Motivational Theories

Emotional Intelligence (Goleman, 1995)

Emotional Intelligence is our ability to recognize our personal and other people's emotions, to discriminate between various feelings and label them, and to use emotional information to guide our thinking and behaviors.

Experiential Learning (Kolb, 1984)

Learning involves the acquisition of abstract concepts that can then be applied flexibly in a range of situations. Learning then is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience.

Flow Theory (Csikszentmihalyi)

Flow is one of the eight mental stages that can happen during the learning process. Other stages in his theory include anxiety, apathy, arousal, boredom, control, relaxation, and worry. These stages result when a learner experiences a combination of skill and challenge levels of a task in non-optimal combinations. Flow, according to Csikzentmihalyi is the most optimal of these stages of learning as this is where the skill level and the challenge level of the task are at its highest.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow, 1943)

Maslow's Hierarchy describes human motivations from the most basic (psychological needs) to the most advanced (self-actualization). The idea of this hierarchy was first proposed by Maslow in 1943 in his "Theory of Human Motivation".

Multiple Intelligences (Gardner)

Gardner has identified human intelligences that vary greatly from one individual to the other. These intelligences stem from different kinds of minds that cause us to learn, remember, perform, and understand in different ways. Many researches however do not support that these intelligences exist, or that they have an impact on how we learn.

According to Gardner, these intelligences are:

- Language

- Logical-mathematical

- Spatial

- Musical

- Bodily kinesthetic

- Interpersonal

- Intrapersonal

- Naturalist.

Most recently, the existential intelligence has been added to this list which refers to our sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep question about our existence, about the meaning of life and death. .

Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan)

Self-determination theory deals with human motivation and personality and is concerned with people's inherent growth tendencies and innate psychological needs. It is concerned with the motivation behind our choices without external influences or interference. In other words, self-determination theory is interested in the degree to which our behaviors are based on our innate motivations and self-determination.