As a general proposition, we may say that the drive that carries forward any activity, when it is running freely and effectively, is inherent in that… - Robert S. Woodworth

Often voluntary effort is needed in order to get a task started, to overcome repugnance, inertia, and distracting influences. The extraneous motive brings the horse to the water, but real drinking does not occur except from thirst, that is to say, from a desire for the particular results obtained by the activity in progress.

The motive that originally induced him to go in for this event may very well have been a desire to distinguish himself; but this motive has to drop out of sight or else by its distraction spoil the performance. It is not true, then, that the motive that initiates a given activity furnishes the motive force for the whole activity; it simply leads the performer up to the act, but the motive force for the act itself must be inherent.

McDougall's principle, therefore, "that the original impulse or conation supplies the motive power to all the activities that are but means to the attainment of the desired end," would make a very bad guide in education or in any attempt to control and influence the behavior of men. It would lead the teacher to introduce extraneous motives at every turn and leave out of account the interest which might be generated in the subject matter. It would lead the manager of a business to conclude, since the employes are certainly there for the prime purpose of earning money, that it would be hopeless to generate in them any loyalty and enthusiasm for the concern or any interest in the technique of its processes.