ABSTRACT
There are two psychological traditions that are concerned with explaining the dynamics behind human behavior. Motivational psychology is focused on how "hot" factors, such as needs, emotions, and different kinds of motivation, lead to particular behavioral patterns. By contrast, judgment and decision-making (JDM) research is concerned with how various "cold" information processes may explain how people choose between different courses of action. Another way of contrasting the two traditions is in terms of locus of control. Thus, motivational psychology views behavior as controlled by factors inside the individual whereas JDM researchers attempt to understand how people's understanding of the world outside themselves explains their behavior.
