Introduction Fixed and Growth Mindset addresses the state of mind that Carol Dweck suggests is critical to success in life and work. How we perceive ourselves and our abilities can significantly …
Motivation
Welcome to the archive. Here you'll find articles on the psychology of Motivation. These articles are written by me, Larry G. Maguire. I'm a psychologist and lecturer in organisational psychology and the content here is developed from established theory and learnings from decades of research. Subscribe to receive new articles, or learn more about this work.
The Dark Side of Goal Setting
Goal setting is trendy. It's everywhere, in all domains where people pursue success. It has been that way for a long time, and you’ll find very few voices countering its elite status amongst …
Transactional Leadership: Why Brutes Become Bosses
Transactional Leadership is outcome-based. It is concerned with the end product rather than the process, and as such, it tends to find itself at odds with the outcome when it doesn't fit the …
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EP008 Self Determination Theory: How Motivates Really Works
Self-determination is an important concept when considering the human motivation to work and perform. Self-determination theory (SDT) explains human motivation, and according to Edward Deci, it is …
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Dr Stuart Brown on The 7 Properties of Play
What is play and why is it so important to well-being? What are the properties of play and how can we bring these aspects into our lives more? In today's article, I'm taking a look at these questions …
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On Becoming The Performatist
I was about 13 years old, I think, on the junior team training after school. We were playing a short game into the goals at the railway side of the field and I was in corner-forward. The ball came to …
How To Find Happiness Through Daily Work
We seem to have it all. Modern conveniences abound, and technology is ubiquitous with life. Over the past 150 years, humans have advanced to where we‘re on the brink of widespread automation of …
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The Lifelong Struggle To Be Yourself
In today's article, we'll examine the human struggle to find out who we are. In a world that demands us to fit in, to join the machine of society, it is perhaps the greatest of human achievements to …
Peak Experience: Maslow’s 16 Aspects of Superior Performance
In today's article, I'm taking a close look at Abraham H. Maslow's concept of Peak Experience. It is similar in many ways to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's contemporary concept of Flow and perhaps laid the …
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