Motivation

After class today, I spent a lot of time thinking about motivation. About what motivates people to do what they do, to join a political party that they only half believe in or to talk to someone they haven't really talked to before.

I've also recently watched a TED talk about how people need to stop learning and start thinking. So I'm not doing any research for this one, I'm speculating about motivation and political parties and all of that madness.

I think, fundamentally, one of the things that all organisms that are sexed share is the need for more of their kind, if only for procreation. Moving to a slightly higher level of development, in animals, this manifests as a sort of need for a community. Again, moving up the ladder, humans have a need for communities that satisfy all aspects of who they are. People choose to be part of communities of scholars (by going to a school) of athletes (by playing a sport), and of people of similar religious beliefs (by attending a church). Politics introduces a whole new level of identity, and one that not everyone understands. So--and this is me just thinking, there is no support--people choose a political group that they find an aspect of that resonates with them, and they stick with it when they don't truly have an understanding of it.

When I'm asked what my political beliefs are, I say that economically, I have republican ideals, and socially, I have democratic ideals. But I think I'm just trying to belong to the two communities--perhaps I should start my own community, or refuse to be in a community in this aspect of my life.

Another way to look at motivation--also from today's class--is in what motivates certain behaviors. For example, today in class, I was very excited about the topics and the routes that the conversations I was participating in were going. I had come to class wanting to make sure that everyone had at least an understanding of our political parties because I enjoy political discussions and analysis of government. My motivation can be traced, again, to community. I wanted to (in this case make) a community where I could be excited about what I was talking about and other people would also be excited and they would respond with intelligent discussion. And, within all of this, I didn't want to be embarrassed or snubbed by the community for putting on a poor show or having a boring presentation.

Alternatively, in my social life, I've been interacting more with people that I don't normally talk to, and I think it's because it feels like we can form a community because we are going through similar things. I've found two people who have boyfriends who are going through boot camp. And it's just so very comforting to know that I can talk to one of them if I'm confused or if I'm lonely or any other reason. Because we share something, I automatically want to be closer to these people because I'm accumulating as many communities and connections to other humans as I can, until all of the aspects of me are satisfied.

I'm sure there's a psychological reason for all of these things that makes a lot more sense than what I've tried to describe. I just think that, in the end, we all want to know that there are other people thinking and doing the things that we think and do. And when we are motivated to find these people and interact with them as much as possible.