Maslow's motivation theory is put forward according to people's basic needs. Maslow pointed out that there are different levels of basic needs, which are divided into physiological needs, security needs, belonging and love needs, respect needs and self-realization needs from bottom to top, among which physiological needs are the most basic needs and the highest level of self-realization.
The emergence of requirements follows a hierarchical order. Generally speaking, people will pursue higher-level needs on the basis of meeting lower-level needs. If a person's food, clothing, housing and transportation conditions are not guaranteed, then he will go all out to work to obtain the most basic material security; After the basic survival needs are met, he will consider how to further study, how to achieve success, how to get respect from others, how to realize himself and so on.
Ausubel's Motivation Theory
Ausuberti, an American psychologist, pointed out that achievement motivation in school situations includes three aspects: cognitive internal drive, self-improvement internal drive and subsidiary internal drive.
Cognitive internal drive is the need to know and understand the surrounding things, master knowledge, systematically explain and solve problems. In learning activities, the cognitive drive points to the learning task itself (in order to acquire knowledge), which is an important and stable motivation. Because the satisfaction of needs (knowledge acquisition) is provided by learning itself, it is also called internal motivation.
Self-improvement of internal drive is the need for individuals to win corresponding positions because of their own competence or work ability. This need has become an integral part of achievement motivation since children enter school. The internal driving force of self-improvement is different from that of cognition. It regards achievement as the foundation of winning status and self-esteem, which is obviously an external motivation.
Accessory internal drive refers to the need to do a good job in order to maintain the recognition or recognition of the elderly (such as teachers and parents) or the collective. This motivational feature is prominent in children's learning activities, which is manifested in the pursuit of good academic performance in order to gain praise and recognition.
Yerkes-dodson law
Generally speaking, the stronger the motivation, the higher the work enthusiasm, the better the potential and the greater the efficiency; On the contrary, the lower the excitation intensity, the worse the efficiency. Therefore, work efficiency increases with the enhancement of motivation. However, the research of psychologists yerkes and dodson confirmed that the relationship between motivation intensity and work efficiency is not linear, but an inverted U-shaped curve. It is embodied in the following aspects: when the incentive is in the right intensity, the work efficiency is the best; When the incentive intensity is too low, there is no enthusiasm to participate in activities, and the work efficiency cannot be improved; When the intensity of motivation exceeds the peak, the work efficiency will decrease continuously with the increase of intensity, because excessive motivation makes individuals in a psychological state of excessive anxiety and tension, which interferes with the normal activities of psychological processes such as memory and thinking.
The above research also shows that the optimal motivation level is not fixed, but will change according to the different nature of the task. When completing simple tasks, the motivation is high and the efficiency can reach the best level; Complete the task with moderate difficulty.