Motivation: a critical consideration of Freud and Rogers' seminal conceptualisations

Russell Woodfield, Dominic Willmott, Sasika Ryan, Nicole Sherretts, Danielle McDermott

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    8 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Humans vary in many aspects of their psychology with differences routinely found in patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, setting individuals apart across time and place. Though many psychologists have attempted to account for these individual differences, one area that has continued to generate interest and disagreement is the concept of motivation. Today, understanding behavioural motivation remains one of the most important questions facing personality theorists. In an attempt to better account for human motivation, the present exploration reviews seminal theoretical positions put forward by Sigmund Freud from a Psychoanalytical perspective and contrastingly, that of Carl Rogers from the Humanistic approach. Critical consideration is specifically applied to how verifiable each perspective may be and the degree of empirical support either account has attained to date. Whilst understanding human motivation is not a new endeavour, the present exploration provides a contemporary critical assessment of traditional psychological explanations.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)229–234
    JournalPolish Psychological Bulletin
    Volume49
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 15 Jun 2018

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