The Hurricane

The sixteenth round was a pretty long one for Reuben Carter, eh? I think the struggle that Reuben encountered to free himself was a great depiction of persistence in an intrinsically motivated state even when an external system prevented the fulfillment of his intrinsic desires. Intrinsically motivated states come from within. They are driven by ones autonomy and feeling of competence. In other words, intrinsic motivation is driven or energized by a person’s feeling of independence and of their confidence in their ability. As it says in the book “the higher the person’s intrinsic motivation, the greater will be his or her persistence on that task” (pg. 112). Reuben was persistent in his efforts to free himself throughout most of the movie however I believe his intrinsic motivation changed over the course of his time in jail.
When Reuben first entered jail (as an adult convicted of murder), he was defiant. His pride wouldn’t allow him to give in to prison authority. To a certain extent, this can be considered intrinsic motivation, yet I would not consider it the highest level of intrinsic motivation. He refused to wear certain clothing to uphold his pride by preventing the prison system of controlling him. Reuben stuck to his guns via identified regulation. That is, he refused to allow the prison to control him because he felt that it was important for his pride. While this is getting close to an intrinsically motivated state, Reuben is still extrinsically motivated. He is motivated to uphold his pride but that is not really what I would consider an internally motivated driving force. He believed that he was not allowing the prison to control him, yet they were in control of his behavior in a certain way. He did not allow them to externally control his behavior (i.e. making him wear something he didn’t want to), yet they were affecting him internally (i.e. his anger). Had he been in a purely intrinsically motivated state from the get go, whatever the prison system “forced” him to do on the outside (externally), would not be able to alter his internal well being (one of the benefits of intrinsic motivation). Because Reuben’s well being was affected, his actions were not fully intrinsically motivated at the beginning.
As the story progressed, Reuben’s motivations become more intrinsic. You can tell this by his demeanor. Slowly, Reuben grows more peaceful. He is still persistent and still desires the end goal of freedom from the prison (an external system), but he has been freed internally from the control of the prison and the state system. As Reuben says in the movie, we must “transcend the places that hold us”. By transcending the control that the prison had on his well being, Reuben was free and able to have autonomy. Another great line describes again the inability of the external environment to control our well being: “ I’m free in here because there is nothing I want out there”. There is nothing that Reuben wants in the external world and so he is freed internally.
Although Reuben reaches a fully intrinsically motivated state by the end of the movie, he does not do so on his own. Well, I guess to a certain extent he does do it on his own. We cannot be externally motivated to reach an intrinsically motivated state. Others cannot force us to be intrinsically motivated state. However, Lesra and the other white folks helped foster and environment in which Reuben could develop his intrinsic motivation. They provided him with information to encourage his intrinsically motivated state. In other words, they helped Reuben feel competent. His intrinsic motivation was encouraged by their support. They also gave him the ability to transcend the controlling prison/state system that was stifling Reuben’s intrinsic desires. It’s frustrating when we are intrinsically motivated to do something yet we simply cannot. For instance, I am personally intrinsically motivated to buy locally and organically grown food but that is simply not always possible. In Reuben’s case, he is intrinsically motivated to get out of prison but he simply cannot do that because of the control and the corruption of the state. At least, he cannot do this on his own.
Though their efforts failed, the state system did its best to control and externally regulate Reuben. They tried and tried to stifle any intrinsically motivated state. Through punishment (trying to decrease undesired behavior) they attempted to quell Reuben. However, in my opinion, punishment does not work to quash truly intrinsically motivated states. You cannot externally regulate an internal state. An example from another character of the attempt of the state to externally regulate behavior was in the case of John (the other man convicted of murder). The state decided that if John would just simply say that Reuben was the one who killed the people, John would have a lesser sentence. The state was trying to use a negative reinforce to get John to stray from what he believed in. They provided John with an incentive to lie by offering to take away a negative thing (jail time). John, however would not be motivated externally. He stuck to his beliefs and what he knew to be right.

Terms: intrinsic motivation, persistence, autonomy, competence, extrinsic motivation, well being, information, control, external regulation, punishment, identified regulation, negative reinforcer

The Hurricane was a very good movie. It was definitely not my type of movie I usually watch, but that is the nice thing about this class. Luckily the ending put a smile on my face and make me like the film all the more.

One thing I really enjoyed about this movie was that we saw a different side to motivation. When people think of motivation, generally the first thing that comes to mind is positive motivation. In other words, people think of motivation as a good thing, a drive towards an accepted behavior. However, this movie showed examples of how we can be motivated to do behaviors that are “bad” or “crazy”, etc. One example from the movie that really sticks out to me is when Rueben first gets to prison and demands that he is not going to wear the uniform of a guilty man due to his innocence. He insists on this, mouths off to the Warden (I think, or perhaps it was just some guard? I don’t remember exactly) and he gets put into “The Hole”. This is 90 days of complete solitude and zero time in the outside world – just a small, black cell. After this torture, he still insists to one of the guards that he will not put on the uniform and would rather go back into the hole. Are you kidding me?! So then it is interesting to observe where does this kind of motivation come from? Chapter 5 talks a lot about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and reinforcement and punishment. This is an example of a form of intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation comes from within, doing something because of internal benefits, rather than receiving an outside source for the behavior. As I stated earlier, Rueben told the Warden right when he got there that he “will not wear the clothes of a guilty man because I am innocent”. This is important to Rueben to not lose himself within the crowd of guilty men at the prison. The motivation to not “blend in” comes from a psychological need to avoid the falsely accused debasement of wearing the prison uniform.

I wanted to also talk about a different example than Rueben, as I’m sure that’s where most blogs will focus, so I also wanted to look at Lesra. At the beginning of the movie, when Sam takes him to the book sale, he is dreading this. We find out later that he can’t even read, and so it makes sense why he doesn’t want to go and buy a book. However he finds Rueben’s book, and not only does he read it, but he becomes interested in it enough to write to him and then eventually help him get released out of jail. What changed from the beginning to the end? I believe this game from many different sources of motivation. At first it was achievement strivings. Lesra wants to learn to read so he can eventually get into college. Achievement strivings is holding yourself to a particular standard of excellence, trying to do a little bit better each time as you go on. After Lesra learns to read, we tap into a new source of motivation: relatedness, which is a social aspect of motivation. Lesra states several times throughout the movie that he couldn’t help but to compare his own life with that of Rueben Carter’s. Finally, we see the motivational source of value, having a larger meaning. Lesra wants to write to Rueben to let him know how much he has helped him, and then meet with him, and then move their, and then set him free.

One question I did have was is this whole movie based on intrinsic or extrinsic motivation? I’ve learned about both before this class, however I was hoping after reading Chapter 5 I would know; I don’t. I see in the two blogs before me, and I’m sure many more after me will argue that Rueben Carter is emitting intrinsic motivation all the way. One of the many facets to intrinsic motivation is persistence, and we see how persistent Rueben is. He took his case to trial three times total, and obviously it wasn’t until the third time that he finally won. However, I’m afraid I am leaning more towards extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation arises from an outside source: you do something either for a reward or punishment. We could view the movie as extrinsic motivation because Rueben is trying so hard to become free, and becoming free is the positive reinforcement (being presented with something desirable). I think what it boils down to is why was Rueben trying to have another trial that went in his favor? Was it to prove his innocence? If that is the case, then I would classify the whole movie as an example of intrinsic motivation. Or was he trying to become a free man? Then I would classify that as extrinsic motivation. It is a hard decision to make, but considering he said multiple times in the movie that he “can’t do the time”, I believe his goal was to become a free man and be released from prison, therefore this movie is a brilliant example of extrinsic motivation.

The Hurricane

This movie is based on the true fight of an American champion. The Hurricane starts off with a background of Ruben Carters life in a brief scene, then puts the time to seven years later to support the story for the scene the viewers just saw. The entire movie is based on motivation from the environment and society. Throughout the movie there are several aspects of value and reward that can be analyzed and thought about for further meaning.

The beginning scene from the past sets the motive for movie. In this scene it shows Ruben at a young age with a group of friends by a river. A man approaches on of his friends and makes uncomfortable gestures to him, Ruben then stands up and tells the man to leave. The man continues on until Ruben throughs a glass bottle at his head. The man storms to Ruben and holds him over the edge, Ruben then stabs him to escape. Ruben in this scene seems to be the only child who seems concerned at this point, which maybe helps us indicate that his previous experiences have led him to be aware of this type of trouble. At a young age Ruben saw the world as unjust and unsafe. The fact that as a young man he had ownership of a knife lets the viewers know he has a dangerous lifestyle. This scene is the first that shows him in a sensitive environment where his motivation is high enough to act out. Extrinsic motivation gave him the power to stab this man. Ruben’s personality is based on his upbringing and his operant conditioning is what helps him function in his lifestyle the way he does. At the point of him stabbing this man I personally think it was a simple situation of, If he did not stab him then he was going to die. Many of Ruben’s actions in the movie are very natural, without much thought. From beginning to end this event is the general motivation for the situations to follow. This shows that motivation increases over time and persistence increases.

The main scene in the movie that personally interests me is the psychological states he visits when arriving at prison. His refusal to wear the uniform puts him into solitary confinement for the first ninety days of his sentence. During this time he somewhat loses sight of reality. His needs are not met. He begins to speak to himself and act different then his natural personality. The main need that challenged him was the social need. He completely lost all achievement, intimacy and power. At this state motivation to stay sane was necessary. His extra organismic mechanisms were working hard to eliminate psychological drive. He then gets released into average census, where he refuses inmate clothing again. This aspect is total intrinsic motivation, based on only his personal interest. He seeks challenge our of interest and his persistence rises over time. The lead guard then offers him a reward of not having to wear a uniform yet still wearing federal clothing. I found this very clever and interesting how the guard presented the proposition. Caver accepted the uniform, yet was prepared to put himself back into confinement if necessary based on clothing. He then adjusts to living life as a prisoner by his own standards. He deprives the prison of the right to control his life. He states that he will not live in a cell or in heart but in mind and spirit. He does not want to provide them with the option to give him a need of any kind. He almost punishes himself to decrease the amount of behavior he needs to satisfy them. He trains his body to resist. This aspect of the movie really relays the values of punishers and rewards in terms of motivation. The motivational strategy of Carver is very intricate. He only operates on rewards that are symbolic and abstract. He than finds hope and the rest of the movie shows him gaining normalcy and acceptance. His constant battle with implications adjusts his motivation throughout the rest of the movie. Limiting factors decrease his intrinsic motivation off and on with each step until he is set free.The extrinsic motivation level that Carver owns is integrated regulation, everything he does is self value. I learned about motivation first hand from this movie and recording all the rewards and punishers made it very visible to what state of motivation Carver had.

Extrinsic motivation, operant conditioning, psychological state, Need, extra organismic mechanisms, drive, intrinsic motivation, reinforcer, reward, implications, limiting factors, integrated regulation.

I have never before heard of this movie or Rubin Carter. This was the type of movie that stayed in my mind for days after I watched it. It even motivated me to research Rubin Carter and learn more about his story.

As this movie relates to chapter 5, we can clearly see that, like so many others have stated, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are present.

If we start with intrinsic motivation, we can see the obvious that Rubin is intrinsically motivated to get out of prison. At the beginning of the film and towards the end, we see Rubin try multiple times to be retried fairly. He also makes multiple appeals. In order to do this, Rubin exhibits persistence (one of the benefits of intrinsic motivation) and adheres to studying his trial in depth and going over every last detail. Intrinsic motivation is the primary reason Rubin is set free at the end of the film. He was persistent enough in his goals to take the big risk of bringing his case to a federal court.

While in prison, Rubin also takes it upon himself to read and to learn new things. He becomes a writer and “uses his words as a weapon.” This reflects another benefit of intrinsic motivation: conceptual understanding and high-quality learning. In addition, Rubin seems to be doing quite well in jail in that he says he is free. This reflects the benefit of optimal functioning and keeps Rubin from becoming anxious and depressed.

I also believe that Detective Della Pesca is intrinsically motivated to put and keep Rubin in jail because of his racial prejudice. Being intrinsically motivated makes Della Pesca very persistent at keeping Rubin there.

The characters of Lesra, Sam, Lisa, and Terry are also intrinsically motivated to help Rubin get released from jail. They truly believe in their hearts that he is innocent and this is enough for them to do everything possible to get him out of there. They even physically move to where Rubin is. They are all extremely persistent even when faced with multiple obstacles. They are confronted by Detective Della Pesca and they are told by Rubin’s lawyers that many people before them have tried and failed but they continued to work. I believe the intrinsic motivation held by the “Canadians” helps their understanding and high-quality learning so that they become to notice and pick out certain inconsistencies in his case.

Extrinsic motivation is also a factor in this film. Right at the beginning of the movie, before Rubin is even in jail, the two men who helped put him there are extrinsically motivated by Detective Della Pesca to say they saw Rubin Carter that night. The men were extrinsically motivated to stay out of jail for violating their parole. Detective Della Pesca might have also been partially extrinsically motivated to keep Rubin in jail because of the public recognition he probably received for keeping a “murderer” off the streets.

As discussed earlier, Rubin seems to be doing fine in jail in that he has created a mindset for himself that he is free. Although this is intrinsic motivation, I also believe this can be an example of extrinsic motivation, specifically identified regulation. Rubin changes the way he thinks about being in jail because it is valuable to his life. It is useful to think this way so that Rubin does not become depressed and/or suicidal. This is part of the reason Rubin is initially motivated to write his “last letter” to the Canadians. He fears he will regain a desire to be free and because of this desire, he will not be able to live in prison any longer.

Terms: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, optimal functioning, high-quality learning, persistence, identified regulation

The type of motivation that I noticed most frequently throughout the film was intrinsic motivation. The book defines intrinsic motivation as the “propensity to engage one’s interests and…to seek out and master optimal challenges…When people are intrinsically motivated, they act out of interest, ‘for the fun of it,’ and for the sense of challenge the activity at hand provides” (pg. 111). Not only was this evident in Reuben Carter’s character as he tried time after time to free himself from prison, but it was also seen in the characters of the bad detective and the Canadian friends. The detective was very persistent in his efforts to keep Carter in jail (or the detention center), and he succeeded in putting him there three different times (after Carter stabbed the man as a child, after he returned from the army, and then again when he was charged for murder). Even after Carter was freed by the judge, it was obvious that the detective was displeased with the decision; we know this for sure, since we read after the movie that the state appealed Carter’s release to the Supreme Court. The detective never gave up on his mission, even though it was a bad one. On the other hand, Carter’s friends persisted in finding the true details of what occurred the night of the murders, even after being threatened and almost killed for doing so. Those characters did not gain anything from the time that they put into their quest, other than Carter’s release from prison; they acted simply out of interest.

In addition to persistence, punishment also occurred multiple times throughout the movie. One instance of this was when Carter was first thrown into the detention center for stabbing the white man. The purpose of this punishment was to decrease the probability that Carter would show the same violent behavior in the future, which I think is ironic since it was such a violent place for him to grow up. Another instance was when Carter was placed in the isolation cell for 90 days for refusing to wear the inmate uniforms. In doing this, the warden hoped to prevent Carter from disobeying his orders in the future; it was interesting that this punishment did not have its intended effect, as Carter still refused to wear the traditional uniform, and even volunteered to return to the cell if they continued to try to make him wear it.

Though the movie was mostly about intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation was also present. According to the book, “extrinsic motivation arises from environmental incentives and consequences” (pg. 113). The detective offered an incentive to the two men who saw the murderers leaving the crime scene – he would keep them out of prison for violating parole if they would testify that Carter was one of the murderers. When Carter and John were first brought to the crime scene, an officer asked the two white men if Carter and John were the murderers, and they said no; because we saw these men change their behavior and story due to the detective’s offer, we know that the incentive motivated their final response.

I found it interesting that Carter’s good behavior in prison was accomplished autonomously; he neither desired nor was fazed by extrinsic rewards offered by the prison officers. As Carter explained in his book, he began staying awake at night when everyone else slept, sleeping during the day when everyone else was awake, refrained from watching the movies with the other inmates, and behaved in other ways so that the prison officers had no control over him. Carter was not misbehaving, but rather did everything on his own accord, and in his own time. In this way, he said that he attained a sense of freedom within himself, which I think means that his motivation was the integrated regulation type (which falls under extrinsic motivation, even though it is self-regulated). Carter’s internalization helped to transform his identity and improve his psychological well-being, which is something that he desperately needed after sitting in isolation for his 90 day punishment.

Terms: intrinsic motivation, persistence, punishment, extrinsic motivation, incentive, integrated regulation

This was the first time that I have ever seen The Hurricane, and it definitely did not disappoint! I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and I can totally see how it relates to both motivation and emotion.

Two concepts from Chapter 5 that are obviously apparent throughout this entire movie are intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. I am first going to focus on intrinsic motivation. In the beginning of the movie, we know that Rubin Carter is a professional boxer. How did he get to be this way? He had a very rough childhood, and he landed himself in jail for stabbing a white man that was trying to hurt his friend. While he was locked up, he was determined to make his body a weapon. He exercised endlessly, and he did not take pleasure in the activities that the other inmates enjoyed. He had to push himself both mentally and physically to be able to train himself to be a boxer. This shows that he was intrinsically motivated because he did it for himself. The idea consummated his mind. He wanted to be a boxer, not because of external events or stimuli, but because of his own want or desire to become one.

Another part of the movie that intrinsic motivation can be seen is when Lesra is at the book fair. Prior to him moving to Canada to improve his education, Lesra could not read or write. He wanted so badly to learn how to do so because his goal was to go to college. This goal was intrinsically motivated because Lesra truly wanted to learn and improve himself and get a higher education. From the moment he picked up Rubin’s autobiography to the moment he put it down, he was interested in what he was learning and reading, and he did not want to stop when the book ended. His energy spent on that book is probably what drove him to write to Rubin, and then eventually even visit him and form a solid relationship.

Intrinsic motivation could also be seen when Rubin is sent to prison for supposedly being a murderer. He decided that he was not going to let prison run his life, so he wore clothes that were different from the rest of the inmates’, he ate his own food, he refused to work for the prison systems, and he slept during the day and stayed awake at night just to go against the norm. This shows that he was intrinsically motivated because of the fact that he was living by his own rules and was showing the prison that he would not conform to rules or bow down like everyone else.

Extrinsic motivation also plays a role in The Hurricane. At the beginning of the movie, when the awful detectives were interviewing witnesses from the scene of the crime, extrinsic motivation appears. The main detective knew that the witnesses were not good guys, and he used the fact that they were on parole or probation to get them to lie and say that Rubin Carter and the other man he was with committed the murders. They were obviously extrinsically motivated because at first they said that Rubin did not commit the crime. But, after being in an enclosed room with the nasty detective, they made up a story so that they would not get into trouble.

Another example of where extrinsic motivation can be seen is when Lisa, Sam, and Terry take Lesra into their home and then actually begin working on Rubin’s case with Lesra. These acts are extrinsically motivated based on the fact that they took Lesra home with them due to the fact that he was a bright kid and that they wanted to help him out and further his education. They saw that he was becoming more and more involved with his reading and writing with Rubin, and that motivated them to get involved with all of it and help out.

Another concept from the book that played a large role in the movie was emotion. There was a wide range of emotion that was seen throughout the entire film. There was rage, anger, and sadness when a champion boxer, Rubin Carter, was framed for a murder that he could have not possibly committed. There was hatred toward black people from white people, and vice versa. There was happiness and hope when Lesra began talking to Rubin. There was frustration when they didn’t know if Rubin could be proven not guilty. There was elation at the end of the movie when Rubin was finally set free. There were many emotions that were seen throughout the entire movie.

Needs definitely played a part in the movie as well. For example, when Rubin was put in solitary confinement or “the hole”, he was cut off from all humanity for 90 days. He ended up talking to himself and sort of hallucinating different conversations between his multiple selves. He obviously had serious social needs and psychological needs that were not being met here. He was not able to interact with anyone, and in a way it drove him crazy for a while.

All in all, The Hurricane was great and really helped me see how I could tie in motivation and emotion concepts from the book with the movie. I can’t wait to read and learn more so that I will be able to connect more concepts to what I experience in everyday life!

Terms: motivation, emotion, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, external events/stimuli, want, needs, social needs, psychological needs

Chapter 5 discusses intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is what motivates people to continue doing certain behaviors because it’s fun for them and they enjoy it. I think towards the end of the movie when Lisa, Sam and Terry made it their goal to get Rubin out of jail, they did it at first because they felt like they had to (introjected regulation) because it was not right to keep Rubin in jail, and Lesra wanted to prove his innocents so bad. I think after they passed that point, and they actually got a copy of all of Rubin’s paperwork is when they weren’t doing it because it was the right thing to do; they were doing it because they wanted to. You can see the difference in their efforts, when they first started working on his case, they really didn’t have anything to go off of, and I think they were just making calls to certain people. When Lisa, Sam, Terry and Lesra moved out to the jail is where I believed that they really believe Rubin was innocents and put a lot more effort into trying to set him free. An incentive according to the book is “an environmental event that attracts or repels a person toward or away from initiating a particular course of action,” which means we basically learn through our surroundings and experiences. I believe that Rubin had to accommodate and learn new incentives for the environments he was in. For instance, the jail, he repelled and move away from everyone. The second time he went to jail, he said that he was taking away the power from the jail, but not allowing them to get the best of him. He shut down an avoided his feelings that made him vulnerable. Rubin slept when everyone was awake, and when everyone was sleeping he stayed awake. Rubin taught himself that because there were people out to get him, and he was framed he had to disconnect from his wife and family so they would be safe. He had told his wife that he did not want to see her anymore and he had also told Lesra that later on in the movie. The first time Rubin was in jail, he started training and working out he became a fighter. When he was released from jail, he decided to take his fighting ability and turn himself into a boxer. Becoming a boxer, he produced attractive consequences; he became famous and avoided staying away from trouble. I think this section of the movie fits in with operant conditioning, which is “learning to engage in behaviors that produce attractive consequences and avoiding behaviors that produce punishing consequences.” Rubin figured he could put his fighting skills to use and take his anger out on people without having to get in trouble with the law. Rubin became a boxer and that upset Stg. Pesca because Pesca believed that Rubin was always a trouble maker and belonged in prison. The last thing I want to address is how Sgt. Pesca used rewards to extrinsically motivate some of the witnesses in Rubin’s trail. The two witnesses to the crime had changed their minds when asked if Rubin was one of the shooters. In the bar, we see a cop ask the two men, if Rubin was the man they saw. Both men shook their heads stating no it was not Rubin who was in the shooting. Later there is a scene where Sgt. Pesca is taking to the two men before he starts recording the questioning. We do not hear what he is saying but by the body language and movements of the witness’s one could assume that they were both bribed by Sgt. Pesca to falsely accuse Rubin of the murder.
Terms: Extrinsic motivation, Intrinsic motivation, Operant Conditioning, Incentives, Rewards, Introjected Regulation

"I made up my mind to turn my body into a weapon that would set me free or kill anyone who sought to keep me in prison."

This quote from the main character, Rueben Carter, in the movie The Hurricane shows intense motivation that is intrinsic. 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. The motivation to "turn his body into a weapon" came from within Rueben. His interests became working out intensely and sculpting his body to be a fighter. He exercised his capacities non stop while he was in prison; he was constantly working out. In doing this, he was seeking and mastering optimal challenges - the challenge to make himself physically strong, tough, and powerful.

Intrinsic motivation emerges spontaneously from psychological needs and innate strivings for growth. Rueben was obviously working out and building his body to be able to physically fight. He wanted to be able to break out of prison, or be able to kill anyone that stood in his way of freedom. But he worked out so rigorously because of other psychological needs - autonomy and competence. Autonomy is freedom from external control or influence. Having an intense routine that he was not forced or instructed to do gave him a sense of independence. Simply believing that he had control over this one part of his life was crucial for him to survive in prison. Competence is the ability to do something successfully or efficiently. Rueben worked so hard at gaining physical strength because it gave him a sense of accomplishment. In such a confined environment as prison, it is difficult to find competence within yourself. Rueben used an intense physical workout to find it. Autonomy and competence are just two examples of psychological needs that create intrinsic motivation.

We know that Rueben was not acting from extrinsic motivation because there were no environmental incentives. In fact, he made sure to get rid of any type of environmental reward that was offered to him in prison. He gave up the few luxuries that he had access to (contact with other inmates, prison food, smoking, thinking about women) so that these rewards would not distract him from his intrinsically motivated behavior.

At one point in the movie, Lesra is talking to the three adults took him in to educated him. He asks them, "Why'd you take me home? Why'd you do it? Because I'm black? Because you felt sorry for me?"

I think this illustrates another great example of intrinsic motivation. The adults that were helping Lesra were not being paid for it. In my opinion, they were not doing it for public attention or approval. There were no incentives. They simply did it because they wanted to. They felt an interest to seek out and master a challenge. In doing so, they fulfilled their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. I'm sure they were far better teachers than Lesra could have had at a public school. This is because intrinsic motivation leads us to be more persistent, creative, and more conceptually understanding. It also leads to a greater subjective well-being, which gives us greater self-actualization, less anxiety, greater self-esteem, better relationships, and more energy. Their motivation to teach Lesra will be far more genuine and active than if they were doing it from external motivation.

I think Lesra also displays great intrinsic motivation. Rueben even says to him "Everything you're doing now right, you're doing for yourself." Lesra's motivation to learn, study, graduate high school, and go to college are intrinsically motivated. This type of motivation will greatly benefit him in his learning. If he were doing it because of extrinsic motivation, he would be less focused on learning the material and more focused on the reward he was anticipating. Extrinsic rewards interfere with the process of learning. Lesra would be less likely to challenge himself, search for creative solutions, or conceptually understand the material and its relevance or importance to his life.

An example of extrinsic motivation was displayed in the men that were witnesses of the shooting in the bar. The detective knew that the men were in violation of their parole. He used this information and the power of a negative reinforcer to his advantage. By telling (or implying) the witnesses that he would keep them out of jail if they falsely accused Reuben for being a shooter, the men were extrinsically motivated to do so. A negative reinforcer is any environmental stimulus that, when removed, increases the future probability of the desired behavior. Negative reinforcers are aversive and we can either escape or avoid them. By doing so, we do not have to deal with the aversive stimuli, which reinforces the behavior. Going to jail was an aversive stimuli for the men, and they wanted to avoid it. The detective told them how to avoid it: by stating that they saw Reuben as one of the shooters. This behavior made it possible for them to avoid the aversive stimuli (stay out of jail) and so if they were in the same situation, they would gladly repeat the behavior.

Terms: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, psychological needs, autonomy, competence, incentives, rewards, negative reinforcer, persistence, aversive, consequences

Like mentioned above, I hadn't heard of this movie or Rubin Carter, either. His story is a very interesting, and there for awhile, unfortunate one. One thing that bothered me was when the guy who was shot was at the hospital, the doctors were operating on him in an open area and without masks. This really has no purpose to the chapter, or significance with the movie. Just a little sidenote, because I've been watching Grey's Anatomy too much lately.

The first thing that I really noticed was the use of intrinsic motivation to becoming a boxer. Most people wouldn't enjoy getting punched and hit, but it was almost his "out", so-to-speak. Nobody was pushing him to become a boxer or persuading his decisions. While he was in prison, he decided that he wanted to make his body a weapon. So instead of doing what the other inmates did, he was constantly working out, even while everyone else was sleeping. He was breaking the social norms of the prison and this desire to be himself and follow his own rules is intrinsic motivation.

Another example of intrinsic motivation is from the detective. He was determined to send Carter to prison and he successfully did so three times. While Carter was in prison, he worked hard to make sure that Carter would stay in prison. The detective was dead set on locking Carter away for the rest of his life, even though he was innocent, at least with the murder charges.

Extrinsic motivation is also displayed in this movie. For example, Carter wants his freedom and is tired of being in jail. So he takes his own freedom into his hands by escaping out of jail. Extrinsic motivation is when someone else is giving you an incentive, or reward to accomplish a desired goal. The detective displayed this role, along with the negative inforcer, when he told the man who was giving the testimony about "seeing Carter shoot the man in the bar." The detective told the man that if he said it was Carter, his parole charges would be dropped. This persuaded the man to not even think about how he was putting an innocent man in jail, but only think about his own needs and desires. He desired to be free from the patrole violations, at least we can assume, so he took that into action by agreeing with the detective & lying to the judge.

A combination of both an extrinsic and intrinsic event is with Lesra. When we first meet him, we see how he wants to finish school and go to college, to learn to read & to write. When Lesra found Sam, Terry and Lisa, they nurtured this intrinsic drive toward education and helped him by encouraging him. They didn't punish him or reward him, only supported him. Although, extrinsically, Sam, Terry & Lisa's support did help motivate him to go further his education.

Needs was a big part of Carter's life, especially when he was put in solitary confinement ("the hole") and was shunned from human interaction for 90 days. Our bodies cannot go that many days, without interaction. We have needs, which is to be social and to have relationships, both are psychological needs. Without this as an option, he kind of imagined multiple personalities and would talk to himself.

Terms: Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, incentive, reward, negative reinforcer, needs, psychological needs

I definitely wasn’t expecting such an intense, emotional movie when I first heard about it. From a motivational standpoint this movie just amazes me. There are so many aspects of motivation and psychology wrapped up in this movie that I was not expecting. The most widely used ME term that I found in this movie was intrinsic motivation, so that is what I am focusing on for this blog post!

I saw intrinsic and extrinsic motivation EVERYWHERE in this movie. In the beginning, Rubin had a strong motivation to leave the boys’ home. He explained that this motivation was for freedom. I believe this would be an extrinsic motivation because freedom comes from external sources and it comes from the reward of being away from the boys’ home. Rubin also had a great amount of intrinsic motivation when he entered the jail. Intrinsic motivation is natural motivation that comes from inside. He motivated himself to rebel away from the system and didn’t let anyone tell him what to do. Someone else could have reacted in a different way in this type of situation. They may have let the system walk all over them or they may have simply given up. Rubin reacted in a way that most people wouldn’t because he had an intrinsic motivation pushing him to react this way. Rubin’s anger and hatred inside of him made him want to take control of his life and that is what made him turn his body into a weapon and start to fight.

Throughout the movie, Rubin lost his intrinsic motivation for a while and gave up. People have a psychological need to socialize with other people, so when Rubin was put in isolation for 90 days he began to lose hope and motivation. At one point he told Lisa that he denies himself any psychological need for human contact and socialization so that he can survive in prison. The motivation it takes to deprive himself of this want or desire for human contact is a very strong intrinsic motivation. At first I thought it was the lack of motivation but then I thought about how much effort it would take to rid your mind and heart of the desire for these things. It would take more motivation to ignore these wants than it would to let them take place. Without this intrinsic motivation I believe he would have had a much harder time making it through the years of prison he went through. He showed a great deal of stress and emotions during that time because of the lack of engagement. He wasn’t able to adapt adequately to having no people around because humans need social stimulation. He even began talking to himself. However, when Lisa entered his life that motivation rekindled and he began to have hope and drive to continue trying to get out of prison. He finally got the social stimulation he needed to be able to express himself and take part in some human engagement. The drive to get out of prison was extrinsic because it would be the greatest reward in his life. Even though Rubin had spent so many years in prison, that intrinsic motivation kept him going. Persistence was the key ingredient he needed to have to make it to the end of this movie to the point where he was set free. Without the persistence of intrinsic motivation, there is no way he would have been able to stay sane and survive until the end.

Not only did motivation take place within Rubin, but it took place in Lisa’s situation as well. Lisa was struggling with school and learning, but once he read Rubin’s book and began his relationship with him he found motivation within himself to continue on with school and get his high school diploma. Rubin helped Lisa find his internal drive by teaching him the values he needed to learn and showing him that he could do it. Lisa and all of his friends had a very strong intrinsic motivation to help Rubin win his case in federal court. They all got to know Rubin and liked the person he is and believed that he was innocent. This created that intrinsic motivation to help Rubin as long as it took. They even moved to the United States so that they could be closer to him to help out. They knew it was a long shot that it would work out at all, so the reward was very slight. Their internal desire to help Rubin was what kept them going, even when they were threatened by external events.

Extrinsic motivation comes from external factors or rewards such as money. The major underlying extrinsic motivation in this movie was the pressure from society and the drive to get that major external reward, freedom. That is what Rubin wanted most of all, so he spent his life trying to gain that freedom from the prison system. It seems like the environment around Rubin growing up was very tough and very harmful to him. Rubin was taking part in avoidance techniques it seemed like for his entire life. He was trying to avoid aversive situations such as the pain and anger he was feeling which is why he took part in boxing. He was constantly coming into contact with aversive situations and was getting punished for reasons that he didn’t have any control over.

Terms: intrinsic, extrinsic, drive, reward, avoidance, psychological need, emotions, engagement, aversive, external, persistence

Although there are some concepts from Chapter 5 in this film, I feel that the film can also be used to demonstrate some symptoms in abnormal psychology. Well, the main character was not really insane, thanks to his strong and persistent motivation. I think we can separate his actions according to his intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.

Three psychological needs can lead to intrinsic motivation. They are autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The deprivation of relatedness is most obvious in the film, when the boxer "Hurricane" was pulled off stage and thrown into jail. His fame and social status were suddenly taken away, and he was separated from his loving family.

Autonomy is probably the most important need to him. Since he was a little kid, he learned to be independent in rough living conditions. He attacked a stranger who he identified as a threat to his well-being. He ran away from jail for freedom, though he was captured again. When he was locked up for three life sentences, he kept his autonomy by refusing to leave his cell. He appealed to the court several times and published his story so more people can read about his case. All these were done for the ultimate goal of freedom, for the highly valued autonomy.

Competence is also an essential need to him. He went to the military and won a boxing champion. Later he earned his title with his fighting skills. These are good evidences of his competitiveness. When he came back to prison for undeserved convictions, he refused to wear the uniform. This demonstrates his competence of being an honorable and innocent man. The learned skills of reading and writing also improved his intellectual competence, and reading works from great authors also let him relate to these distant figures.

I think identified regulation is the most obvious extrinsic motivation in this film. Just like his statement at the court, he was trained to be a prize fighter. From training to earning the title "Hurricane," he found a way to internalize the demand on the job market and voluntarily devoted himself for such a purpose. He took the rewards as personal gain and identified himself as a successful fighter. However, I think he achieved another level of extrinsic motivation later in his life.

Integrated regulation has the most internal focus in extrinsic motivation. This is the type of motivation for a person who transforms values and behavior into his or her own identity. This process adds new ways of thinking to the existing thought capacity. Personally I think the character in the film began to possess such motivation when he left his home state and became an advocate for the wrongly convicted, but I guess this judgment is open to debate.

Terms: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, psychological need, autonomy, competence, relatedness, identified regulation, reward, integrated regulation

At first, it was difficult to see how this movie tied into the chapter for this week. After a lot of careful thought, it became more and more obvious. I really did enjoy the movie, even if it seemed to be incredibly long for some reason. One big part of this movie pertaining to the chapter is Rubin's constant struggle with his motivation. He is intrinsically motivated to get out of jail because it keeps him locked away and deprives him of all the things that make him a person. Throughout the movie, he struggles a lot with that, forsaking all the comforts offered in jail so he accepts the situation and lets go of his motivation to get out. When he makes such an impact on someone else's life with his book, he sees there is something out there to live for again and regains that intrinsic motivation to get out. Intrinsic just means that he is seeking out optimal challenge and engaging his own interests which would be getting his name cleared and getting out of jail.

Another intrinsic motivation in this movie is the willingness to read Rubin's book on the part of Lesra. For him to be so extrinsicaly motivated earlier in the timeline, he's picked up something he can really enjoy. His ignoring the time while reading, losing sleep because of it, just reading because he wanted to shows great intrinsic motivation. His extrinsic motivation comes earlier with him leaving his family to make a better life for himself. He may not have wanted to leave his family behind, it was a very difficult decision. There was the reward for him leaving that he would have a better chance at getting into college and that he would learn how to read. An extrinsic motivation would be anything that is an environmental incentive for behavior. He had the mindset of if I leave home I will get into college. That "if this, then that" idea is an indicator of extrinsic motivation. His character shows the shift in extrinsic to intrinsic, he's internalized his decision and really embraces it, putting all of himself into his goal of getting ready for college. That would be his reward in the end. The Canadians gave him the promise of that reward when they met him, showing him it was possible to go to college if only he would apply himself and go with them. A reward is an offer between people in exchange for an achievement or service. Him being college ready was the reward they offered him and he gladly took it as motivation to move away from his family. Family is very important in this movie because of how much it is emphasized and even in the times that it isn't, it's still playing a big role.

Despite all the horror of "the hole", it did not work as a punisher as well as the wardens would like it to. For most men, they'd crack and follow orders like all the prisoners generally did. However, with Rubin, to attest to his innocence, he was very intrinsically motivated to hold onto some semblance of power in that place, a little bit of control over his situation where all power was being stripped of him. His protest to wearing the striped inmate's attire caused his difficult 90 stint in a small cell away from human contact and hygiene. Coming out of there, he still held his composure and was willing to endure another session down there. The shower is offered as an incentive to him, attempting to get his cooperation. He asks what the price of the shower is and it is his compliance which he isn't giving up. An incentive is an environmental event motivating behavior that precedes that behavior. The warden offers him this incentive or reward, it could function as either, to gain Rubin's acceptance and get him to do what is expected of prisoners. He refuses and gets to hold onto that shred of dignity not having to wear the outfit of the other prisoners. In this, he is very lucky because the guards and wardens could have made his time in jail so much more difficult.

Another aspect of motivation in this movie is the motivation of the Canadians to help Rubin and to prove his innocence. Because of Lesra, they also formed a relationship with Rubin and they believed he was falsely accused. They were extrinsically motivated to work on his case and move to New Jersey to help him. There was the concept of the "if this then that" in that if they helped prove his innocence then he would be set free. That was their desire for him and it was a very powerful motivator for them.

Terms: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, reward, incentive

Hurricane's fluctuating mental emotional state is incredible throughout the movie. The effects of prison on the mind, the hardening effect rather than the rehabilitating effect. The idea of transcendence, of turning weapons of the state against them by making them the source of strength. The motivation of Rubin Carter was extreme, just as extreme as the sources. Many of the driving forces were extrinsic. Race was beyond his control. Environment was behind his control. He was dealt a raw hand and and yet he found intrinsic motivations that transcended his environment, and at times himself.

By the time Carter successfully appealed his trial, Carter had spent well over half of his life behind in the U.S. prison system. Early on within the movie, Rubin Carter stated hisgoal plainly. To become a Warrior-Philospher, one who sought freedom. There was little extrinsic motivation in that as it had no guaranteed way to affect his environment. It was about perfection, about mastery both physical and mental and in some ways environmental. He worked to control and exert power over his world. Since Carter could not do that in the physical, he did so by changing his definitions of control and power.

In many ways, the path he took was very similar to the tenets of Buddhism. Carter did his best to limit and control his desires. He reinforced within himself that he did not really need them. It is true, many of the things that humans take for granted are only perceived needs. He released them, let them go, one by one. The self imposed restrictions were stricter than that of the prison system. By doing this, he was living within his own restrictions, his own choices rather than the choices the state made for him. He did not allow himself to want for the things he could have had. The things he couldn't have were even further out of mind. He had only his physiological needs to account for, the very basics for survival. Those trump all else anyways, so to concentrate on them was to ensure that everything else seemed petty in comparison.

These actions, this degree of control over what Carter could have had but didn't became his source of power. It's a similar principle to some ideas of fasting, a form of discipline and as a pro athlete and prize fighter he understood that enough discipline gives the power to do anything. He armed himself with everything. To his mind everything was a weapon, from his body to his mind, to his spirituality, to the walls that bound him, to the words he wrote. At times, when he had given up even his goal of freedom, he held those weapons just because they made him feel powerful. When he strove toward freedom, they were the tools he used to fight.

Carter's motivation was utterly intrinsic. As intense as the focus was, it had to come from inside especially because over the course of those twenty-two years most of the extrinsic factors were far more demotivating than motivating. For much of it, the only extrinsic factor was the idea of freedom and once that seemed to be unobtainable, he swore off goals and focused on perfecting himself for where he was and where it seemed he was going to stay. It was a survival mechanism for a difficult environment, and it was an effective one. He thrived so well in the prison that one has to wonder what he could have achieved had he been outside.

Terms

Extrinsic Motivation-Motivation that comes from outside the self.

Intrinsic Motivation-Motivation that comes from within

Mastery-The ability to perform a task better on a sliding scale of competence.

Control-The ways in which one believe they can influence the environment.

Power -The degree one believes they can influence the environment.

Perceived Needs-Comforts an individual has become accustomed to that are completely non-vital.
Desire for comfort causes acclimatization in times of wealth and generates temporary stress in leaner times.

Physiological Needs-What the body needs to continue to live, thrive and grow.

I had never seen this movie before this assignment but I am a huge fan of Denzel Washington so I was excited to see what the movie had in store. I definitely was not disappointed as the movie definitely lived up to the hype. Not only was it a very solid film, but it was strewn with aspects from our textbook, including intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Rubin Carter displayed behaviors of a person who was both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated at multiple times throughout the movie. The portion of the movie that obviously stands out as intrinsic motivation is when he is in prison. There is not much in the environment in prison to motivate one extrinsically to stay strong and mentally free. This motivation had to come from within Rubin because it satisfied one of the three main points of intrinsic motivation. These three main points are autonomy, competence, and relatedness. With Rubin being secluded from society and sometimes even the rest of the prison society, he was deprived of potential relatedness with other people. That is an important intrinsic motivator that would most likely be lacking in Rubin’s situation. He also displayed how autonomy is needed to satisfy psychological needs which lead to intrinsic motivation to continue to satisfy those needs. He was obviously very independent in prison and read and worked out to maintain the illusion of autonomy and competence. These characteristics would be hard to come by in prison so Rubin finding a strategy to obtain them definitely helped his mental well-being. Another example involves the clothing Rubin was told to wear while in prison. In his head, he was not a prisoner because he did not commit the murder he was accused of committing. Insisting on not wearing the standard prison uniform was a way for Rubin to display his autonomy and his innocence. It made him feel better about his situation in which he was nearly helpless.
Extrinsic motivation was obviously an important aspect of Rubin’s life in prison. Instead of the motivation coming from only within a person, extrinsic motivation comes from some sort of incentive or reward provided by the environment. If Rubin had not received the letters, he would have been lacking extrinsic motivation. Specifically, Rubin was motivated to get to the outside world that Lersa reminded him of with the letters. They both knew Rubin was being punished unjustly and having that connection gave Rubin hope and additional motivation to get out of prison. Prison was meant to deter citizens from committing crimes but if the punisher is applied incorrectly, it will not properly operant condition anyone to participate in desirable.
Terms: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, behaviors, autonomy, competence, relatedness, operant condition

I would have to say that the movie “The Hurricane” is one of my favorites. This movie was an exciting, inspiring movie that contains plenty of concepts from our book. The movie began with many motivational influences in the life of Rubin Carter, from when he became a professional boxer, to the end of the movie where he got his ultimate reward, freedom and justice.

The first scenes that displayed extrinsic motivation occurred when Rubin was fighting. If you looked at the environment, the cheering fans and spectators, you could tell they were extrinsically motivated to cheer and show their emotions during the match. Although you cannot be certain their motivation, I’m sure many of them had placed a bet on the game. This was especially evident when Rubin fought for the heavyweight championship, and it came down to the judge’s decision. Rubin lost because the judges favored his opponent, when Rubin clearly had overpowered his opponent from the start.

Many different types of extrinsic motivation took place through the course of this movie. In particular, the scene where Rubin first went into prison for his lifetime sentences displayed integrated motivation. The warden told him to strip and put the inmate’s clothes on. Rubin refused, and paid the consequences of being locked up in the “hole” for 90 days. This consequence would be called a punisher, because the warden tried to erase Rubin’s behavior so it wouldn’t happen again, but it failed. Why did he refuse to do a simple thing like change clothes? Rubin knew he was innocent and he was going to stand by that. He wanted to distinguish himself from the inmates because he was not a criminal, and he wanted to retain his pride. This reflects his own beliefs and values.

The character Lesra also shows many types of motivation. In the beginning, he is intrinsically motivated to go to college, despite not being able to read. His motivation to learn and go to college comes from within himself, because he was not going to college if he stayed at home with his parents, and that’s when he made the decision to go live with that family.

Both Rubin and Lesra motivated each other. Lesra was motivated by reading Rubin’s book. It started out as an attraction when he decided to buy the book, but as Lesra read more and more, he gained an individual interest while reading the text. He began to relate Rubin’s situations and applying it to his own life. He began writing letters and each time Rubin responded and praised Lesra. As Lesra and Rubin became close to each other, Lesra’s family also began a relationship with Carter. They frequently supplied Rubin with many gifts including paper, envelopes, and stamps. These acted as reinforces to Rubin, and as time went on he began to trust them. Rubin was ready to stop fighting for his freedom, but Lesra and his family gave him positive reinforces and an incentive to fight.

Another aspect of “The Hurricanes” manner was his intrinsic motivation. As said earlier, I stated he showed extrinsic integrated regulation. But if you look at the big picture, Rubin fought for what he believed in for 20 years. He faced trial again and again, but failed each time. Yet, he still had the persistence to keep going. Rubin also displayed creativity. His method was to do everything from his own cell, sleep while the jail awakened, and awake while the jail slept. Rubin did this for 20 years, and it allowed him to survive. So in a way, I would say Rubin was intrinsically motivated to get out jail. He knew within himself that he had not committed any crime. He pursued a long and hard fought battle. But in the end, with a little help from Lesra and his family, he was able to see justice.

Terms: extrinsic motivation, integrated regulation, attraction, individual interest, praise, incentives, rewards, intrinsic motivation, persistence, creativity, consequences, reinforcers,

The Hurricane is an amazing movie. It is a great example of what was discussed in chapter five because it deals a lot with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Rubin is a black man fighting for the rights of all blacks, as well as his own personal freedom. He grew up in a time period where racism was at its peak, and when a white man was out to get him, he knew that the odds were fully against him. This white man was a police officer that had been out to get Rubin since he was eleven years old. He was determined to punish Rubin by getting him thrown into jail for the remainder of his life. After serving time twice, Rubin thinks that he is a free man, but the white man becomes more and more extrinsically motivated to see what he calls justice. He set Rubin up and framed him for a triple murder, just so that he could "win": watch Rubin lose and be punished to a lifetime in prison.
What is so inspiring about this movie is the Rubin never backs down. After some many years of giving into what he is told to do, he begins to stick up for himself to the point where he gains not only respect from others, but he learns to respect himself. He is intrinsically motivated by autonomy throughout the whole movie. There is never a point where he isn't striving for freedom. He wants out of prison, of course, but he also wants freedom of ridicule for being black, and he will fight for that right for all black people. His extrinsic motivation derives from the anger he feels at society. He wants to fight the system for black rights and fair law. He doesn't want praise, he wants the satisfaction that he beat the system and in turn gave hope to the black population.
Lesra Martin becomes intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to help Rubin win his case. He read Rubin's book and knew that he had to fight for him. Growing up as a young black boy, Lesra knew exactly what Rubin had gone through with the ridicule, non-acceptance, and pressures of society. Lesra became intrinsically motivated by his relatedness to Rubin. He felt emotionally close to Rubin after simply reading his book, but after meeting Rubin in person and getting to know him on a more personal level, Lesra's intrinsic motivation went through the roof. He knew that Rubin was innocent and Lesra needed to help. His extrinsic motivation came from his desire to see Rubin become a free man again. He was persistent. He got his family involved and told Rubin that they weren't going to stop until he was free again. Between Lesra and Rubin, the motivation was so strong that there was no way they could be stopped. They did everything they could to prepare for the trial, and, finally, they won their justice. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was a free man, and blacks everywhere felt that they had won as well.

Terms: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, punish, autonomy, reward, persistence

I am not a huge fan of this movie. I usually don’t make statements like that because I absolutely LOVE movies. This movie showed how extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation can alter behavior for individuals. I believe Rueben was intrinsically motivated to get out of jail. So much so, that he ignored the ‘luxuries’ of prison life. However, I believe that this was introjected regulation at it’s best. The guilt that Rueben felt about his crimes intrinsically motivated him to not enjoy the small comforts and directed his behavior towards almost seemingly punishing himself. My thought was Rueben’s want and need to get out of jail could be intrinsically motivated because he doesn’t like it where he is but when does an intrinsic motivation become extrinsically motivating? It seems that freedom could be both intrinsically and extrinsically motivating. Rueben intrinsically motivates himself to work out and pushes his body to the max so that he could be in good enough shape to break out of prison or get by anyone that stood in his way. The punisher of prison didn’t seem to thwart the psychology of Rueben at all to me. He still seemed violent (albeit in a violent environment) and didn’t decrease the motivation for some behaviors. By the end of the movie, Rueben had evolved from introjected regulation, all the waya to integrated regulation. He believed himself to be not guilty and wanted to get back to his life and made this a part of himself. His behavior started to change. As I said before, I wasn’t a huge fan of this movie. Props to Denzel Washington (as usual) but even his acting didn’t help my feeling that the movie seemed to become sluggish and drag after awhile.

TERMS: extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, punishers, introjected regulation

I think the movie Hurricane expressed a lot of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation throughout the movie. I think that one scene in the movie that expressed both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation was during the opening scene when Rubin was boxing. I think boxing has to be lead by a lot of intrinsic motivation for a person to even fight and constantly receive negative feedback from his body as it receives continuous punishment and pain from the hits. I think Rubin was lead by a lot of internal drive to fight due to his childhood and being locked up. I think Rubin got a lot of intrinsic motivation for boxing being a black man at that time and having so many people that loved him as a boxer as well as the attention. I think Rubin also got extrinsic motivation from winning his fights and getting paid to win.
I think a good scene in the movie that showed Intrinsic motivation was when Rubin refused to put on the jail uniform and was punished as result of his motivation and drive to tell the prison officer “no”. I think it took a lot of intrinsic motivation to stay in a dark damp place were Rubin’s Physiological needs as well as his psychological needs were not being met. In the hole, the prison was trying to take away Rubin’s humanity but when Rubin came out of the hole he fixed his tie and straighten his shirts even though he was so dirty, unable to shower of shave for 90 days. I think that action alone of still wanting to look like a decent man of society after that punishment took a lot of drive and intrinsic motivation on Rubin’s part.
I think a good scene in the movie that showed extrinsic motivation was when the family that took Lesra in as well as Lesra drove all the way from Canada to meet the man that wrote the book The Sixteenth Round. The book was a very strong extrinsic motivator for Lesra. If he hadn’t read the book and took an interest in its content, Rubin would still be in jail and would have never had his motivation back for someone to fight for him to get out of jail.
Terms: extrinsic/intrinsic motivation, punishment, drive, psychological needs, physiological needs

Substance Use by College Students: The Role of Intrinsic Vs. Extrinsic Motivation for Athletic Involvement

This study was extremely interesting I had never thought that athletic involvement may play a role in greater of use of substance use. The article looked at whether students who are intrinsically motivated are at a greater risk for substance abuse; the same was done for extrinsic motivation as well. Self-determination theory focuses on psychological needs such as competence, autonomy, and relatedness. This theory looks in terms of social and environmental factors rather than intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is when an individual engages in an activity because it is satisfying. While extrinsic motivation is engaging in an activity to attain a separable outcome. Thus in terms of self-determination theory it is hypothesized that individuals who participate in sports for extrinsic reason are more susceptible to and at a greater risk for substance use.

The article stated that the hypothesis was that more extrinsically motivated athletes and exercisers would have higher rates of substance use than intrinsically motivated exercisers and athletes, and the highest rates were expected among those who are extrinsically motivated athletes. In the study 218 college students ranging from age 18 to 24 and who were involved in athletic or exercise were used. Participants filled out a background and athletic activity questionnaire. The situational motivation scale was used to assess motivation for athletic involvement. Participants were classified as being extrinsically or intrinsically motivated for physical activity on the basis of their mean scores. From the athletic quality questionnaire participants were put into two groups, athletes, and exercisers. Athletes were defined as those who self-reported involvement in sports. While exercisers were defined as those who reported involvement in club sports as well as cardiovascular exercise for at least 20 minutes per day, or three times a week.

It was found that athletes and exercisers who were extrinsically motivated to participate in physical activities would have higher rates of substance use. Thus the results were strongly in support with the hypothesis. Athletes and exercisers who were extrinsically motivated consumed alcohol more frequently and consumed greater quantities than athletes and exercisers who are intrinsically motivated. This study’s results are very important because they could help coaches realize that there is a problem and they can learn how they can promote their players to become more intrinsically motivated. If more players are intrinsically motivated then they will not take part in substance abuse compared to individuals who are extrinsically motivated. Coaches can help their players become intrinsically motivated by enhancing feelings of competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

Overall this study was extremely interesting as I had always assumed that individuals who are involved in sports were not at a very high risk for substance abuse because they seem to be watched closely by their coaches; this obviously isn’t the case according to the study. Athletes and individuals who exercise frequently need to focus on ways they can become intrinsically motivated.

Terms: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, competence, autonomy, relatedness, substance abuse.

This article was very interesting to me. I never realized that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in relation to athletic involvement could be a determining factor for substance abuse habits. This is something that I never thought of before, although it seems like a simple concept. The study was performed to see whether college students who are extrinsicly motivated to do sports or exercise, are more likely to abuse different substances. The same was done for intrinsically motivated athletes and exercisers. The researchers also focused on the psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness to help with the study. The study's results showed that individuals who are extrinsicaly motivated to perform in sports and exercise are also more likely to drink than intrinsicaly motivated individuals. The study also showed that those individuals may be in need of targeted prevention efforts.

The students involved in the study were all of traditional college age between the ages of 18-24. The participants had to be involved in athletics or be regular exercisers. 335 students completed the questionaire packet to perform in the study, but 73 of the people that completed it were over the age of 24 and they had to be excluded from the study. In the end 218 students were used for the study. Other individuals had to be excluded because they did not meet the criteria to be considered an athlete or exerciser.

The results of the study showed that the individuals who were extrinsically motivted to perform in athletics or exercise, typically drank more that their intrinsically motivated counterparts. The individuals who were extrinsically motivated were also more likely to binge drink, smoke marijuanna, and use chewing tabacco. The individals who were intrinsically motivated were not as likely to binge drink, smoke marijuanna, or use chewing tabacco. The study's results showed that the individuals who were involved in team sports were more likely to take part in substance abuse than those individuals who were not involved in a team sport.

The results of this study were extremely interesting. You can see these results in real life on pretty much any college campus. This study even made me think about some of my friends. I realized that one of my friends who is an exerciser takes part in these activities regurally, and I now believe that it is because they are extrinsically motivated to exercise. This was a great study, and it was interesting to learn about how people are motivated to do different things.

This journal article examined the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation between college athletes and exercisers. The study investigated If there was a relationship between being intrinsically motivated or extrinsically motivated and substance abuse. The researchers defined intrinsic motivation as engaging in an activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for some separable consequence, whereas extrinsic motivation is characterized by engaging in an activity to attain some separable outcome. Researchers used the self-determination model to help them better understand the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The SDT focused primarily on innate needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

There were two hypotheses for this study. The first one is more extrinsically motivated athletes and exercisers would have higher rates of substance use (i.e., quantity and frequency of drinking, binge drinking, marijuana use, and chewing tobacco use) than intrinsically motivated exercisers and athletes, with the highest rates expected among those who are both extrinsically motivated and athletes. The second is athletes involved in team sports would have higher rates of substance use than those not involved in team sports, with the highest rates expected among those who were both extrinsically motivated and involved in team sports.

Participants were recruited on the campus of a Midwest university. Participants in this study were college students between the ages of 18-24 and were involved in athletics or regular exercise. 262 college-age students filled out the questionnaire. 37% met the criteria for being an athlete and 46% of the students met the criteria of being an exerciser. Participants were asked to fill out a background questionnaire and an athletic activity questionnaire. The Situational Motivation Scale was used to assess motivation for athletic involvement. Each participant was also reviewed on their alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use.

The results of the study support their hypothesis. Athletes and exercisers who were extrinsically motivated to participate in physical activity consumed alcohol more frequently, consumed greater quantities of alcohol, binge drank more frequently, and used marijuana and chewing tobacco more frequently than athletes and exercisers who were intrinsically motivated. The results also showed that individuals who participated in team sports have higher rates of substance abuse.

I think this study is very interesting and it makes a lot of sense. I’ve played sports all my life and I can always tell when people are intrinsically motivated or extrinsically motivated. Here at UNI I am on a couple different intermural teams throughout the school year and I feel like most people are extrinsically motivated. I’m there because I love the sport and like to stay active but most people are there to have a good time and to hang out with friends.

Terms: Extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, competence, autonomy, relatedness, self-determination theory, substance abuse.

For the make up assignment for the Hurricane post we were to read an article entitled Substance Use by College Students: The Role of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation for Athletic Involvement. This was a study based on the hypothesis that college level athletes who are extrinsically motivated in their team sport are more likely to take part in substance abuse behaviors such as binge drinking, marijuana, tobacco ect. compared to intrinsically motivated athletes in the same team sport. The book defines intrinsic motivation is defined as the inherent propensity to engage ones interest and to exercise ones capacities and in doing so to seek out and master optimal challenges. Intrinsic motivation emerges spontaneously from psychological needs. Intrinsic motivation can lead to creativity, persistence, a higher level of learning and understanding, and create an optimal functioning and well being within and individual. Extrinsic motivation is defined as motivation that arises from environmental incentives and consequences. Extrinsic motivation includes things such as incentives, an environmental event that attracts or repels a person towards or away from and particular course or action, and consequences which include reinforcers, an extrinsic event that increases a behavior, and punishers, any environmental stimulus that decrease the future probability of the undesired behavior.

The results of this study showed that athletes that are extrinsically motivated rather than intrinsically motivated are more likely to participate in the more frequent consumption of alcohol, binge drinking, tobacco use, and marijuana. The study suggest that this is due to the fact that the intrinsically motivated athletes have had their psychological needs for competence, the psychological need to be effective in interactions with the environment around them, autonomy, the need to think for ones self by making decisions and choices, and relatedness, the psychological need to establish close emotional bonds and attachments with other people, have already been met and that extrinsically motivated athletes have not had these needs met and is what is causing them to be at higher risk of substance abuse. This research study also suggest that being intrinsically motivated may help reduce the involvement in substance abuse amongst athletes and that enhancing the feelings of the psychological needs listed above can help promote intrinsic motivation amongst athletes.

Terms: Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, incentives, Punishers, Reinforces, Competence, Autonomy, Relatedness