Is Motivation Largely Conscious and Intentional or Nonconscious and Automatic?

• In Event: Controversial Questions in Contemporary Motivation Science: Insights From the Leading Voices

Abstract

Objectives
Is motivation controllable? We often do things that we have not consciously planned for, and we fail to engage in behaviors that we have fully intended. Does this mean that motivation is unconscious and automatic? Or is motivation largely conscious and intentional? Can we improve the control over our motivation?

Perspectives
One answer is that we often engage in behaviors outside of awareness, because of habit, or to conform, and sometimes we do not know the reasons why we are doing things. However, when it comes to controlling one’s motivation, a critical step is believing in one’s own agency. People who believe that they can shape the environment and their own behavior to meet their needs and goals are most likely to show motivational initiative and to thrive (Patall et al., 2008). From setting goals and breaking ingrained habits to changing tasks and soliciting support from others, a key to motivation is thinking and acting like things can change.
A second answer agrees and acknowledges that motivation is a critical influence on the achievement and success people experience within many of life’s most important domains. Regrettably, people often lack sufficient motivation even within contexts central to their long-term goals. This second perspective argues that the capacity to understand and improve one’s own motivation is an instrumental skill that people can acquire and use to their own advantage (Wolters, 2011).
In comparison, a third answer claims that non-conscious processes have a strong influence on our behavior. As we are learning more about how the brain works, we are gaining a better understanding of how neural processes that we are not aware of can often motivate our behavior, and that our conscious explanations for those behaviors may come after the “decision” to act has already been made in our brains (Urdan, 2021).

Summary
While all three perspectives acknowledge the power of unconscious motivation, two believe that people’s agency helps them maintain conscious control over their motivation. One perspective is more pessimistic, illustrating the power of unconscious motivation with examples of goal priming and implicit biases. Together, answers to this controversy delineate how these two different kinds of motivation—conscious and non-conscious—work together to affect our behavior and our explanations for our behavior.

Significance
All three answers agree that we can control our motivation. However, differences exist regarding just how much control we have. Each perspective will make it clear that at least some motivated behaviors remain outside our conscious control (hence outside our personal control).

Authors

• Erika A. Patall, University of Southern California

• Christopher A. Wolters, The Ohio State University

• Tim Urdan, Santa Clara University