In my opinion, cognitive motivation best represents the type of human behavior that is evident throughout the novel, Ordinary People, by Judith Guest. Simply, this type of motivation, as defined by Webster, is "a need or desire that causes a person to act." Behavior reflects many influences besides cognition. For example, external forces have the ability to dictate a person's behavior. Plato believed that people "do what they perceive to be right based on their ideas of what is right." In other words, our thoughts determine our actions. In the novel, Conrad Jarret utilizes this type…
