We see the relevance of this work in the fact that at present motivation as a mental phenomenon is interpreted in different ways. In one case - as a set of factors that support and guide, i.e. determine behavior, in another case - as a set of motives, in the third case - as an impulse that causes the activity of the organism and determines its direction. In addition, motivation is considered as a process of mental regulation of a particular activity, as a process of action of motive and as a mechanism that determines the emergence, direction and ways of realization of specific forms of activity, as an aggregate system of processes responsible for inducement and activity.