This essay will illustrate the roles of the psychological principles of emotion and motivation in increasing and facilitating weight loss in programs; demonstrate their effectiveness through the analysis of research; interconnect the psychological principles of motivation and emotion; and finally relate concepts of motivation and emotion to various weight loss programs Motivation is goal oriented behaviour, which combines the desire to attain a goal, with the energy required to achieve it. There are two types of motivation; autonomy and control, and in order to examine weight loss they need to be differentiated. Autonomy is related to the “perceived origin of one’s action or its locus of causality” (Deci, Ryan 2008). It is the extent to which a behaviour or action is personally endorsed with a sense of choice, as opposed to being associated with a need to comply due to feelings of pressure or tension. The application of autonomous motivation would actively increase the effectiveness of weight loss programs, as the individual would have the desire to perform and henceforth get positive results.
Autonomous motivation is strongly interrelated with the theory of self-determination. Self-Determination Theory, suggests that an individual accepting a regulation for change as their own is far more effective and important, than simply complying with the demands for change. In the context of weight loss programs, this theory suggests that more positive consequences of weight loss behaviours are produced by self-determined forms of