The Nature of Motiviation: A Question of 'Why?'

When referred to in everyday speech, motivation is most often considered as a quantitative entity: the focus is on how much motivation one has. For example, in performing arts contexts, we may be able to identify artists whom we perceive as ‘high’ or ‘low’ in motivation. These judgements are usually based on what we observe at the time: for example, how well the dancer performed, or how many hours a soloist trains per week, or how ‘in the moment’ a pianist appears to be during the performance. However, considering motivation in terms of quantity only tells us part of the story. Motivation can also vary in terms of quality. The ‘quality’ aspect of motivation captures the why of behaviour, or in other words, why a dancer’s performance is optimal (and how likely this is to continue!), why the soloist trains long hours and why the pianist is focused during the performance.