Cognitive Motivation: From Curiosity to Identity, Purpose and Meaning
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Hardcover Octavo no dust jacket, 8/10/2017
EAN 9781107177666, ISBN10: 1107177669
Hardcover, 396 pages, 23.5 x 15.8 x 2.3 cm
Language: English
Motivation and cognition were treated as separate concepts throughout most of twentieth-century psychology. However, in recent years researchers have begun viewing the two as inextricably intertwined: not only does what we want affect how we think, but how we think affects what we want. In this innovative study, Beswick presents a new general theory of cognitive motivation, synthesizing decades of existing research in social, cognitive and personality psychology. New basic concepts are applied to a wide range of purposive behaviour. Part I of the volume reviews different forms of cognitive motivation, such as curiosity, cognitive dissonance, achievement motivation, and the search for purpose and meaning, while Part II examines the basic processes that underlie it, such as working memory, attention and emotion. The central concept is the incomplete gestalt, in which motivation is generated by a universal striving to integrate information and make sense at all levels of cognitive organization.
Introduction
the incomplete gestalt
Part I. Forms of Cognitive Motivation
1. Towards a general theory of cognitive motivation
2. Curiosity
3. Intrinsic motivation
4. Cognitive dissonance
5. Achievement motivation
6. Agency, efficacy and attribution
Part II. Basic Processes and Applications
7. Working memory, consciousness, and attention
8. The function of emotion in cognitive motivation
9. Goals
10. Intentions
11. Identity
12. Purpose and meaning.