Human Motivation

Weiner introduces -- and offers his own motivation for producing - - this most impressive work with the following:

There are two distinct approaches to the study of motivation. One stratagem is a product of academic, experimental procedures, while the second is an outgrowth of clinical, non-experimental methods. Each of the approaches has unique advantages and disadvantages. But all investigators in this field are guided by a single basic question, namely, "Why do organisms think and behave as they do?"

To help answer that basic question, Human Motivation presents an entire range of motivation studies -- from psychoanalytic, social learning and humanistic theory; to social facilitation, arousal, emotions, personal responsibility, and the irrationality of attributions; through chapterand verse of Hullian and Lewinian theory.

Contents: Introduction. Part I: Need Reduction Theories. The Psychoanalytic Theory of Motivation. Drive Theory. Part II: Expectancy-Value Theories. Kurt Lewin's Field Theory. Achievement Theory. Social Learning and Personal Responsibility. Part III: Mastery and Growth Theories. Attribution Theory. An Attributional Theory of Behavior. Humanistic Theory and Personal Constructs. Part IV: Conclusion. Overview and Concluding Remarks.