On giving guesses: you could just give the strategy you think will be the most effective in helping and then pair the strategy with motivations if you think it's still necessary. That way you can really help OP be the most effective. If you don't do that, just sounds like you wanna critique and whine about OP's motivations.

On the motivations behind the same actions having different consequences: you are correct, it really sounds like you've avoided the question. When people have read and understood books, they usually are able to bring the argument in themselves.

Here I'll give you a simple counter-example of the exact same act with two different motivators and the same consequence:

Person A wants to help and asks person B in some specific way: "Do you wanna learn how to read?" The result is: Person B answers yes.

Person A wants to look good and asks person B in the same specific way: "Do you wanna learn how to read?". The result is: Person B answers yes.

Even if the motivation behind the same exact act would change the consequences, you'd have to demonstrate that's true instead of vaguely pointing at literature.