Understanding the connection between motivation and education is crucial for the achievement of adult educational goals. In social psychological terms, for each individual the learning process proceeds selectively in the context of motivational forces. With increasing age and ego development, basic motivational forces are socially defined, channeled and ramified, and new motivations are learned. Sociologically, with increasing societal development, this social learning is institutionalized into a complex and pervasive educational system. Adult education, therefore, must deal with well-developed, subjectively meaningful motivations in relation to complex social influences and social values. Some studies illustrate the mechanisms by which motivation and learning are related, such as levels of aspiration, and some of the social and psychological factors which may best account for differential motivations, such as previous formal education, socioeconomic status, and personality configurations. (sg)