Sponsor Area

Learning

Question
CBSEENPS11022260

Why is motivation a prerequisite for learning?

Solution

All living organisms have survival needs. Human beings, besides the survival needs, have growth needs. Motivation is a mental as well as physiological state, which arouses an organisms to act for fulfilling the current need. It energises an organism to act vigorously for attaining some goal. Such acts persist until the goal is attained and the need is satisfied. Thus motivation is a prerequisite for learning. For examples a child forage in the kitchen when the mother is not in the house. S/he,does so because s/he needs sweets to eat for which s/he is trying to locate the jar in which sweets are kept. During the course of foraging the child learns the location of the jar. A hungry rat is placed in a box.

The animal forages in the box for food. Incidentally it presses a lever and food drops in the box. With repeated experience of such activity, the animal learns to press the lever immediately after the animal is placed there.