Negro Youth and Psychological Motivation

Abstract

It is the concern of this paper to explore some of the factors which we consider most relevant to the issue of the motivation of Negro youth. Primary among these are (1) the individual's selfconcept, (2) certain of his patterned needs, and (3) the rewards which society offers for performance in any of its institutional areas. These motivations are clearly of two types: those internal to the individual (the first two), and those external to the individual (the third). In assessing implications for action to bring about a closer coincidence between the psychological motivation of Negro youth and society's demands for performance, it would seem important to consider the operation of both intemal and external motivations in order to determine -more precisely the nature of their relationship to behavior and to suggest in which direction an optimal meshing of these factors might lie. Before addressing ourselves to the operation of these motivators in black youth, it is necessary to explore briefly the genesis and character of the intemal motivators and the nature of the extemal reward structure. Finally, we -will explore the implications of various pattems of motivations for optimizing the -performance of black youth. I. NATURE oF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL MOTIVATORS