Doing stuff is damn hard. I know that quite well from my own experience. It’s difficult to run the extra mile, both figuratively and literally. At the heart of it, it really comes down to a person’s motivation. A person’s motivation is the reason they do something, whether it is to not get yelled at by a teacher, or to drink because they are thirsty. This motivation is split into two types – extrinsic and intrinsic.
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
When discussing motivation, psychologists tend to separate motivators into two different types, called extrinsic (external) and intrinsic (internal) motivators. This is because people’s motivation comes from different places, from within, or from outside influence. Motivation is intrinsic when someone has a personal interest in anything.
This form of motivation can come in many forms, such as eating a snack when you’re hungry, researching a topic you find interesting. Either way, in these cases, people are motivated because of a personal reason.
Extrinsic motivation is the opposite. This form of motivation refers to any motivation caused by an outside factor. This can range from studying in order to receive a reward from your parents, or completing a report to not get shouted at. If the motivation for doing anything comes from outside influence, it is an extrinsic motivator.
Their effect on motivation
On their own, both of these types of motivation have quite a strong effect on motivation. Intrinsic motivation controls many of our actions throughout the day, as we as people tend to do the things we want to do. However, there are many tasks and chores no one wants to do. In this case, people are extrinsically motivated to do them. This includes tasks such as cleaning your room, going to work, or writing that essay for that subject you hate so much.
Regardless, there are many instances in which people have to do something they do not want to do. In these cases, they are motivated by things other than themselves.
The two types of motivators also distinctly link to different theories of motivation, such as the drive theory (intrinsic) or the incentive theory (extrinsic), in models of motivation which try to detail how exactly motivation occurs. They are also clear links to the humanistic theory, which makes use of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Combing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
Since both of these types of motivators tend to increase a person’s motivation in any topic, it seems natural to assume that when combined, it results in an additional sequence, one motivator adding on to another. However, in many research studies, the opposite has been found. Extrinsic motivation typically undermines intrinsic motivation when unnecessarily added into the mix.
In meta-analysis of 128 studies, researchers consistently found that extrinsic factors, such as tangible rewards, completion-contingent rewards, performance-contingent rewards significantly undermined intrinsic self-interest most of the time. However, they also found that positive feedback and verbal rewards enhanced self-interest.
They found that tangible rewards were much more detrimental to a child’s motivation than to a college student or adult, and that verbal rewards were more effective on older students than on children. This meta-analysis clearly paints the picture that when someone has a personal interest in something, adding unnecessary conditions or rewards may be detrimental.
Even at younger ages, this behaviour is common. In a psychological study, researchers investigated the impact of extrinsic factors on 20 month-old infants. The researchers found that even after the infants expressed interest when the researchers offered a material reward for cooperating, the infants were less likely to engage further.
They found that infants who only received social praise or no extra incentive at all engaged more keenly than those that did receive a material reward. Even extremely young kids, who have innately have this reaction to unnecessary external reward, despite never explicitly thinking about it. This study shows how this effect may be instinctual to people
Other factors
Of course, this can definitely call into question the nature of the reinforcement. There is also no doubt, that if someone does something you feel is praiseworthy, that you should reward them. And let’s be honest, we don’t always want to get verbal reinforcement. It’s the same reason why musicians don’t like being paid in ‘exposure’. There’s no doubt it’s ok to give positive reinforcement and to reward people when you feel they’ve done something well. What people should really try to avoid is making anything feel like ‘work’.
If people are intrinsically motivated, they will tend to enjoy what they do, and can be psychologically considered, ‘play’. However, strapping unnecessary conditions to anything can easily make it feel like ‘work’. It’s why I enjoy reading one book and don’t enjoy reading school books. I don’t like being forced to do things, and it’s the same way with many others.
On top of this, the effects of each of these varies from person to person. There are differences based on age. As shown by the meta analysis previously mentioned, kids and adults react differently to different situations. For children, it may be much more beneficial to let them do their own things, how they want to do it, as any kind of tangible reward can easily make play seem like work. It is also much more useful to give positive reinforcement to an adult or college student, as they tended to respond better to those kinds of rewards. It varies from person to person.
Conclusions
For this dilemma, I would suggest one method of keeping children motivated to do something. Rather than offering them a reward to do something, give verbal encouragement. After they complete whatever task they completed on their own, then give them a reward, as reinforcement. This way, you avoid undermining their personal motivation, while still further encouraging they continue in the future.
It’ll make them feel better, too. If you feel a kid will not act on their own regard, then feel free to step in and offer a completion-contingent reward. But it is important to know the different scenarios so that the correct choice can be made. Unless there are significant time constraints, almost never set a deadline for any task. The research shows deadlines tend to undermine personal interest the most. From personal experience, I can agree with this wholeheartedly.
You should watch for these kinds of traps yourself in real life! Don’t forget to always stay personally motivated for the things you want to do, don’t start doing them for something else. And when someone you know is personally interested in something, may it’s better to leave them be.