Phil Evans: Motivation

˝Phil Evans provides a review of the area of motivation which shows how we have moved from a view of organisms as being pushed by drives or pulled by incentives. Ideas of learned drives based on biological needs have given way to theories which stress that it is the way we perceive ourselves and our environment which determines our behaviour. The outstanding feature of this book is the way in which the underlying relations between different theories arc made clear. Unit D is a crucial part of Essential Psychology. Many who arc dissatisfied with all current models of man sec the concept of man as an individual and social person as the best alternative. This is because it emphasizes the uniqueness of the experience of each individual and also the notion that he acts upon his environment in a purposeful way. The books in this unit all demonstrate how the basic assumptions of personality theory and research arc changing. Instead of personality being described in terms of forces driving people from within or events manipulating them from without, individuals arc now being described as persons each with his own way of construing reality.˝