Have you ever wondered why we do what we do?One of the objectives of psychology is to answer this question; in fact, it’s one of his main aspirations. That is why today we will identify and define the so-called objective of behavior.
To do this, we will talk about what basic needs are, motivation and how to impose our will when our emotions intensify and our instincts try to impose themselves.
- “To make wise choices.
- People must listen to themselves.
- Themselves.
- At every moment in their lives.
- Abraham Maslow?.
There are several branches, currents or psychological perceptions that meet our needs as a species, perhaps the best known being that of Abraham Maslow, American psychologist who proposed them in a pyramid scheme, suggesting that to overcome a group of needs you have to meet the needs of the previous level.
According to this author, the pyramid is divided as follows
According to this theory, the purpose of our behavior may be related to our needs, for example, if we are unable to meet our security needs, our behavior will be directed so that we can meet them, so we would be motivated by the level of physiological needs.
As such, we all share the same basic needs in the pyramid, so they serve as the purpose of our behavior. In other words, our motivations would be intimately linked to the objectives of our behavior.
Motivation is a set of internal or external factors that determine a person’s actions, among other variables, our behavior is conditioned by motivation, can this motivation be intrinsic, that is, the motivation that drives our behavior by taste, or can it be extrinsic?which has to do with external incentives.
Other classifications of this type of motivation also arise from
Therefore, we have several sources of motivation that vary depending on the degree of awareness we give to the relationship between our needs and our actions; sometimes, through learning, this relationship is determined by our culture or family.
Does it certainly depend on each person? Even if we can share some sources. However, we do not all recognize what our needs are; in other words, we can act to meet needs that we have not consciously identified.
The consequence is that, on many occasions, we are wrong to identify the motivating vectors that drive our actions, on other occasions we can even identify them, but we lie when sharing them with others.
When we are not aware of our needs, it is easier to feel lost, oblivious to our own lives, as if there is a higher force that dictates our directions, for example, when we are controlled by emotions of fear and shame, the purpose of our behavior ends up becoming escape, whereas when we have emotions such as anger or joy, we have a more action-oriented attitude.
This also applies to our thoughts and habits, that is, quickly translating what we feel and think or simply following the inertia caused by our habits, leads us to understand what we do not want for ourselves.
Thus, in order for the purpose of our behaviors not to be determined by these factors, we can work on our consciousness, for this it is necessary:
We can also be in tune with our well-being by paying attention to our mental, physical and social health, in this way we will be more aware of the needs that we really need to meet.
In addition, we can practice mindfulness, which, according to several surveys, takes us away from meaningless behaviors. For example, Kudesia (2019), in his article published in the Academy of Management Review, suggests that this practice improves situation management due to its transformation processes.
In short, the purpose of the behavior is determined by several factors, in each person this process is given in different ways and we can follow it in a more authentic way if we are aware of why we are acting the way we do it. , we are more likely to establish ourselves as drivers of our own lives.