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IB DP Psychology — Health and Well-Being | SL & HL | Paper 2
Learning Intentions By the end of this note, you will be able to:
- Define motivation, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and self-efficacy using IB-aligned terminology.
- Explain the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) of behaviour change and the role of each stage in the process of adopting healthier behaviours.
- Describe how self-determination theory (SDT) distinguishes between types of motivation and their effects on sustained behaviour change.
- Evaluate research evidence for motivation and behaviour change using supporting and opposing studies in ACAS format.
- Apply concepts of motivation and behaviour change to a real-world case study from biological, cognitive, and sociocultural perspectives.
- Discuss the extent to which psychological models of motivation can account for long-term health behaviour change.
- Analyse research in this area using relevant concept areas: Bias, Causality, Change, Perspective, and Responsibility.
Introduction & Context
Most people know what they should do to be healthier. They know they should exercise more, eat better, sleep longer, and reduce stress. Yet knowing what to do and actually doing it are two very different things. The gap between intention and action is one of the most persistent puzzles in health psychology. Why do some people successfully change their behaviour after a health scare, while others continue the same patterns despite knowing the risks?
The answer, psychologists argue, lies in motivation — the internal and external forces that initiate, direct, and sustain behaviour. Understanding motivation is not simply about identifying what people want; it is about understanding why they pursue certain goals, how confident they feel in their ability to succeed, and what social and environmental conditions either support or undermine their efforts. Health behaviour change is rarely a single decision; it is a process that unfolds over time, shaped by cognition, emotion, social context, and biology.
This note explores the major psychological frameworks used to understand motivation and behaviour change in health contexts, including the Transtheoretical Model, Self-Determination Theory, and the concept of self-efficacy. Together, these frameworks help explain not only why people change, but also why they relapse, and what conditions make lasting change most likely.
🔋 Analogy — Motivation as a Battery Think of motivation like a rechargeable battery. Some activities recharge the battery from within — you do them because they are genuinely enjoyable or meaningful (intrinsic motivation). Others drain the battery unless an external charger is plugged in — you only continue because of rewards, pressure, or deadlines (extrinsic motivation). A battery that only charges externally will eventually run flat when the charger is removed. This is why health psychologists argue that building internal motivation is essential for long-term behaviour change — external incentives alone rarely sustain new habits once the reward disappears.
Core Concepts
Before examining specific models, it is worth asking a more fundamental question: what actually drives human behaviour in the first place? When someone decides to go for a run, what is the source of that decision? Is it because they genuinely enjoy running, or because their doctor told them to, or because they want to lose weight before a social event? The source of the drive matters enormously — not just for understanding behaviour, but for predicting whether it will continue.
🔑 Key Definition — Motivation Motivation refers to the internal and external forces that activate, direct, and sustain goal-directed behaviour. In health psychology, motivation is understood as the driving force behind an individual's decision to initiate, maintain, or abandon