Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation is doing something because it is interesting or satisfying in itself; extrinsic motivation is doing it for an outcome separate from the activity, such as money, praise or avoiding punishment. Tangible rewards for something already enjoyed can reduce the enjoyment.
What drives it
It explains why paying people, or praising them in a controlling way, for what they love can turn it into work, and why some people lose interest the moment something becomes their job.
How it shows
Work
The engineer who built side projects for fun stops once a bonus scheme measures output. Questions shift from 'how does this work?' to 'what's the target?' Effort tracks the metric and stops exactly at it. Intrinsically driven people keep tinkering after hours and talk about the problem, not the reward.
Relationships
A partner who used to cook for pleasure stops once it becomes an expected duty that is scored. Children promised a certificate for drawing drew less once the reward stopped (Lepper, Greene and Nisbett); sincere, informational praise does not usually have this effect.
Self
Ask whether you would still do it if nobody paid, saw or credited it. The tell of extrinsic drift is checking the scoreboard (likes, approval, numbers) more than you engage with the thing itself.
What tells it apart
Self-determination theory: SDT splits extrinsic motivation into grades; someone doing a dull compliance task diligently because they believe in what it protects is extrinsically but autonomously motivated, not intrinsically.
Flow: Flow is a state in a given session (absorption, lost time); intrinsic motivation is the reason for returning. A person can be intrinsically drawn to something and rarely reach flow in it.
A test
Remove the reward or the audience for a while and see whether the behaviour continues.
Questions to carry
- If the pay, praise or audience went away for a while, what would keep happening?
- Which thing I used to love started to feel like work, and when did it change?
How strong the research is
moderate. The undermining effect of expected, tangible, performance-contingent rewards on interesting tasks is supported by meta-analysis (Deci, Koestner and Ryan, 1999), though Cameron and Pierce disputed its size and generality.
Where it comes from
Edward Deci, 1971; Mark Lepper, David Greene and Richard Nisbett, 1973 (overjustification effect).
Sources
- Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan, Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior (1985)