Book excerpt: The past ten years have seen an explosion of useful research surrounding human motivation and emotion; new insights allow researchers to answer the perennial questions, including "What do people want?" and "Why do they want what they want?" By delving into the roots of motivation, the emotional processes at work, and the impacts on learning, performance, and well-being, this book provides a toolbox of practical interventions and approaches for use in a wide variety of settings. In the midst of the field's "golden age," there has never been a better time to merge new understanding and practical application to improve people’s lives. Useful in schools, the workplace, clinical settings, health care, sports, industry, business, and even interpersonal relationships, these concepts are profoundly powerful; incorporated into the state-of-the-art intervention programs detailed here, they can enhance people's motivation, emotion, and outlook while answering the core questions of any human interaction.