Nouns denoting goals

abience
(psychology) an urge to withdraw or avoid a situation or an object
 
acathexis
(psychoanalysis) a lack of cathexis; a condition in which significant objects or memories arouse no emotion in an individual
 
account
grounds
 
adience
(psychology) an urge to accept or approach a situation or an object
 
agromania
an intense desire to be alone or out in the open
 
alcoholism
an intense persistent desire to drink alcoholic beverages to excess
 
cacoethes
an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action
 
cathexis
(psychoanalysis) the libidinal energy invested in some idea or person or object
 
Christ Within
a divine presence believed by Quakers to enlighten and guide the soul
 
compulsion
an urge to do or say something that might be better left undone or unsaid
 
compulsion
an irrational motive for performing trivial or repetitive actions, even against your will
 
conscience
motivation deriving logically from ethical or moral principles that govern a person's thoughts and actions
 
deterrence
a negative motivational influence
 
dynamic
an efficient incentive
 
egomania
an intense and irresistible love for yourself and concern for your own needs
 
ethical motive
motivation based on ideas of right and wrong
 
ground
a rational motive for a belief or action
 
hedonism
the pursuit of pleasure as a matter of ethical principle
 
impulse
an instinctive motive
 
incentive
a positive motivational influence
 
incitation
something that incites or provokes; a means of arousing or stirring to action
 
irrational impulse
a strong spontaneous and irrational motivation
 
irrational motive
a motivation that is inconsistent with reason or logic
 
itchy feet
very strong or irresistible impulse to travel
 
kleptomania
an irresistible impulse to steal in the absence of any economic motive
 
libidinal energy
(psychoanalysis) psychic energy produced by the libido
 
life
a motive for living
 
logomania
pathologically excessive (and often incoherent) talking
 
mental energy
an actuating force or factor
 
monomania
a mania restricted to one thing or idea
 
necromania
an irresistible sexual attraction to dead bodies
 
occasion
reason
 
onomatomania
obsession with a particular word which the person uses repeatedly or which intrudes into consciousness
 
phaneromania
an irresistible desire to pick at superficial body parts (as in obsessive nail-biting)
 
pyromania
an uncontrollable desire to set fire to things
 
rational motive
a motive that can be defended by reasoning or logical argument
 
sense of duty
a motivating awareness of ethical responsibility
 
signal
any incitement to action
 
small voice
an inner voice that judges your behavior
 
Thanatos
(psychoanalysis) an unconscious urge to die
 
trichotillomania
an irresistible urge to pull out your own hair
 
wherefore
the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase `the whys and wherefores'