstances from which his actions are born - so that the experience inevitably disappeared completely.

Formed in activity, the psyche, consciousness manifests itself in activity, in behavior. Activity and consciousness are not two aspects facing in different directions. They form an organic whole - not identity, but unity. Human behavior is not reduced to a simple set of reactions; it includes a system of more or less conscious actions or actions. Conscious action differs from reaction in that it has a different relationship to the object. For a reaction, an object is only an irritant, i.e. an external cause or push that causes it. Action is a conscious act of activity that is directed towards an object.

Personality orientation

Man is not an isolated, closed being who lives and develops from himself. He is connected to the world around him and needs it.

In addition to the objects necessary for the existence of a person, in which he feels a need, without which his existence either in general or at a given level is impossible, there are others, the presence of which, not being objectively necessary and not being subjectively experienced as a need, is of interest to a person. Ideals rise above needs and interests.

The dependence experienced or perceived by a person on what he needs or what he is interested in gives rise to a focus on the corresponding object. In the absence of something for which a person has a need or interest, a person experiences more or less painful tension, anxiety, from which he naturally strives to free himself. From here, at first, a more or less indefinite dynamic tendency arises, which turns into aspiration when the point towards which everything is directed is already somewhat clearly visible.

The problem of direction is, first of all, a question of dynamic tendencies that, as motives, determine human activity, themselves in turn being determined by its goals and objectives.

A change in attitude means a transformation of an individual’s motivation associated with a redistribution of what is significant to him.

Thus, the orientation of the individual is expressed in diverse, ever expanding and enriching trends, which serve as a source of diverse and versatile activities. In the process of this activity, the motives from which it comes change, are restructured and are enriched with ever new content.

Motive. Need. Interest

The motives of human activity are a reflection of objective factors more or less adequately refracted in the consciousness driving forces human behavior. The very needs and interests of the individual arise and develop from the changing and developing relationships of a person with the world around him.

Motive- this is an incentive to commit a behavioral act, generated by a person’s system of needs and realized to varying degrees or not realized by him at all. In the process of performing behavioral acts, motives, being dynamic formations, can be transformed (changed), which is possible at all phases of the action, and the behavioral act is often completed not according to the original, but according to the transformed motivation.

The term "motivation" in modern psychology at least two mental phenomena are designated: 1) a set of motivations that cause the activity of the individual and the activity that determines it, i.e. system of factors determining behavior; 2) the process of education, the formation of motives, the characteristics of the process that stimulates and maintains behavioral activity at a certain level.

Motivational phenomena, repeated many times, eventually become personality traits of a person.

Personality is also characterized by such motivational formations as the need for communication (affiliation), the motive of power, the motive of helping people (altruism) and aggressiveness. These are motives that have great social significance, since they determine the individual’s attitude towards people.

Affiliation- a person’s desire to be in the company of other people, to establish emotionally positive, good relationships with them. The antithesis of the affiliation motive is motive for rejection, which manifests itself in the fear of being rejected, not personally accepted by people you know. Power motive- a person’s desire to have power over other people, to dominate, manage and dispose of them. Altruism- a person’s desire to selflessly help people, the antipode is egoism as the desire to satisfy selfish personal needs and interests, regardless of the needs and interests of other people and social groups. Aggressiveness- a person’s desire to cause physical, moral or property harm to other people, to cause them trouble. Along with the tendency to be aggressive, a person also has a tendency to inhibit it, a motive for inhibiting aggressive actions, associated with assessing one’s own actions as undesirable and unpleasant, causing regret and remorse.

The motive of human actions is naturally related to their goal, since the motive is the drive or desire to achieve it. But the motive can be separated from the goal and move: 1) to the activity itself, as is the case in a game, where the motive for the activity lies in itself, or in cases where a person does something “for the love of art,” and 2 ) to one of the performance results. In the latter case, the by-product of actions becomes for the actor subjectively the goal of his actions. Thus, when performing this or that task, a person can see his goal not in doing this particular task, but in expressing himself through this or fulfilling his social duty.

The presence of motives for activity that go beyond the direct goals of action is inevitable and legitimate for a person as a social being. Everything that a person does, in addition to the immediate result in the form of the product that his activity produces, also has some kind of social effect: through the impact on things, he influences people. Therefore, a person, as a rule, has a social motive woven into his activity - the desire to fulfill his duties or obligations, his social duty, as well as to prove himself and earn public recognition.

The motives of human activity are extremely diverse, since they stem from various needs and interests that are formed in a person in the process of social life. In their highest forms, they are based on a person’s awareness of his moral duties, the tasks that social life sets for him, so that in their highest, most conscious manifestations, human behavior is regulated by conscious necessity, in which it acquires truly understood freedom.

Needs. Personality is, first of all, a living person of flesh and blood, whose needs express his practical connection with the world and dependence on it. The presence of needs in a person indicates that he needs something that is outside of him - external objects or another person; this means that he is a suffering being, in this sense passive. At the same time, a person’s needs are the initial motivations for his activity: thanks to them and in them, he acts as an active being.

Interest is a motive that acts due to its perceived significance and emotional appeal. Each interest usually represents both aspects to some extent, but the relationship between them at different levels of consciousness may be different. When the general level of consciousness or awareness of a given interest is low, emotional attraction dominates. At this level of consciousness, to the question of why one is interested in something, there can be only one answer: one is interested because one is interested, one likes it because one likes it.

An action performed by a person is not a completely isolated act: it is included in a larger whole of the activity of a given person and can only be understood in connection with it.

The decisive importance of goals and objectives also affects motives. They are determined by the tasks in which a person is involved, at least no less than these tasks are determined by motives. The motive for a given action lies precisely in the attitude towards the task, the goal and the circumstances - the conditions under which the action occurs. A motive, as a conscious impulse for a certain action, is, in fact, formed as a person takes into account, evaluates, weighs the circumstances in which he finds himself, and realizes the goal that faces him; It is from the attitude towards them that the motive is born in its specific content, necessary for real life action. Motive - as an impulse - is the source of action that generates it; but to become such, it must itself be formed.

Mechanisms of motive formation

Soviet psychological science considered the realization of needs “during search activity”, that is, activity, as a general mechanism for the emergence of motives. The central pattern of this process is the development of motives through changes and expansion of the range of activities. Thus, the source of development of motives is the constantly developing process of social production of material and spiritual goods.

Need is the initial form of activity of living organisms. Need can be described as a periodically occurring state of tension in the body of living beings. The occurrence of this condition in a person is caused by a lack of a substance in the body or the absence of an item necessary for the individual. This state of the organism’s objective need for something that lies outside it and constitutes a necessary condition for its normal functioning is called need.

Human needs can be divided into biological, or organic (the need for food, water, oxygen, etc.), and social. Social needs include, first of all, the need for contacts with others like oneself and the need for external impressions, or cognitive need. These needs begin to manifest in a person at a very early age and persist throughout his life.

How are needs related to activity? In order to answer this question, it is necessary to distinguish two stages in the development of each need. The first stage is the period before the first meeting with an object that satisfies the need. The second stage is after this meeting.

As a rule, at the first stage, the subject’s need turns out to be hidden, “not deciphered.” A person may experience a feeling of some kind of tension, but at the same time not be aware of what caused this state. On the behavioral side, the person’s state during this period is expressed in anxiety or constant search for something. In the course of search activity, a need usually meets its subject, which ends the first stage of the “life” of the need. The process of “recognition” by a need of its object is called the objectification of the need.

In the act of objectification, a motive is born. Motive is defined as an object of need, or an objectified need. It is through the motive that the need receives its concretization and becomes understandable to the subject. Following the objectification of a need and the emergence of a motive, a person’s behavior changes dramatically. If previously it was undirected, then with the appearance of a motive it receives its direction, because the motive is what the action is performed for. As a rule, for the sake of something a person performs many separate actions. And this set of actions caused by one motive is called activity, and more specifically, special activity, or a special type of activity. Thus, thanks to the motive, we reached highest level the structure of activity in the theory of A. I. Leontiev - to the level of special activity.

It should be noted that activity is performed, as a rule, not for the sake of one motive. Any special activity can be caused by a whole complex of motives. Multimotivation of human actions is a typical phenomenon. For example, a student at school may strive for academic success not only for the sake of the desire to gain knowledge, but also for the sake of material rewards from parents for good grades or for the sake of admission to a higher educational institution. Yet, despite the multimotivation of human activity, one of the motives is always the leading one, and the others are secondary. These secondary motives are incentive motives that do not so much “launch” as additionally stimulate this activity.

When analyzing activity, the only way is to move from need to motive, then to goal and activity. In real life, the reverse process constantly occurs—in the course of activity, new motives and needs are formed.

But in the process of activity, the circle of needs, and therefore motives, expands significantly. It must be emphasized that the mechanisms of motive formation in modern psychological science have not been fully studied.

In the psychological theory of activity, one such mechanism has been studied in more detail - this is the mechanism of shifting the motive to the goal (the mechanism of turning the goal into a motive). Its essence lies in the fact that a goal, previously prompted to its implementation by a motive, over time acquires an independent motivating force, that is, it itself becomes a motive. This only happens if achieving the goal is accompanied by positive emotions.

Motivation in criminal behavior

In the psychological mechanism of criminal behavior, the subject’s acceptance of a criminal goal is a central link. The subject’s criminal goal arises as a result of the personal acceptability of a criminal method of satisfying a need or resolving a problem situation. The need to accept a goal is predetermined by motivation - motive. The motive reflects what the subject performs actions for (for example, to satisfy some need), while the goal determines the method and immediate result of the actions (for example, to earn money to satisfy a need or to steal money).

Sources of motives can be internal and external factors. Internal sources of motivations represent needs and aspirations, personal values that require protection or provision of one’s well-being, life plans, habitual attributes of life and addictions, etc. External sources of motives are living conditions or specific circumstances in which a problematic situation arises, for example, threatening certain personal values, affecting interests, i.e. requiring your permission. The emergence of a motive and the adoption of a goal is determined by a personally unique perception and assessment of the external conditions and circumstances of the situation, i.e. process of social perception. Thus, motive formation and social perception “ensure” the acceptance of the goal in criminal behavior. The study of their nature and role in the generation of criminal behavior is necessary to understand the causes and conditions of this behavior, as well as to establish psychological properties that are elements of a person’s criminogenic tendency.

A number of researchers believe that the motive itself does not predetermine the need to adopt a criminal goal-method, since any motivation can be arbitrarily directed in a socially acceptable or antisocial direction, i.e. to satisfy the need that generates the motive (both in a lawful and criminal way. At the same time, there are socially maladapted motives that are subjectively very difficult or practically impossible to realize in a socially acceptable way. Such motives seem to contribute to the adoption of illegal goals and methods in behavior and are criminogenically significant. There are also criminal motives, generated by the need to commit a certain criminal act - criminal inclinations. The criminogenic content of motives is determined by certain motive-forming properties of the individual, which are discussed below. The same can be said about the social perception of the subject of behavior. His ideas about the social situation can be of a fairly adequate socio-legal nature, or may have a distorted - criminogenically significant content.Let us consider in more detail criminogenic motives and criminogenic content of social perception, which act as conditions conducive to the adoption of criminal goals (methods) of action in the generation of criminal behavior.

Criminal motives

These are motives generated by the actual criminal need, which manifests itself in the form of an attraction to commit a certain type of socially dangerous act. The subjectively experienced need to commit such an act acts as an object of need. A criminal need may represent an ingrained habit of systematically committing certain types of criminal acts or arise as a result of the action of another psychological mechanism. Its implementation provides a state of satisfaction, a release of internal tension.

Motives of this kind manifest themselves as desires to commit: theft (most often the so-called “pocket”), sexually violent acts; torture of certain categories of people; murders involving rape, torturing the victim or other mockery of her; hooliganism involving violent or exhibitionistic acts; acts of vandalism, starting fires, etc. An impulsively arising irresistible attraction to commit a certain socially dangerous act is classified as a mental illness - a pathology of drives. At the same time, this type of mental anomaly can hardly be considered as completely excluding sanity, since a criminal, motivated by criminal desire, is able to refrain from committing a criminal act if the situation is clearly unfavorable and fraught with dangerous consequences for him.

Criminally significant motives are generated by various socially maladjusted needs, the satisfaction of which in a legitimate way is very difficult or cannot be achieved at all. These motives can represent a number of types, differing in their sources.

The first type is represented by motives generated by hypertrophied immoral inclinations, the satisfaction of which the subject really cannot provide in a lawful way, or this satisfaction is associated with criminal risk - with a high probability of an immoral act turning into a criminal act. Such drives can be expressed in alcoholism, drug addiction, addiction to gambling for money, fighting, the need for systematic entertainment of an immoral nature, sexual promiscuity, etc. These drives can be associated with mental abnormalities and relate to the pathology of drives.

The second type expresses motives generated by hypertrophied needs (claims), i.e. needs, the level of which is clearly inflated, does not correspond to the individual or social capabilities of ensuring their legitimate satisfaction, and at the same time clearly exceeds the socially average or vital level (otherwise these needs cannot be called hypertrophied). The intense experience of such needs with the awareness of the impossibility of satisfying them in a lawful way, as it were, forces the subject to resort to an illegal method of action. Such “criminogenically compelling” motivation can be generated by:

* inadequately inflated claims of a material nature in ensuring material wealth, acquiring expensive property, services, expensive entertainment, etc.;

* hypertrophied need to rule over other people (for example, over representatives of certain social groups), dominance in interpersonal relationships, which manifests itself in despotism, excessive suspicion and hostility;

* excessively inflated claims in achieving a prestigious status in a group or in a certain community of people (fame, influence), in self-expression (the experience of self-satisfaction from attracting the attention of other people, their admiration, envy or fear), as well as the need for self-affirmation, encouraging risky and other actions that are not adequate to reasonable necessity or committed contrary to social norms and requirements (very typical for criminals seeking to acquire “criminal authority”).

The third type of criminogenically significant motives are those driven by the need to relieve the subject’s persistent negative emotional states. These states are expressed in a stable experience of feelings of alienation, anxiety, inferiority, resentment, envy, embitterment, aggressiveness, etc. Such experiences can be generated and recorded as a result of constant dissatisfaction with elementary social needs, primarily the needs for physical and moral security, in emotionally close interpersonal relationships, as well as as a result of the systematic unfavorable influence of people from the immediate social environment. These experiences, when they aggravate or in criminogenic situations, contribute to the commission of unlawful actions, as a result of which there is a temporary release of experiences, compensation or satisfaction of a deprived need. The psychological properties of a person that determine this kind of emotional and motivational experiences are the corresponding accentuations of character and emotional and motivational attitudes.

The fourth type of criminogenically significant motives manifests itself in an acute experience of negative feelings towards certain social subjects and objects that act as legally protected values.

These experiences are caused by existing (recorded as psychological properties of the individual) acute hostile attitudes towards certain people, social groups, state and public institutions and other legally protected social values. These experiences give rise to urges in the subject to have a harmful impact on these social values. Hostile attitudes are expressed in beliefs about the negative (harmful) meaning of these subjects and objects. It often turns out that the sensual component of a hostile attitude is decisive in the absence of a sufficiently clear idea of the real negative “meaning” specific person or groups of people towards whom the individual has a negative attitude.

The fifth type is represented by criminogenically significant motives generated by the needs for a socially “alienated” lifestyle, personal values (which can become life goals) of joining a group of illegal orientation, gaining authority among persons committing crimes. The need to be included in a “criminal” social environment may be a consequence of getting used to this environment and simultaneous alienation from the moral culture of society. This need takes on the character of an unconscious attraction among professional criminals, people who have spent a significant part of their time in prison. In such an environment, they find the opportunity to express themselves, satisfy the need for communication, personalization (i.e., the need to be recognized as an individual).

The sixth type of criminogenically significant motives are motivations caused by an inadequate moral and legal assessment of the significance of external conditions. Inadequate negative rating conditions may induce legally unjustified aggressive-defensive or other unlawful actions. A distorted favorable assessment of conditions can provoke actions by the subject to achieve a personally valuable result that have no legal basis, or actions that are legally risky. The criminogenic significance of motives, due to an inadequate assessment of external conditions, is a consequence of certain deformations of personal properties that manifest themselves in social perception and determine the meaning and personal meaning of perceived social phenomena - living conditions and specific situations.

Lliterature

1. Legal psychology. M., 2004. 810 p.

2. Rubinshtein S.L. Basics general psychology(Masters of Psychology Series). - St. Petersburg, Publishing House Peter, 2000 712 p.

3. Stolyarenko L.D., Samygin S.I., Psychology. 4th ed., Spanish and additional M., 2005. 224 p.

4. Druzhinin V.N. Psychology. Textbook for economic universities. St. Petersburg, 2002.- 672 p.

5. Enikeev M.I. Legal psychology. - St. Petersburg, 2004. 480 p.

Motivational switch

1.1. Pre-motivational education (known motive) as a stage of motive development _____________

It often happens that a person realizes and understands the need to perform a certain activity, but this does not motivate him to action. This indicates that the motive has not yet been formed, but there is a prerequisite for its development - a certain pre-motivational formation (a known motive).

Known motives- this is understanding, awareness of the need for a certain activity, but this knowledge is devoid of an incentive function (does not encourage the individual to act). Such understanding and awareness plays an important role in the formation of motives. At a certain level of development, motives first appear as known, as possible, but not yet motivating to action (ALeontiev, 1975).

The art of education lies in the ability to attach higher importance to “known motives” (pre-motivational formations), and thus transform them into motivations.

you are active. Understanding the need to perform a certain activity in itself is not enough. Personality education should not be limited only to teaching, transferring to the subject a certain amount of knowledge (meanings). Without a person finding personal meaning, this knowledge (i.e. meaning) is not capable of inducing activity.

What ensures the transformation of “known motives” into active ones? A. Leontyev wrote that motives that are “understood” (but not prompted to action) are devoid of personal meaning. Consequently, endowing them with personal meaning promotes transformation into truly effective motives.

Another important factor in the development of motives is the inclusion of known motives in the motivational structure of the individual, their connection with other motives and needs, which gives known motives (pre-motivational formations) a motivating function (i.e., transfers them to the category of active ones). The internal work of the individual in terms of consciousness ensures the connection of these motives with other motives and needs. When pre-motivational formation (“known motive”) occupies a certain place in the system of motives, we can talk about its transition to the category of active motives.

Some psychologists distinguish between potential and actual motives.

Potential motives- these are those motives that, under certain circumstances, can encourage action, but in this moment are not updated. Those motives that have currently lost their relevance or are pushed to the periphery by other motives (that is, occupy a significantly lower place in the hierarchy of motives than before) can move into the category of potential motives.

Motivational bias

(autonomization of motive) as a mental mechanism [_______________ motivation development __________

IN In the context of the problem of developing new needs and motives, it is extremely important that the methods of satisfying the need become autonomous and themselves become needs (motives). For example, collecting books, which initially satisfied a cognitive need, may become a need in itself, i.e. develop into bibliophilia (Allport, 1938; K. Obukhovsky, 1972; ALeontyev, 1975).

The mechanism of formation of pathological needs, for example pathological dependence on alcohol, operates in a similar way. When a person just starts drinking alcohol, it can be a means of satisfying some need (for example, communicative or sexual, as a means of facilitating interpersonal contacts). In the process of satisfying these needs with alcohol, positive emotions shift from a need to a means, i.e. for alcohol (B. Bratus, 1988).

Long-term reinforcement of the operation (which was only a means of satisfying the need) with positive emotions leads to a motivational shift of these emotions from need to action. As a result, the operation, which previously was only a means of satisfying other needs, is saturated with positive emotions and acquires an autonomous motivating character (i.e., it becomes a need or motive). Thus, it itself stimulates activity, and does not realize other motives and needs. As a result, the operation acquires motivational autonomy, turning into a new motive.

For example, driving a car used to be a means of satisfying certain social needs. At first, a person, prompted by certain motives or needs (for example, material ones), got behind the wheel and drove to satisfy them. Over time, receiving pleasure from realized motives and needs, which was achieved by certain actions and operations (related to driving and driving), individual actions acquired significant attractiveness and could become an independent need.

A shift of motive to an operation (action) is observed in cases when a person, under the influence of some motive (or some need), takes on the task of performing certain actions, and then performs them for their own sake. An operation that was previously a means of satisfying a need becomes autonomous and becomes an independent need.

For example, a student used to do homework to avoid punishment or wanted to receive approval or reward. Subsequently, he can teach this subject according to

own desire, showing interest in the process and content of the work. Previously, teaching acted as a condition for the implementation of some other motive, for example, the motive of approval or avoidance of punishment. After some time, this activity (which was only a means of satisfying certain needs) is liked in itself. As a result of such motivational shifts, the student can subsequently read the textbook because he likes the topic and enjoys the process and content of the work, and not because he seeks to avoid punishment or tries to satisfy the demands of adults, as was the case before.

The process of motivational shift and the formation of a new motive can also be represented in this way. An action, prompted by a certain motive, in the process of its implementation is associated with other needs and receives a motivational charge from them. Over time, due to a series of positive emotions that accompanied the performance of a certain action, it begins to attract in itself (i.e., it acquires an autonomous motivational value). As a result, the operation itself is capable of inducing activity, thus acquiring the function of a motive.

A striking example of the shift of motive to a goal or the transformation of an operation, a means into an independent need is the activity of the hero of Gogol’s “The Overcoat” Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin: “He served in the department as an official for rewriting government papers, and this occupation was a diverse and attractive world for him. After work, at home, having a hasty lunch, he immediately began copying out the papers he brought with him.” Often he rewrote specifically for himself, for his own satisfaction. Akaki Akakievich not only experienced pleasure and great pleasure from rewriting papers, but also could not imagine his life without this activity. How did it happen that rewriting government papers took a central place in his personality, acquired the status of a need, and became the meaning of his life? We do not know the specific circumstances, but one way or another these circumstances led to the fact that there was a shift in one of the main motives to the goal, even to operations (to rewrite papers), which as a result turned into an independent need (A. Leontyev, 1975).

The mechanism for the development of new motives and needs can be represented as a shift of positive emotional experiences from the end, from the result to the process, to means and intermediate operations. As a result, new ones are formed

motives, needs and values. All these means, intermediate goals that mediated the satisfaction of needs, can themselves acquire the status of motives. For example, studying mathematics as a means (or an intermediate goal) of satisfying certain needs can acquire independent motivational force: as a result of this, a new motive is formed that is associated with the attractiveness of this activity. Previously, the study of mathematics acted as a means in the context of other activities (preparation for entrance exams), as a means of satisfying certain social needs. Subsequently, in the process of positive reinforcement or meaning formation, this action, operation or means acquires autonomous motivational significance and is already capable of inducing activity in itself.

Essential for the mechanisms of motivation development is that structural component activities (action, operation, means or intermediate goal) are associated with needs, enter into communication with other motives and needs and receive a motivational (energy) charge from them.

______ 1.3. Motivational switch _________

Motivational switch- this is a psychological mechanism for the formation of motivation (interest) in an object by transferring energy to it from another object.

The educational influence of fairy tales, fables, and stories lies in the use of motivational switching: good deeds are encouraged by the opportunity to receive a kingdom, a long life, or a beautiful wife. Energy and interest are switched from what is important and attractive for a person (long life, wealth, etc.) to what they strive to create interest and positive motivation for (V. Vilyunas, 1990).

The object to which positive motivation switches can be, for example, mathematics, physics, history, the Motherland, etc. For example, in songs or poetry, they try to indirectly transfer (switch) love for a mother to a person’s attitude towards the Motherland, trying in this way to form appropriate feelings for it. When a father tells his son about rich people who achieved success through persistence

or scientific research, then in this way he tries to create interest in children in a certain activity.

The mechanism of action of motivational switching can be presented as follows. Imagine that a person associates a certain activity or some object with something pleasant (something that causes positive emotions, he likes). This provides an opportunity to shift positive energy from this attractive object (or activity) to another object in which we strive to generate interest (motivation).

The educational influence on a person when using motivational switching involves updating already existing motivational relationships (positive attitude, interest, love for something), which are directed towards a new subject or content. The teacher tries to switch the existing motivational attitude (which is subjectively expressed in an emotional attitude, love for a certain subject) to a new subject or content (V. Vilyunas, 1990).

For example, we are trying to form in a person a positive attitude, interest (positive motivation) towards A. To do this, we strive to associate A with something pleasant for the person: wealth, a loved one, etc., i.e. with what evokes positive emotions and aspirations.

In the practice of education and motivational training, motivational switching is constantly used. For example, if we strive to encourage children to do a certain activity, we tell them: “Do this and you will be strong, beautiful, smart.” This is nothing more than a motivational switch. When we tell students about a person who achieved fame, wealth, happiness thanks to conscientious work in a certain field, we try to create interest and motivation in them. Using this mechanism, we switch energy and positive motivation from an activity (or object) that is important and attractive to the subject to what we strive to create motivation for.

Thus, the practice of education provides many examples that the formation of a new motivational attitude (positive attitude, interest) occurs as a result of attempts to connect the phenomena to which these relations are formed with other phenomena (objects) that already cause such an attitude.

1.4. Motivational conditioning

Motivational conditioning is the transfer of emotional (motivational) meaning to new content (subject), i.e. distribution of emotional experience to new content (or to a new object).

In a simplified way, motivational conditioning can be represented as the switching and fixation of emotions to a new content (object).

Spinoza also wrote: “Due to the fact that we have seen a certain thing in the affect of pleasure or displeasure... we begin to love or hate it.” A positive or negative emotion, “attached” to a certain object (content), gives it an appropriate emotional coloring and makes it more attractive (or unattractive). After several combinations of emotion with an object, we begin to relate emotionally to it.

As a result of motivational conditioning, neutral stimuli (objects, content), which precede the appearance of emotional stimuli or accompany them, themselves acquire the ability to evoke emotions.

Parenting practice demonstrates the importance of the mechanism of motivational conditioning: if parents praise or kiss a child for a good deed, they thereby reinforce certain actions (behavior). The positive emotions that a child receives as a result of praise or a kiss are combined (associated) with certain actions, which as a result become more attractive (V. Vilu-nas, 1990).

In Watson's research, an experimenter struck a gong, causing a loud sound (and fear in the child) when an 11-month-old boy tried to touch a laboratory rat. Six such combinations of unconditional (loud sound) and conditioned stimuli (the sight of a rat) were enough for the child to form a negative attitude towards the animal, at the sight of which he became frightened and began to cry. From now on, the child also showed fear towards other animals. This indicates that not only whole objects (the rat), but also their individual properties (fur, shape) acquire motivational significance (due to conditioning). These properties begin to be perceived emotionally even if they are part of other objects.

Thus, motivational conditioning is the transfer of emotional (motivational) meaning to a certain object, content, connecting it with the corresponding emotion (positive or negative). Motivational conditioning is the switching (spreading) of emotion to a specific object or content, which as a result becomes emotionally attractive. Conditioning occurs when a certain emotion is fixed on a new object or content.

The conditions for effective conditioning are as follows (Fig. 14):

Rice. 14. The mechanism of motivational conditioning

Here Pr° - emotionally neutral subject; Pr + , Pr~- acquisition of a positive or negative motivational meaning by an object due to a connection with a positive or negative emotion, respectively; E + , E~~ positive and negative emotions respectively

1) the emotion and the subject must be superimposed on each other at the same time. When an emotion (for example, pleasure delayed in time) occurs later than the action of an object, its motivational influence is weakened (and a corresponding attitude towards the object is not formed);

2) required number of E+R connections. In order for an object to acquire motivational significance, it is necessary not one, but several combinations in time of an emotion (experience) (E) and an object (action) (Pr).

It is difficult to predict what number of combinations is effective, since an emotionally neutral, indifferent object practically does not exist. A person, as a rule, already has a certain attitude (positive or negative) towards him. If the subject has formed a negative attitude towards the subject, then a positive attitude can be formed with the help of motivational conditioning (reinforcement).

much more difficult than in the case when the object is indifferent to a person.

3) sufficient strength of emotion. The emotion E is stronger than E, and the negative experience E is more unpleasant than E. Strong pleasure (positive emotion) and strong fear (negative emotion) will have a greater effect and, accordingly, greater motivational influence than weak ones.

1.5. Motivational (emotional) fixation

Sometimes a certain emotion (joy, surprise, fear, etc.) from the first time is so fixed (fixed) in a person’s memory that it leaves an emotional trace for the rest of his life and determines the attitude towards the objects (person, object, situation) that caused this emotion.

We are surprised and cannot understand why a persistent emotional fixation occurred (and attachment, sympathy, love arose) to someone or something. Why do men like skinny women, why a certain item of clothing can cause such strong sexual arousal in some people, why did a boy’s interest in mathematics from early childhood become fixed?

Motivational (emotional) fixation- a mechanism for the development of motivation, which consists in the instant acquisition and long-term preservation of motivational (emotional) meaning by objects, which they did not previously have. The process of motivational fixation occurs, as a rule, quite quickly, often at the first meeting with the object of fixation. Motivational fixation is a mechanism for the development of motivation (commitment, interest, love) through the ability of an emotional event to remain in memory (V. Vilyunas, 1990).

Emotions leave traces in a person’s memory, which subsequently turn into a certain attitude towards something (or a persistent feeling). Moreover, often the first meeting, the first pleasure is so fixed in emotional memory that it determines the motivational attitude towards the object of fixation for many years.

Thus, recording traces of emotional influences is closely related to the processes of memory and learning.

1.5.1. Dependence of motivational fixation on the intensity and depth of emotions

The ability of emotions to leave tracesV memory depends on their intensity. What is most vividly remembered (recorded in memory) is what really amazed, surprised, and upset us. E. Thorndike wrote: “The greater the pleasure or discomfort, the more the connections are strengthened or weakened.” An event that deeply affected us emotionally is remembered longer.

However, there is data that does not allow us to make this position absolute. In an adult, the intensity of an emotion is not always an indicator of its importance. In accordance with the concept of E. Kruger, there are significant differences between the intensity and depth of emotional experience. Deep emotions, in his opinion, are more persistent and tend to be less intense than violent ones.

The position of better capturing strong emotions is relative. After all, perhaps an insult listened to by a person with restraint and calmly leaves “stronger” traces in the psyche than an insult to which the person reacted affectively. According to V. Viliunas, the depth of emotions, the measure of their “penetration” into personal structures, is perhaps an even more important determinant of their fixation in memory than their strength (intensity).

1.5.2. Dependence of motivational fixation on the type of emotion

It is known that some emotions leave a “stronger” trace (are more strongly recorded) in emotional memory than others. P. Blonsky wrote that what is best remembered is what causes suffering, fear and surprise. These emotions are recorded more strongly in memory and are reproduced more easily in the future.

A fairly strong fixation of emotions underlies such pathological symptoms as mania, phobias, and obsessive states (P. Janet, 1911).

An obsessive fear that arose under certain circumstances can become so strongly entrenched in a person’s emotional memory that it will arise constantly under similar circumstances. Surprise is an emotion that can, in appropriate situations, especially in children, lead to emotional fixation and determine the emergence of persistent interest in any subject.

Thus, certain emotions (fear, suffering, etc.) leave a strong mark on emotional memory and lead to the emergence of motivational fixation.

1.5.3. Sensitive period in the formation of motivational fixations

Motivational fixation (persistent commitment) is formed mainly during a certain, rather limited sensitive (critical) period. The process of motivational fixation occurs quite quickly, often upon the first meeting with the object of fixation. Only during a certain period of human ontogenetic development can such a stable emotional fixation (commitment) be formed.

Why is there a sensitive period during which the formation of motivational fixation is possible? As a rule, this is an early period when the child’s psyche is more sensitive to impressions and experiences. Emotional events during this period can become firmly entrenched in the child’s memory and create motivational fixations. It is in the early period of a person’s life that a disposition towards certain people, interest in certain types of activities. It is during the sensitive period that such persistent emotional (motivational) fixations can be formed. However, it should be noted that emotional fixations can fade and be relearned over time. This can happen either spontaneously or under the influence of special conditions (for example, in the case of the disappearance of the object of sympathy or lack of reinforcement).

1.5.4.Motivational fixations in the relationship between mother and baby

The way in which a motivational fixation (commitment) develops and becomes focused in an infant on a particular person (for example, the mother) is similar to the way in which such behavior (imprinting) develops in animals.

D. Bowlby identifies the following patterns of motivational fixation in infants:

1) commitment (for example, to the mother) develops very quickly and, as a rule, over a limited period of life;

2) the formed commitment remains relatively stable.

The need for emotional contact in infants is fixed on the image of the mother or other adults (due to their attention, care, affectionate attitude). This leads to the development of motivational fixation - a strong disposition towards a certain person. In accordance with the concept of D. Bowlby, the mere presence of a mother nearby pleases and calms the child, while absence increases anxiety. The baby reacts positively to the appearance of the mother and strives for emotional contact with her (as an object of motivational fixation).

Not only the adult for the baby, but also the baby for the parents becomes an object of love (motivational fixation). There is also a critical (sensitive) period in the formation of maternal feelings, and the first 24 hours after the birth of a child are the most sensitive. Mothers who had prolonged contact with the baby in the maternity hospital, when examined a month and a year later, showed a slightly greater disposition towards their children compared to the control group (E. Aronson, 1988).

The early childhood period is sensitive for certain types of motivational fixation (which are relatively persistent mental formations and are not easily corrected).

** Questions for self-control

IWhat is pre-motivational education?

2. What is the essence of autonomization of motive (motive-

visual displacement) ?

3. On what factors does the intensity of motivational motivation depend?

fixation?

4. What are the conditions for effective conditioning?

Rice. 16. Structure of achievement motivation

The achievement motive differentiates people according to their desire for success. People with a high indicator of achievement motive strive to achieve high results (successes) in their activities. Whereas individuals with a low achievement motive score are indifferent to success, they are not interested in high results, and they do nothing to achieve them.

The achievement motive significantly influences activity in a certain situation or area of activity. However, not only it, but also other factors (the complexity of the task, the value of success, probability, i.e. the chances of achieving success) influence the desire for success at a certain point in time (in a specific situation or field of activity).

It may turn out that a subject with a strong achievement motive in a certain situation will have low achievement motivation, since this activity has no value for him, and a person with a high achievement motive in a certain situation may not strive to achieve success, since the task will be too complex and the chances (probability) of achieving success are insignificant. Whereas an individual with a low achievement motive under certain circumstances (the feasibility of the task, great chances of achieving success, attractiveness of the activity) will demonstrate a high level of achievement motivation.

Thus, achievement motivation is determined both by stable personality attributes (the achievement motive) and by situational factors (the chances of success, the value of the activity, the complexity of the task).

2.2.2.Expectation of success (subjective probability of achieving success- RU)

RU we understand it as the expectation that performing an action will lead to success (i.e., achieving a goal). Therefore, P y is the degree of confidence that the activity will be successful.

The motivation for his activities depends on how confident a person is of success. The more a person hopes for success (the higher the P y indicator), the more effort he is inclined to make, the stronger his motivation for achievement will be.

People who hope for success in activities, who expect positive results, are more purposeful, motivated, and their desire to achieve success (i.e., achievement motivation) will be stronger.

For example, I am unlikely to take on a task if I think there is a small chance (probability) of achieving success. Conversely, when I am confident in the possibility of success (when the subjective probability of achieving success P y exceeds 50%), I will work more intensely (the level of achievement motivation will be higher).

When choosing a type of activity (business), a person is guided by many factors, including the possibility (probability) of achieving success. For example, you think that it is almost impossible to achieve success in this matter (the subjective probability of achieving success is low, P y = 20%). In the second type of activity, in your opinion, there is a much greater chance of success (the subjective probability of achieving success is high, P y > 50%). Obviously, you will be inclined to take on the second activity (the level of motivation for the second activity will be higher due to the advantage of P y and the chances of success will be greater).

2.2.3.Factors on which the subjective probability of achieving success depends

Among the conditions that influence the expectation of success (subjective probability of achieving success - P y), the following factors occupy an important place (Fig. 17):

Rice. 17. Factors influencing expectations of success

1) an idea of one’s abilities (subjective assessment of one’s abilities), which is formed on the basis of successes and failures in the past;

2) subjective difficulty of the task;

3) the belief that success depends on the effort expended.

It is known that people who expect success in performing an activity perform better at it. The expectation of a high (positive) result influences the formation of a person’s sense of effectiveness, which encourages him to perform better. Faith in one’s abilities, in one’s own ability to overcome difficulties, encourages persistent work. And if a person is not confident in his abilities, does not hope for success, then this “discourages” the desire to work.

Belief in one’s own success depends on success in previous attempts (activities) and on the appropriate attitude towards success. If a person has often achieved success in the past, then this has a positive effect on the formation of hope for success (he believes in himself and in his ability to achieve success). And defeats and failures in the past negatively affect faith in success. After a series of failures, a person loses self-confidence and expects defeat in subsequent attempts. That is why, in order to develop a sense of effectiveness in activity, it is important to have at least small successes.

Children with the same achievements sometimes assess their own abilities differently and have different expectations. Thus, boys, as a rule, are more confident in their abilities and are more often success-oriented (and expect positive results) than girls. Thus, not only previous successes and failures determine the hope for success, but also the assessment of one’s abilities. Such self-esteem is a relatively stable mental formation, although situational factors also influence it to a certain extent. Confidence in one's own abilities can increase a person's belief in his or her effectiveness. When a person realizes that he has abilities that can ensure success, this has a positive effect on his confidence in the success of his own actions. To understand your abilities and increase your confidence, you should ask yourself the following questions:

- What abilities do I have?

- How to use them to achieve success?

- How did this ability of mine once help me achieve success?

Another important factor in self-confidence is availability of resources that can help achieve goals. You should carefully review all resources (methods, knowledge, people who are inclined and able to help) and think about how you can use them:

- Which effective techniques is at my disposal?

- What people (colleagues, friends, etc.) can help me?

- What knowledge can be used?

III. Praise (approval)

Approval is counted when someone approves, recognizes or rewards another(s) for doing good work or achieving positive results. Approval includes statements that provide for the possibility of reward (which characterizes recognition for a positive achievement). Approval is also taken into account when someone states good quality, accuracy, originality of another person’s work.

If the hero of the story only expresses the possibility of praise or reward, then this is also taken into account as approval (for example: “If he improves the car, he will get a promotion”).

Examples of statements that belong to this category:

1. The teacher praises the student for an original solution to the problem.

2. The director increases the pay of his subordinate for conscientious work.

3. The supervisor tells the student that in Lately it works much better.

IV. Positive emotional state (E+)

As E +, all emotional states (joy, pleasure) are taken into account within a certain activity that relate to a certain work and achieving success. This category includes statements in which the hero of the story expresses joy, delight, pleasure (i.e., positive emotions) in the process of work.

We should be talking about a clearly positive emotional state (statements like “rejoices...”, “satisfied...”, “smiling...”, “delighted...”).

Examples of sayings that belong to the E+ category:

1) he is happy to study this topic;

2) they are satisfied with their work;

3) he is glad that he managed to overcome difficulties and that his work is progressing successfully;

4) finally the work is finished: he feels relief and pleasure;

5) success gives him courage and inspiration;

6) the father is happy that his son has successfully completed this task. (Such positive emotional states that are associated with the achievements or successes of another person in the story are also counted as E\)

Training success factors

1. Age of training participants (training is most effective in middle school).

2. Gender of the students (boys show more significant changes in achievement motivation as a result of the training).

3. Type of educational subjects (training is more effective in relation to those educational subjects that provide for more specific educational actions, in which the connection between the action and the result is simpler and more obvious). This is why achievement motivation training is most effective when studying disciplines such as mathematics, physics, and chemistry. As for humanitarian subjects, where there is no clear gradation of success, the effectiveness of achievement motivation training is lower.

* Questions for self-control

1. What is achievement motivation?

2. What theoretical concepts exist for the development of achievement motivation?

3. What are the categories of achievement motivation?

4. What stages of the formation of the achievement motive can be identified?

pour?

5. Name the success factors of achievement motivation training.

Causal schema training

Psychological causation and causal schemes

The influence of causal schemas on behavior. Learned helplessness

Causal schema change program

Positive influence on motivation to attribute one's own failures to insufficient efforts

Benefits of causal training versus success reinforcement

Relating Causal Schemas to Emotions

Mental mechanisms of motivation development

Pre-motivational education (known motive) as a stage of motive development

Motivational displacement (autonomization of motive) as a mental mechanism for the development of motivation

Motivational switch

Motivational conditioning

Motivational (emotional) fixation

1.1. Pre-motivational education (h

A motive is an impulse to commit a behavioral act, generated by a person’s system of needs and realized to varying degrees or not realized by him at all. In the process of performing behavioral acts, motives, being dynamic formations, can be transformed (changed), which is possible at all phases of the action, and the behavioral act is often completed not according to the original, but according to the transformed motivation.

The term “motivation” in modern psychology refers to at least two mental phenomena: 1) a set of motivations that cause the activity of the individual and the activity that determines it, i.e. a system of factors that determine behavior; 2) the process of education, the formation of motives, the characteristics of the process that stimulates and maintains behavioral activity at a certain level.

Motivational phenomena, repeated many times, eventually become personality traits of a person.

Mechanisms of motive formation

Need is the initial form of activity of living organisms. Need can be described as a periodically occurring state of tension in the body of living beings. The occurrence of this state in a person is caused by a lack of a substance in the body or the absence of an object necessary for the individual. This state of the organism’s objective need for something that lies outside it and constitutes a necessary condition for its normal functioning is called need.

As a rule, at the first stage, the subject’s need turns out to be hidden, “not deciphered.” A person may experience a feeling of some kind of tension, but at the same time not be aware of what caused this condition. On the behavioral side, a person’s state during this period is expressed in anxiety or a constant search for something. During search activity, a need usually meets its object, which ends the first stage of the “life” of the need. The process of “recognition” by a need of its object is called the objectification of the need.

In the act of objectification, a motive is born. Motive is defined as an object of need, or an objectified need. It is through the motive that the need receives its concretization and becomes understandable to the subject. Following the objectification of a need and the emergence of a motive, a person’s behavior changes dramatically. If previously it was undirected, then with the appearance of a motive it receives its direction, because the motive is what the action is performed for. As a rule, for the sake of something a person performs many separate actions. And this set of actions caused by one motive is called activity, and more specifically, special activity, or a special type of activity. Thus, thanks to the motive, we reached the highest level of the structure of activity in the theory of A.I. Leontyev - to the level of special activity.

It should be noted that activity is performed, as a rule, not for the sake of one motive. Any special activity can be caused by a whole complex of motives. Multimotivation of human actions is a typical phenomenon. For example, a student at school may strive for academic success not only for the sake of the desire to gain knowledge, but also for the sake of material rewards from parents for good grades or for the sake of admission to a higher educational institution. Yet, despite the multimotivation of human activity, one of the motives is always leading, and the others are secondary. These secondary motives are incentive motives that do not so much “launch” as additionally stimulate this activity.

When analyzing activity, the only way is to move from need to motive, then to goal and activity. In real life, the reverse process constantly occurs - in the course of activity, new motives and needs are formed.

But in the process of activity, the circle of needs, and therefore motives, expands significantly.

All about car tuning

Motives of activity, mechanisms of formation of motives. Why is the problem of increasing motivation so important? Relating Causal Schemas to Emotions

39. Bernstein's theory of physiology of movements

More on topic 4. The concept of motive. Mechanism of motive formation: