When a concept takes on an identity of its own as though it really exists when it has not yet been directly observed it is called a hypothetical construct . Note that hypothetical constructs are often useful and not unscientific. Genes, atoms, and molecules were all studied extensively in the absence of direct observation. A danger of hypothetical constructs is that when people treat them as though they actually exist they begin to use them as causal explanations for phenomena. These are circular explanations .
Circular explanations are ones where the cause is the same as the effect.
They are not meaningful explanations at all. Because he cleaned his room. In this explanation, when we see 'motivation' it really means, 'we saw Jon clean his room'. The cause is the same as the effect, only using different words and is a useless explanation because no new knowledge was gained. Unfortunately, circular explanations are abundant in our society.