Human nature is, when you think about it, easily manipulable. We can be persuaded to do something in a multitude of ways. A few examples as to how people can be pushed to do something are verbal motivation – when someone speaks to you or a group of people giving the listeners a “motivational” speech or when talking with a counselor about what your best option is. There is also visual motivation – seeing something as simple as a picture or an ad can persuade you enough to go buy an object. But, there is another type of motivation that is often overlooked and that is environmental motivation.

Environmental motivation could arguably be one of the best forms of motivation. If someone is put in a specific environment, then they are likely to conform to such an environment and act accordingly; not because something in that environment is forcing them to, but because human nature makes the said person act the same ways as others around him. This does not guarantee that they will gain motivation to do a certain task, it just increases the odds of the person to do the task.

Examples of this would be if we looked at someone was raised in an “unsafe” neighborhood compared to those who were raised in a “safe” neighborhood. The likelihood that one of these individuals will grow up to be a criminal will be higher for the one from the “unsafe” neighborhood because it is what he/she grew around. The events that have taken place involving this individual will shape the person’s personality. Not every case will turn out in a criminal, however. But, the environment does have a major effect on the developing personality of the individual.

When put up against the other types of motivation, the environmental aspect of motivation can often be overlooked. But if looked at closely and thought about logically, environmental motivation can prove to be more overpowering then either visual or verbal.