This is the stereotypical phrase that the would-be actor asks the director in order to breathe life into the character. What motivates this character? What makes them tick? What matters to them? If an actor knows what motivates a character, they can deduce that character’s values and act accordingly.
“What’s MY motivation?” is a question we ask ourselves all too infrequently. Our values and passions are among our strongest and most lasting motivators, but few people, if asked, can easily articulate what their most important values and passions are.
There are three general types of motives a person can have: biological, social, and personal.
Biological motives have to do with keeping the body in homeostasis (balance); we fix thirst by drinking, hunger with eating, and so on. Our bodies breathe because they require oxygen. Biological motives generally don’t require our attention unless we are unable to achieve homeostasis, such as if we’re starving or overeating, both of which indicate a lack of balance.
Social motives are those centered in or held by a group. The easiest way to find out the motives of a society or social group are to look at its rules or laws. The DOs and DON’Ts of a social group tell us what matters to the group—its values. In order to ensure that members of the group observe these values, the group applies pressure on its members, most often in the form of punishment, which discourages actions, and reward or incentives, which encourage actions.
If the law says the speed limit in front of a school is 20 mph, we can deduce that keeping children safe is the value protected by that law, and that the goal is for the society to practice that value by upholding that law. If you’re caught going 50 mph in the school zone, you’ll be stopped and given a ticket (at the very least). This is a punishment for breaking the law. As a member of society, you already know that driving over the speed limit is an action that the society will punish; knowing this potential punishment is likely what makes most drivers obey the posted 20 mph speed limit. We are motivated to obey the law in order to avoid the punishment. In addition to the potential punishment, there are also rewards or incentives for driving safely. Many insurance companies offer reduced rates for drivers who have clean driving records (no speeding tickets). The reward of saving money may be what motivates some drivers to obey the law.
In both cases, where drivers follow the speed limit either to avoid punishment or to earn a reward, the motivation is extrinsic: an individual’s behavior is based on an outside influence.
But what if you’re a parent? Perhaps, then, you drive no faster than 20 mph because you want to do what you can to keep your children (and children in general) safe from being hit by your car. Maybe you even know that the survival rate of a child struck by a car going 20 mph is a great deal higher than if the car is going even 30 mph, and drive with that fact in mind. The value at work here is the same: keeping children safe. But the motives here are not based on reward or punishment by the social group; they are personal motives. As a result, the motivation for these individuals is intrinsic: behavior is based on personal values (or goals, aspirations, attitudes, and interests).
Because we are all members of many different social groups, all of which have values (and therefore rules or laws which members of the group should follow), we are all accustomed to being motivated by the threat of punishment and the idea of reward. This is often called the carrot and stick model. While carrots might not seem like much of a reward, the model is based on how to motivate a horse (and horses love carrots!):
Do you offer it a carrot (reward), which, when dangled in front of the horse, will cause it to move forward in attempt to get the carrot?
Or,
Do you hit it with a stick (punishment), which causes the horse pain, making the horse move forward in an attempt to avoid the pain?
Literally thousands of books and articles have been written on how to manage and motivate people, arguing for the carrot, the stick, and various combinations of the two. We even have models of how to manage and motivate ourselves that are based on the carrot and stick (reward and punishment) model. Consider the following:
- If I finish grading this stack of student assignments tonight, I’ll reward myself with ice cream for dessert.
- If I don’t finish grading this stack of student assignments tonight, I’ll stay home this weekend instead of going to the farmer’s market with friends.
While rewards and punishment are usually extrinsic and used for social motives, we are perfectly capable of using the carrot and stick on ourselves, offering ourselves rewards and threatening ourselves with punishments to motivate us to do things we don’t otherwise want to do!
Similarly, while intrinsic motivation is usually based on personal motives, individuals, like the parent who is motivated by the safety of children, can hold values that we might call social. The valuing of family, friendships, and even social groups can still be intrinsically motivating. The key is why we act.
When we can identify that, it becomes possible to make useful changes in ourselves and to more thoughtfully deal with, or even just understand, the reasoning behind the actions of others.
