Weiner introduces -- and offers his own motivation for producing - - this most impressive work with the following:
There are two distinct approaches to the study of motivation. One stratagem is a product of academic, experimental procedures, while the second is an outgrowth of clinical, non-experimental methods. Each of the approaches has unique advantages and disadvantages. But all investigators in this field are guided by a single basic question, namely, Why do organisms think and behave as they do?
To help answer that basic question, Human Motivation presents an entire range of motivation studies -- from psychoanalytic, social learning and humanistic theory; to social facilitation, arousal, emotions, personal responsibility, and the irrationality of attributions; through chapterand verse of Hullian and Lewinian theory. Contents: Introduction. Part I: Need Reduction Theories.The Psychoanalytic Theory of Motivation. Drive Theory. Part II: Expectancy-Value Theories.Kurt Lewin's Field Theory. Achievement Theory. Social Learning and Personal Responsibility. Part III: Mastery and Growth Theories.Attribution Theory. An Attributional Theory of Behavior. Humanistic Theory and Personal Constructs. Part IV: Conclusion.Overview and Concluding Remarks.