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 …showed first 75 words of 706 total…

…showed last 75 words of 706 total…road". External forces have an enormous ability to dictate a person's behavior. Cognitive motivation seems to be perceived differently by various people such as Webster and Plato, but in this novel, Ordinary People, it is evident that external forces had the greatest impact on the main character, Conrad Jarret. Beth and Calvin Jarret, along with Conrad's teacher Miss Melon, and a number of other characters in the novel all contributed to Conrad's behaviors and motivations.