w
hat motivates people like Drew Lovejoy
to pursue unlikely dreams, even without
role models of their own ethnicity, national-
ity, or community, when so many others
either give up or have no dream to pursue?
Can true love withstand a 60-year age differ-
ence, and for that matter do you assume that
Hefner and Harris were motivated by love or
marrying for purely pragmatic reasons? why
would star football players, who presumably
could readily have consensual sex, rape and
humiliate an unconscious woman? And what
actions on the part of governments, orga-
nizations, and individuals will help to curb
people’s appetite for sugary, unhealthy food
and halt the epidemic of obesity?
The word motivation, like the word emo-
tion, comes from the Latin root meaning “to
move,” and the psychology of motivation is
indeed the study of what moves us, why we
do what we do. To psychologists, motivation
refers to a process within a person or animal
motivation An inferred
process within a person
or animal that causes
movement either toward
a goal or away from an
unpleasant situation.that causes that organism to move toward a
goal or away from an unpleasant situation.
The motive may be to satisfy a psychological
goal, say, by getting a great job or avoiding
loss of the one you have; it may be to satisfy
a biological need, say, by eating a sandwich
to reduce hunger; or it may be to fulfill a
personal ambition, say, by performing in a
Broadway musical or being the youngest
person to sail around the world.
For many decades, the study of motiva-
tion was dominated by a focus on biological
drives, such as those to acquire food and wa-
ter, to have sex, to seek novelty, and to avoid
cold and pain. But drive theories do not ac-
count for the full complexity of human mo-
tivation because people are conscious crea-
tures who think and plan ahead, set goals,
and plot strategies to reach those goals.
People may have a drive to eat, for instance,
but that doesn’t tell us why some individuals
will go on hunger strikes to protest injustice.
At Mayor Bloomberg’s press conference in New York, a
64-ounce drink with the amount of sugar it contains is dis-
played with the sugar content of other sizes of soft drinks.Judge Blocks New York City’s Ban
on Oversized Sugary DrinksNEW YORK, NY, March 11, 2013. In a rebuke to
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s efforts to combat
obesity by limiting the size of sugary drinks to 16
ounces at restaurants, theaters, and food carts,
a State Supreme Court judge today struck down
the ban. The judge agreed with the soft-drinkindustry that the limits were “arbitrary and ca-
pricious.” Mayor Bloomberg vowed to appeal.
“I’ve got to defend my children, and yours, and
do what’s right to save lives,” the mayor said.
“Obesity kills. There’s no question it kills.”Ohio Teenagers Guilty in Rape
of 16-Year-Old GirlSTEUBENVILLE, OHIO, March 17, 2013. Two high
school football stars have been found guilty
of raping a 16-year-old girl last summer. Trent
Mays, 17, was sentenced to at least two years in
the state juvenile system and Ma’lik Richmond,
16, was sentenced to one year. They had pen-
etrated the girl with their fingers for hours, while
she was so drunk she was unable to consent to
sex. Mays’ sentence was longer because he took
pictures of the victim, showing her naked and
passed out, and sent them with texts to friends,
referring to her as “like a dead body.” Other teen-
agers immediately circulated the photos, eventu-
ally calling national attention to the case. After
the judge read his decision, both boys sobbed.