Read Chapter 5.
Summarize the chapter. What was the most surprising/interesting thing you learned? Is it possible to be intrinsically motivated yet still be paid? What are some examples of how you are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated? How will information from this chapter change how you think about motivating yourself for school/career success?
Chapter Five devotes a large portion to explaining intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and the differences between the two. The textbook defines intrinsic motivation as 'the inherent propensity to engage one's interests and to exercise one's capacities, and to seek out and master optimal challenges'. I found it interesting that intrinsic motivation emerges spontaneously from psychological needs and innate strivings for growth. What I found to be most intersting were some of the traits that intrinsically motivated people are likely to have. Two of those traits or characteristics are persistence and creativeness. These are two traits that I believe I possess, especially persistence. The chapter goes on to explain that intrinsically motivated people tend to understand concepts better and that they typically have better cognitive functioning, as well as a higher psychological well-being.
The chapter also discusses rewards, and the pros and cons of them, but because our topical blog for 2/10 focuses on these topics, I will move on to the next key concept that I feel the chapter explains, which is 'Cognitive Evaluation Theory'. I agree with this theory because I believe that people have psychological needs for autonomy and competence, and because I agree with the theory in that it is the informational aspect of an external event that affects a person's need for competence.
I believe it is possible to be intrinsically motivated and still be paid because I believe money and intrinsic motivators can co-exist. I believe this because even if someone has a job that they love they still have to earn means to provide for themselves and possibly others because of the way our society is structured. I cannot see any exceptions to this because even if someone does not receive a monetary reward, there are still other ways they can be 'paid' or rewarded, such as receiving food, shelter, clothing, etc.
There are many ways I am externally motivated. One way is when I watch my favorite sports teams, and how they do affects my present mood at least a little bit. Another way is how much time I have to devote each day/week to classes. If it is a small amount then it usually results in my day/week being easier. One more way is by the weather. For example, this week when we got the huge storms between Monday and Tuesday it motivated me to avoid being outside because I did not enjoy being outside very much at all. There are also many ways that I am intrinsically motivated. One way is I feel better throughout the course of a day if I workout at some point. Another way is I have learned that I can be much more productive and feel better if I get an adequate amount of sleep, so I have listened to my body and have made it an emphasis to devote more time each night to that. A final way is if I feel better (no stomache, stress, not tired, etc) then it puts me in a better mood and greatly helps me treat people the way I would like to be treated.
This chapter does not really change how I believe I will motivate myself for school, my career, etc. I say that because I did not learn anything new from this chapter, although it did provide some interesting information. At this point I consider myself a very motivated and driven person, especially intrinsically, which I consider to be important because there are many cases of which a person has to do what they know is right and not let the environment hold them back.
Chapter 5 discusses in detail intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is basically motivation based on taking pleasure in an activity. People experience intrinsic motivation because their body requires them to fulfill their psychological needs. Benefits of intrinsic motivation include persistence, creativity, conceptual understanding, and subjective well-being. I found this section interesting to read because I can relate a lot of these things to myself. For example, I just started a new exercise program that is pretty rigorous and I continue to be persistent in staying on time and sticking with my outlined schedule. It was interesting to read the section about how intrinsic motivation actually enhances an individual’s conceptual understanding of something they are trying to learn. I can definitely relate this to my academic career because I am extremely interested in the areas I’m studying and therefore, when taking classes I try to learn and retain information through means other than memorizing (which I feel a lot of classes are geared towards). I thought it was interesting to note that intrinsically motivated behavior comes from spontaneous psychological need satisfaction.
Extrinsic motivation is basically motivation to perform a certain behavior based on the potential external rewards that an individual might receive as a result. Incentives such as food, money, approval, extra credit, and many more are things that lead people to be extrinsically motivated. These types of motives are just as powerful, and sometimes more powerful, than intrinsic motives. Extrinsic motivation also deals with incentives, consequences (reinforcers and punishers), and rewards. I thought the study of reinforcers with the child wearing his orthodontic gear was pretty interesting. It’s interesting to note that money worked better than praise and that money given immediately was more effective than giving the child the same amount of money at a later time. It reminds of times when my parents promised to give me money if I did certain chores around the house outside of my normal routine—I hated waiting for money and getting money was definitely better than being told “good job”. Something else I found interesting was the fact that so many people think punishing their children will result in the desire change of behavior when actually research suggests that punishment is an ineffective motivational strategy.
I do think that it’s possible to be intrinsically motivated yet still be paid because people can truly enjoy their work while at the same time enjoy getting a pay check. For school and career success, this chapter definitely offers a lot of information on how I can better motivate myself and others to reach my goals. One example of how I am extrinsically motivated is through getting paid to go to work. Work can also be intrinsically motivating because I truly enjoy my job and the things I’m learning through my job will help me greatly in future careers within the same field. I am both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to do well in school. I think getting an education is very important and I take school very seriously because I want to do well. I am also extrinsically motivated to do well in school because my parents reward me with various gifts (e.g., money) if I get good grades. Personally, I think I need to work on becoming more intrinsically motivated and a little less extrinsically motivated. I think some things, like money, can be very powerful in motivating me to behave in a certain way which might not be my best option in certain situations.
Summary of Chapter 5.
Chapter 5 discusses internal and external motivation. Internal motivation is something that is inside us which motivates us to do things we enjoy. It helps each person satisfy their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Extrinsic motivation is when things in the environment motivate us to do things. We do things to get something out of it. It could be an incentive, which experience has shown to lead to something good, consequences of reinforcements or punishments, or rewards. The chapter goes on to talk about incentives, consequences, and rewards, and discusses when they are effective and when they may harm internal motivation. That leads to the topic of why external motivators don’t always work. There are different types of external motivation, and they range from doing things to get the reward, to doing things because it is valuable to the person.
The most interesting thing learned in Chapter 5.
The fact that sometimes giving rewards decreases internal motivation is good for everyone to know. It does seem like we do a lot of things for rewards. I was wondering if rewards are ever good, but then it continued on to say that if the rewards are unexpected it doesn’t affect internal motivation.
Is it possible to be intrinsically motivated yet still be paid?
Yes, it is possible to be intrinsically motivated and still get paid. One example is going to school and receiving tuition reimbursement. I am intrinsically motivated to learn new things at school and to do well. I don’t go to school just for the reward of getting some of the money back.
Examples of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
One example of intrinsic motivation is doing Sudoku puzzles for the challenge of doing them. An example of extrinsic motivation is doing my homework by the deadline to get the maximal amount of points.
How did the chapter change your thinking about motivating yourself for school or career success?
It is interesting to think about what motivates me to go to school. At first, I thought it was mostly intrinsic motivation because I love learning new things, but then I realized that I do have some external motivation of the grades and the Degree at the end. I also see that I am mostly externally motivated for work. I don’t work and complete things by deadlines for the money, but I do like to be seen as valued and to gain my supervisor’s approval. It made me stop and think about everything that motivates me each day and that helps to learn what I can tell myself to get me to keep doing the positive things, like going to class, completing work projects, etc.
One thing throughout this chapter that was really interesting was that external rewards do not encourage people to consistently learn/do a behavior. For example, when bosses give bonuses during Christmas time; it does not really encourage staff to work harder. What a ton of money that could be saved, only if bosses would make a little effort to give unplanned verbal rewards like “hey, you did a really nice job on that spread sheet, I like the columns!”
On the other hand, people are externally rewarded with paychecks and therefore people go to work regularly. If there were not paychecks, it is doubtful that many people would be as consistent in attending work. However, there would be the select few people whose intrinsic motivation would encourage them to go to work everyday. This could be because their work is very rewarding, interesting, or fun. One question I have about this topic is: If paychecks were never invented, would people’s intrinsic motivation move them to complete their jobs anyway? In the chapter they talked about how if someone is internally motivated by an activity (reading) and then they were externally rewarded, then the behavior would decrease because the behavior would now only depend on the external reward because it trumps the internal reward.
In my own personal life it would take A LOT of interesting fun work to encourage me to go to work on my own. Right now, however, I am externally motivated to go to work because I receive money and experience in my field of study. In addition, many things internally motivate me as well. Some internally motivating things are competence (which I achieve by reading), relatedness (which I achieve by keeping in contact with friends and family), and contentedness (which I achieve by engaging in relaxing activities like taking walks, napping, drinking tea, and doing yoga).
The information in this chapter will change how I think about counseling clients I work with later when I am a counselor. I am excited to share information with parents about disciplining that is effective, which does not include spanking. I am confident having information from research to share with clients will allow me to be viewed as knowledgeable and to help client’s in the difficulties they may be experiencing in their lives. This chapter was extremely helpful because I learned meaningful ways understand extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and how to communicate them in terms I can apply to my future career.
Chapter five provides a thorough description of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. There are several aspects of each of these that demonstrate different ways and reasons people behave the way they do. Looking at intrinsic and extrinsic motivation provides insight into exactly how people become motivated towards certain behaviors. The chapter discusses things like rewards, reinforcers (positive and negative) as well as punishments. All of these things are considered to be potential motivators but are used in different ways and often lead to different outcomes. I think it is also important to note that not everyone responds the same way to the same motivator. For example, one person may respond well to rewards, and increase the desirable behavior in order to continue receiving the reward; while someone else may not be motivated by the reward and not continue the behavior because they may see the reward as not worth the effort of the behavior. Overall, intrinsic and extrinsic are simple in description and theory but are much more complex in practice and function.
The most interesting section to me is discussion of motivators’ effect on performance. In the beginning, the chapter talks about how creativity is often decreased when an extrinsic reward is offered. In the first blog of the semester we were asked to pick a topic that was interesting- I picked a section on punishment and watched a posted clip about how research has shown that when a reward is offered people’s critical thinking/problem solving and creativity diminishes. However, when the task was mundane and very simple, an external reward actually increased performance. I cannot help but think about the workplace with this scenario. Most jobs consist of some level of problem solving and in the workplace we typically see external rewards for performance. Clearly, based on the research, managers should be attempting to instill either identified regulation or integrated regulation into employees. While employees that are intrinsically motivated to perform well are extremely valuable, intrinsic motivation is much more difficult to teach and instill in people. External motivators are much more easily manipulated. Therefore, we need to look at more than just monetary rewards to motivate employees. Using something like goal-setting or competition can cause intrinsic motivation because the employees get some reward for simply winning rather than getting an extrinsic reward.
I think it’s absolutely possible to be intrinsically motivated and still be paid; in fact I think that most people experience this in their professions. People have a desire to have a job with meaning and challenge, therefore they have intrinsic motivation in their work (obviously this is not the case for everyone). However, it is also important to note that people are less likely to do a job in which they are not getting paid because they need to get paid to sustain their livelihood.
The chapter made me think more about how to motivate people. Research shows that money is not the most important motivator in a job, and rather that intrinsic motivators are often more important. At the very least, people need to be motivated using techniques other than money, including goal-setting either individually or as an entire company. I think that in an organizational setting, it is very difficult to motivate subordinates; I think as a first step company’s need to integrate research on motivation into their practices because right now, there is a clear disconnect between the two.
In chapter 5, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is discussed. Intrinsic motivation is defined as, "inherent propensity to engage one's interests and to exercise one's capacity and in doing so, to seek out and master optimal challenges". This means that people act in a certain way or express certain behaviors because of their pleasures and desires. Intrinsic motivation also stems from the human's psychological need to strive and grow. It is mentioned that though there is no specific or instrumental reason for intrinsic motivation to arise, it promotes better well being in people and it is reported to cause feelings of freedom, competence, and the ability to feel emotionally close to another person. An example of intrinsic motivation would be participating in intramural sports while in college. Though a person may not be receiving a scholarship or other benefits that collegiate athletes might have, they still participate for the pure enjoyment. Whether they like the competition, the sport itself, or just the social aspect of it, this person is experiencing intrinsic motivation for they are choosing to do something they find pleasure in.
Extrinsic motivation on the other hand can be defined as something that arises from an "in order to" motivation. This meaning that a person does something for something. The sort of "what's in it for me" mentality. When a person is extrinsically motivated, they are not practicing that behavior out of pleasure or enjoyment, it is because they are expecting to receive something from that action. A good example of this could be, well, the liberal arts core. Though some classes may be enjoyable, most college students have to take some sort of class with the LAC that they find difficult, boring, or stupid. Even with negative beliefs such as these, many will still do the homework, take the tests, and do what they need in order to pass the class. This is because if they do they are one step closer to receiving their college degree. So when you do the liberal arts core classes you may not like, you are doing it because you get some type of reward in the end.
The rest of the chapter goes onto talk about the positive and negative effects of rewards and extrinsic motivation. One important and surprising thing I found within the chapter is the self determination theory. It seems to be rather plausible. A person cannot escape from extrinsic motivation, so the four types of extrinsic motivation help an individual realize how great their performance and development will be.
I believe that it is possible for a person to be intrinsically motivated and still be paid. This can occur when the incentive is not the pay or benefits, but when a person enters into a field that they truly enjoy. This can be a wide range of areas. One including, athletes. Though kids may know that athletes get paid well, this is not the reason many will pick up on a sport, it is usually due to interest or enjoyment. Another example would be teaching. Teachers do not make the best money yet many stay devoted for the love of actual teaching. So, if the incentive is entering in a field one enjoys and love, then the pay would not effect the decision.
This information will help me when it comes to motivating myself because I will be able to evaluate whether I am doing something because I simply enjoy it and want to, or is it because I am seeking some sort of reward or benefit. If I am able to identify this, then I will know how I can incorporate it more appropriately in my life. If I am extrinsically motivated, I can ask myself do I really want or need to be doing this, or I can say how can I find some other sort of pleasure in this and how can I integrate myself more.
Chapter five explains the difference between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is driven by individual interest to fulfill autonomy, competence, and relatedness, (physiological needs.) Intrinsic motivation is important because it promotes desirable behaviors such as; creativity, conceptual understanding, persistence, and subjective well-being. An individual undergoes operant conditioning via incentives, reinforcers, consequences, and rewards, (extrinsic motivation.) Being extrinsically motivated can be harmful and damaging to one’s intrinsic motivation. Extrinsically motivating an individual can actually decrease their intrinsic motivation and they may lose interest in that particular behavior. An individual that is extrinsically motivated focusing more on the reward than the task/behavior at hand. Not all extrinsic motivation is harmful. Reward can be useful only if it is unexpected. It also depends on the type of extrinsic motivation. The different types are categorized by the degree of autonomy.
I was very surprised to learn that extrinsic motivation can be quite damaging to an individual. It is difficult to imagine doing something you love and then being paid to continue the behavior only to lose interest. The preschool experiment demonstrated this very clearly.
I think that it is still possible to be intrinsically while being paid. There are a few individuals who love and enjoy their day to day jobs and obviously get paid. It becomes evident that an individual is intrinsically motivated when they are positive, upbeat, show and interest to learn, thorough with their work, and eagerness to return the next day.
Most of the time I am intrinsically motivated to come to class and do my homework, however, this semester I am taking mostly liberal art classes and have found it extremely difficult to complete my homework. Although most of the homework for my liberal arts core is much easier than biology/chemistry courses I find that this semester is dragging on. The job I’ve been holding is with a financial institution, which is nowhere near my field, and I absolutely dread going into work. I am purely extrinsically motivated. All I really care about is paying my bills. In fact I find that I am more motivated in my classed because I know that graduating will eventually allow me to quit my current job. This could be an example of a negative reinforce. I completely understand how extrinsic motivation can undermine intrinsic motivation. I began college because I love learning and being in a class room. I am in a major that captures my interest. But through the past three years grades, possibility of graduate school, expense of tuition, and current detestable job now motivate me to complete college successfully. I know that many times I jam difficult classes together in order to save myself additional tuition cost. When I jam difficult classes together I simply study to do well on the test and therefore after the class I do not remember the material as well. This chapter is a nice reminder that for me, college should be about fulfilling my eagerness to learn about topics that interest me.
Chapter five talks about what gets us motivated! Everyone needs to be motivated to do something, whether it’s studying or doing day-to-day chores. Sure, these activities might not be the highlight to everyone’s day, that’s why we have rewards and reinforcers. Rewards are used every day by teachers, professors, managers/bosses, and parents. The rewards can be a gold star from a teacher, good grades from a professor, a raise from your boss, or a couple dollars from your parents. Other than the rewards and the reinforcer, the chapter mainly focuses on two things; Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations. An intrinsic motivation is based off of one’s interest. Extrinsic is based off of the consequence, example from the book, to get “this”, “that” must be done.
I found a couple things that surprised me. The first one has to do with punishers. I was surprised to see that spanking a child for doing something wrong can affect them in the long run. The effects can be anti-social behavior, poor mental health, and future crime behavior. I never really thought that spanking could lead to these things. The next was the example of the children drawing. Splitting children up into three groups, one group would be expecting a reward, one wouldn’t get a reward, and the other would get on unexpected reward, were study over a couple of weeks. What they found was that the group that was expecting the reward started to show less interest and spent less time in the drawing. While in the other two groups stayed the same. Which leads me to my last shocking discovery! Praise rates over rewards! Meaning a “Good Job” does better than a sticker or money over time. I thought the money would take the top spot. Looks like I was wrong.
I think that you can still be motivated (intrinsically) and get paid for it. It goes to the saying “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life”. I think it’s all in the matter of finding that job, the one the really gets you interest. Once you do, I believe you can have that every day motivation to go to work without having to rely on the week to week paycheck.
Getting motivated intrinsically and extrinsically! Extrinsically, I do like to get good grades. In order to get good grades, I have to do my homework and study. Intrinsically, I like to draw. It can be challenge. There’s always the one thing that looks out of place and has to be fixed! In the end I feel that I have accomplished something and it makes me feel good.
This chapter showed me the two different ways to be motivated. I’m doing something because I have to, or simply because I enjoy doing something that makes me happy. It’s something that I never really thought of until now. I never thought about what motivates me to do what I’m doing. It also taught me good and not so good ways to get people motivated. I now know that praising someone will last a lot better than bribing them with candy.
Summarize the chapter.
Chapter 5 discusses intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is when a person is doing something for internal reasons. Extrinsic motivation is when they are doing something for a reward or due to outside sources. Intrinsic motivation tends to be more powerful and produces benefits such as persistence, creativity, conceptual understanding, and subjective well-being. Extrinsic motivation is based around the idea of operant conditioning and is mainly motivated by incentives, consequences, and rewards. There are also two types of reinforcers. Positive reinforcers mean that the person gets something for that behavior such as a trophy or paycheck. Negative reinforcers mean that something unpleasant is taken away. In the movie “Cast Away”, Chuck knocks out his tooth, and it is negatively reinforced because he no longer has a toothache. Both of these cause the behavior to happen more often. The Cognitive Evaluation theory states that all external events have a controlling and informational aspect. This states that all events are motivated extrinsically because they at least provide autonomy and competence. The chapter also discusses four different types of extrinsic motivation including external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and integrated regulation. External regulation is motivated by wanting to earn incentives or avoid consequences. Introjected regulation is motivated by avoiding guilt and boosting self-esteem. Identified regulation is motivated by self-worth. Integrated regulation is motivated by personal values. The end of the chapter is about how to motivate others to do tasks they don’t want to. One of the tips they offered was try to make the task seem worth doing.
What was the most surprising/interesting thing you learned?
I did not realize how many different types of extrinsic motivation there are, and it seems like anything can be said to be extrinsically motivated. The example in the book shows four different ways someone may be extrinsically motivated to recycle. I also think the integrated and identified regulation may be bordering on intrinsic motivation. I have heard that there is no such thing as a selfless act, depending on how you look at it, and I have always tried to disagree with that. However, the extrinsic motivation information in this chapter made it difficult to find something this is completely intrinsically motivated.
Is it possible to be intrinsically motivated yet still be paid?
I think it is possible to get paid and be intrinsically motivated to do a task. I work with people with disabilities and a majority of the time I really enjoy my job. I enjoy being able to help these people and making a difference in their lives. It helps me to feel competent and allows me to relate to others. However, I probably would not do my job on such a regular basis without the extrinsic motivation of a paycheck. I think people who are intrinsically motivated to do their jobs are the ones that stay in a position longer and really enjoy their lives.
What are some examples of how you are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated?
I am intrinsically motivated to get an education, spend time with friends, volunteer at a school for children with special needs, and read a book. Though I am intrinsically motivated to do these things, I could be extrinsically motivated to do the same tasks. I read books to get ready for a quiz in class, go to class to get a good grade, go to work to get a paycheck, and do my dishes to avoid my roommates getting upset.
How will information from this chapter change how you think about motivating yourself for school/career success?
The biggest thing I can change is trying to make my motivation intrinsic rather than extrinsic. For example, I do homework to avoid the consequences of not doing it, which is extrinsic motivation. However, I am intrinsically motivated to get my degree to feel competent. If I look at my homework as a way to make me more competent, I may be more likely to spend the amount of time it requires than if I do it to avoid consequences. I also tend to get so busy with tasks that I am extrinsically motivated to do such as work and homework, and I need to make sure to make time for tasks that I am intrinsically motivated to do.
In chapter 5 the author’s main emphasis is on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The motivation decision making process is controlled by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation comes from within; it is people’s inherit propensity to engage in one’s interests and to exercise one’s capacities. This can lead to people seeking out challenges that push them to their optimal limits, thus the challenge itself being the main motivating factor. On the other end of the spectrum is extrinsic motivation. And extrinsic motivation arises from environmental incentives and consequences. Some examples of those would include: money, special privileges, scholarships, prizes, etc. In the same breath, some extrinsic motivators can be consequences as well, and those would include: not receiving a bonus that others received due to a high level of performance, criticism, having to work late because a project wasn’t completed, etc. The author also explains both the positive and negative effects on using extrinsic motivators and whether or not it is the best way to controls one’s behaviors.
The most interesting thing to me from this chapter is the self-determination continuum showing types of motivation. I find this interesting because of the way it breaks down the different forms of motivation into regulatory styles, perceived locus of causality and relevant regulatory process. In doing this the book gives an in-depth analysis of the varying levels of motivation from amotivation, which is essentially no motivation at all to extrinsic motivation which within itself has varying levels and then finally to intrinsic motivation which is complete involvement for fun and enjoyment. This continuum can help explain how motivation works at the most basic level to someone with no background in motivation at all. The author also mentions that by using this continuum and identifying/understanding the different types of motivation, we can understand people’s motivational state and how it relates to what they feel, what they think and what they do.
In my opinion I absolutely believe that you can be both intrinsically motivated and get paid at the same time. I know of a lot of people that absolutely love their job and couldn’t see themselves doing anything else, but they still get paid. Someone can love what they do but they still have the basic need of earning money to provide food, water and shelter for their family. Without getting paid for their services they couldn’t survive which after all is a basic human instinct. On a much larger scale would be professional athletes; yes I realize that they are paid a ridiculous amount of money to play a game, but they are the best at what they do. An example that I plan on using might not please a lot of people, but I believe that Brett Favre’s passion for the game is unmatched. He held on to his career too long not because of the money, but instead because he loved to play the game. You could see his passion and excitement in the way he conducted himself on the field. He is a perfect example of someone being intrinsically motivated, but being paid at the same time.
In my life I have a lot of different motivators, both intrinsic and extrinsic. Some extrinsic motivators would be getting an A in all of my classes, working to make money, exercising to have a body that girls like and to graduate college so I can get a high paying job. Some intrinsic motivators of mine include not eating fast food so I feel healthier and better about myself, volunteer to know that I helping others and making a difference in their lives and finally participating in sports because I love competition and playing the games themselves.
Looking at this chapter and the using the information that I learned, I realize that being intrinsically motivated will take you a lot further in life and help you “stick with” whatever you may be doing. But with that said I don’t believe I can just flip a switch and be like, “im going to start being intrinsically motivated to this and that.” That isn’t how it works, therefore I don’t necessarily believe that this chapter will help me “change” how I get motivated, it will just help me to understand the “why” of being motivated.
Chapter 5 is about the differences between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and defines both in detail. Extrinsic motivation comes from outside environmental incentives (and consequences). Some examples are money, gold stars, special privileges, awards, food, approval and applause (to name just a few!). Intrinsic motivation comes from within the individual. It stems from psychological needs to grow and achieve things. Intrinsic motivation evolves from self-interest purposes.
Intrinsic motivation is very important and is the most successful motivator for the long-term. It provides many benefits to an individual such as greater persistence, conceptual understanding, higher-quality learning, creativity and optimal functioning and well-being.
Extrinsic motivation often involves three major concepts: Incentives, which attract a person towards an action or away from an action (e.g., giving an employee a day off every two months for perfect attendance); Consequences, which involves the use of reinforcers and punishers. Reinforcers can be positive or negative but both have to increase the behavior (e.g., a positive reinforcer would be allowance given at the end of the week if chores are done. A negative reinforcer would be taking Tylenol for a headache to get rid of the pain). Punishers decrease the probability of behavior in the future (e.g., speeding tickets); Finally, Rewards involve the exchange between one person and another for one person’s achievement (mother offers her son a smile when he looks both ways before crossing the street).
Extrinsic motivation has fewer positive effects than intrinsic motivation does. This is because they decrease autonomy, the rewards become expected and become more harm than good and the learning process is tampered with. Researchers agree that intrinsic motivation is healthier and produces higher competence and greater autonomy.
It is possible to be intrinsically motivated and still be paid. For example, let’s pretend that cosmetologist has to complete continuing education hours in order to keep working at her job (getting paid) and keep her license. She really wants to branch off her business to include wax jobs and nail art. She has the freedom to choose which continuing education classes to attend. She is getting paid for these hours (extrinsic motivation) and she is getting to attend classes she feels are important to her clients and that interest her (intrinsic motivation).
An example of how I am extrinsically motivated is through my part-time job waiting tables. I have no desire to be a waitress but I like the money I can earn through tips. The more tips I make, the longer I tend to work.
An example of how I am intrinsically motivated is through my membership in Psych Club here at UNI. I think the extra time spent going to meetings is worth it because it will look good when I apply for grad school. The same thing could be said for doing an internship later this year. I will not get paid for it, however, I believe it will better prepare me for the future and it will look good for future employers.
Reading this chapter allowed me to examine all the things I am doing for school and my future career and figuring out exactly what is causing me to take the actions that I am taking. It also really made me think about how I put extra effort into classes I believe will really help me in my future career (intrinsic motivation, identified regulation) and how I put extra effort into classes where I receive positive feedback from my professors (rewards).
Chapter 5 largely deals with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. It explains that intrinsic motivation comes from a need that is inside a person. The behavior that is consequently motivated can fulfill a person’s autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, arises from environmental incentives and consequences. It also explains extrinsic motivation in the terms of reinforcement, punishment, and reward.
The most interesting thing I read was about the intrinsically motivated behaviors. It was surprising because I never thought of my own personal choices of behavior as a way to achieve autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Looking back, it makes a lot of sense. I suppose I am surprised because I typically do whatever is best for me at the time (my behavior). It’s weird that I was fulfilling some personal goals that I never really thought much about. Like there is an unconscious will to do things well on you own and socialize outward.
I believe it is possible to be intrinsically motivated and get money as a reward. It would be hard though. A person would have to consciously remind themselves that they are doing this job because they love it or that they want to help other people. It is very likely that most people would stop working if they never got a paycheck. I think it’s safe to say that no one would ever get a psych major (or any major) if people told them that the only jobs available are ones without pay. I still think it’s possible to be intrinsically motivated and receive money as long as the pay is trivial. Too much money and the person won’t care about how much they like doing the job.
I have two jobs at the moment. Both are part-time and involve hard labor. I enjoy these two jobs, but I would leave if I didn’t get paid money. I also show up on time so that I don’t lose my positions. These are two examples of how I am extrinsically motivated to work. I would say that I am intrinsically motivated to read. I don’t particularly enjoy reading textbooks, but I do like to read novels in my free time. Heck, I plan on having a library in my future home someday. I know there are many people that do not enjoy reading, but it helps me relax and feel good. Plus I always get a sense of accomplishment after finishing a book.
I suppose this chapter has helped me get a picture of the state of consciousness I will need as a future school counselor for high school. I suppose I will have to remind myself that I am there to help students more than being there to get paid. I do not want to arrive at work and wait out the clock till I can go home and relax (the strategy I was at my two other jobs). I would actually want to be involved in the school community and truly be there for any students that need help.
The chapter talks about extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation can be broken down into incentives, consequences, and rewards. Incentives occur before behavior, consequence are reinforcing or punishing behavior, and rewards are offered in exchange for services, usually positive consequences.
Intrinsic motivation is the motivation that is inside of us. Extrinsic motivation can increase or decrease intrinsic motivation.
After the discussion on types of motivation, the chapter concludes with discussion about motivating others, controlling motivation, and unintended consequences.
I thought the talk about unintended side effects, was very interesting. The authors talk in steps about how to motivate someone or make them think it is worth their time and interest and vs. not worth their time and interest. Establishing that interest is the key to increased performance and positive outcomes. People perform at a higher level if they are interested in the topic or activity.
It is possible to be intrinsically motivated yet still be paid because people are motivated for a variety of reasons. This motivation can come in many forms and are in many different jobs. Just because a job pays well or does not pay well, does not mean that the major motivation for the job is the money. People care about many different things and to generalize this is not appropriate in this case.
I am intrinsically motivated because I enjoy having things done a certain way. I want things to be right and enjoy the personal satisfaction of a job well done. I am also extrinsically motivated because it is impossible not to be. Society has influence as well as friends and family. It is impossible for this to not have an effect good or bad.
The information in this chapter will make me more aware of my actions and whose thoughts inspired those actions. It makes me think about why I am the way that I am and why I care about the things that I do. It will guide my thinking about my goals, professional and business, and what types of jobs that I will look for.
Chapter 5 is about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is defined in the book as the inherent propensity to engage one’s interests and to exercise one’s capacities and, in doing so, to seek out and master optimal challenges. Intrinsic motivation is a natural motivation that comes from people’s needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Some benefits of intrinsic motivation are persistence, creativity, conceptual understanding/high-quality learning, and optimal functioning and well-being. Next the book talks about extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation arises from environmental incentives and consequences, such as food, money, praise, ect. This type of motivation arises from a “do this and you will get that” behavioral contract. The book also talks about incentives, consequences, and rewards. In class we talked about the different kinds of these things. A positive reinforcer is adding something that will increase the future probability of the desired behavior. A negative reinforcer is any environmental stimulus that when taken away increases future the probability of the desired behavior. A punisher is any environmental stimulus that decreases the future probability of the undesired behavior. It has been found that using positive reinforcers are the most effective in making the desired behavior more frequent. The negative reinforcer is the next most effective and the punishment is the least effective of the three. Rewards should only be given for a behavior if the behavior is something that the person does not really enjoy doing or wouldn’t do if they didn’t have to. If the person is already doing something or they enjoy doing it, giving a reward might actually draw away from the enjoyment they get from doing the activity.
The most surprising thing I learned from this chapter is that positive reinforcement is the best way to get people to do the things that you want them to do. I have always thought that by punishing someone for their bad behavior it would make them not do it again.
It is possible to still be intrinsically motivated and be paid. An example of this would be when someone has a job that they absolutely love. They are doing what they love to do; getting paid to do it is just an added bonus to the job.
I am intrinsically motivated when I get enough sleep. For me, getting enough sleep makes me to be in a better mood and will have more energy to do certain things throughout the day. I am extrinsically motivated by the weather sometimes. If it is really cold out, I have no motivation to go outside. I just want to lie in my warm bed all day long even though I might have a ton of things to do in the day.
Chapter 5 is about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is when you are motivated to do something because you enjoy it and it interests you. Extrinsic motivation comes from environmental incentives and consequences. Incentives and consequences motivate you to do something or not. This chapter also covers positive and negative reinforcement and punishment. Positive reinforcement means adding something to increase future behavior while negative reinforcement means taking something away to increase future behavior. Positive punishment is adding something to decrease a future behavior (spanking) and negative punishment is taking something away to decrease a future behavior (take away video game). It has been recognized that punishment is not effective while reinforcement has been seen to be effective. Rewards are also discussed. They can have the effect of undermining intrinsic motivation and diminishing interest in the activity. This chapter is basically about effectively manipulating others’ behaviors.
I think the most surprising thing I learned in this chapter is the unintended side effects of using rewards. Giving a reward to someone who is already doing a behavior kills their intrinsic motivation to do that behavior. Rewards also can harm the quality of learning. In a school setting, rewards distract children from actually working to understand the material and draw attention to gaining that reward. Constant rewards can also mess up a person’s ability to properly self-regulate behavior. For example, if chores are always rewarded, a person might not be able to learn the true point of the chores and therefore may not be able to know when they ought to be done. The better thing to do than to offer a reward for a behavior is to explain why the behavior is necessary or helpful. It should be explained what will be accomplished from a behavior and why the outcome is important.
On the topic of being intrinsically motivated while getting paid, I believe this is possible. If you enjoy what you are doing and you want to be doing your job because of that, you are intrinsically motivated. Money is still an extrinsic motivator in the situation but it may not be the dominate motivator. Not everyone goes into their career solely for the money. Most go into their career because they believe that they will find enjoyment from their work. If they do, they will be intrinsically motivated to go back to work every day and not just work because of the extrinsic motivation of a paycheck.
One thing that I’m intrinsically motivated to do is create social time. I love hanging out with friends but I don’t have much time with school and work. My intrinsic motivation to socialize is powerful enough that I make the time. An extrinsic motivator that I have is studying. I do not enjoy studying but the incentive is there for me to study because if I don’t I might fail my tests. I would never study for my own personal enjoyment. There has always been some outside reason (obtaining a decent grade) for me to study for a test.
I think I would like to be more intrinsically motivated. My job right now is not permanent and I only work there because they pay me. With my future career, I hope to enjoy what I do and want to go to work as opposed to dreading it. At my old job, I was both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated. I had a job because I needed the money but at the same time, I really liked what I did and I had fun. I want to have that again and hopefully I will. I believe that it will be necessary for me to be intrinsically motivated to do my job in order to be successful and happy in it.
Chapter five discussed the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is defined as the inherent desire to engage in one's interests. In other words, a person emits a behavior because they want to, rather than have someone offer an incentive. Intrinsic motivation can be described by psychological need satisfaction which has three aspects: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. As humans, we naturally want to meet all of these needs and to do so, we behave in certain ways. This is intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is created by the environment that gives someone a reason to engage in a behavior. In other words, there is someone or something else that is encouraging the person to emit a certain behavior. Incentives are benefits known before the behavior has occurred, such as a $10,000 reward for finding a lost puppy. Consequences refer to how the behavior is either punished or reinforced AFTER it has occurred. Throughout the chapter, the authors offer suggestions and review past research on the pros and cons of punishment and reinforcement.
I found the section about how to get someone intrinsically motivated to do an uninteresting task very interesting. Let's face it, there are many unpleasant tasks that each of us must complete every day. While none of us inherently want to do them, we still have to. What often motivates us to do these behaviors, such as work, is controlled by the environment. While extrinsic motivation must exist, it is important to attempt to get the subject to find a reason for it to be intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation causes the person to engage in the behavior in its persistence, creativity and conceptual learning. In other words, those who are intrinsically motivated to complete a task do so with ease, and enjoyment while getting more out of it.
Though money is an extrinsic motivation, I believe it is possible to complete a task while being paid and still be intrinsically motivated. For many years, I played in a band. I joined the band in order to make music and be creative with my friends. This was an intrinsic motivation. After some time, we began playing shows and started to see money rolling in. Though we were getting paid for this task, we still enjoyed the making music and playing for others part the most rewarding. We used money to support our band, not to support ourselves. I suppose in this non profit type of scheme, it is possible to be intrinsically motivated while being paid.
This chapter made me think about my behaviors and why I emit them. For many people, college is an extrinsic motivation. Whether it's societal demands or their parents forcing them to do well. I've realized that I enjoy going to school, more so than I like working. I enjoy being around other people and learning about psychology. I am extrinsically motivated to work however. I spend my days in a grocery store stocking shelves and I find it is quite difficult to find rationale to make it intrinsically rewarding. This chapter made me think about why I am in college. I've realized that it isn't because our culture tells us to, but rather I value my education. I want a career that I enjoy and wouldn't have to get paid to do if it weren't necesary. This is my intrinsic motivation.
Chapter five was all about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. By saying, “I am doing this because it is fun and/or interesting to me” is to be intrinsically motivated. Intrinsic motivation has three basic needs to fulfill: Autonomy, competence, and relatedness. There are many benefits of intrinsic motivation. Persistence is one of these benefits. If the organism is intrinsically motivated to do something they will keep doing it for a longer amount of time than if they were extrinsically motivated. To say, “I’ll do this in order to get that” is to be extrinsically motivated. There are four main types of extrinsic motivation: 1. External regulation, 2. Introjected regulation, 3. Identified regulation, and 4. Integrated regulation. To put it simply, the desire to complete a given task is coming from an external source, such as a boss offering a pay raise. To become motivated, there has to be an incentive. This incentive causes an organism to react and that behavioral response has a consequence. This is the breakdown of the external regulation of motivation. The rewards one receives for doing something often times have hidden costs. Among these hidden costs is the fact that rewards undermine intrinsic motivation. Rewards also interfere with the quality and process of learning. Lastly, rewards interfere with the capacity for autonomous self-regulation. To dig down a little more deeply, there are both positive and negative reinforcers as well as positive and negative punishments. Positive reinforcement is adding something good to increase the likely hood of the specified behavior. Negative reinforcement is taking away something that was most likely annoying or irritating to reinforce the behavior. Positive punishment is adding something such as spanking to the situation while negative punishment is taking away something an organism likes, such as a video game system. Punishment has many negative side effects such as negative emotionality, impaired relationships, and it also produces negative modeling for the punishee. The chapter goes on to explain how to motivate others. To do this, one needs to provide rational, or answer to “why do I have to do this?” Also, they would need to build an interest in the task first.
The most surprising and interesting thing I learned was about the hidden costs of reward. I would have assumed that paying someone to do something they already like is just like icing on the cake. Isn’t that all of our goals though? To pursue a career we love and enjoy and don’t hate getting up every morning to go to? So if I obtain such a position and get a raise will that change my intrinsic motivation that has been established all throughout my undergraduate years? Just a thought. A scary thought.
So that basically leads into the next topic. Being intrinsically motivated while being paid. Yes I believe that is absolutely possible until the payment comes too often as a reward for too many tasks. Then one would be waiting for the next big paycheck constantly instead of focusing on what was originally intrinsically motivating.
I am extrinsically motivated to complete my school work in order to obtain good grades. I am extrinsically motivated to work to obtain a pay check. I am intrinsically motivated to play with and take care of my puppy, or animals in general. I am intrinsically motivated to babysit my little brother, usually for free, but when I am paid I have actually forgotten the money on my mom’s counter numerous times.
This chapter has REALLY got me thinking. All through class I sat there nitpicking all the things my parents did for me versus what they do now for my younger siblings. Also, I will change in the way I order my behaviors. According to the premack principle, I should do things I enjoy the least first, and things I enjoy the most last.
Chapter 5 is all about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation means you do it out of pure pleasure. Benefits of intrinsic motivation include persistence, creativity, conceptual understanding/high-quality learning, and optimal functioning & well-being. Extrinsic motivation comes from environmental incentives and consequences separate from the activity itself. Incentives occur before a behavior and attract/repel someone toward/away that particular action. Incentives differ from consequences by when each occurs and how each motivates behavior. There are two kinds of consequences: reinforcers and punishers and they can either be positive (add) or negative (take away). Reinforcers are used to increase a certain behavior, and punishers are used to decrease a certain behavior. Positive reinforcers are sometimes confused with rewards. Rewards are an exchange between people of any offering for service/achievement. To differentiate, all positive reinforcers are rewards but only some rewards are positive reinforcers. Rewards work because they enliven a positive emotion (dopamine) and facilitate behavior (BAS); however, punishers are ineffective due to the "side effects" that occur (negative emotionality, impaired relationship between punisher and punishee, and negative modeling). There are hidden costs of reward: undermining intrinsic motivation, interfering with quality and process of learning, and interfering with capacity for autonomous self-regulation. These can be avoided by using unexpected and intangible (verbal: i.e, praise) rewards. However, no matter what the reward is, it can be useful by making an uninteresting task seem appealing. Other ways to motivate others to do uninteresting activities is to offer a rationale (verbal explanation of why putting forth effort during the activity might be useful/important) and building interest whether it be situational (short-term) or individual (developed over time).
According to the cognitive evaluation theory, all external events have both a controlling and informational aspect. There are four types of extrinsic motivation. External regulation is not autonomous and is done to obtain a reward. Introjected regulation is somewhat autonomous and is used out of guilt or to feel good about self. Identified regulation is mostly autonomous and is done because the behavior is thought as important or useful. Integrated regulation is completely autonomous and is about involving your values with the behavior.
What was the most surprising/interesting thing you learned?
The most interesting thing to me was the fact that punishment is ineffective. It made my life make more sense. I was rarely ever punished (partly because my parents did not know how to punish me - I would always find something else to replace my punishment). However, I was always praised and reinforced.
Is it possible to be intrinsically motivated yet still be paid?
I believe it is possible to be intrinisically motivated and still be paid. The situation I think most of is when a person loves their job but still gets paid every two weeks or so. I am one of these people. I love my job on campus and I still get paid, plus I have extra incentive because I have work study.
What are some examples of how you are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated?
I am intrinsically motivated to do a variety of things. Whenever I take pictures I do it for the joy of it. I also like the challenge of puzzles and trivia (i.e, Wheel of Fortune). As for being extrinsically motivated, getting good grades and scholarship money motivates me to stay focused on my schoolwork and doing well in classes.
How will information from this chapter change how you think about motivating yourself for school/career success?
It makes me think about which classes I am more motivated to do the work for and what makes me more motivated for those classes. Something that wasn't discussed in the chapter but today in class was the Premack Principle. This made me think about how I prioritize the tasks on my to-do list and how I will change that in the future.
The focus of this chapter was intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is an inherent want to behave in a way that fulfills our interests and challenges. Basically, if we engage in some sort of activity or behavior simpily because we like to this is intrinsic motivation. There is no reward or incentives that are motivating us to act in a certain way. Intrinsic motivation has the best outcomes for individuals as far as performance and learning is concerned. The majority of the chapter was spent discussing extrinsic motivation. As opposed to intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation occurs when someone behaves or acts in a certain way because of some sort of incentive. Incentives can be anything from money, trophies, praise from others, or even something negative like punishment. To be more specific there are incentives, consequences and rewards related to extrinsic motivation. Consequences include positve and negative reinforcement and punishment. Positive reinforcement is giving something good to a person and that behavior will increase. Negative reinforcement is taking away something aversive from a person and will also increase the frequency of the behavior. A punishment can give or take something away from a person but it results in the behavior happening less frequently.
I thought that the most interesting thing about these types of motivation is just how detrimental extrinsic motivation can be. It is easy to understand that being intrinsically motivated to do something at a basic level is going to be better. But reading how much worse people will learn/perform with being extrinsically motivated was surprising. I think that it is also important to understand the differences between being solely motivated by something extrinsic like money or a gold star and combinations of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation combined. I do believe that it is quite possible to be intrinsically motivated a be paid at the same time. I think this is seen all the time with just how much people love their jobs. People love to work and it has been shown that even if someone wins the lottery it is highly likely that they will continue to work. Money is something that is necessary to live so it can not easily be factored out of what someone does in their daily life. You could also take into account all of the time people spend volunteering during and outside of their work place. I think that one of the clearest examples of my intrinsic motivation is my dedication to working out. I love everything about working out and I will do it at least three times a week. If I miss one of my regular work out days I will almost always make it up by going to the gym the next day. An example of how I am extrinsically motivated would be waking up and going to work everyday. I am motivated by the fact that I am rewarded with money but I am also motivated by the students that I teach. Often times there is no one signed up to take a class with me in the morning but I always show up. There is always the slightest chance that someone could walkin and expect the class to still be taught and that is a motivator to show up each day. I think that the most useful information from this chapter will be the idea that trying to move something from a purely extrinsic motivational stand point to more of an intrinsic motivator will be extremely helpful in everything that you do.
Chapter 5’s Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivations reveals the source of motivation. While you cannot determine intrinsic or extrinsic behavior solely by observing behavior, you should be able to indentify feelings associated with honest interest that reveals joy and a sense of competence in optimally completing a task.
One of the most interesting aspects within this chapter is to realize how detrimental extrinsic motivational rewards and incentives can be to the development of autonomy within the self. I was aware of it after reading the chapter but as I listened in lecture today I was sadly surprised by the over use in our educational institutions specifically. I guess I had never made the connection to the use (over use) of offering incentives when I now realize that an “A” does not equal superior understanding or application of the contextual material.
I am sure that it is very possible; and for some individuals, very probable to be intrinsically motivated and paid. The first example of an intrinsically motivated professional is found in a book I am reading about a Gerontology Doctor who draws one of the least paid professions within the field of medicine. He willingly chose to work with the elderly in the field of Gerontology because he understands the profound need within the elderly population and one of the most overlooked aspects within the health care is directly related to the overall wellbeing of individual. A second example can be seen within the teacher who is intrinsically motivated because they have a passion to help students understand and learn (conceptually). Many times the student is not even aware that they are learning because it feels more like a conversation with a caring person.
I am intrinsically motivated to do my best in my educational pursuit because I want to be prepared to help individuals who want to better themselves or make better choices for themselves. I know that to do this I need to better understand how individuals are motivated and how to manipulate that motivation for change and personal improvement. I am extrinsically motivated by my employer, by my healthcare insurance provider and the law to name a few of the most immediate thoughts because extrinsic motivation is available every day.
The information from chapter five makes me more aware of the ways I am motivated within certain situations of my education that I have not been aware of before. There have been too many classes where I can now identify how I have been trained to parrot information because the instructor was motivated to impress the class with his understanding (perspectives). I can now honestly feel as though I am prepared to pursue graduate school because of the focus change away from grades and toward understanding and application.
Summarize the chapter –
Chapter 5 covers intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and the regulation of motivation. Intrinsic motivation is defined as the inherent propensity to engage one’s interests and to exercise one’s capacities and, in doing so, to seek out and master optimal challenges. An example of this would be to read a new book that is by your favorite author. Extrinsic motivation is defined as the motivation that arises from environmental incentives and consequences. Examples would be rewards or punishments for performing an act such as how much you study for a test determines your grade. There are three main types of regulators of behavior; incentives, consequences, and rewards. Incentives is defined as an environmental even that attracts or repels a person toward or away from a initiating a particular course of action. An example of an incentive would be your phone vibrating letting you know you have a text message. There are two types of consequences: reinforcers and punishers. The book states that there are positive and negative reinforcers. A positive reinforcement is any environmental stimulus that when added increases future probability of the desired behavior. A negative reinforcement is any environmental stimulus that when removed increases the future probability of the desired behavior. A punisher is defined as any environmental stimulus that when presented decreases the future probability of the undesired behavior.
What was the most surprising/interesting thing you learned?
The most surprising thing that I learned was that punishers work poorly when trying to influence future behavior. If you think back throughout your day you don’t have to look very far before you notice an act that you could’ve committed that would’ve received punishment. An example would be speeding; even though there is punishment involved for getting caught speeding you still most likely don’t drive the speed limit. If you look at the examples in the book it states clearly that even the act of spanking as a punishment has 10 long-term effects on children.
Is it possible to be intrinsically motivated yet still be paid?
It is possible to be intrinsically motivated yet still be paid if you are paid for the right thing. If you are paid for doing the act that you are already intrinsically motivated to accomplish you will lose the intrinsic motivation. If you are paid for doing a particularly good job or achieving success in what you are intrinsically motivated to do and you are rewarded by payment for that it will inspire you to reach that success or accomplish the quality of work again.
What are some examples of how you are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated?
An example of how I am extrinsically motivated would be when I achieve a certain level of achievement after passing all of my finals with A’s and the satisfaction I feel from accomplishing that goal. An example of intrinsic motivation would be the feeling I get when I am out on the golf course enjoying the beautiful weather and relaxing with my friends.
How will information from this chapter change how you think about motivating yourself for school/career success?
It is hard to say how my motivations will change after reading this chapter but it is clear that there are better ways that I can be motivating myself compared to how I am doing it now. The only motivations that I currently used are negative reinforcers for my school/career success. I think that if I try to implement a reward system and add positive reinforcement to some of the more mundane tasks that are necessary for success I will achieve much more than I previously thought was possible.
This chapter starts off by discussing our desire to steer towards the desirable incentives and steer away from the undesirable outcomes in life. First, they discuss intrinsic behavior. This is simply engaging yourself in situations that you find interesting. Another way to say this would be doing something for the “fun of it.” This process is purely natural and somewhat makes up a person’s personality. To go more in depth, it is based off of a person’s persistency, creativity, conceptual understanding and optimal functioning. All of these individually lead to a person’s intrinsic motivation. It’s also important to remember each of these categories will benefit by the individual’s motivation. For example, if a person is interested in a creativity activity there are more motivated to excel in that area.
Next, they look in extrinsic motivation. This would be more of doing something for the consequences it may result in. A few good examples would be, working for a paycheck or attending school to get a better paying job. There are going to be numerous examples of this and they will vary from person to person. It is definitely possible for someone to work intrinsically. A lot of athletes start their careers because they love to play the game. Eventually, their individual reasoning for playing the game may be more generated towards the paycheck. Extrinsic motivation deals more with incentives, consequences and rewards. A lot of these will revolve around money. It is the best example because everyone experiences this in their day to day lives.
There can be negative and positive reinforces. Positive reinforces would include money or praising a child for following rules and rewarding the child with money. A negative reinforce would be more of a consequence. A very good example of this is the annoying beeping cars make when their seatbelts are not buckled or a dog’s whining because it is hungry. Once a person notices these concepts and readily accepts them, it can enhance their lives greatly. A person becomes responsible from learning the consequences or rewards from their actions. If a parent rewards a child for completing their homework, they may become more likely to complete their homework on their own. If an adult sees the benefits of being physically active they are more likely to continue their actions.
This all make sense to me. These are concepts I have heard before. It makes more sense that I need to complete my school to get a career I desire. I realize more now, the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Most people strive for a self fulfilling job, or an intrinsic motivation while a lot of the time they may not get the extrinsic motivation needed. I realize I need to look for a job that fulfills both of these concepts.
Chapter 5 was about the two forms of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. I learned that intrinsic motivation comes from the person and extrinsic motivation comes from the environment (which can be something tangible, like a monetary reward). Extrinsic motivation focuses on the concepts of incentives, consequences, and rewards. The chapter discusses how the two types of motivations interact and how extrinsic motivation can actually inhibit intrinsic motivation.
I thought the section about motivating others to do uninteresting activities in chapter 5 contained some very interesting information. I was surprised to learn that simply providing an explanation as to why the task at hand is important is one of the ways to motivate someone to do what you are asking of them. Another way I had not thought of was to find away to connect the uninteresting activity to the person you are trying to motivate to increase their interest level, such as having students learn by playing fun games. These motivational strategies seem like such simple things to do it is amazing that they aren't used more often.
It is still possible to be intrinsically motivated and still be paid. Take the job of an elementary school teacher, for example. A teacher could choose to do a mediocre job and have uninteresting lesson plans like having the students do worksheets all day long and still get paid to do so. Many teachers, however, are passionate about their career and are intrinsically motivated to have a positive impact on the lives of the children in their classroom and strive to create a fun and enjoyable learning environment for the children by creating lesson plans that excite the children about learning.
I am intrinsically motivated to be a vegetarian. I do not get some form of compensation for choosing not to eat animals, I do it because I feel like it is part of living my life with integrity. I feel like it makes me a better person (an innate striving for growth) to take a stand against animal cruelty and adjusting my lifestyle has been an enjoyable challenge.
I am extrinsically motivated to keep my parents happy. Although I am now an adult, I still consciously make decisions that I hope will be rewarded with my parents' approval which comes with rewards such as new items of clothing or being invited on vacations they pay for. Knowing that my parents can be a source to getting the things I want keeps me motivated to behave in a manner that they want me to.
The biggest thing I learned from this section was that I can keep myself motivated in school by completing the tasks that I do not enjoy as much first and reward myself with tasks I don't mind doing as much after the first ones are completed, instead of the other way around.
This chapter is about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is created when a person engages in something because of their own psychological needs. An example of this would be reading a book on your own. Intrinsic motivation is important in why people do things because it means that people have different psychological needs and they’ll do what they can to achieve those goals. It is also important because there are many outcomes that benefit the individual, like well-being, high-quality learning, creativity, and persistence.
Extrinsic motivation is created when a person engages in something because of external reasons, like money or grades. Although intrinsic motivation is important in why a person does a behavior they want to do, extrinsic motivation is also important because it can help explain why a person does something they might not want to do. Because extrinsic motivation arises from outside sources, there’s more involved as to why someone does something.
There are three concepts involved in extrinsic motivation: incentives, consequences, and rewards. Incentives are things in the environment that effect whether a person does a certain action or not. A consequence is what happens after a behavior is emitted. The consequence can either be a reinforcer or a punisher. A reinforce is something that increases the likelihood of a behavior. A punisher is something that decreases the likelihood of a behavior. A reinforcer/punisher can either be positive or negative. Positive is when something is added to the punisher or reinforcer. Negative is when something is taken away from the punisher or reinforcer. An example of a positive reinforcer is money because money was added to increase the behavior. A negative reinforcer is taking away chores when a wanted behavior occurs because it increases the likelihood that the behavior will happen. An example of a positive punisher is spanking because the act of hitting was added to decrease a behavior. An example of negative punisher is to take away TV time because the TV was taken away to decrease a behavior. A reward is something a person receives for doing a wanted behavior.
It’s important to be careful with using extrinsic motivation as a way to get people to do this because it can affect their need for autonomy and competence, which is crucial to a person’s well-being. You shouldn’t use extrinsic motivators if a person is already intrinsically motivated because it will hinder them from doing the behavior on their own again (without the external reward).
A theory called self-determination theory exists to explain extrinsic motivation. It consists of four types of extrinsic motivation: external regulation (the behavior is done to receive some kind of external reward), introjected regulation (behavior is done out of guilt or they “should” do it), identified regulation (behavior is done because of the persons belief that the behavior is important), and integrated regulation (behavior is done because of their values). These types are important because they can help to understand why a person acts the way they do.
The most interesting thing I’ve learned is that it’s really important to intrinsically motivate someone in order to get someone to do something you want. I think this information will be really useful when I have kids because it’ll help me to understand how to deal with them and not jump to punishment like I feel a lot of parents do. The punishment I received the most as a kid was negative, I was grounded all the time. The reason my parents did this is because they knew how much I enjoyed hanging out with my friends and therefore, it’d be the worst form of punishment. Although this caused me to really think about what I did wrong, it didn’t usually work. Depending on the severity of the crime, I just learned how to not get caught.
I think it’s very possible to get paid but still be intrinsically motivated. Many people don’t choose their job because they get paid, they love their job. Teachers have to have intrinsic motivation to do their job otherwise they won’t be happy, considering most don’t earn a lot of money. I chose the major I did because I know that when I finally have a career, I’ll really enjoy it for what I’m doing, not how much I’m being paid.
Currently, I am intrinsically motivated to watch TV. It causes me enjoyment and I’m doing it for my own psychological need. I’m not extrinsically motivated at all. I feel that at this point in my life, I have many more things that I’m extrinsically motivated to do. I go to class everyday because I get points for it. I take tests because I get graded for it. I work hard in school because I want to get good grades which in turn help me to get into graduate school. I go to work because I get paid. I work out because I want to be in shape. Although I do my school work because I have to in order to get good grades and pass my classes, I am also intrinsically motivated because I really enjoy learning about psychology. Also, when I do well on a test or paper, I feel good about myself because I accomplished something that was difficult. This information helps me understand why I’m in the major I am and why I like it and continue to do well in my classes. It also assures me that when I am out of school and have started my career, that I will be successful because I’ll be intrinsically motivated to do so.
Sorry for the lateness! I had a complete shut down of my computer by some malware.
Chapter Five was about Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation. Instrinisc motivation is referred to as acting out soley on interest or the "fun of it". Intrinsic benefits are persitence, creativity, conceptual understanding, and optimal functioning/well being.
In contrast extrinsic motivation comes from environmental incentives and consequences. Motivation can be externally regulated situational cue and behavrioral response. A specific behavioral response leads to a specific consequence.
the chapter also speaks about postive reinforcers, negative reinforcers, punishers and rewards. There are also hidden costs of rewards which includes some of the unintended consequences due to some forms of punishers or reinforcements. There are four different types of extrinsic motivation including: external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and integrated regulation. There also forms of motivating others when there are uninteresting activties. When building interesting there are two types: situational interest and individual interest.
I think its extremely interesting that sometimes adding extrinsic rewards can kill what could be intrinsic motivation. I don't think this would always be the case. I think there are some things that I enjoy that if I were to recieve an extrinsic reward along side the fact that there are intrinsic rewards I would think that was kind of awesome. For example, my freshman year I was the deans list. My parents were very excited and I had recently broken my camera so they bought me a new one. At the time I was very excited, I was already feeling gratification from being intrinsically motivated to get straight A's and then the fact my parents were so proud and bought me a new camera I felt that it was like an added bonus. So I think it would be very possible to be intrinsically motivated and still be paid. I don't think that being extrinsically rewarded should necessarily always kill all instrinsic motivation. I think this concept has taught me a different way to treat others as well as myself. I'm not going to treat myself to any rewards for things that I already do but for some of the things that I want be more motivated to do I should maybe find a good reinforcer or reward.
Chapter 5 mostly discussed intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Intrinsic motivation is the inherent propensity to engage one’s interests and to exercise one’s capacities and, in doing so, to seek out and master optimal challenges. Something about the activity allows the person to feel free (autonomy), effective (competence) or emotionally close (relatedness). Intrinsic motivation leads to persistence, creativity, conceptual understanding, and subjective well-being. Extrinsic motivation arises from environmental incentives and consequences, such as food, money, praise, attention, stickers, gold stars, prizes, etc. Extrinsic motivation is a “what’s in it for me?” type of motivation. Extrinsic motivation revolves around three central concepts of incentives, consequences, and rewards. An incentive is an environmental event that attracts or repels a person toward or away from initiating a particular course of action. Incentives always precede behavior. There are two types of consequences: reinforcers and punishers. A reinforcer is any extrinsic event that increases behavior. Researchers and practitioners, however, have no means of identifying a reinforcer before using it. The two types of reinforcers are positive (which when added, increases the future probability of the desired behavior) and negative (which when removed, increases the future probability of the desired behavior). Negative reinforcers are aversive, irritating stimuli. A punisher is any environmental stimulus that decreases the future probability of the undesired behavior. Negative reinforcers say “Do it!” Punishers say “stop it!” Punishers are an ineffective motivational strategy that comes with several negative side effects. An extrinsic reward is any offering from one person given to another person in exchange for his or her service or achievement. Chapter 5 also discussed cognitive evaluation theory. This theory states that incentives, consequences, and rewards control another person’s behavior, but they also provide feedback that informs the person about their competence at the task. There are four main types of extrinsic motivation: external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and integrated regulation. The most surprising thing I learned is that a reward may or may not actually enforce behavior and a reward may undermine intrinsic motivation. Is it possible to be intrinsically motivated and still get paid? I would say yes because your income may motivate you to work and keep a job, however you may be intrinsically motivated to do a specific task because you enjoy it regardless of the pay check at the end of the week. I was intrinsically motivated to read this chapter because this material and all psychology and other sciences interest me. I also was extrinsically motivated to read this chapter because it is important to me to get good grades. I can use the knowledge from this chapter to better my school/career success by choosing a major/career that I love. Finding things that are naturally intrinsically motivating for me will have many benefits while settling on a high paying job that would be extrinsically motivating may have many negative consequences.
This chapter covered extrinsic versus intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation, according to the textbook, is "the inherent propensity to engage one's interests and to exercise one's capacities and, in doing so, to seek out and master optimal challenges." Basically, intrinsic motivation is finding within oneself, the desire and drive to complete tasks and goals. A task needs to be fun, interesting, or inwardly rewarding in order to be intrinsically motivated. Extrinsic motivation, in contrast, (again according to the textbook) "arises from environmental incentives and consequences, such as food, money, praise, attention, stickers, gold stars, privileges . . . and various incentive plans." The text lists MANY more incentives that one may be offered in order to push the person to complete a task. Someone who has been extrinsically motivated probably does not derive any sort of happiness from the task at hand and instead look at the task as a way to get money or recognition or any number of other things.
It is extremely interesting to me how many situations are extrinsically motivating while relatively few circumstances can be considered intrinsically motivating. I was thinking through various times in my life when I have needed to complete tasks, and nearly all the things I think of right away were situations in which I was extrinsically motivated. For example, I like a clean house, but it takes something like upcoming house guests for me to get to work and clean it up. My main drive to do laundry is the fact that I'm not a fan of going outdoors naked or in shorts and a tank top, especially in this weather. Additionally, I don't like to wear dirty clothes. The things I think of that are intrinsically motivating to me are instances when I am working with children. I babysit at Nazareth Lutheran church once to three times per week, and I have done so for three years. I was a volunteer for the first 18 months and then began getting paid. Even though I get monetary compensation for playing with the kids now, I would go anyway to play, color, have "teaching moments," take kids to the bathroom, and even change diapers. Some days, I don't mark my hours down intentionally because I know the church is sometimes strapped for cash and I don't need to be paid to keep coming. Thus, I think it is quite possible and maybe even common to be intrinsically motivated and yet get paid. If someone likes the work they are doing, it is just a bonus to receive compensation for it.
This chapter has really brought to light the ways I am personally motivated to attend classes, complete assignments, and study for tests. For the most part, the motivation is extrinsic. I want to get a college degree because I feel that I have to in order to get a job that will pay enough for me to support myself. In order to get that degree, I have to successfully complete a certain number of courses in the right categories. In order to complete the courses, I have to do the work the courses require. Some assignments I am happy to do, and some assignments I look forward to researching and completing. However, most schoolwork seems like drudgery, and, as someone who is getting a general studies degree, doesn't seem especially relevant to what I want to do when I "grow up." For nearly every bit of schoolwork, I have to remind myself that I have a goal of having a place to live and food to eat, and every bit of schoolwork is a step in getting me there. However, if I get a job working with children on a more regular basis, I would be happy to go every day, do what is required of me, and be a role model and friendly adult for kids. Working with kids is a passion more than a career option for me.
Summarize the chapter.
It was about incentives which are what precededs a behavior it either inhibits or causes an behavior. A conseguence comes after the behavior either to increase or decrease the behavior. Punishment is used to decrease a behavior where as reinforecement is used to increase a behavior. positive means to add something either add a chore for punishment or add money for reinforcement. Negative refers to taking something away such as a privillage for punishment or taking away a chore for reinforcement. It is much better to reinfore than to punish. reinforcement is also more sucessful when the reinforcer is something that the organism really likes and at the proper time. You should not reward an organism for doing something that it finds intrensically motivating because it willl cause them to devalue it with the exception of praise if it is done in an infrmitive way.
What was the most surprising/interesting thing you learned? The most suprising thing that I learned is that rewarding can actually be detremental to learning and many other activities specially ones related to creativity.
Is it possible to be intrinsically motivated yet still be paid? Yes, I think so because if you have to worry about making ends meet it is going to distract from intrinsic motivation and creativity because physiological needs come first and you need some level of money to obtain them.
What are some examples of how you are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated? I am intrensically motivated to learn how to take photos because I am not doing it for money, grades, or other rewards except the sheer enjoyment of trying something new and being able to observe my improvement, extrinsic motivation would be showing up to work because I hate my minimum wage job and the only reason I go to work is to recieve a check every week.
How will information from this chapter change how you think about motivating yourself for school/career success?
It will defintely help me in meeting goals and maitaining a new regimen such as not procrastinating, maybe by finding one small thing that I could enjoy in a class it would make it much more benifcial .
Summarize the chapter.
The chapter mainly discusses intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is to engage in ones interests and to do their best. People display intrinsic motivation because the have psychological needs such as autonomy, competence, and relatedness. intrinsic motivation leads to benefits like persistence, creativity, understanding, and well being. extrinsic motivation comes from incentives and consequences. People do/dont do this to get/not get that.It discusses how rewards, incentives, and reinforcement can extrinsically motivate people to do or not do things. It describes the kinds of reinforcement like negative (take something away),and positive (add something.) The book discusses the benefits of reinforcers like; incentives, rewards, and consequences, as well as the downfalls. It explains how even thought expected rewards can be hurtful, they can also be helpful. People dont tend to do things if they do not get anything for it in return, and when receiving an unexpected reward it makes things all the better. Punishing someone does not teach them how to do something right it only teaches what not to do.
What was the most surprising/interesting thing you learned?
The most interesting/difficult thing I learned is positive and negative reinforcement. it surprises me that in almost any situation you can either positively or negatively reinforce someone. It was also surprising to learn that negative reinforcement is more effective.
Is it possible to be intrinsically motivated yet still be paid?
Yes it is possible. If someone starts does something like play the guitar for a hobby the are intrinsically motivated. Then if someone starts paying them to play they, in the beginning, are still intrinsically motivated, but over time they will most likely become extrinsically motivated.
What are some examples of how you are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated?
Intrinsically: I love/need to have things be organized so I am always organizing things, I also like to play video games in my free time.
Extrinsically: I keep my house at 69* even though I would like it to be at 72* to keep the heat bill down. I also attend class, do homework, and study to maintain my gpa in order to get a job after college.
How will information from this chapter change how you think about motivating yourself for school/career success?
It will hopefully help me to not procrastinate so much. That is mostly what harms my school work. I dont study or do things till I have to and sometimes dont do things as well as I could because I run out of time.
(Sorry this is late. I was having trouble getting the website figured out and finding the assignments that were due. so when I found it I realized I didnt do this. I am pretty sure I know how do things and navigate now. I do need to know how to post blog posts onto my page though.)
Most surprising/interesting thing you learned?
One of the most interesting things I learned was about intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. I always just assumed we did things just to do them, but there are reasons behind everything we do. These can be internal reasons or external reasons. Intrinsic motivation is being motivated to do something because you WANT to do it (it’s interesting/fun/enjoyable). Generally people do these things because they have a psychological need to and it is satisfies that need. Being intrinsically motivated leads a person to be persistent, creative, have conceptual understanding and subjective well-being. Extrinsic motivation is when you do something because there are environmental incentives and consequences. These could include: food, money, praise, attention, awards, public recognition, etc. People are then motivated to do things because they are going to get something in return (do this and you will get that).
It is possible to be intrinsically motivated yet still be paid?
I think it is possible to still be intrinsically motivated while getting paid to do something. For example, a lot of people have jobs that they really love and would do regardless if they go paid or not. Some people get pure enjoyment from what they do for a living and would continue doing it with or without a paycheck. To me, that would mean that they are intrinsically motivated and probably a little extrinsically motivated as well.
Examples of how you are intrinsically/extrinsically motivated
I am extrinsically motivated with any schoolwork that I have. I want to receive a good grade on all of my assignments, so I am motivated to work hard and finish stuff on time. I also want to receive a Bachelors Degree, so I’m extrinsically motivated to get good grades and keep my GPA up so I can graduate. I am intrinsically motivated through my volunteering that I do. I am intrinsically motivated to walk out to my car and drive to Waverly every Monday and Friday afternoon because I enjoy volunteering.
How will info from this chapter change how you think about motivating yourself for school/career success?
I will try and find different ways to motivate myself so that I make sure and get homework done on time and do well on tests. Now that I understand intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, I will hopefully be able to find different motivators to see what best works for me.
This chapter explored the ideas of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. They discussed what both types are and things that are associated with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The chapter helps to distinguish between the two and talks about the different ways people are motivated intrinsically and extrinsically. The chapter also talks about how to motivate others to get interested in uninteresting activities. The thing that was really interesting for me was the discovery of how I am almost completely reliant on extrinsic motivation. I always thought I was doing some thing intrinsically, but when I really thought about it I am doing most activities or projects due to extrinsic motivation. Many of the things I thought I enjoyed doing do have some extrinsic motivation to them and that is probably the reason to why I am exactly doing these activities. The other interesting thing I learned is that extrinsic motivators are hurting the quality of performance and learning of people. People are only doing activities or work due to the rewards or incentives that may be associated with them. They are not doing it out of pleasure or fun, so this is hurting the process of learning by people. I feel that it is possible to be intrinsically motivated into something and still get paid for it. I feel that a job that someone really loves and does it for the enjoyment and pleasure it brings to them can be intrinsically motivated to do it, even when there is an extrinsic motivator also involved. I feel that if someone is already intrinsically motivated to do something and then an extrinsic motivator is thrown into the picture as well it may just motivate the person more to do well and continue the activity because they are getting both getting pleasure out of it and now an incentive. Intrinsic motivations are those natural motivations that occur to people. Such intrinsic motivators are persistence, creativity, conceptual understanding and well-being. Intrinsic motivators occur when something is enjoyable, satisfactory, and challenge a person in ways and the people enjoy accomplishing this challenge. Extrinsic motivators come from the environment. They come in forms of incentives and rewards. Such extrinsic motivators are trophies, stickers, money, praise, food, points, and many more things. People are extrinsically motivated because they strive and want these incentives and rewards and they perform activities to achieve them. This is how people are extrinsically motivated. The information from this chapter has helped me to understand that many of the school work and work I do at my job are mostly extrinsic and that I should change me look upon these things. I should look for more intrinsic motivators for these activities and strive to grow and improve upon them. Extrinsic motivators are somewhat taking over and control of my intrinsic motivators and I need to pay attention to the intrinsic motivators more because they help me to learn and enjoy the process of learning more than extrinsic motivator
Overall the chapter talked about different types of motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) and how these motives are influenced (reinforced). It also talked about the different types of reinforces; positive and negative punishments and rewards.
What I fund interesting is the section about Do Rewards/Punishers Work. I have a sibling who is eight years younger and I babysit kids who are or around the age of five. I always find it interesting to hear the parents talk about if a child is misbehaving what they do to correct the child’s behavior. So far, I have not heard or seen any parent refer to corporal punishment. What I do hear is a lot of timeouts. One child I babysit was (few months ago) unable to say when she needed to go potty. She was happy to be in underwear (sometimes/rarely) but she was still happily going in her dipper on a regular basis. I love her parents and I think they are great people, but it never seemed to bother her that she didn’t make it to the bathroom in time. Even though she was at that age where she really needed to start potty training or have it mostly under control. But she never seemed motivated to not go in her dipper. Her mother had said that she has a chart started and when her daughter went to the potty in the toilet so many times that she would get a reward. I don’t think the reward was all that important to her because she didn’t seem all that concerned about not getting a sticker to put on her chart when she got home.
Yes, I do it all the time at work. When I am on the clock I am getting paid, and I’m getting paid to clean and assist in any way possible with set-ups, clean-ups, and tear-downs. Although I am being paid to do my job, I still am eager to help anyone who needs help with anything. But I think this is mostly because I don’t associate being paid with helping people. I like helping people because it makes me happy knowing that I have helped someone. Yet I am happy also when I get my paycheck and see how much money I have earned which is directly connected to how many hours I worked that month. I think it just has to do with how the person connects what they are doing to how they are being rewarded. I think about my paycheck when I punch in and out, but I don’t when I am told that there is a mess somewhere that needs a custodian’s attention.
Besides being intrinsically motivated to help people, an extrinsically motivator for me is writing long papers that I really don’t have any interest in. I have always been pretty good at writing but if I am given a topic that I HAVE to write about then I lose all interest and motivation for writing the paper. But I have a goal to always do well on papers because they usually count for a good portion of my grade for a particular class.
Honestly, not much. Ever since high school I have been driven to do what I can to do well. Even if it’s a push for an all-nighter to finish a paper/project or going back through my notes from class and highlighting what I think I will need to study for the test. It’s just not common for me to continually think about what is it that is motivating me to behave or act the way that I do.
The first part of this chapter focused on intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is what consists of doing things because you enjoy it, not because you have to. This motivation tends to make people feel better and has advantages with creativity and flexibility. Extrinsic motivation was then talked about. This is doing something because you have to or in order to get something. With extrinsic, there is usually a bribe, reward or consequence to coax out the motivation. The majority of things associated with extrinsic seem to be half done or very slack in efficiency. The chapter continues to go over examples and explain how both vary in ways of keeping individuals motivated. It also explains more about punishers: what they are, what they cause, benefits, etc.
The most surprising thing in the chapter to me was the fact that punishment had so many long term negative effects. As an adult that was only smacked once as a child, it makes me quite thankful to have never been at risk for aggression, poor mental health, etc. It then makes me think about how easily people resort to spanking their children still today, and wonder what's in store for our future generations.
I feel it is very possible to be intrinsicly motivated and still be paid, because there are many people who follow their dreams their entire lives, so they can do what they love as their job (obviously, if it's your job, you get paid). Another form of intrinsic motivation while being paid (at least for me) is something quite common in Cedar Falls. I believe that in donating blood and plasma, I'm somehow, someway going to help save a life and as soon as I could, I started donating blood and now plasma. I obviously did this before I was paid, so I would do it no matter what, but now it's even more motivating to go because it's helping me by helping someone.
Another form of intrinsic motivation for myself is scrap-booking. Some people feel scrap-booking is messy, expensive and a lot of work, but I get only enjoyment. I am extrinsicly motivated in situations when I have to clean. I hate cleaning, but I have to do so for sanitary purposes (lol) and also because I'm a germ freak.
I feel I'm on a pretty good track for stay motivated, though it's extremely hard sometimes. I graduated from high school with a year of college already completed and I continue to take the maximum (and even beyond the maximum) to graduate early. I will continue to stay in the program I enjoy and take classes I have a general interest in, because I would rather not set myself up to fail. I will also know whether or not something is right for me, and if not, to get out of it. Doing what you love should ultimately factor out to happiness, as well as success.
Chapter 5 is all about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. It explains that intrinsic motivation comes from a person’s interests and what they enjoy to do and that extrinsic motivation stems from the environment. In the chapter it explained the benefits to intrinsic motivation such as persistence, charity, optimal functioning and well being and higher quality of learning. In chapter 5 it also goes over incentives, reinforces, consequences and punishers. It explains that an incentive is something that comes before the action takes place which is the difference between a reinforce which can be positive or negative. A reinforce either decreases or increases the chance of the action happening again in the future.
The most surprising/interesting thing I learned from this chapter is that when someone does a task because it made them feel good and then got a extrinsic reward for it that the person’s intrinsic motivation actually decreased. I would have never thought that an extrinsic motivator could decrease the intrinsic motivator. For myself, I believe that it is possible to get paid for something yet still keep my intrinsic motivation up. However, I do see how getting paid for doing a good deed could cheapen that deed done.
This chapter will help me recognize in which ways I have been motivated and will also help me be able to motivate myself by knowing different intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. It will help me because I now know how important it is to play on my interests because intrinsic motivators have a lot of benefits to them.
This chapter explores the finer points regarding external and internal motivation. I found this material very valuable in exploring the different ways in which I find myself to be motivated in various situations. Internal and external motivation are just what you would expect them to be – one comes from within and causes behavior that we naturally tend to enjoy, and the other stems from external factors which provide incentives and rewards that are used to motivate specific types of behavior. The most interesting part for me is the section dealing with the “hidden costs of reward” because it is so plain to see with people who are externally motivated. It is no coincidence that stereotypical underlings at a business establishment are referred to as “sheep”, because companies all too often are based upon incentivizing systems that are controlling and lacking in information (see: plain, old money). These negative effects arise because rewards that are tangible and expected decrease autonomy, undermine the development of self-regulation, and may even reduce our feelings of competency. Providing an informative rationale for performing an uninteresting activity allows the doer to connect with a sense of worth and initiates self-regulation by allowing them to autonomously value accomplishing the task.
I believe that it is completely possible to be intrinsically motivated and still be paid. Two perfect examples of this exist for me. First is the person who works in a field they were already passionate about, such as a financially stable musician or a college professor. This allows them to do what they love, and they get paid as an added benefit! The other example is a person who does not love their job (or may even hate it). The key to maintaining intrinsic motivation in this situation is to find some redeeming qualities about the job and never make it “just about the money.” All too often I see people become externally motivated slaves to their occupation. This causes them to think mostly about money and to rationalize their actions in a cause-and-effect sort of format. It can all become about whether the ends are worth the means for them, and I do not find this to be a favorable way to live. I do not find my job particularly stimulating, but I do enjoy socializing with the people with whom I work. Another motivating factor for me is that I can often read a book and do some of the things I want to do if I am able to complete all my tasks rapidly. In this way I keep my job from ever being just about receiving a paycheck. However, I cannot avoid extrinsic motivation when it comes to school. There are typically hard and fast deadlines to which I must adhere, and I all too often fall victim to the dark side of external motivation…that is, extreme procrastination because I can rarely motivate myself to complete work prior to its deadline.