Conceptual overlap between theories of attachment and motivation

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the connection between early life experience and later life development. It is believed that humans have an innate curiosity or quest for knowledge. A securely attached infant is more likely to explore, leading to positive development. Recent motivation research has observed a similar positive inter-personal relatedness effect for students. There is thus a connection between "attachment", where learning begins, and "motivation", where learning continues. The major difference is that whereas infants explore naturally in matters of interest to them; school children have to be motivated or directed to perform tasks that may or may not be of interest to them. The outcome of this study shows the exploratory instinct, as described in attachment literature, is connected with three specific areas of motivation research: (1) goal orientation – how to explore, (2) self-efficacy – confidence to explore, and (3) intrinsic motivation – innate drive to explore.