The first part of this book is devoted to the old problem of fundamental motivations which can hardly be approached other than theoretically.
The second part of the book is devoted to new or rather marginal concepts which seem capable of enriching general models of motivational processes.
The third part of the book deals with issues of self-regulation and self-determination; over the past two decades, motivational issues can hardly be addressed without touching on these issues. The last part of the book focuses on the cultural context and the cultural mediation of motivation.
This book was not intended as a collection of findings to consider, but rather as a collection of non-trivial viewpoints that may prove useful in making better sense of the findings actually made.
Chapter 1 - This chapter provides an overview of the evolution of explanatory models of the fundamentals of human motivation throughout the last century.
from concepts of instinct and drive to basic needs, and lists of biologically rooted needs to uncover the non-biological, social, and existential imperatives of human behavior.
The integrative model, proposed by the author, distinguishes three qualitatively different levels of individual-world relations: biological existence, social existence, and personal existence.
The objective meta-necessities inherent in each level (including actualization of environmental and potentialities; social belonging and integration; self-determination and autonomous choice) underlie the particular needs unique to that level particular level.
Chapter 2 - Motivation is a process of continuous exchange between the subject— the individual — and the environment.
From an existential point of view, we see this exchange as having a dialogical structure, relating the given reality of the subject and object to the intentions of the individual.
Motivation, being of existential importance, has a causal connection with the fundamental themes of existence. Additionally, the spiritual (i.e. noetic) power embedded in the personality functions as an information-processing tool for motivation.
Thus, the existential structure and the fact of being a free person play a decisive role in the motivational process.
This process is characterized by the repetitive and continuous decisions that individuals make. The fundamental themes of existence shape our understanding of motivation, while spiritual (noetic) power in individuals is at work in all motivation.
The article illustrates the relationship between the fundamental themes of existence and the motivational process.
This process includes an awareness of the reality of one's existence, or "being in the world, with the reality of one's life, and finally with an awareness of one's identity."
Empirical phenomenological research over the past 30 years has confirmed that acceptance of these realities enables an individual to participate in and be open to larger relationships and contexts from which personal meanings are discovered.
These four fundamental themes of existence form a matrix for the psychopathological understanding of mental disorders and provide a context for clinical interventions. Moreover, they represent the structural model of Existential Analytical Psychotherapy.
Chapter 3 – This chapter discusses the concept of future time perspective (FTP) as a cognitive-motivational concept. FTP results from the formulation of motivational goals in the rather near or more distant future.
People differ from one another not only in the content of their motivational goals or aspirations but also in the extent or duration of the time perspective involved in those goals.
Individual differences in FTP duration also have motivational consequences as they affect the anticipated incentive value of future goals and the perceived instrumentality of current actions to achieve those goals.
In the second part of this chapter, we summarize the empirical studies validating this motivational conceptualization of FTP. The third part illustrates the usefulness of taking into account individual differences in FTP in the field of professional orientation and career behaviors.
Finally, we discuss empirical studies evaluating the behavioral impact of the subjective organization of personal FTP.
on the construction and evaluation of professional projects at three stages of career development and at critical moments of the decision within the Portuguese education system. FTP extension and content have been taken into consideration.
Chapter 4 - The chapter presents a theoretical analysis of the applications of the concept of meaning in the psychology of motivation.
The history of this concept in psychology and more specifically in the psychology of motivation is traced with particular emphasis on the two most elaborate general theories of motivation where the concept of meaning is central: the relational theory of human conduct by J. Nuttin and A.N. Approach to Leontiev's Activity Theory.
In the current context, the relevance of the concept of meaning for attributional theories of motivation and action regulation is discussed. Personal significance can serve as the common denominator for many particular patterns of motivation linking them
