Hallam, Susan; (2009) Motivation to Learn. In: Psychology of Music: Learning and Practising. (pp. 157-194). Chopin Academy of Music: Warsaw.

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Abstract

Human motivation is extremely complex. Historically, numerous theories have developed in attempts to explain it. These, to varying degrees, emphasise motivation as deriving from within the individual, within the environment, or as a complex interaction between the two mediated by cognition. Early theories saw motivation as deriving from the needs of the individual to survive and were based on drive reduction (Hull, 1943). Behaviourists also stressed the importance of biological drives in determining motivation but highlighted the role of rewards and punishments in shaping behaviour (Thorndike, 1913; Skinner, 1950). Psychoanalytic theories, as exemplified by the work of Freud, explained behaviour in terms of a human energy system, driven by sexual and aggressive drives and operating in the pursuit of pleasure (tension reduction). Motivation was conceptualised as the way the individual pursued these drives or their more acceptable alternatives (Freud, 1949; 1960). More recent psychoanalytic theories have stressed the tendency of the individual towards growth and self-development, while theorists such as Erikson (1950, 1959) and Horney (1950) have acknowledged the role of the environment in the development of motives and the importance of parenting in this process.

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