TRAVIS REGINAL: My name is Travis Reginal. I'm from Jackson, Mississippi. I grew up in a single parent household. My mother didn't make a lot and there were times in which the lights or the utilities were cut off. So coming to Yale from where I grew up in Mississippi was a radical change. Part of my interest in studying sociology was grappling with this question of why my outcome is different from my peers.

INSTRUCTOR: Part of what got Travis Reginal where he is today is due to motivation.

GABRIELE OETTINGEN: Motivation is energy times direction. And you can measure motivation as performance, for example. How well does a person perform on a certain task? By persistence— how long does the person work on a task? By effort— how much effort does the person put in to the task?

INSTRUCTOR: There are a variety of theories about where motivation comes from. Early research suggested motivation is driven by instincts, those inborn patterns of behavior that ensure our survival. When we're hungry we eat. When we're tired we sleep. In 1943 Abraham Maslow proposed his landmark a hierarchy of needs theory that suggested we must fulfill our basic physiological needs, such as the need for sleep, food, and water, before we can attend to deeper psychological needs, such as the need for love and friendship, intimacy, and self-esteem. Only then can we attend to growth needs, which are self actualisation needs, the highest level of needs. While highly influential, modern researchers recognize this as an oversimplification.

Drive reduction theory suggests our biological needs, such as hunger and sleep, create an aroused tension that we're motivated to satisfy, returning us to a state of internal equilibrium. This theory explicitly recognized that motivation can be shaped by environmental influences, such as the presence of others.

TRAVIS REGINAL: My mother was very encouraging. She would go to Walmart and buy workbooks for me to do. And they would always be a grade level above.

GABRIELE OETTINGEN: Other people can play a huge role just by being a good model, just by being a shelter, just by being a person and you can turn to and seek out, and also by putting some peer pressure on you.

INSTRUCTOR: Drive theory's reliance on equilibrium does not explicitly address the fact that humans are curious and sometimes thrill seeking. The arousal theories suggest that people seek to maintain an optimum level of physiological arousal, called the set-point, which differs for each individual. And the relationship between arousal and performance can change depending on the task.

GABRIELE OETTINGEN: The performance arousal the relationship is a little more difficult than it's just more arousal, more performance. That's only when the task is really easy. But when the task gets complex, then too much arousal might actually hurt.

INSTRUCTOR: Motivation can also wax and wane. Highly motivated at one point and for a certain task, people may be unmotivated at other points or when working on a different task. Many strategies have been proposed for staying motivated and achieving goals. One recent theory— fantasy realization theory— defines mental contrasting as an effective self-regulation strategy. Mental contrasting emphasizes imagining a desired future and facing up to any obstacles.

GABRIELE OETTINGEN: Mental contrasting is imagining this desired future and shifting gears and saying, actually what holds me back? Then you understand whether you can overcome the obstacle and reach the desired future.

INSTRUCTOR: Travis is also motivated by helping others, especially students who face similar obstacles to the ones he has overcome.

TRAVIS REGINAL: Myself and a few other people started an organization to create a space for students to be able to talk about the various issues or struggles they have. To know that they're not alone. It can be easy to be discouraged and not feel like you're doing so well. Just having the kind of outside support helps me keep things in perspective.