The Biological Origins of Motivated Behavior

Abstract

Motivation is the driving force that energizes all animal behavior. The main biological drives in all organisms are to survive, to grow, and to procreate, but the specific formula adopted to accomplish these universal goals vary markedly from species to species. In man the evolutionary devices to achieve these ends have become so complex as to have become goals in themselves. Chief among these are the demands of a social environment in which man, a social animal, must endure. In this milieu even basic biological drives such as the will to survive and to procreate may be sacrificed to the greater good.