Motivation lies at the heart of psychology (Weiner, 1992). It is one of the key terms and one of the most significant concepts of psychology. The idea of motivation is related to determinants, causes, reasons, and goals for (human) activity. By using this term in social research as well as in practical life, it is intended to describe, to understand, to explain, and to predict human behavior. Beyond that historical studies made obvious that the notion of human motivation has been guided by various major metaphors like the mechanistic “machine” metaphor or the godlike metaphor (McReynolds, 1990; Weiner, 1992).
The concept of motivation is closely connected with the rather fundamental question, why or wherefore people do what they do. The term why is more closely related to causes of behavior, the term wherefore (or what for) more closely to reasons for action. The first mode of asking for determinants of human behavior involves mainly a mechanisticview of human.
