Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation
© 2009
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"Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation"
When she was 4 years old, Maria began playing the piano as a way to entertain herself while her parents were busy at work. Now she is 8 years old and still loves playing the piano. She loves learning new classical music pieces as well as composing her own music. One day, her music teacher in school discovers Maria's extraordinary talent. The teacher speaks to her parents and suggests that Maria receive formal training as a future pianist. At first, Maria is happy to receive the attention and is excited about having a private piano teacher. After a while, Maria begins to feel the pressure to improve her skills quickly and win many piano competitions. Her parents' excitement about Maria's future prospects begin to feel like a burden. She is no longer playing piano because she enjoys it but rather because her parents and teacher expect it from her. She feels like she is playing piano every day to win competitions. When Maria turns 16 she tells her parents that she no longer wants to play piano.
The story above is interesting to us in two ways. First, some of us may have had similar experiences of burnout in our lives. Second, it nicely illustrates the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the kind of motivation that we have when we are doing something because we want to do it ourselves. This type of motivation comes from within. In most cases, we like the activity and even if we don't, we are still doing it because we believe it is meaningful to us personally. In contrast, extrinsic motivation comes from external forces. It is what we experience when we are doing something to either receive a reward or to escape a punishment from the outside world. In the previous story about Maria, it is clear that her motivation to play the piano was intrinsic at 4-8 years of age but when the people around her became excited about her extraordinary talent, her motivations began to change. Eventually she stopped playing for enjoyment and began playing to win competitions and to please her teacher and parents. At the end of the story, her motivation to play piano became mostly extrinsic and therefore this activity was no longer fun for her and this made her want to quit.
This is something that happens quite often when we introduce extrinsic motivation to an activity that is already intrinsically motivating. Increasing extrinsic motivation for an activity that is intrinsically motivating can decrease intrinsic motivation (Lepper, Greene, & Nisbett, 1973; Lepper & Greene, 1978). Is extinsic motivation bad then? Not necessarily, extrinsic motivation can be useful especially when people are not intrinsically motivated to do something to begin with. For example, you may go to a restaurant with your friend and your friend orders something you have never heard of. When the food comes to the table, your friend tells you that it is so good that you should have a bite. You politely say "no" because it looks disgusting to you. Your friend insists because it is "sooooo good!" and keeps bugging you to take a bite. You finally give in because your friend is getting annoying and you want her to stop bothering you. You take a bite and contrary to your expectations, you like it very much! In fact you like it so much that the next time you go to that restaurant, you are ordering that dish that you initially thought was disgusting looking. This is an example of how extrinsic motivation can be effective in increasing intrinsic motivation. Increasing extrinsic motivation for an activity that is not intrinsically motivating can sometimes increase intrinsic motivation (Kohn, 1996). The is why we often reward people with good grades in school. It gets us to try things we were not interested in doing before.
It is clear that we can increase the extinsic motivation in others by providing them with external rewards. These are called controlling (or extrinsic) rewards because they are perceived as a clear way to control the behaviors of others. Although most psychologists do not recommend this, we can also inform others that they will be punished if they do not do something. This also tends to increase extrinsic motivation. What about the other type of motivation? How do we increase intrinsic motivation in others? This is not an easy question to answer. The fact that you are, by definition, an external entity for other people makes this very difficult. But if you think of people who have inspired you to do something, you know that it can be done. What is it that inspiring people do that increases our intrinsic motivation? There are many things that they may do but the key is to help others see how the activity is personally meaningful to them. Some may provide informative rewards such as words of praise or saying things to help them realize how much they have improved. Sometimes informative rewards can be more subtle nonverbal signals such as a nod of acknowledgement or a genuine smile. When we feel like we have improved in something it naturally makes us feel good about ourselves and we become interested in working on it more. Other people may be more direct by explaining how this activity may help you become a better person. We all like to be better people because it makes us feel good about ourselves. When an activity makes us feel good about ourselves, it naturally becomes personally meaningful. You may also know inspiring people who show their own enthusiasm for an activity and lead by example. In many cases, these people may not even be trying to influence you at all. They just look like they are enjoying it so much that it makes us want to do the same thing. When we enjoy doing something, the activity becomes personally meaningful. Whether they are aware of them or not, many great people use a combination of these kinds of techniques to increase intrinsic motivation in others and this is one of the reasons why they are exceptional leaders and role models for other people.
References
Lepper, M., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. (1973). Undermining children's intrinsic interest with extrinsic rewards. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28, 129-137.
Lepper, M., & Greene, D. (1978). The Hidden Cost of Rewards. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.
Kohn, A. (1996). By all available means: Cameron and Pierce's defense of extrinsic motivators. Review of Educational Research, 66, 1-4.