<p>What motivates people to change?</p>
<p>People are motivated to change by incentives. These incentives vary for individual depending on their perceptions and personal values. Evidence for this idea can be found in real life circumstances as well as popular entertainment, which is often a reflection of prevalent situations.</p>
<p>Prospective romantic love is a powerful incentive that can motivate people to change. This is demonstrated through the famous musician Johnny Cash's life story. When Johnny Cash was experiencing a creative impediment and was having difficult composing music he fell into a slump and began abusing drugs extensively. He was indifferent to the most of the world's judgement and shunning. However, upon being confronted with the fact that the love of his life refused to see and interact with him until he was able to abstain from drug use, he forced himself into rehab and partook in the excruciatingly painful process of overcoming drug addiction. It can be seen that despite initial difference and the intense pain involved in the change necessary in this context, the mere idea of the possibility of romantic love with a woman Johnny Cash felt such strong feelings for was a strong enough incentive to motivate him to change his harmful habits.</p>
<p>The desire for morality and truth are other incentives that can motivate people to strive for personal change. This can be seen through the popular 50s film '12 Angry Men'. In this film, many jurors vote guilty with regards to a defendant, mostly due to their own personal prejudices. However, after an intelligent, articulate, eloquent juror proposes a different perspective and sheds some light a more plausible explanation for the crime, the other jurors gradually realize the truth in his argument and change their vote. In this context, the incentive for change was a desire for moral righteousness and truth. Their belief in justness and the American legal system allowed all of the jurors to overcome their personal prejudices and vote for the truth unmasked by discrimination.</p>
<p>Thus, we can view change as something that is often difficult and arduous to achieve. However, by tapping into individual perspectives and values, motivation for change can be triggered.</p>