1.1.

3-
Motivations for
seeking outdoor
experiences
KK – the range of motivations for
experiencing outdoor environments and
responses to outdoor environments, such as
fear and appreciation.

KS – analyse motivations for expereincing

outdoor environments and responses to
expereincing outdoor environments.
 PART 1: Motivations for outdoor experiences
What is a motivation?

• Motivations are the driving forces or reasoning behind a person’s desire to

do something; the explanation a person may give for wanting to achieve a
particular feet, complete a task or realise a dream.
• Motivations are almost always linked to some advantage we gain from
doing something.
• Motivations can be broken into two main types:
- Intrinsic motivations
- Extrinsic motivations
Intrinsic motivations:
Definition: motivations to engage in an activity that come from within
ourself.
Examples of intrinsic motivations:
• Adrenaline rush
• Self satisfaction
• Sense of achievement
What motivates us in this way?
Think of and write down an activity that you enjoy doing and are
motivated to do… ask yourself and record: “What keeps me coming
back to do this activity?”
Extrinsic motivations:
Definition: motivations to engage in an activity because we want to
earn a reward or to avoid a punishment.
Examples of intrinsic motivations:
• Money – This is one of the biggest extrinsic motivators. Many people do the
activities they do in the outdoors because, at some point, they will be paid for it.
Ie: professional athletes, park rangers.
Note: Many people who are paid because of these activities probably were motivated intrinsically to begin
with – they have turned their passions into their careers.

• Praise – from peers for successfully achieving a goal like making it to the bottom
of a set of rapids without capsizing.
• Reward (non-financial) – such as in competition, ie: prizes, titles, recognition.
 Motivations for outdoor experiences:
Make a copy of this What motivates people to head into the outdoors where there is a chance for them to be
table in your notes cold, uncomfortable or even get injured!
All types of motivations can be categorised into one of the following types:

Competence/Mastery Socialisation Stimulus Avoidance Cognitive Reward

Competence/mastery is the Socialisation is the Stimulus avoidance is the Cognitive reward is the
motivation to experience motivation to experience motivation to experience motivation to experience
outdoor environments to outdoor environments for outdoor environments so outdoor environments for
develop our skills, the social benefits. something unpleasant or the mental benefits.
confidence and performance uncomfortable is avoided.
in an activity.
Definition
Examples
 Competence/Mastery Socialisation Stimulus Avoidance Cognitive Reward

• Being the first to achieve • Personal and social • An escape from the • Learning a new skill
something (eg: climbing development and support stresses of everyday life • Achieving a state of
Examples

Mount Everest) ‘FLOW’

• Building strength through participation

• Wanting to avoid unwanted social situations
• Developing resilience
Fill in the • Being confident in an activity
‘examples’ • Proving something to yourself or others
provided and • The feeling of community from doing things with others
Place each of the • To clear our minds to benefit health or wellbeing
other example in • Personally achieving something new, different or risky
the correct • Promoting a sense of safety, belonging and security
category. • Experiencing an adrenalin rush
• Setting a record or other achievement (eg: running a river for the first time, riding a
difficult mtb trail)
‘FLOW’ – an example of motivation
The ‘Flow’ model of concentration and engagement suggests that
people are at their happiest when they are fully and completely
engaged in an activity; that is, when they are in a state of flow.
Flow is:
Being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego
falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought
follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your
whole being is involved and you’re using your skills to the utmost.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
When you’re in a ‘flow’ experience:
• you feel at one with the world
• You forget about your
problems/worries
• You are completely focused in the
activity and the moment
• You are satisfied with what you are
doing
• You’re happy, but don’t really realise
it due to being engrossed in the
activity

Flow is one of the key motivations for

participants who are experienced in an
activity.

Can you think of a time or an activity

that allows you to experience a “flow”
state?
PART 2- Responses to outdoor environments and experiences
.

Personal Responses

The types of responses people can have due to their

experiences in the outdoors can be divided into two main
groups:

Positive Negative
Positive responses
A positive response to an outdoor environment is one that will probably result in
positive behaviours towards that place – behaviours that might protect, preserve
or enhance that place in some way.
These may include: Learning Activity: (see pg.41)
For each of the responses listed-
• Appreciation a) Define – what does it mean to respond to the outdoors in this
way
• Awe
b) Example – provide an example that demonstrates when you
• Contemplation may have had these responses as a result of an experience in
the outdoors
• Inspiration
• Exhilaration EG: Awe
a) Awe is a feeling of wonder or admiration
• Connection b) “The first time I visited Uluru, the sheer size of the rock surrounded
by a flat land as far as you can see, its breath-taking!”
• Curiosity
Negative responses
These responses can potentially lead to damaging behaviours or dangerous
actions with the outdoor environment – behaviours such as clearing it away,
changing it or removing things from it.

Learning Activity: (see pg.42)

These may include: For each of the responses listed-
a) Define – what does it mean to respond to the outdoors
• Fear in this way
b) Example – provide an example that demonstrates when
• Revulsion you may have had these responses as a result of an
experience in the outdoors
• Curiosity

EG: Fear
b) Rescuing people in the outdoors! Scares me every time…
 Varying responses
• Responses to environments and activities in outdoor environments vary from
person to person.
• While one person may see an environment or activity as a positive, others may only
see a negative.
• For example: As society changes
Society changes over time, and this can lead to society-wide
As we age changes in the way we respond to particular places.
As a person ages, and as The ways in which we demonstrate our responses can also
their character, personality, vary, and may relate to the sorts of practices we are familiar
experiences and values with from other parts of our lives. For example, a writer may
change, the ways they blog about their responses, while a painter may depict them
respond to a particular or a musician may sing about them. Eg: Society takes and
outdoor environment may shares more photos today than it did in all of human
change. existence up to 2010!
Varying responses – Think, pair, share.
Age-
• Have you recently visited somewhere that you hadn’t been to since you were
very young?
• Can/do you respond differently to that environment now that you are older?
Society-
• Why would the early settlers of Australia responded with fear to the
environment?
• What has helped change this view over time?
Factors influencing personal responses
Some of the common influences that impact how and why people respond the way
they do can be due to:
• Age
• Background
• Education
• Experience
• Culture
• Religion
• Socioeconomic background
• Media