Hostname: page-component-68c7f8b79f-wfgm8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-12-17T18:39:50.098Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A critique of motivation constructs to explain higher-order behavior: We should unpack the black box

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2024

Kou Murayama Open the ORCID record for Kou Murayama [Opens in a new window]  and
Hayley K. Jach Open the ORCID record for Hayley K. Jach [Opens in a new window]
Kou Murayama*
Affiliation:
Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany k.murayama@uni-tuebingen.de hayleyjach@gmail.com https://motivationsciencelab.com/ Research Institute, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi, Japan
Hayley K. Jach
Affiliation:
Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany k.murayama@uni-tuebingen.de hayleyjach@gmail.com https://motivationsciencelab.com/
*
Corresponding author: Kou Murayama; Email: k.murayama@uni-tuebingen.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The constructs of motivation (or needs, motives, etc.) to explain higher-order behavior have burgeoned in psychology. In this article, we critically evaluate such high-level motivation constructs that many researchers define as causal determinants of behavior. We identify a fundamental issue with this predominant view of motivation, which we call the black-box problem. Specifically, high-level motivation constructs have been considered as causally instigating a wide range of higher-order behavior, but this does not explain what they actually are or how behavioral tendencies are generated. The black-box problem inevitably makes the construct ill-defined and jeopardizes its theoretical status. To address the problem, we discuss the importance of mental computational processes underlying motivated behavior. Critically, from this perspective, motivation is not a unitary construct that causes a wide range of higher-order behavior – it is an emergent property that people construe through the regularities of subjective experiences and behavior. The proposed perspective opens new avenues for future theoretical development, that is, the examination of how motivated behavior is realized through mental computational processes.

Keywords

causalitycomputational modelingessentialismincentivesintrinsic motivationmeasurement modelmetatheoryreward

Information

Type
Target Article
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 48 , 2025 , e24
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Anderman, E. M. (2020). Achievement motivation theory: Balancing precision and utility. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, 101864. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101864CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, C., Hildreth, J. A. D., & Howland, L. (2015). Is the desire for status a fundamental human motive? A review of the empirical literature. Psychological Bulletin, 141, 574–601. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038781CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, J. R., & Milson, R. (1989). Human memory: An adaptive perspective. Psychological Review, 96, 703–719.10.1037/0033-295X.96.4.703CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnold, M. B. (1969). Emotion, motivation, and the limbic system. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 159(3), 1041–1058. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1969.tb12996.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Atkinson, J. W., Bongort, K., & Price, L. H. (1977). Explorations using computer simulation to comprehend thematic apperceptive measurement of motivation. Motivation and Emotion, 1, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00997578CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkinson, J. W., & Raynor, J. O. (1978). Personality, motivation, and achievement. Hemisphere.Google Scholar
Austin, J. T., & Vancouver, J. B. (1996). Goal constructs in psychology: Structure, process, and content. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 338–375.10.1037/0033-2909.120.3.338CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baillargeon, R., Scott, R. M., He, Z., Sloane, S., Setoh, P., Jin, K.-s., … Bian, L. (2015). Psychological and sociomoral reasoning in infancy. In Mikulincer, M., Shaver, P. R., Borgida, E., & Bargh, J. A. (Eds.), APA handbook of personality and social psychology, Vol. 1. Attitudes and social cognition (pp. 79–150). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14341-003Google Scholar
Baldassarre, G., & Mirolli, M. (2013). Intrinsically motivated learning in natural and artificial systems. Springer.10.1007/978-3-642-32375-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ballard, T., Palada, H., Griffin, M., & Neal, A. (2021). An integrated approach to testing dynamic, multilevel theory: Using computational models to connect theory, model, and data. Organizational Research Methods, 24(2), 251–284. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428119881209CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. Freeman.Google Scholar
Baranes, A., & Oudeyer, P.-Y. (2013). Active learning of inverse models with intrinsically motivated goal exploration in robots. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 61(1), 49–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.robot.2012.05.008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barron, K. E., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2001). Achievement goals and optimal motivation: Testing multiple goal models. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 706–722.10.1037/0022-3514.80.5.706CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baumeister, R. F. (1993). Self-esteem: The puzzle of low self-regard. Plenum Press.10.1007/978-1-4684-8956-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumeister, R. F. (2016). Toward a general theory of motivation: Problems, challenges, opportunities, and the big picture. Motivation and Emotion, 40(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9521-yCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 497–529.10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bem, D. J. (1967). Self-perception: An alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena. Psychological Review, 74(3), 183–200. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0024835CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bennett, D., Bode, S., Brydevall, M., Warren, H., & Murawski, C. (2016). Intrinsic valuation of information in decision making under uncertainty. PLoS Computational Biology, 12(7), e1005020. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005020CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berlyne, D. E. (1966). Curiosity and exploration. Science, 153(3731), 25–33. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.153.3731.25CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berridge, K. C. (2004). Motivation concepts in behavioral neuroscience. Physiology & Behavior, 81(2), 179–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2004.02.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berridge, K. C. (2023). Separating desire from prediction of outcome value. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 27(10), 932–946. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2023.07.007CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bindra, D. (1959). Motivation: A systematic reinterpretation (1st ed./1st printing). Ronald Press.Google Scholar
Boag, S. (2018). Personality dynamics, motivation, and the logic of explanation. Review of General Psychology, 22(4), 427–436. https://doi.org/10.1037/gpr0000150CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bong, M. (1996). Problems in academic motivation research and advantages and disadvantages of their solutions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 21, 149–165. https://doi.org/10.1006/ceps.1996.0013CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borsboom, D., & Cramer, A. O. J. (2013). Network analysis: An integrative approach to the structure of psychopathology. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 9(1), 91–121. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-050212-185608CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brehm, J. W. (1999). The intensity of emotion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3(1), 2–22. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0301_1CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brick, C., Hood, B., Ekroll, V., & de-Wit, L. (2022). Illusory essences: A bias holding back theorizing in psychological science. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17(2), 491–506. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691621991838CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Byrne, B. M. (2001). Structural equation modeling with AMOS, EQS, and LISREL: Comparative approaches to testing for the factorial validity of a measuring instrument. International Journal of Testing, 1(1), 55–86. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327574IJT0101_4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Churchland, P. M. (1979). Scientific realism and the plasticity of mind. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511625435CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cogliati Dezza, I., Schulz, E., & Wu, C. M. (Eds.). (2022). The drive for knowledge: The science of human information seeking. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009026949CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corbit, L. H., & Balleine, B. W. (2005). Double dissociation of basolateral and central amygdala lesions on the general and outcome-specific forms of Pavlovian-instrumental transfer. Journal of Neuroscience, 25(4), 962–970. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4507-04.2005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cronbach, L. J., & Meehl, P. E. (1955). Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychological Bulletin, 52, 281–302.10.1037/h0040957CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dalege, J., Borsboom, D., van Harreveld, F., van den Berg, H., Conner, M., & van der Maas, H. L. J. (2016). Toward a formalized account of attitudes: The causal attitude network (CAN) model. Psychological Review, 123(1), 2–22. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039802CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dang, J., King, K. M., & Inzlicht, M. (2020). Why are self-report and behavioral measures weakly correlated? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 24(4), 267–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2020.01.007CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Danziger, K. (1990). Constructing the subject: Historical origins of psychological research. Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511524059CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dayan, P., & Abbott, L. F. (2005). Theoretical neuroscience: Computational and mathematical modeling of neural systems (Revised ed.). MIT Press.Google Scholar
Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), 627.10.1037/0033-2909.125.6.627CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. Plenum.10.1007/978-1-4899-2271-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dennett, D. C. (1987). The intentional stance (pp. xi, 388). MIT Press.Google Scholar
Descartes, R. (1955). The philosophical works of Descartes (2 vols.) (pp. ix, 832). Dover.Google Scholar
DeYoung, C. G., & Krueger, R. F. (2020). To wish impossible things: On the ontological status of latent variables and the prospects for theory in psychology. Psychological Inquiry, 31(4), 289–296. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2020.1853462CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickinson, A., & Balleine, B. (2002). The role of learning in the operation of motivational systems. In Pashler, H. & Gallistel, R. (Eds.), Steven's handbook of experimental psychology: Learning, motivation, and emotion (3rd ed., pp. 497–533). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/0471214426.pas0312Google Scholar
Dobs, K., Martinez, J., Kell, A. J., & Kanwisher, N. (2022). Brain-like functional specialization emerges spontaneously in deep neural networks. Science Advances, 8(11), eabl8913.10.1126/sciadv.abl8913CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Donnellan, E., Usami, S., & Murayama, K. (2023). Random item slope regression: An alternative measurement model that accounts for both similarities and differences in association with individual items. Psychological Methods. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/met0000587Google Scholar
Dweck, C. S. (2017). From needs to goals and representations: Foundations for a unified theory of motivation, personality, and development. Psychological Review, 124(6), 689–719. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000082CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2002). Motivational beliefs, values, and goals. Annual Review of Psychology, 53(1), 109–132. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135153CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2020). From expectancy-value theory to situated expectancy-value theory: A developmental, social cognitive, and sociocultural perspective on motivation. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, 101859. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101859CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenberg, I. W., Bissett, P. G., Zeynep Enkavi, A., Li, J., MacKinnon, D. P., Marsch, L. A., & Poldrack, R. A. (2019). Uncovering the structure of self-regulation through data-driven ontology discovery. Nature Communications, 10(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10301-1CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elliot, A. J. (1997). Integrating “classic” and “contemporary” approaches to achievement motivation: A hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation. In Pintrich, P. R. & Maehr, M. L. (Eds.), Advances in motivation and achievement (Vol. 10, pp. 143–179). JAI Press.Google Scholar
Elliot, A. J. (2023). Energization and direction are both essential parts of motivation. In Bong, M., Reeve, J., & Kim, S. (Eds.), Motivation science: Controversies and insights (pp. 10–14). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197662359.003.0002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliot, A. J., & Fryer, J. W. (2008). The goal construct in psychology. In Shah, J. Y. & Gardner, W. L. (Eds.), Handbook of motivation science (pp. 235–250). Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Elliot, A. J., & Moller, A. C. (2003). Performance-approach goals: Good or bad forms of regulation? International Journal of Educational Research, 39, 339–356.10.1016/j.ijer.2004.06.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eronen, M. I. (2020). Causal discovery and the problem of psychological interventions. New Ideas in Psychology, 59, 100785. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2020.100785CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press.10.1515/9781503620766CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Festinger, L., & Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). Cognitive consequences of forced compliance. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58(2), 203–210. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0041593CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fishbach, A., & Ferguson, M. J. (2007). The goal construct in social psychology. In Kruglanski, A. W. & Higgins, E. T. (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (2nd ed., pp. 490–515). Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Fiske, A. P. (2020). The lexical fallacy in emotion research: Mistaking vernacular words for psychological entities. Psychological Review, 127(1), 95–113. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000174CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
FitzGibbon, L., Lau, J. K. L., & Murayama, K. (2020). The seductive lure of curiosity: Information as a motivationally salient reward. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 35, 21–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.05.014CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzgibbon, L., & Murayama, K. (2022). Counterfactual curiosity: Motivated thinking about what might have been. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 377(1866), 20210340. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0340CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frijda, N. H. (1986). The emotions (pp. xii, 544). Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme.Google Scholar
Friston, K., & Kiebel, S. (2009). Predictive coding under the free-energy principle. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1521), 1211–1221. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0300CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gladwin, T. E., Figner, B., Crone, E. A., & Wiers, R. W. (2011). Addiction, adolescence, and the integration of control and motivation. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 1(4), 364–376. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2011.06.008CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gottlieb, J., & Oudeyer, P.-Y. (2018). Towards a neuroscience of active sampling and curiosity. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 19(12), Article 12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-018-0078-0CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gottlieb, J., Oudeyer, P.-Y., Lopes, M., & Baranes, A. (2013). Information seeking, curiosity and attention: Computational and neural mechanisms. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 17(11), 585–593. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2013.09.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gruber, M. J., & Ranganath, C. (2019). How curiosity enhances hippocampus-dependent memory: The prediction, appraisal, curiosity, and exploration (PACE) framework. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 23(12), 1014–1025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2019.10.003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halliday, T. H. (1983). Motivation. In Halliday, T. H. & Slater, P. J. B. (Eds.), Animal behaviour: Causes and effects (Vol. 1, pp. 100–133). Blackwell Scientific.Google Scholar
Harackiewicz, J. M., & Sansone, C. (1991). Goals and intrinsic motivation: You can get there from here. In Maehr, M. L. & Pintrich, P. R. (Eds.), Advances in motivation and achievement (Vol. 7, pp. 21–49). JAI Press.Google Scholar
Harlow, H. F. (1949). The formation of learning sets. Psychological Review, 56(1), 51–65. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0062474CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations (pp. ix, 326). John Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1037/10628-000CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hernán, M. A., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2011). Compound treatments and transportability of causal inference. Epidemiology (Cambridge, MA), 22(3), 368–377. https://doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0b013e3182109296CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hidi, S. E., & Renninger, K. A. (2019). Interest development and its relation to curiosity: Needed neuroscientific research. Educational Psychology Review, 31(4), 833–852. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09491-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinde, R. A. (1960). Energy models of motivation. Symposia of the Society for Experimental Biology, 14, 199–213.Google ScholarPubMed
Hull, C. L. (1943). Principles of behavior: An introduction to behavior theory. Appleton-Century.Google Scholar
Hulleman, C., Schrager, S., Bodmann, S., & Harackiewicz, J. (2010). A meta-analytic review of achievement goal measures: Different labels for the same constructs or different constructs with similar labels? Psychological Bulletin, 136, 422–449. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018947CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jach, H. K., DeYoung, C. G., & Smillie, L. D. (2022). Why do people seek information? The role of personality traits and situation perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 151, 934–959. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001109CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology (Vol. 1). Henry Holt and Co. https://doi.org/10.1037/10538-000Google Scholar
Jöreskog, K. G. (1969). A general approach to confirmatory maximum likelihood factor analysis. Psychometrika, 34(2), 183–202. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02289343CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kanfer, R., & Chen, G. (2016). Motivation in organizational behavior: History, advances and prospects. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 136, 6–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.06.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kanwisher, N., Khosla, M., & Dobs, K. (2023). Using artificial neural networks to ask “why” questions of minds and brains. Trends in Neurosciences, 46(3), 240–254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2022.12.008CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kelley, T. L. (1927). Interpretation of educational measurements (p. 353). World Book.Google Scholar
Kenny, A. (1971). The homunculus fallacy. In Grene, M. G. & Prigogine, I. (Eds.), Interpretations of life and mind (pp. 155–165). Humanities Press.Google Scholar
Kidd, C., & Hayden, B. Y. (2015). The psychology and neuroscience of curiosity. Neuron, 88(3), 449–460. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2015.09.010CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kihlstrom, J. F. (1987). The cognitive unconscious. Science, 237(4821), 1445–1452. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.3629249CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, S.-I. (2013). Neuroscientific model of motivational process. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 98–98. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00098CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kleinginna, P. R., & Kleinginna, A. M. (1981). A categorized list of motivation definitions, with a suggestion for a consensual definition. Motivation and Emotion, 5(3), 263–291. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00993889CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koch, S. (1941). The logical character of the motivation concept. I. Psychological Review, 48, 15–38. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0062042CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koch, S. (1956). Behavior as “intrinsically” regulated: Work notes towards a pre-theory of phenomena called “motivational”. In Jones, M. R. (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation (Vol. 4, pp. 42–87). Nebraska University Press.Google Scholar
Lau, H. C. (2009). Volition and the function of consciousness. In Murphy, N., Ellis, G. F. R., & O'Connor, T. (Eds.), Downward causation and the neurobiology of free will (pp. 153–169). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03205-9_9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazowski, R. A., & Hulleman, C. S. (2016). Motivation interventions in education: A meta-analytic review. Review of Educational Research, 86(2), 602–640. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654315617832CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeDoux, J. E. (2014). Coming to terms with fear. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(8), 2871–2878. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1400335111CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewin, K. (1942). Field theory and learning. Teachers College Record, 43(10), 215–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146814204301006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieder, F., & Griffiths, T. L. (2020). Resource-rational analysis: Understanding human cognition as the optimal use of limited computational resources. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 43, e1. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X1900061XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Locke, E. A. (2001). Self-set goals and self-efficacy as mediators of incentives and personality. In M. Erez, U. Kleinbeck, & H. Thierry (Eds.), Work motivation in the context of a globalizing economy (pp. 13–26). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.Google Scholar
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). A theory of goal setting & task performance. Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2004). What should we do about motivation theory? Six recommendations for the twenty-first century. Academy of Management Review, 29(3), 388–403. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2004.13670974CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loewenstein, G. (1994). The psychology of curiosity: A review and reinterpretation. Psychological Bulletin, 116(1), 75–98. http://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.116.1.75CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacCorquodale, K., & Meehl, P. E. (1948). On a distinction between hypothetical constructs and intervening variables. Psychological Review, 55(2), 95–107. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0056029CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Madsen, K. B. (1974). Modern theories of motivation: A comparative metascientific study. Wiley.Google Scholar
Marr, D. (1982). Vision: A computational investigation into the human representation and processing of visual information. Freeman.Google Scholar
Marsh, H. W., & Shavelson, R. J. (1985). Self-concept: Its multifaceted, hierarchical structure. Educational Psychologist, 20, 107–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marvin, C. B., & Shohamy, D. (2016). Curiosity and reward: Valence predicts choice and information prediction errors enhance learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145(3), 266–272. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000140CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054346CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClelland, D. C. (1987). Human motivation. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
McClelland, D. C., Atkinson, J. W., Clark, R. A., & Lowell, E. L. (1976). The achievement motive. Irvington.Google Scholar
McClelland, D. C., Koestner, R., & Weinberger, J. (1989). How do self-attributed and implicit motives differ? Psychological Review, 96, 690–702.10.1037/0033-295X.96.4.690CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClure, K., Jacobucci, R., & Ammerman, B. A. (2021). Are items more than indicators? An examination of psychometric homogeneity, item-specific effects, and consequences for structural equation models. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/n4mxvGoogle Scholar
McDougall, W. (1909). The principal instincts and the primary emotions of man. In McDougall, W. (Ed.), An introduction to social psychology (2nd ed., pp. 45–89). John W Luce & Company. https://doi.org/10.1037/13634-003Google Scholar
Murayama, K. (2022). A reward-learning framework of knowledge acquisition: An integrated account of curiosity, interest, and intrinsic–extrinsic rewards. Psychological Review, 129(1), 175–198. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000349CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murayama, K. (2023a). Are cognition, motivation, and emotion the same or different?: Let's abandon that thinking. In Bong, M., Reeve, J., & Kim, S. (Eds.), Motivation science: Controversies and insights (pp. 243–245). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197662359.003.0011CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murayama, K. (2023b). Motivation resides only in our language, not in our mental processes. In Bong, M., Reeve, J., & Kim, S. (Eds.), Motivation science: Controversies and insights (pp. 65–69). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197662359.003.0011CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murayama, K., FitzGibbon, L., & Sakaki, M. (2019). Process account of curiosity and interest: A reward-learning perspective. Educational Psychology Review, 31(4), 875–895. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09499-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murayama, K., Izuma, K., Aoki, R., & Matsumoto, K. (2017). “Your choice” motivates you in the brain: The emergence of autonomy neuroscience. In Kim, S., Reeve, J., & Bong, M. (Eds.), Advances in motivation and achievement (Vol. 19, Recent developments in neuroscience research on human motivation) (pp. 95–125). Emerald.Google Scholar
Murphy, P. K., & Alexander, P. A. (2000). A motivated exploration of motivation terminology. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25(1), 3–53. https://doi.org/10.1006/ceps.1999.1019CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murray, H. A. (1938). Explorations in personality. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nagengast, B., & Trautwein, U. (2023). Theoretical and methodological disintegration is the most fundamental limitation in contemporary motivation research. In Bong, M., Reeve, J., & Kim, S. (Eds.), Motivation science: Controversies and insights (pp. 419–424). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197662359.003.0068CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newell, A. (1994). Unified theories of cognition: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Ningombam, D. D., Yoo, B., Kim, H. W., Song, H. J., & Yi, S. (2022). CuMARL: Curiosity-based learning in multiagent reinforcement learning. IEEE Access, 10, 87254–87265. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3198981CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84(3), 231–259. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.3.231CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niv, Y., Joel, D., & Dayan, P. (2006). A normative perspective on motivation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10, 375–381.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Reilly, R. C. (2020). Unraveling the mysteries of motivation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 24(6), 425–434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2020.03.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oudeyer, P.-Y., & Kaplan, F. (2007). What is intrinsic motivation? A typology of computational approaches. Frontiers in Neurorobotics, 1, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/neuro.12.006.2007CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Palminteri, S., & Lebreton, M. (2022). The computational roots of positivity and confirmation biases in reinforcement learning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 26(7), 607–621. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2022.04.005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patankar, S. P., Zhou, D., Lynn, C. W., Kim, J. Z., Ouellet, M., Ju, H., … Bassett, D. S. (2023). Curiosity as filling, compressing, and reconfiguring knowledge networks. Collective Intelligence, 2(4), 26339137231207633. https://doi.org/10.1177/26339137231207633CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pekrun, R. (2023). Jingle–jangle fallacies in motivation science: Toward a definition of core motivation. In Bong, M., Reeve, J., & Kim, S. (Eds.), Motivation science: Controversies and insights (pp. 52–58). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197662359.003.0009Google Scholar
Pekrun, R., & Marsh, H. W. (2022). Research on situated motivation and emotion: Progress and open problems. Learning and Instruction, 81, 101664. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2022.101664CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pessoa, L., Medina, L., & Desfilis, E. (2022). Refocusing neuroscience: Moving away from mental categories and towards complex behaviours. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 377(1844), 20200534. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0534CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pittman, T. S., & Zeigler, K. R. (2007). Basic human needs. In Kruglanski, A. W. & Higgins, E. T. (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (2nd ed., pp. 473–489). Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Poli, F., Meyer, M., Mars, R. B., & Hunnius, S. (2022). Contributions of expected learning progress and perceptual novelty to curiosity-driven exploration. Cognition, 225, 105119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105119CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reeder, G. (2009). Mindreading: Judgments about intentionality and motives in dispositional inference. Psychological Inquiry, 20(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/10478400802615744CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reeve, J. (2017). Understanding motivation and emotion (7th ed.). Wiley.Google Scholar
Renninger, K. A., & Hidi, S. (2016). The power of interest for motivation and engagement. Routledge.Google Scholar
Rhemtulla, M., van Bork, R., & Borsboom, D. (2020). Worse than measurement error: Consequences of inappropriate latent variable measurement models. Psychological Methods, 25(1), 30–45. https://doi.org/10.1037/met0000220CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Richter, M., Gendolla, G. H. E., & Wright, R. A. (2016). Three decades of research on motivational intensity theory: What we have learned about effort and what we still don't know. Advances in Motivation Science, 3, 149–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robbins, S. B., Lauver, K., Le, H., Davis, D., Langley, R., & Carlstrom, A. (2004). Do psychosocial and study skill, factors predict college outcomes? A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 130(2), 261–288. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.130.2.261CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rohrer, J. M., & Murayama, K. (2023). These are not the effects you are looking for: Causality and the within-/between-persons distinction in longitudinal data analysis. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 6(1), 25152459221140842. https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459221140842CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rolls, E. T. (2016). Motivation explained: Ultimate and proximate accounts of hunger and appetite. In Elliot, A. J. (Ed.), Advances in motivation science (Vol. 3, pp. 187–249). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.adms.2015.12.004Google Scholar
Rozek, C. S., Svoboda, R. C., Harackiewicz, J. M., Hulleman, C. S., & Hyde, J. S. (2017). Utility-value intervention with parents increases students’ STEM preparation and career pursuit. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114(5), 909–914. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1607386114CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Russell, J. A. (2003). Core affect and the psychological construction of emotion. Psychological Review, 110(1), 145–172. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.110.1.145CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. Guilford Press.10.1521/978.14625/28806CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2020). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: Definitions, theory, practices, and future directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, 101860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101860CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sachisthal, M. S. M., Jansen, B. R. J., Peetsma, T. T. D., Dalege, J., van der Maas, H. L. J., & Raijmakers, M. E. J. (2019). Introducing a science interest network model to reveal country differences. Journal of Educational Psychology, 111(6), 1063–1080. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000327CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schultheiss, O. C., Campbell, K. L., & McClelland, D. C. (1999). Implicit power motivation moderates men's testosterone responses to imagined and real dominance success. Hormones and Behavior, 36(3), 234–241. https://doi.org/10.1006/hbeh.1999.1542CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schultheiss, O. C., Yankova, D., Dirlikov, B., & Schad, D. J. (2009). Are implicit and explicit motive measures statistically independent? A fair and balanced test using the picture story exercise and a cue- and response-matched questionnaire measure. Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(1), 72–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223890802484456CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sedikides, C., & Strube, M. J. (1997). Self-evaluation: To thine own self be good, to thine own self be sure, to thine own self be better. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 29, 209–269.10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60018-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seward, G. H. (1939). Dialectic in the psychology of motivation. Psychological Review, 46, 46–61. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0057732CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheldon, K. M. (2022). Freely determined: What the new psychology of the self teaches us about how to live. Basic Books.Google Scholar
Shultz, T. R., & Lepper, M. R. (1996). Cognitive dissonance reduction as constraint satisfaction. Psychological Review, 103(2), 219–240. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.103.2.219CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simpson, E. H., & Balsam, P. D. (2016). The behavioral neuroscience of motivation: An overview of concepts, measures, and translational applications. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, 27, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2015_402Google ScholarPubMed
Skinner, E. A. (1996). A guide to constructs of control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 549–570.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, B. J., & Read, S. J. (2022). Modeling incentive salience in Pavlovian learning more parsimoniously using a multiple attribute model. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 22(2), 244–257. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-021-00953-2CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, G. T., Fischer, S., & Fister, S. M. (2003). Incremental validity principles in test construction. Psychological Assessment, 15(4), 467–477.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steele, C. M. (1988). The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. In Berkowitz, L. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 261–302). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60229-4Google Scholar
Steinman, M. Q., Duque-Wilckens, N., & Trainor, B. C. (2019). Complementary neural circuits for divergent effects of oxytocin: Social approach versus social anxiety. Biological Psychiatry, 85(10), 792–801. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.10.008CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stevens, L. E., & Fiske, S. T. (1995). Motivation and cognition in social life: A social survival perspective. Social Cognition, 13(3), 189–214. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.1995.13.3.189CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stich, S. P., & Ravenscroft, R. (1994). What is folk psychology? Cognition, 50, 447–468.10.1016/0010-0277(94)90040-XCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tamura, A., Ishii, R., Yagi, A., Fukuzumi, N., Hatano, A., Sakaki, M., … Murayama, K. (2022). Exploring the within-person contemporaneous network of motivational engagement. Learning and Instruction, 81, 101649. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2022.101649CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Utman, C. H. (1997). Performance effects of motivational state: A meta-analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 1(2), 170–182. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0102_4CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vancouver, J. B., Wang, M., & Li, X. (2020). Translating informal theories into formal theories: The case of the dynamic computational model of the integrated model of work motivation. Organizational Research Methods, 23(2), 238–274. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428118780308CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VandenBos, G. R., & American Psychological Association (Ed.) (2007). APA dictionary of psychology (1st ed.). American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
van der Maas, H. L. J., Dolan, C. V., Grasman, R. P. P. P., Wicherts, J. M., Huizenga, H. M., & Raijmakers, M. E. J. (2006). A dynamical model of general intelligence: The positive manifold of intelligence by mutualism. Psychological Review, 113(4), 842–861. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.113.4.842CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
VanderWeele, T. J. (2022). Constructed measures and causal inference: Towards a new model of measurement for psychosocial constructs. Epidemiology (Cambridge, MA), 33(1), 141. https://doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0000000000001434CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Lieshout, L. L. F., Vandenbroucke, A. R. E., Müller, N. C. J., Cools, R., & de Lange, F. P. (2018). Induction and relief of curiosity elicit parietal and frontal activity. Journal of Neuroscience, 38(10), 2579–2588. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2816-17.2018CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Rooij, I., & Baggio, G. (2021). Theory before the test: How to build high-verisimilitude explanatory theories in psychological science. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16(4), 682–697. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620970604CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wegner, D. M. (2004). Précis of The illusion of conscious will. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 27(5), 649–659. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X04000159CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weiner, B. (1992). Human motivation: Metaphors, theories, and research. Sage.Google Scholar
White, R. W. (1959). Motivation reconsidered: The concept of competence. Psychological Review, 66(5), 297–333.10.1037/h0040934CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wigfield, A., Muenks, K., & Eccles, J. S. (2021). Achievement motivation: What we know and where we are going. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 3(1), 87–111. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-050720-103500CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, J., Berridge, K. C., Tindell, A. J., Smith, K. S., & Aldridge, J. W. (2009). A neural computational model of incentive salience. PLoS Computational Biology, 5(7), e1000437. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000437CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed