Problems of Defining and Distinguishing Motivation and Motive Among Iranian English Learners and Native Speakers, and a Historical-Genealogical Study of the Reasons in Psychology

It is safe to say that motivation is one of the most controversial concepts of study in all social sciences especially psychology. Concerned with this controversy, the purpose of this study was to investigate the problems of defining and theorizing about motivation. To this end, the tendency and capability of Iranian English learners and native speakers to distinguish motive and motivation was investigated. Moreover, the problems were situated in a historical context to shed light on the reasons behind them through a structural and genealogical approach. Based on the results all the participants including only distinguished motivation and motive where both of them were present, otherwise, they were treated synonymously. The structural analysis of motivation as a word resulted in a very broad definition: the whole process of moving toward a goal. This extensive meaning, which includes both mental and outside factors, cannot be accounted for in a single theory. Therefore, in the process of becoming a concept and then a measurable construct, the range of meaning has shrunk. It, in technical terms, is the inevitable result of embracing the ontology of analytical philosophy, which ends up in moving toward fixity and identity, by most psychologists. Being aware of these facts can play a major role in preventing motivational scholars from making unjustified conclusion based on their findings.