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A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERNAL
PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS AND ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION IN
STUDENTS
Rovshan Nazarli1
Abstract: The article is devoted to internal psychological factors and directions of its research. In
this article, internal psychological factors are claried, directions of problem research are investigated,
including mechanisms of inuence of internal psychological factors on success motivation. the internal
psychological factors that determine the success motivation of students are investigated. Here, the
inuence levels of internal factors on success motivation are studied, including the mechanisms of
success psychology and the factors that play a fundamental role in personality success. The research
showed that students at medium and high levels tend to succeed and prefer medium risk levels. Those
who are afraid of failure either prefer small or, on the contrary, a very high level of risk. It was determined
that the higher the student’s motivation to succeed, the stronger the desire to achieve the goal and take
risks. At the same time, hope for success is more important than weak motivation to succeed. It has been
found that people who are motivated and have high hopes for success tend to avoid high risks.
Keywords: success, internal motivation, external motivation, strategy, psychological factors
Introduction
In modern times, success in life is an integrative concept, conrmed by the fact of social
recognition, which can be evaluated as the result of the individual’s full self-awareness in various areas
1 Master’s in psychology, Odlar Yurdu University, Azerbaijan Orcid: https://orcid.org/0009-
0006-4367-5202
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of life. Success is a function of many variables, which can be divided into two main groups. First,
abilities, interests, tendencies, motivation, health, social competence, etc. formed by variables related to
elds. They can either be determined naturally or formed in the sphere of family and education. They
are all related to internal factors. [Kenning, 2008; Benham, 1993; Jabbarov, 2021]. At the same time, the
main prerequisites for success are those who prepare a person for life, who are responsible for his social
competence, etc. placed in the family. The second group includes variables related to the recognition of
the results of self-awareness from the outside, from society, at the level of the closest microgroup and
society as a whole. Therefore, two polar groups can be distinguished. The rst group consists of people
with a low expression of internal and external variables that determine success. Representatives of
this group lack eective self-realization and, therefore, social recognition. These are people who have
chosen a profession that clearly does not match their abilities and interests, as well as beggars, homeless
people, criminals, many mentally and physically ill people, etc. The second group is formed by people
who are clearly self-realized and have public recognition: businessmen, cultural gures, scientists,
politicians, etc., who are able to build their own business and enjoy public recognition. at the same time,
there are very complex relationships between individual success and public recognition determined by
a person’s self-awareness [Bernstein, 2020; Carroll, 2009; Fernández-Martín et al., 2020; McRaven,
2014; Seligman, 2019].
Along with all this, it should be noted that determining the success strategy is one of the
important problems for the modern world. It is thanks to success that it is possible to develop the
personality as a person useful to the society. This indicates the extreme urgency of the problem.
Literature review
In psychology, one can talk about a certain set or set of certain potential human characteristics
that objectively determine the possibilities of mastering a certain profession, as well as the eective
functioning of a specialist and the development of his personality. Here, it is necessary to refer to the
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existing concept as a personal resource for the professional development of a person, which is a model of
a system of mental properties with a certain composition of elements and their interaction. The elements
of this system are internal and external psychological factors [Fernández-Martín et al., 2020; Seligman,
2019]. In general, the presence of personal characteristics ensures that the specialist’s personality meets
the requirements of professional activity, thereby ensuring the achievement of a high level of personal
and professional development, productivity and self-realization of the specialist’s personality [Jabbarov,
2017; Ramiz and Vakil, 2020].
Internal psychological factors cannot be presented separately from professional qualities of
personality. From this point of view, it is important to distinguish external and internal determinants
or factors in the process of professional identity formation [Jabbarov, 2020]. Within the framework
of the science of psychology, two main groups of inuencing factors have been determined to have a
signicant impact on the development and course of mental processes and events. They are grouped as
external and internal psychological factors [Prokhrov, 2009]. The system of external factors consists
of various social and natural determinants that create conditions for the development of an individual
that aect his behavior and activity. These factors aecting a person can be both positive and negative.
Internal psychological factors determine the life path in the process of personal development thanks to
the mental determinants located and developing in the inner world of a person, including the processes
of learning, education and development. Kenig (2008) identied the following psychological factors in
his dissertation “Factors inuencing the formation of professional personality” (2008) and described the
internal psychological factors reected in the personality of future specialists. They can be grouped as
follows:
- value;
- motivation;
- exibility factor of behavior;
- pragmatic social activity factor;
- creativity and communication factor;
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- knowledge factor [Kening, 2008].
Having identied these factors, the researcher emphasized that each of the identied factors
is quite large and rarely manifests itself in a “pure”, isolated form. However, as a rule, it is combined
with the actions of others, forming a complex hierarchical structure. In addition, the inuence of each
of these psychological factors does not have a direct eect, but is carried out through the entire chain of
mediation. In this regard, V.A. According to Koenig, the conscious formation of a professional identity
occurs inseparably with professional activity and the system of professional relations [Kening, 2008].
Schneider (2004) refers to these factors as internal sources, or determinants of formation, and
a related psychological category, meaning professional identity, is the individual development of the
individual’s awareness of belonging to a particular profession and a particular job. [Schneider, 2003, p.
113].
Garbuzova (2007) identies internal and external factors in the process of professional
formation. The researcher emphasizes that in the rst stages of its formation, professional identity,
external determinants play a priority role, but the development of professional identity becomes internal
conditions and determinants [Garbuzova, 2007].
Shlyakov, objective and subjective factors in the context of the problem of teacher’s professional
identication. The author considers social conditions of professional activity rst. The system of
subjective factors, according to the researcher, consists of professional and personal factors, teacher’s
qualities, his social and professional well-being [Shlyakov, 2008]. Internal factors include genetic
factors, health status, physiological condition (hunger, thirst, pain, etc.), mood, emotions, habits, mind
and will. broadly - our behavior is inuenced by our culture, media, morals and traditions of society.
In Levitov’s (1964) “Problem of Mental States” and his monograph “On Mental States”, inter nal
factors are the unity of intellectual activity and behavior over a certain period of time, which shows the
uniqueness of the course of mental processes depending on the reected objects and events of reality, the
individual’s previous state and mental properties. is dened as a characteristic. Psychological facts show
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that internal factors are determined by mental state [Levitov, 1964]. Nemov (2007) notes that the mental
state is a variable state of a person and, as a rule, it is accompanied by emotional states and arises under
the inuence of the developing conditions of a person’s life [Nemov, 2007]. Prokhorov (2005) states that
a person’s mental state depends on the dynamics of mental activity it denes as a reection of a situation
in the form of a single syndrome (aggregate), expressed in the unity of behavior and experience in the
continuity of time Mental states A.O. Prokhorov presents it as a part of a big system. [Prokhrov, 2005].
In this system, the mental functions of the organism are aimed at its self-regulation. Thanks
to the self-regulation function, internal factors ensure the eectiveness of adaptation, adapt the subject’s
psychological characteristics to the requirements of certain activities.
Methodology
We tried to investigate the psychological nature of internal factors. However, theoretically,
the obtained results do not allow to determine the fact of any novelty of the research, including the
characteristics of its manifestation in students. In this regard, we tried to study this problem with the
students. Basically, the study tried to answer the following main questions:
1. What are the main psychological factors aecting students’ academic performance among
rst-year students?
2. Do stress, self-ecacy, test anxiety and motivation aect students’ academic performance?
3. At what level is the role of internal factors during the successful operation of requirements?
We have used a number of methods for this. One of them is the method of determining “Success
motivation” (T. Ehlers). Another method is the method of studying adaptation. The questionnaire was
designed to determine the motivational orientation of the individual to achieve success. The stimulus
material consists of 41 statements. The aim of our study was to study the characteristics of students’
achievement motivation in this process. Students of Odlar Yurdu University were involved in the study
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(60 people).
Results
It should be noted that the place of achievement motivation in the personality structure can be
represented cognitively and attributively. Within the framework of the cognitive approach, the position
that the role of motivation and the belief in one’s own power has a greater inuence is put forward. At this
time, the subject’s skills about the successful execution of activities are manifested, not purposefully.
The attribution approach examines the causes of the experienced and observed events, as well as the
characteristics of understanding someone’s behavior. Decisive changes in the general structure and
content of the motivation eld of a person occur in the elderly and are especially relevant for the student
years.
The results of the study showed that 57% of rst-year students are characterized by the
dominance of the motivation to avoid failure. This manifests itself in the motivation to avoid failure
rather than to directly achieve success. Such students have more self-condence.
In modern times, many people are more interested in how to eectively communicate with
the people around them, how to optimally solve the given tasks and at the same time maintain inner
harmony. This issue is perhaps rhetorical. Because the methods of self-regulation are individual for each
person and are manifested dierently in dierent situations.
It should be taken into account that the study of the inuence laws of various factors on the
adaptation process is relevant today. Establishing the relationship between mental states and types
of social adaptation is of particular importance in the context of mental health protection, resistance
to psychological trauma, as well as for the development of psychological-educational programs and
psychological training.
Adaptation issues were also considered in the study. Adaptation, along with all its aspects,
determines the success of the individual’s socialization and is one of the factors of self-realization.
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Adaptation has a special meaning at dierent stages of personality development. The problem
of adaptation, which requires the most important solution, occurs in periods of the individual’s life
characterized by changes in the social environment and status, and is of great importance in the
acquisition of identity and a new social role. causes changes and has a signicant role in the successful
or unsuccessful organization of the activity. The research shows that the necessary changes are possible
at the same time in space-time and information-energy coordinates, on the one hand, thanks to the
integration function of features that connect the features of the external environment (objective activity,
social environment, etc.), and on the other hand, mental processes and psychological properties. ,
form the corresponding functional structures. In our research, we initially focused on determining the
dependence of success motivation on other facts. The analysis of the results is reected in table 1. It
can be seen from Table 1 that students’ motivation to succeed is manifested in three directions: high
level, medium level and low level. Each of these levels is closely related to academic achievement,
adaptability, failure avoidance motives, and self-expression, respectively.
As can be seen from Table 1, the high level of motivation to succeed in students also corresponds
to the low level of academic achievement, adaptability, motivation to avoid failure and high self-
expression (P=0.003 level). So there is a direct connection between them. This fact lays the foundation
for the verication of our hypothesis. Therefore, the higher the motivational ability of achievement
motivations, the higher the demands will be on achievement and self-expression levels.
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Table. 1. Indicators of the relationship between students’ success motivation and academic achievements
(N=60)
Also, a low level of success motives resonates with failure avoidance motives. A student
studies to be appreciated by others (P=0.000). Thus, it can be concluded that the tendency to success is
the aspect that determines the student’s self-development, and this fact should be given wide attention.
At the same time, our research showed that the degree of inuence of internal factors depends
more on the mental state (see Table 2). Mental states are very diverse. They are classied according
to dierent criteria. In general, mental states are classied according to the degree of consciousness
(conscious and unconscious), according to emotional indicators (positive, negative and neutral),
according to external expression (deep, supercial), according to the source of formation (personally
determined) and according to the situation.
Regarding the problem A.O. Prokhorov notes that the mechanisms of mental state formation,
its determination and transformation have not been fully studied. Accordingly, the contribution of
consciousness and its components to actualization, change, dynamics and regulation of needs has
not been practically studied. It is clear that the external objective and social environment have a
determining inuence on the subject’s mental states. But this eect is carried out through consciousness.
Consciousness balances problems, provides a meaningful perception of life. It can be said that the
state of the subject is the reection of this balancing. Based on this, the study of the dynamics of the
mental states of a person and the role of internal factors here, its inuence on the adaptation process is
very relevant. Based on these methodological principles and provisions, we considered it appropriate to
Key factors Upper level of
motivation
Average level of
motivation
Low level of mo-
tivation
P
Academic achie-
vements
123,5 112,4 92.00 0.003
Adaptability 128,1 118,5 89,00 0.001
Failure avoidance
motives
124,7 116,2 86,00 0.008
Self-ecacy level 133,8 131,4 82,00 0.000
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study the inuence of internal factors on the adaptation process. From this point of view, a study was
conducted to ensure the evaluation of the phenomenological demands of the changes in the mental state
according to the degree of importance of their adaptation. At this time, seven factors were identied.
These include physiological, physical, emotional, cognitive, situational, value, and personality factors.
Respondents were asked to rate the importance of one or another parameter that had the greatest
impact on changes in their mental state. The sample selected for the study includes the respondent who
is around 26 years old with an average age of 18 years. The study was conducted in the context of a
training activity. The study showed that internal factors have a more serious impact on the adaptation
process. However, it cannot be said that the inuence of external factors is small (P=0.002, P=0.001).
The results of the research showed that in the rst sample, internal factors, including the value factor,
have the most intensive eect on the change of mental state. Important values such as family, money and
health were dominant. Thus, changes in these areas signicantly aect changes in mental state. Personal
factors have little inuence on the change of mental state (table 1).
Table. 2. Indicators of the inuence of external psychological factors of students on their adaptation
(N=60)
The study showed that internal factors have a more serious impact on the adaptation process.
However, it cannot be said that the inuence of external factors is small (P=0.002, P=0.001). The results
of the research showed that in the rst example, internal factors, including the value factor, have the
Key factors Adaptation level Self-regulation opportunities Academic achievements
(point average) P
Physiological 125,8 151,2 86.00 0.004
Physical 130,2 143,7 84,00 0.006
Emotional 128,6 122,6 92,00 0.002
Cognitive 142,9 134,2 76,00 0.000
The situation 110,3 121,4 82,00 0.001
Values 118,5 160,1 91,00 0.005
Personality 116,8 119,2 85,00 0.000
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most intensive eect on the change of mental state. Important values such as family, money and health
were dominant. Thus, changes in these areas signicantly aect changes in mental state. Personal
factors have little eect on mental state change. Factors such as sensitivity, stiness, and hardness are
identied. These characteristics, like the personal characteristics of the respondents, have less inuence
on the change of the situation. However, the eect of academic achievement is insignicant. The price
received by the requirements is weakly related to their adaptability. This shows that there is a signicant
relationship between self-regulation and adaptation (P=0.004).
The results of the study showed that in the second sample, physiological and situational factors
have the most intensive eect on changes in mental state, namely, physical fatigue and increased
appetite, unfavorable environment (unwanted interactions, pressure from others), unexpected situations
on changes in mental state. aect. Expressions such as clarity of consciousness and change of thoughts
have been highlighted. Thus, it can be noted that the change of adaptation for respondents is mainly
inuenced by internal factors. Both external and internal factors inuence the change of mental state.
This is probably related to the age characteristics of the respondents, life cycle, as well as accumulated
experiences.
Discussion and Conclusion
Our research and theoretical analysis of the literature allow us to come to the following
conclusions.
Achievement motivation is such a phenomenon without which it is impossible to imagine the
full development of the personality. Success is an activity carried out in order to achieve something, and
a person determines the standards that he sets high enough for himself and tries to achieve it. During
the achievement, a person evaluates the standards of the results, the work done after that, that is, he
reaches a certain level, which he considers important for him. Conducted researches show that success
motivation belongs to every person within the framework of the theory of psychological needs, the need
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to achieve, i.e. the desire to win, succeed and overcome obstacles. [Prokhrov, 2009; Fernández-Martín
et al., 2020; Seligman, 2019; Jabbarov, 2021; Jabbarov, 2012].
Achievement motivation is usually considered within the framework of education and
professional activities, that is, in areas where there is a focus on results, because in these areas it is of
greatest importance. This activity should be evaluated in terms of quality or quantity; the requirements
for the evaluated activity should not be underestimated or should not be overestimated, that is, the
activity may be successful, but it may not be possible and does not happen; it is necessary to evaluate
the performance results, there is a certain comparative scale, and within this scale there is a certain
normative level, it is considered mandatory; the activity must be desirable for the subject; and he must
obtain its result [Kening, 2008; Schneider, 2020; Garbuzova, 2007; Shlyakov, 2008; Vakil, 2021].
Our research showed that people with medium and high levels of success tend to prefer medium
risk levels. Those who are afraid of failure prefer small or, on the contrary, a very high level of risk.
The higher a person’s motivation to succeed - to achieve a goal, the lower the willingness to take risks.
At the same time, the motivation for success also aects the hope for success: with a strong motivation
for success, the hope for success is usually more modest, to succeed compared to weak motivation for.
In addition, people who are motivated and have high hopes for success tend to avoid high risks. Those
with a high motivation to succeed and a high willingness to take risks are less fortunate. Accident
tolerance is greater than those with high risk but high motivation (protection) to avoid failure. And on
the contrary, it is important to prevent failures when a person. Our research showed that mental states
such as emotion and anxiety have a direct eect on the adaptation index. The higher the emotional state,
the lower the level of adaptation, and this has a comprehensive eect on the success factor. At the same
time, successful adaptation can have a constructive direction. Its level depends on self-regulation and
external constraints, it changes its direction depending on various factors. Certain mental states can
cause certain adaptations and aect the eectiveness of human activity.
Such is the information obtained allows us to conclude that in order to improve the quality of
the educational process, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of students’ personality
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and psyche. This will allow to regulate the formation of students’ professional competence during the
educational process, and thus to raise the level of professional training of specialists and successful
adaptation.
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