Q.Why is motivation a prerequisite for learning?

Motivation energises and directs an organism's behaviour toward a goal, and this goal-directed activity is what generates the exploratory or effortful behaviour through which learning actually happens. …

Motivation is defined as a mental as well as a physiological state that arouses an organism to act in ways that fulfil its current needs. All living organisms have survival-related needs, and human beings additionally have growth-related needs. In simple terms, motivation energises an organism to act vigorously toward attaining some goal, and this goal-directed activity persists until the goal is reached and the underlying need is satisfied.

Motivation is considered a genuine prerequisite for learning precisely because, without some motivating need or goal, an organism has little reason to engage in the exploratory or effortful behaviour through which learning typically takes place. A hungry rat placed in a Skinner box forages persistently because of hunger, and it is in the course of this motivated foraging that it accidentally presses the lever and discovers that doing so produces food — eventually learning, through repeated motivated activity, to press the lever immediately upon being placed in the box. Similarly, a child forages in the kitchen specifically in the mother's absence because of a desire for sweets, and in the process of this motivated search, learns exactly where the sweets are kept. In the same way, students study and prepare for examinations largely because doing so serves the goal of passing with good marks — the more strongly a learner is motivated, the harder they generally work, and the more effectively they generally learn. …