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Leadership of Motivation — Part 2
The Ethics and Practicality of Incentives
Behavior and Motivation: A Triadic View
If we reflect on our own and other’s behavior we can detect that we engage in a three fold set of behaviors and have experienced each of the three over a period of time, even in the same situation. At the first level, we find ourselves being reactive to a stimulus that comes toward us. A response is produced that seems to come without thought or reason. This is the same level of behavior that the Behaviorists presented as cause-effect or stimulus-response, and as the sole source of learning and motivation. A triad view holds this as one element of our psychological make-up, but with a lower ordering quality. Our reactive nature is conditioned by our environment and by others interacting with us. It is not however our only mode of behavior.
On another level, we experience ourselves as able to respond to nuances surrounding us, to override a reaction by choosing to be sensitive to particular needs in a situation, including personal needs. This behavior comes from a higher ego strength or self esteem — an ego managed behavior. In these…
