Reason vs. Motivation — What's the Difference?
Edited by Tayyaba Rehman — By Urooj Arif — Updated on April 2, 2024
Reason defines the rationale behind decisions, while motivation is the drive that prompts action.
Difference Between Reason and Motivation
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Reason is the logical or rational basis for an action or belief. It's the "why" behind decisions, providing explanations and justifications. For instance, a person might choose a job because it's in their field of interest, indicating a clear reason for their choice. Whereas motivation is the internal or external drive that propels someone to act in a certain way. It's more about the emotional or psychological energy that pushes someone towards a goal. A person might be motivated to work harder by the desire for career advancement, which speaks to their inner drives and ambitions.
Reason often involves a process of logical thinking and analysis. It's about evaluating facts, evidence, and logical arguments to make a decision or form a belief. People use reason to weigh the pros and cons of different options. On the other hand, motivation can stem from various sources, including personal values, desires, needs, or external rewards. It's what gives someone the push to act, even in the absence of immediate logical reasoning.
While reason is typically more associated with cognitive processes, motivation is closely linked to emotions and desires. For example, a person might reason that they need to save money for future security, which is a conclusion based on logic and planning. Conversely, their motivation to save might be driven by the fear of financial instability or the aspiration to buy a home, which are more emotionally charged reasons.
In some cases, reason and motivation can intersect and influence each other. A reasoned decision can lead to increased motivation if the individual feels confident in the logical underpinnings of their choice. Similarly, a strong motivation can encourage an individual to seek out logical reasons to support their desires or actions, thereby reinforcing their commitment to their goals.
Both reason and motivation play crucial roles in guiding human behavior, but they operate on different levels. Reason is about understanding and justification, serving as a guide for thoughtful actions. In contrast, motivation is about the energy and drive needed to take those actions, influenced by both internal desires and external circumstances.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
The logical explanation for actions or beliefs.
The driving force that prompts action towards a goal.
Basis
Logical thinking and analysis.
Emotional or psychological energy.
Role in Decision-Making
Provides justification and understanding.
Provides the push or drive to act.
Connection to
Cognition and intellectual evaluation.
Emotions, desires, and sometimes external rewards.
Influence on Action
Guides through thoughtful consideration and analysis.
Propels towards taking action based on desires or needs.
Compare with Definitions
Reason
It is typically rooted in logical thinking, aiming for rationality and coherence.
The reason for his skepticism was the lack of scientific evidence.
Motivation
It influences the level of effort and persistence in pursuit of goals.
The motivation for his continuous improvement is his personal ambition.
Reason
It clarifies the understanding and provides insight into actions or beliefs.
The reason for his strict diet is his health condition.
Motivation
It can stem from various sources, including personal values, needs, or external incentives.
The motivation behind the innovation was the potential for global impact.
Reason
Reason refers to the logical or factual basis behind an action or belief.
The reason he chose that college was its excellent engineering program.
Motivation
It underlies behavior, giving energy and direction to efforts.
Their motivation for volunteering is the desire to make a difference.
Reason
It involves a process of thinking and analysis to justify decisions.
Her reason for moving was closer proximity to her workplace.
Motivation
Motivation is the internal or external drive that prompts an individual towards action.
His motivation for studying hard is to secure a good job.
Reason
Reason requires an objective evaluation of information or situations.
The reason for the policy change was the recent increase in security breaches.
Motivation
It is often emotionally charged, linked to personal desires or external rewards.
Her motivation to compete comes from her passion for the sport.
Reason
The limit of what is reasonable
"It is a curious thing that, when a man hates or loves beyond reason, he is ready to go beyond reason to gratify his feelings" (Rudyard Kipling).
Motivation
Motivation is what explains why people or animals initiate, continue or terminate a certain behavior at a particular time. Motivational states are commonly understood as forces acting within the agent that create a disposition to engage in goal-directed behavior.
Reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic to seek truth and draw conclusions from new or existing information. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, mathematics, and art, and is normally considered to be a distinguishing ability possessed by humans.
Motivation
The act or process of motivating
The coach's effective motivation of her players.
Reason
The basis or motive for an action, decision, or conviction
There are good reasons to learn a foreign language. See Usage Notes at because, why.
Motivation
The state of being motivated; having a desire or willingness to act
Students with a high level of motivation.
Reason
A declaration made to explain or justify action, decision, or conviction
What reasons did she give for leaving?.
Motivation
Something that motivates; an inducement, reason, or goal
“If your primary motivation in life is to be moral, you don't become an artist” (Mary Gordon).
Reason
A fact or cause that explains why something exists or has occurred
The reason for the building's collapse is unknown.
Motivation
Willingness of action especially in behavior.
Reason
(Logic) A premise, usually the minor premise, of an argument.
Motivation
The action of motivating.
Reason
The capacity for logical, rational, and analytic thought; intelligence
"Most of us would like to believe that when we say something is right or wrong, we are using our powers of reason alone" (Carl Zimmer).
Motivation
Something which motivates.
Reason
A normal mental state; sanity
He has lost his reason.
Motivation
An incentive or reason for doing something.
Reason
To determine or conclude by logical thinking
The doctor reasoned that the patient had a virus.
Motivation
(advertising) A research rating that measures how the rational and emotional elements of a commercial affect consumer intention to consider, visit, or buy something.
The motivation scores showed that 65% of people wanted to visit our website to learn more about the offer after watching the commercial.
Reason
To persuade or dissuade (someone) with reasons
"You boast ... of having reasoned him out of his absurd romance" (William Makepeace Thackeray).
Motivation
The act or process of motivating.
Reason
To use the faculty of reason; think logically
What would lead you to reason so?.
Motivation
The mental process that arouses an organism to action; as, a large part of a teacher's job is to give students the motivation to learn on their own.
Reason
To talk or argue logically and persuasively
Tried to reason with her son to eat a good breakfast.
Motivation
The goal or mental image of a goal that creates a motivation{2}; as, the image of a peaceful world is a powerful motivation for only a rare few individuals.
Reason
(Obsolete) To engage in conversation or discussion.
Motivation
The psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior;
We did not understand his motivation
He acted with the best of motives
Reason
A cause:
Motivation
The condition of being motivated;
His motivation was at a high level
Reason
That which causes something: an efficient cause, a proximate cause.
The reason this tree fell is that it had rotted.
Motivation
The act of motivating; providing incentive
Reason
A motive for an action or a determination.
The reason I robbed the bank was that I needed the money.
If you don't give me a reason to go with you, I won't.
Reason
An excuse: a thought or a consideration offered in support of a determination or an opinion; that which is offered or accepted as an explanation.
Reason
(logic) A premise placed after its conclusion.
Reason
(uncountable) Rational thinking (or the capacity for it); the cognitive faculties, collectively, of conception, judgment, deduction and intuition.
Mankind should develop reason above all other virtues.
Reason
(obsolete) Something reasonable, in accordance with thought; justice.
Reason
Ratio; proportion.
Reason
(intransitive) To deduce or come to a conclusion by being rational
Reason
(intransitive) To perform a process of deduction or of induction, in order to convince or to confute; to argue.
Reason
To converse; to compare opinions.
Reason
(ambitransitive) To arrange and present the reasons for or against; to examine or discuss by arguments; to debate or discuss.
I reasoned the matter with my friend.
Reason
To support with reasons, as a request.
Reason
(transitive) To persuade by reasoning or argument.
To reason one into a belief; to reason one out of his plan
Reason
To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons.
To reason down a passion
Reason
To find by logical process; to explain or justify by reason or argument.
To reason out the causes of the librations of the moon
Reason
A thought or a consideration offered in support of a determination or an opinion; a just ground for a conclusion or an action; that which is offered or accepted as an explanation; the efficient cause of an occurrence or a phenomenon; a motive for an action or a determination; proof, more or less decisive, for an opinion or a conclusion; principle; efficient cause; final cause; ground of argument.
I'll give him reasons for it.
The reason of the motion of the balance in a wheel watch is by the motion of the next wheel.
This reason did the ancient fathers render, why the church was called "catholic."
Virtue and vice are not arbitrary things; but there is a natural and eternal reason for that goodness and virtue, and against vice and wickedness.
Reason
The faculty or capacity of the human mind by which it is distinguished from the intelligence of the inferior animals; the higher as distinguished from the lower cognitive faculties, sense, imagination, and memory, and in contrast to the feelings and desires. Reason comprises conception, judgment, reasoning, and the intuitional faculty. Specifically, it is the intuitional faculty, or the faculty of first truths, as distinguished from the understanding, which is called the discursive or ratiocinative faculty.
We have no other faculties of perceiving or knowing anything divine or human, but by our five senses and our reason.
In common and popular discourse, reason denotes that power by which we distinguish truth from falsehood, and right from wrong, and by which we are enabled to combine means for the attainment of particular ends.
Reason is used sometimes to express the whole of those powers which elevate man above the brutes, and constitute his rational nature, more especially, perhaps, his intellectual powers; sometimes to express the power of deduction or argumentation.
By the pure reason I mean the power by which we become possessed of principles.
The sense perceives; the understanding, in its own peculiar operation, conceives; the reason, or rationalized understanding, comprehends.
Reason
Due exercise of the reasoning faculty; accordance with, or that which is accordant with and ratified by, the mind rightly exercised; right intellectual judgment; clear and fair deductions from true principles; that which is dictated or supported by the common sense of mankind; right conduct; right; propriety; justice.
I was promised, on a time,To have reason for my rhyme.
But law in a free nation hath been ever public reason; the enacted reason of a parliament, which he denying to enact, denies to govern us by that which ought to be our law; interposing his own private reason, which to us is no law.
The most probable way of bringing France to reason would be by the making an attempt on the Spanish West Indies.
Reason
Ratio; proportion.
When anything is proved by as good arguments as a thing of that kind is capable of, we ought not, in reason, to doubt of its existence.
Yet it were great reason, that those that have children should have greatest care of future times.
Reason
To exercise the rational faculty; to deduce inferences from premises; to perform the process of deduction or of induction; to ratiocinate; to reach conclusions by a systematic comparison of facts.
Reason
Hence: To carry on a process of deduction or of induction, in order to convince or to confute; to formulate and set forth propositions and the inferences from them; to argue.
Stand still, that I may reason with you, before the Lord, of all the righteous acts of the Lord.
Reason
To converse; to compare opinions.
Reason
To arrange and present the reasons for or against; to examine or discuss by arguments; to debate or discuss; as, I reasoned the matter with my friend.
When they are clearly discovered, well digested, and well reasoned in every part, there is beauty in such a theory.
Reason
To support with reasons, as a request.
Reason
To persuade by reasoning or argument; as, to reason one into a belief; to reason one out of his plan.
Men that will not be reasoned into their senses.
Reason
To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons; - with down; as, to reason down a passion.
Reason
To find by logical processes; to explain or justify by reason or argument; - usually with out; as, to reason out the causes of the librations of the moon.
Reason
A rational motive for a belief or action;
The reason that war was declared
The grounds for their declaration
Reason
An explanation of the cause of some phenomenon;
The reason a steady state was never reached was that the back pressure built up too slowly
Reason
The capacity for rational thought or inference or discrimination;
We are told that man is endowed with reason and capable of distinguishing good from evil
Reason
The state of having good sense and sound judgment;
His rationality may have been impaired
He had to rely less on reason than on rousing their emotions
Reason
A justification for something existing or happening;
He had no cause to complain
They had good reason to rejoice
Reason
A fact that logically justifies some premise or conclusion;
There is reason to believe he is lying
Reason
Decide by reasoning; draw or come to a conclusion;
We reasoned that it was cheaper to rent than to buy a house
Reason
Present reasons and arguments
Reason
Think logically;
The children must learn to reason
Common Curiosities
What role does motivation play in achieving goals?
Motivation plays a crucial role in driving effort and persistence towards achieving goals.
How do external factors affect motivation?
External factors like rewards, social recognition, or pressure can significantly influence motivation.
Can motivation change over time?
Yes, motivation can change due to personal growth, changing circumstances, or shifting goals.
What is the main difference between reason and motivation?
Reason is the logical basis behind actions or beliefs, while motivation is the internal or external drive that prompts action.
Can reason and motivation influence each other?
Yes, a reasoned decision can enhance motivation, and strong motivation can lead individuals to find logical reasons to support their actions.
Is motivation always positive?
Not necessarily; motivation can be driven by positive desires or by negative factors like fear or avoidance of consequences.
Can a person act without reason?
Yes, people can act based on impulses or emotions without engaging in logical reasoning.
Can reasoning lead to inaction?
Yes, if reasoning concludes that no action is necessary or beneficial, it can lead to inaction.
How do emotional states affect motivation?
Emotional states can significantly affect motivation, either enhancing or dampening the drive to act.
How does reason affect decision-making?
Reason affects decision-making by providing justification and logical analysis for choices.
How does motivation differ between individuals?
Motivation differs due to personal desires, life experiences, values, and intrinsic or extrinsic goals.
Is reason always based on facts?
While reason typically relies on facts and logic, it can also be influenced by biases and incomplete information.
Is reason necessary for all decisions?
Not all decisions require reason; some can be based on intuition, habit, or emotional response.
How do personal values relate to motivation?
Personal values can strongly influence motivation by aligning actions with what is personally meaningful or important.
Can motivation be cultivated?
Yes, motivation can be cultivated through setting goals, finding personal meaning in tasks, and positive reinforcement.
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Written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
Edited by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
