14. COMMENTARY. If motivation is the force that initiates, directs, and sustains individual or group behavior in order to satisfy a need or to attain a goal, then this inquiry produced volumes of theories, concepts, principles, techniques, and methodologies to understand what it is and how to motivate human beings. What is important to consider is that this force is unique to each individual human being, and there are many forces which drive an individual to struggle to achieve a goal or to fulfill a need. The early researchers believed there was a causal relationship between what motivated individuals and each attempted to explain how this developed. Their work was primarily based upon animal experimentation, and extrapolating their findings to human beings was suspect. The problem with cause-effect interpretations is that so many variables need to be considered that isolating any one and predicting this one is the factor is almost impossible. What Freud, Hull, and others accomplished was laying the groundwork for later researchers who used direct observation of healthy people to discover what motivates individuals. Their cumulative work remains as an embodiment of the drive on the part of social scientists to raise the level of inquiry into human motivation to a science. Though they did not fully succeed, they did accomplish setting the stage for those to follow. Maslow's revolutionary work in 1954 broke the clinical and experimental barriers which others before him could not. He was the first to demand that psychologists and sociologists study healthy people and not neurotics. He maintained that motivation was a function of a healthy person's desire to fulfill basic human needs. All human beings were engaged in this lifelong process and only when they died did it end. The progression from safety and survival needs to the final, need for self- actualization created a motivational definition which effectively described the gamut of human endeavors to meet needs. His theory of self-actualization precipitated a flurry of scholarly and clinical work in an attempt to validate his theories. His comprehensive description of the self-actualized person, based upon the research of his contemporaries and his own clinical and real-life observations, provided the Post-War era with a meaningful, easily understood, structure of the basic motivational patterns of normal human beings. He believed that self-actualization was the need all human beings strived to fill. Some individuals would if the environment, their own desire to succeed, and other safety, love, and esteem needs were met simultaneously. A predictable ebb and flow would unfold in anyone's life because of the day to day situations which affected the meeting of the prepotent needs. What is fascinating about the concept of self-actualization is that the potential for all people to meet this need was predicted. Maslow did not discriminate against anyone. He applied his theory generically to all human beings. His 1970 revision of his original theories promoted them even more. He believed that the world in 1970 needed an infusion of self-actualizing information to precipitate more in-depth research into his hypotheses. Intrinsic motivation, or doing something just for the joy of doing it, is an interesting construct. Unlike extrinsic motivation, which is the motivation to perform a task or achieve a goal with some external reward in mind, intrinsic motivation develops in the affective domain. It is difficult to measure and therefore, sometimes easily misinterpreted by those who are not prone to be motivated by it. Most humans are extrinsically motivated to achieve, produce, or work toward some goal for a reward. This was certainly supported by Maslow. The hungry man or woman will scrounge for food if hunger predominates their lives. If a person feels unsafe, he or she will do anything necessary, including fight and possibly kill, to meet safety needs. What then motivates the artist, the writer, the human with any creative force active in them, to forego eating, sleeping, and other physiological needs just to produce their works of art? This is where intrinsic motivational theory can be applied. There is something more than meeting an extrinsic need that intrinsically motivates creative and other highly productive people. What is this innate factor? Researchers are not sure. Many propositions exist. Some believe that it is the joy of doing alone that motivates individuals. Yet, what causes this joy to surface in one person and not in another? How can intrinsic motivation be created in individuals? How can it be measured, studied, replicated, and instilled in others? Or can it? All these questions remain to be answered in the years ahead. One of the simplest ways I found in determining what motivated the clients and staff members I work with is to just ask them. What motivates you to do what you are doing, I ask. Interestingly enough, most people experience a difficult time in answering this question. Generally, I find that those individuals are usually low-motivated people. Those who can answer the question without much thought are usually highly motivated people. They need little time because they have pondered this question themselves somewhere in their lives. If they describe some external reward as their primary motivating factor, naturally, I would assess they are extrinsically motivated individuals. In my work, I find a mix of types. Those who remain in the field for many years not rising in the power structure and making a living but not extravagant wage, are intrinsically motivated individuals. Another strategy I use to determine what motivates my colleagues is to ask, "If you had the economic security that your present job provides you, what would you be doing with your life today? Would you be here, doing what you are doing, or would you be doing something quite different?" Responses again vary and yet, what I find is that about 50% of the people I work with state they would do just what they are doing right now. Lastly, when I asked, "If you hit the lottery for a million today, what would you be doing tomorrow?" Now this question usually causes some guffaws. However, once we get beyond its hypothetical condition, many individuals stated they would continue to do just what they are doing. True, they might take more vacations, pay a few bills, and maybe fix up things in their homes that needed fixed. In the end, they wouldn't change their lives all that much. These individuals I would label as being intrinsically motivated to perform the kind of stressful work we do. A few stated they would quit immediately, move to places like Florida or other points south and west, and retire forever and never have to be told what to do again. I have no data to support the 50% projection that divides my colleagues equally between either being extrinsic and intrinsically motivated. These three questions do provide me with information which makes it easier for me to understand how to motivate an individual to perform up to his or her potential. I admit they are not complicated questions, and in some ways, I believe the reason why people readily answer them is for that very reason. Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation are interesting but simple constructs and provide some means to understand human motivation. However, they are not comprehensive enough to fully determine what and how to motivate humans, and therefore, the inquiry into what motivates human beings needs to continue. Since the founding of our nation, the protestant work ethic (PWE) served as one motivating principle that guided the American work force. Until recently, with the advent of the information age and the "Third Wave" (Toffler, 1980), it worked well in describing what motivated humans to achieve at optimal levels. The dynamics occurring in the last five years caused many researchers to wonder if the PWE was slowly dying. What motivated individuals for the past 100 years did not seem to be in effect any longer. New factors were emerging. Where once job security and a good salary were viewed as necessary extrinsic motivating factors for many people, these were no longer as important as certain intrinsic factors that were difficult to measure but certainly in effect. Some researchers believed the PWE was in a transition stage, and would return once these socioeconomic changes leveled off. Others did not think so. Today, the PWE receives lip-service from industrial age leaders who do not accept the civilization is evolving into a new and quite unique form. In many ways, the conflict described by Toffler (1980) between the supporters of industrial age beliefs and the new information age proponents is one reason the PWE is in such flux. Where once the primary motivating tools used by industrialists was money, status, prestige, in the information age, these were becoming less important. Quality of life, joy in the work being done, and more recreation time and less work related responsibilities all added together to dethrone the PWE as a primary 1990's motivating factor. Loyalty to a company used to be a condition that existed as part of the industrial age. Working for one company throughout an individual's work life disappeared. Currently, the average length of seniority for all companies in America is approximately 2.8 years of service. Projecting this average into a 21 year old individual's work life, he or she could possibly hold at least 10 to 13 different jobs in a life time. True, the PWE might motivate the individual to optimally perform in each job, but I imagine this would be highly unlikely. The PWE is being ethnically challenged. America is becoming more diverse now than it was in the early 19th Century. In the last decade, Spanish-speaking, hispanic, latinos, East Asian, and other diverse groups of people rapidly immigrated to the western shores and a new "melting" process began. The current dilemma that Haitians are facing is just one more factor which assaults the PWE. As more and more nationalities blend into the culture, there is little hope that a work ethic which was primarily occidental in nature, would eventually disappear as oriental beliefs and behaviors spread across the land. Perhaps the PWE is in flux or it is in its demise. As a motivating factor it still drives a part of the American populace to pursue goals and objectives with sometimes careless abandon. In the next decade this construct will face continued challenge as the immigration continues. The self-motivation theories added another dimension into the inquiry to explain human motivation. Bandler and Grinder laid the foundation for individual self-development by creating neuro-linguistic programming or NLP. They believed that all human experience was anchored in the body, and by accessing these anchors via the VAK (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic) channels, the individual could relocate the anchors and change human experience. Mann (1987) simplified some of their theories and created another self-motivational system he called, Triggers. Though his techniques were not much different than Bandler and Grinder's, he did simplify the techniques an individual could use to motivate himself to change behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, physical health, the ability to learn, phobias, and other barriers which impeded his achieving his potential. Robbins (1985), in describing his philosophy of personal power, added another dimension to the burgeoning self-motivation methodologies. These theories appeal to many people who resist the notion that they must go to a counselor, therapist, psychiatrist, to effect some change in their lives. The possibility of changing individual behavior without external assistance is not only attractive but for many on a limited budget, economically prudent. Few can afford the cost of professional help. The Robbins tapes cost $49. Bandler and Grinder's four books, all in paperback, can be purchased for less than $75. Mann's text cost only $24. All three would cost less than a couple of hours spent with a licensed psychologist. Given the choice, most individuals, truly desirous of making changes in their lives, would happily purchase them and begin the change process. As the new century approaches, more self-motivation theories will emerge as the PWE and other more traditional motivating factors decline, and the information age reduces the cost of acquiring and using newly developed theories. What will these theories espouse? Only time will tell, but it is exciting to consider the possibilities of new and more effective methods and practices to motivate human beings to achieve to their potential in a new and different information age. The complexity of the human being does not permit a simplistic definition for what motivates him to achieve. However, combining all these theories together and taking the best from each can assist the researcher in understanding motivation from many perspectives. How can these theories help to motivate a person to achieve to his or her potential? This is the essential question that all these theories hoped to achieve. The environment, K, and innate drives do impact the motivation of the individual. If the environment from which the individual comes is rich and supportive, motivation to achieve is almost assured. If there is an innate drive, or an intrinsic motivational factor present in the individual, along with an environment which is like the one described above, then the motivation is further enhanced. This is not enough however, to ensure that motivation will be present because within any type of environment there are motivated and unmotivated individuals. By itself, K, does not provide a complete picture of the motivational patterns necessary for the individual to achieve to his potential. D, drive, and H, habit, also support motivational patterns. When the drive is present to achieve at a high level, then the individual is apt to be motivated to excel. Habits which contain drives that are healthy and unsolidified make it possible for the individual to achieve at a higher level. It would be simplistic to believe that the PWE is enough of a motivating factor to cause individuals to perform to their utmost in work and leisure activities. What is missing in this theory is the translation effect. It contended that from grandfather, to father, and then to son and great grandson, the ethic was passed on like blue eyes and blonde hair. In the late 1980's the PWE lost its impetus. The industrial age was coming to a close and a new age, based upon information management and service industries, was rapidly overwhelming the old guard. Job insecurity, economic downturns and recessions, elimination of the production of hard goods for services, all contributed to the demise of a civilization that founded itself on pride in working hard for extrinsic rewards. Out of all these theories, only Maslow's transcends time and place. Even though the industrial age is dying and the information age is asserting itself, individuals will continue to strive toward self-actualization as he described it. What makes his hypothesis so appealing is the notion that the individual is in a dynamic state of change. When survival needs are met, their prepotency is eliminated and then safety needs become dominant. Once these are satisfied, then the next level of needs are sought, and this continues until the need for self-actualization is fulfilled. In any type of civilization, his theory fits. In the agrarian age, farmers sought to grow crops and eliminate the need to live a nomadic existence. The self- actualized farmer was the individual who not only produced enough goods for himself and his family, but was able to produce enough for others. This manifested itself in this century when the American farm worker became the provider for the world. As our industrial complex grew, the American worker produced goods which were the envy of the world. Our mass production systems were copied by all the first world nations and even to this day, serve as models for nations struggling to industrialize. American workers achieved a level of self-actualization unknown before in the modern world. Though many of the rewards for hard work were extrinsic, there was an inherent pride that caused men and women to proudly display the symbol, Made in the U.S.A.. Now, the information age is spawning a new concept of what work is and how an individual can feel self-actualized within its dynamic structure. Entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in the computer industry are just a couple of examples of the new information age leaders who are returning to America a sense of pride in producing state of the art technologies that are affecting the entire global economy as well as communication. Within these hard and software industries, men and women are engaged in creation, reproduction, problem solving, and achieving self-actualization. These are exciting times in which we live. True, there are problems in all areas of the world that need to be eradicated. Crime in our streets, poverty, homelessness, alcohol and other drug addiction, and health care deficiencies are just a few which affect America. Global issues are more complex and not necessarily under the control of America, the one superpower that still exists, even though we would like to believe we are still able to impact global thinking and behavior. Until nations like Russia and the other Soviet bloc nations solve their economic and social issues, the world will not be safe for democracy. Nations, like people, can self-actualize, yet there is little evidence that these nations and hundreds more like them will achieve this in the near future. Without a supportive environment where survival and safety are present, national self- actualization is unlikely. Inside these nations, there are many people still living at the survival and safety levels and will remain there for what appears to be an entire generation. All this impacts the inquiry into human motivation? In each nation there are those people who role model self-actualization. In Maslow's (1970) description of the self-actualized individual, he indicated that they are a rare group and tend to seek out one another. If a nation possesses few of this type of individuals, it will be difficult for others to find and model themselves after them. What we find in our search is a group of individuals who are less inhibited, constricted, bound, enculturated than their peers. They are more spontaneous, natural, and human. If there were no choking enculturating forces in our society, we might expect that all human beings would demonstrate this special type of creativeness, ultimately resulting in living fully self- actualized (Anderson, 1959; Maslow, 1958). This leads to the question, how do the self-motivation strategies of Bandler and Grinder, Mann, Robbins, and a host of other neo-psychologists affect the development of self-actualized individuals? Or do they? Their work is certainly unique and thought provoking. NLP, Triggers, and Personal Power are new constructs having existed for less than fifteen years. Theirs, like many others, purport they can prompt change faster than most of the other theories, and that is precipitating a whole generation of self-actualizing human beings. It is too early to tell if this self-motivation movement will impact America or any other First World nation. There are many questions that need to be asked first: 1. Do the theories really work or are they merely rehashed theories of Freud, Hull, Maslow, and other psychologists and psychiatrists? 2. How will we measure whether or not they are working? 3. What kind of outcome would be produced if a predominant part of a nation were to become self-actualized? 4. How will individuals be motivated to participate in self-motivation programs, workshops, learning experiences? 5. Who will pay for it? 6. Is self-actualization something that is worth pursuing or is it merely a psychological construct, a pipe dream that only the "chosen few" will ever achieve, and only for brief periods of time in their lives? 7. What kind of personality type is most apt to pursue the path toward self-actualization? All these questions will need to be researched further before any definitive answers will be available for any of us to decide how we may want to change our lives. The last question is the one of greatest interest to me. Understanding the nature of the self-actualized human being leads me to question whether or not there are certain types of people who are more apt to consistently meet this need throughout their lifetime? How do they achieve this heightened state of being? Is it something intrinsically motivated or is it a function of the need for self-actualization? How does level of learning affect self-actualization? Or does it? What personality type, as measured by Myers-Briggs, is most apt to become a self-actualized person in his or her lifetime? The inquiry into human motivation is exciting because it attempts to define what is the essence of the prime mover in human behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs. Throughout each period of human endeavor there existed on the sidelines individuals who asked, what motivates those who achieve at the highest levels and realize their own human potential? Perhaps, what is beneath the surface, like the DNA which determines our genetic makeup, is a personality type that is predestined to achieve at a higher level. This would tend to discount the work of the self- motivation theorists who maintain that anyone can motivate him or herself to achieve at the highest levels. In my review of literature, I could not find any research which attempted to answer this question. Definitions of motivation, how people motivate themselves, factors in motivated and unmotivated behavior, and a plethora of other areas were studied. It would be daring to propose that there are some individuals more likely to become self-actualized individuals based solely on their personality type. This inquiry would not be an attempt to determine if one person is more prone to self-actualize than another because he or she is a better person. On the contrary, it would attempt to determine if there is any connection between an individual's personality type and his or her tendency to fulfill the need to become self-actualized. The belief that human beings can heal themselves prompted an entire generation of inquiry into human psychology. The belief that human beings can motivate themselves subsequently prompted a new movement toward developing self- motivation systems that can elevate ordinary lives into extraordinary ones. The belief that human beings can achieve a self-actualized existence if they are a certain personality type can add to the body of human knowledge regarding the connection between personality type and the potential for self-actualizing behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs. As the ancient cartographers once wrote on maps of the known world where the oceans ended and the unknown began, "There, be dragons." Preparing to tread beyond the scope of current inquiry related to motivation is both exciting and frightening. What if there is no connection between personality type and self- actualization? What if there is no one personality type that achieves any higher or more consistent level of actualization in his or her lifetime? Would the inquiry be meaningless? Would it be a waste of time? I believe that any inquiry related to human motivation that attempts to further define how it works, for whom it works best, and how it can be used to enhance change in human beings is a worthy pursuit. Even if "There be dragons" in this search, I accept the challenge to look beyond the horizon. All that is left to do, is, "Just do it."