Dope

Throughout the movie, Malcolm is presented with a series of different situations that lead him to be extrinsically motivated. These events were all fueled by his dream to get into Harvard which was his intrinsic motivation.
It all starts when his normal path home is blocked and he has to take a different route that leads him to Dom. It is in that moment that his journey to getting into Harvard becomes a little more complicated. When he goes to his Harvard interview is when all of his extrinsic motivation truly begins. He was told by the interviewer that he must sell all the cocaine or kiss his dreams of a good recommendation goodbye. The drive to sell the cocaine becomes an extrinsic motivation because of the fact that he is doing in order to receive the reward that comes from it. In the end, he does complete this task regardless of the obstacles he overcomes. He even takes the extra step to insure he gets a good recommendation by blackmailing the man who made him do it in the first place. Analyzing the scene where Malcolm tells AJ he can help him get into Harvard or face the consequences of being caught for selling the drugs serves as a link to the concept of a punisher. AJ can either choose to help Malcolm or face the consequences of jail time that will more than likely follow. The same can be said for Malcolm when he is first told by AJ that he must first sell all the drugs before he will help him get into Harvard. Malcolm had to make the decision to sell the drugs or deal with the consequences of not getting into Harvard and maybe even having harm done to his friends and family.
Malcolm’s one goal is to get into Harvard and he does all the necessary things to make sure this goal happens. He has always wanted to get into Harvard so he got good grades and stayed out of trouble. Coming from the area that he did there was many things that could have deterred him from this goal. In the end of the movie you see Malcolm has received a letter from Harvard. The closing scene is his face with a look of satisfaction. One can infer from this that he did in fact get into Harvard after all the things he went through. His intrinsic motivation finally led to a feeling of autonomy. Another need associated with intrinsic motivation is the support from one’s relationships. Malcolm definitely received this from his two best friends. Although they too were put in danger by the whole ordeal they stuck by his side, most times, and helped him get all the drugs sold in order to help him meet his dream of going to Harvard. After all the happened, I am sure they will have all learned to avoid that area and that they should continue being good and staying out of trouble like they have done for so long.

Terms:
Intrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation
Reward
Goal
Autonomy
Punisher

Dope, from a thematic perspective, is a film about overcoming odds that are perpetually stacked against you. The main character, Malcolm, is a young high schooler who just wishes to get into his dream school, Harvard. However, to achieve that goal, he must dredge through haphazard drug deals, Bitcoin sales, a corrupt businessman, and unrequited love. Fortunately, Malcolm does ultimately achieve his goal in the end after returning home to find an envelope from Harvard laying on his bed.

From a psychological perspective, this movie is a perfect example of the battle of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Malcolm, as the focus of the movie, is the character in which this battle takes place. Malcolm is already a perfectly intrinsically motivated student. He sees his school choice as a perfectly autonomous (free) choice. Wherever he wants to go, he can go. Malcolm also believes that he is competent enough for the Ivy League, as he has his eyes set on Harvard University. In doing this, he also feels he fits in with (relatedness) his only two true friends, Diggy and Jib. As the school’s “geeks,” they are constantly picked on for being different. They strive to achieve beyond high school and enjoy “White Shit.” Because of this, they are ridiculed by their immediate peers, but fortunately have each other as social support. These three factors combine into the origin of Malcolm’s own psychological need of academic achievement, that intrinsically motivates him to pursue an education at Harvard.

Malcolm’s counselor further reinforces and supports Malcolm’s behavior. As a good counselor, he understands that Malcolm wants the achievement that so few in “The Bottoms” desire. He, therefore, provides the support necessary to encourage the autonomy, competence, and relatedness that Malcolm’s intrinsic motivation requires. However, Malcolm is a bit lacking in this area, as he believes that Harvard will accept him purely based on academic achievement. Therefore, the counselor provides a positive incentive to Malcolm: Go get an interview with Austin Jacoby or you can say goodbye to your dreams of Harvard. This acts as a positive incentive for Malcolm because it attracts him (approach-oriented) to the action of going to see Mr. Jacoby, but it does not directly cause him to immediately start the course of action. What this incentive does is it plants the expectation within Malcolm’s head that if he does go see Mr. Jacoby, his chances of seeing himself at Harvard increases significantly.

The battle that I alluded to in the second paragraph begins when bad influences begin to seep into Malcolm’s life. They all provide extrinsic motivation in one form or another, but all wish to gain compliance and control over Malcolm, not the starkly contrasted positive influence that his counselor provided.

As an example, Austin Jacoby, the man Malcolm once believed was what he was destined to be. A man raised from the slums to the throne of success on the back of his hard work and study at Harvard. However, Mr. Jacoby was also revealed to be a drug dealer, and is as corrupt as the day is long. Upon finding out that Mr. Jacoby is the “AJ” that Dom said to go find, Malcolm informs him that he has the drugs that Dom was supposed to acquire. Mr. Jacoby, wanting nothing to do with the already heated and heinous crime, provides reinforcement to get Malcolm to comply with finishing the deal for Jacoby.

Now, this is where it becomes a bit hazy for me. I could honestly see this reinforcement as coming from both positive and negative aspects. It could be positive reinforcement, “If you sell these drugs for me, then I will give you a recommendation from Harvard.” He could be motivating Malcolm by inserting the valued recommendation to Harvard into Malcolm’s environment. This would increase the likelihood of Malcolm’s drug-selling behavior. However, it could also be negative reinforcement, “If you don’t sell these drugs, I will not recommend you to Harvard.” According to Malcolm’s counselor, without that recommendation Harvard is as good as gone. So, this could be taken as Jacoby taking away the Harvard future, removing a stimulus to increase Malcolm’s drug-selling behavior. And some may argue that this is more of a punishment than a negative reinforcer, however the book defines that negative reinforcement encourages escape/avoidance behaviors while punishment purely decreases undesired behavior. Malcolm has not performed the drug-selling behavior yet, and he wishes to avoid the future without Harvard, so he would be more likely to sell the drugs to avoid a Harvard-less future.

Finally, in the end, Malcolm turns the situation around on Mr. Jacoby, the main influencer of the film. After selling the drugs, Malcolm ensures that the money could be traced back to Mr. Jacoby. Mr. Jacoby again utilizes reinforcement, this time I am confident that it is negative. Mr. Jacoby wishes to increase the behavior of not-tracing the money to him. So, he threatens Malcolm (The line: “You know what a man like me can do to a boy like you.”). He introduces a future stimulus (pain/beating/possibly death (?)) into Malcolm’s environment that Malcolm will want to avoid. However, Malcolm is prepared to face Jacoby’s reinforcement and assures Jacoby that the shoe is on the other foot. He points out that, since they both come from questionable backgrounds in “The Bottom,” the DEA would not be as forgiving of anyone involved, be they poor high school student or Harvard business (secret drug kingpin) millionaire. Malcolm wishes to increase the likelihood of Jacoby’s recommendation behavior, as Jacoby will want to avoid the future where he may lose everything he’d achieved and wind up in prison. This clearly works as demonstrated by the Harvard letter sitting on Malcolm’s bed at the end of the film.

Terms Used:
Intrinsic Motivation – Pg. 111
Autonomy – Pg. 111
Competence – Pg. 111
Relatedness – Pg. 111
Origins of Intrinsic Motivation – Pg. 112
Extrinsic Motivation – Pg. 113
Incentives (Positive) – Pg. 114
Positive Reinforcement – Pg. 117
Negative Reinforcement – Pg. 118
Punishment – Pg. 118

Chapter 5 had a lot of information, and most of it was regarding intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is an act of interest in something, and is done, “for fun”, while extrinsic motivation is more of a “do this and get that” form of motivation. The movie shows both forms of these motivations throughout it. Malcolm is the main character of this film and he shows intrinsic motivation frequently in the beginning. Intrinsic motivation is a psychological need satisfaction and can stem from autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This is first shown by his desire to get into Harvard. Malcolm is a straight A student, but his personality steers others from believing he could get into his dream school. Malcolm still believes that he is Harvard quality and this demonstrates autonomy in his life. Autonomy is the need to control ones life, and this can explain why Malcolm wanted to get into Harvard after being told he wouldn’t be able to. If a person has a lot of intrinsic motivation they’re likely to have more persistence. Malcolm showed persistence through this film, and this was shown at the end of the movie when he opens up a letter from Harvard and smiles. The whole movie is a process that Malcolm goes through to achieve his goal, and it is accomplished through different motivations. Malcolm shows other ways that he is intrinsically motivated by the extracurricular activities he participates in to make his resume look better for when he applies to Harvard. Relatedness in these terms are the need or desire to have close, affectionate relationships with others. The desire Malcolm has for getting closer with Nakia can be explained through his psychological need for relatedness. Extrinsic motivation was also shown with Malcolm towards Nakia. She is studying for her GED, and Malcolm offers to help. He uses this as a way to ask her to prom, and she says yes. Extrinsic motivation was also shown other various times throughout the film as well. As stated earlier, Malcolm had people in his life who did not believe that he would make it into Harvard based off of grades only. Extrinsic motivation was demonstrated when Malcolm’s guidance counselor told him to get an interview with Austin Jacoby. Malcolm doing this showed a “do this and get that” form of motivation. Malcolm was told by Jacoby that he could would be able to get into Harvard if he sold drugs. Malcolm feels that he has no other option and decide to ask help from a stoner and hacker that he had met at band camp years ago. This kid helps them organize an online network for selling drugs without it getting traced back to them. Malcolm is showing extrinsic motivation, because he is only doing this because it is an incentive for him to get into Harvard. Overall this motive had many examples from chapter 5, and it was easy to relate scenes that showed intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. I think that all movies will generally show some form of these motivations, because motivation is what drives us to do anything.

Terms:
extrinsic motivation
intrinsic motivation
autonomy
persistence
motivations

There are two contrasting ideas that arise from the movie Dope. One comes from A.J. when he tells Malcolm in their first meeting, “You always have a choice.” The second actually comes from the actor who plays Jig in one of the bonus features. In discussion of the situation that the three geeks find themselves in, he says, “They become a product of their environment.” Now the question is, which is true? Are humans a product of their environment or do we always have a choice?
The answer to this question comes back to intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation, being the motives within ourselves, aligns with always having a choice. It’s behavior that stems from interest and the need to overcome challenge. Extrinsic motivation, the motives from our environment, obviously aligns with Jig’s statement. It’s behavior that stems from environmental incentives and consequences. As the textbook discusses and Dope demonstrates, environmental events can be incredibly influential.
An example of the environment’s power is the scene where the gang, the Bloods, jump Malcolm, Jig, and Diggy as they were heading home with the bag full of cash. One of the Bloods opened the bag and saw all the cash, seemingly ready to leave with it. This would have left Malcolm in a difficult situation, potentially one that could ruin his chance of getting into college, which would probably be the least of his problems if he returned to A.J. without the money. Knowing this potentially consequences of losing the money, Malcolm pulled out the gun Dom had put in his backpack and pointed it at the Bloods. Malcolm’s incentive to pull out the gun was money, amongst other things. An incentive is an attracting or repulsive environmental event that precedes action. Incentives are also learned through experience. Malcolm, having grown up in gang-filled neighborhood, learned that the presence of a gun can provide a person control over other’s actions.
The same scene presents another example of extrinsic motivation. The Blood who picked up the bag of money had a gun pointed at him. For this Blood, the gun, a threat to his life, became an incentive to leave the money with Malcolm. The Blood had learned through experience that if you do not do what the person with the gun wants, you risk death. If you do what the person with the gun wants, you live. The consequence changes based on the behavior. Fortunately, the Blood left the money with Malcolm and ran away. Without the environmental influence (the gun), the Blood would have behaved differently (likely taken the money). In this sense, perhaps Jig is right; humans may be a product of their environment.
Even though the environment can convince us to act in ways we normally wouldn’t, I don’t think that necessarily means we don’t any choice. Malcolm still had a choice: to pull out the gun or not. The Blood still had a choice: to take the money or leave it. In this sense, A.J. is right; we always have a choice. I think the movie and text would concur that choice is always available, that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are often working together, and that environmental influences can make one option seem like the only valid option to make in a given moment. I can’t help but wonder, if the Blood tried to leave with the money, would Malcolm be totally overcome by extrinsic motivation to get the money and pulled the trigger? Would he remain caught in between who he is and how he is perceived? Would he become defined by his zip code, his environment, or would he become defined by who he is as a person?

Terms: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, incentives, consequences

This movie shows a lot of extrinsic motivation and some intrinsic motivation. The intrinsic motivation includes Malcom’s strive to get accepted into Harvard University and talking to Nakia. Malcom making following through with Dom’s requests could also be intrinsic motivation because he does not want to get caught having the drugs on him because that could potentially jeopardize his academic career. This example could be seen as extrinsic motivation because if Malcom gets rid of the drugs, he will get AJ to write him a recommendation to his dream school. Malcom is positively reinforced by his friends because they encourage him to continue behaviors so that they can tag along. One example of this in the movie that stuck out to me was when they want to go to the party. An example of negative reinforcement would be throughout the movie as Malcom is getting rid of the drugs. His behavior is increasing by being encouraged to continue to get rid of the drugs while avoiding getting caught with drugs before he sells them. A punisher in the film could be Dom’s party. Malcom is probably less likely to go to a party now because the last party he went to, he got roped into this situation. The money that Malcom made through all of this can definitely been seen as an expected reward for his behavior. AJ was also extrinsically motivated in the movie by Malcom threatening to frame him unless he wrote a good recommendation letter.
Malcom is a very good student, which leads me to believe that he is intrinsically motivated to learn. This means Malcom has conceptual understanding and values high-quality learning rather than just memorizing the information given to him. Throughout the movie, we see Malcom’s persistence in trying to get rid of the drugs for his Harvard recommendation. My favorite example of Malcom’s persistence is when he gets in the fight with the bully. Malcom struggles and begins to lose in the fight, but his persistence made him keep trying. Once he lost the physical fight, he became creative with his resources by pulling out the gun to make the bully respect him. Malcom was extrinsically motivated to win against the bully because he wanted to keep his money. When Malcom gets to keep his bag after the fight, he feels competent. Malcom’s relationship with his friends shows relatedness because they support his drug selling and other behaviors so they can tag along. At the end of the movie, Malcom feels free in the fact that he got rid of the drugs and he got his recommendation letter to Harvard, which was his goal throughout the entire movie. Since Malcom has autonomy, relatedness, and competence, he has reached his optimal functioning and well-being. To describe this film by using the three-term model (S: R C), we can say that the situational cue (S) was Malcom getting the drugs placed in his possession. This set up the occasion for Malcom’s behavioral response of getting rid of the drugs the way Dom wanted him to, rather than turning in the drugs to the police. Malcom made the decision to obey Dom showing that the situational cue does not cause the behavioral cue. However, getting rid of the drugs Dom’s way led to a positive consequence for Malcom since he got the letter of recommendation that he wanted so bad. His behavioral response led to this consequence.
Terms:
Extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punisher, reward, conceptual understanding, competent, persistence, relatedness, goal, autonomy, optimal functioning and well-being, three term model, situational cue, behavioral response, consequence

Like we all know, chapter 5 focused on intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, along with reinforcers (rewards) and punishments. Just to recap, intrinsic motivation refers to behavior that is driven by internal rewards. In other words, the motivation to engage in a behavior arises from within the individual because it is naturally satisfying to you or arises from the things that we like to do because they are interesting to us. Extrinsic motivation refers to behavior that is driven by external rewards such as money, praise, grades, trophies, etc. This type of motivation arises from outside the individual. This movie had a lot of positive and negative situations of motivation. It was almost a “life or death” “right or wrong” type of motivational drive throughout the movie.
In the movie Dope, Malcolm and his friends (Jib and Diggy) are in their senior year and it seems to me like they just want to enjoy this last year together. These three individuals are not like most kids at their school. All three of them good grades and plan apply to college. Malcolm has his eye on Harvard. I found that Malcolm is intrinsically motivated to get into college and to write a good essay as a part of his application process. Malcolm mentions to his guidance counselor that his essay is one of kind. He doesn’t want to write the cliche essay about growing up in a bad neighborhood and being raised by a single mother. He is motivated to be known as a smart, well-rounded young man who works hard for what he really wants in life.
Malcolm meets Dom in the beginning of the movie and is persuaded to play a quick game of telephone on Dom’s behalf with a beautiful girl. Malcolm comes to realize that his girl is trying to get her GED because, like him, she also wants to go to college in the future. These two leave a party together that gets busted and she drives Malcolm home. As they are talking in the car about school and college, they eventually come up with a proposition. If Malcolm can help her get her GED then she will go to prom with him. The external reward here being that this girl will go to prom with him and also demonstrating his desire for relatedness and a close relationship. In this situation, this is a positive external reinforcer or reward.
Another example on intrinsic motivation in this movie is when Malcolm and his friends play their music. You can tell that they really enjoy doing that together because they simply enjoy making music and hanging out with each other. At one point in the movie, when they go to AJ’s house, they are actually asked to record their song in the houses studio. I believe this was a case in which they were extrinsically motivated by the reward of getting to record their song. I believe they were still intrinsically motivated as well because they do simply enjoy playing their music whenever they can.
Terms: Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, Reinforcer, Reward, Relatedness

Terms:
Intrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation
Individual interests
Situational Interests
Autonomy
Competence
Relatedness
Creativity
Persistence
Unintended consequences

Both chapter five and the movie Dope expressed great deals of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation comes from the motives inside and extrinsic motives come from the motives outside. In this movie, the main intrinsic motivation is Malcom wanting and trying to get into the school of his choice, Harvard. There are many extrinsic motivations in Malcom wanting to get into Harvard. Malcom is a good student and has every intention to get into Harvard, but he also has a lot of actions that could land him not in his first choice. Having to go through so many struggles and what not of his daily life affects his motivation to get into school, nevertheless he persists.
Malcom is intrinsically motivated to learn, which makes school a lot easier for him. He likes to learn and wants to continue learning every day, driving his motivation to learn. Extrinsically he was motivated by the thought of getting into Harvard. He is easily motivated because he wants to learn, and could go to the schools closer to him, but what is extrinsically motivating him is getting into Harvard. Another reason why he might want to go to Harvard so badly is because he is easily able to relate to those students more than he would at any other school. He can relate to them because they are intelligent, and also enjoy learning and are intrinsically motivated to learn, like he is.
Another example that relates the book and the movie are the rewards. Malcom is a strong writer, and knows he is. He wants to write a good essay that is not “cliché” because he wants to challenge himself. (this could also be an intrinsic motivation because it makes him feel better when he is challenged, and he does well. He could write about how hard his life was growing up with a single mom in a scary neighborhood and having to face gang problems and the list could go on. However, he does not want this. He wants to stand out. So, if Malcom writes a good essay that is different, and still outstanding, he will be rewarded with getting into Harvard. If he does not write the best essay that is unique and outstanding, then he could be punished and not get accepted into Harvard, having to settle for less.
Malcom getting good grades could be an example of the term reinforcer. Once he gets the good grades, he is going to be accepted into schools, reinforcing his good grade behavior. This is a positive thing, and he is gaining benefits from it. Another example of a reinforcer is how he is getting the letter of recommendation. He needs this letter to get into college, and what is reinforcing him to make the actions is being reinforced by getting the reward of the acceptance letter.

Terms: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, reward, reinforcement, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement

In chapter 5, we mainly discuss intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and how they apply to our lives. Dope was a perfect movie example of both types of motivation. Intrinsic motivation refers to actions that are motivated by... well, us. Intrinsic motivation is doing something because you want to. It would only make sense that extrinsic motivation is the opposite of that and refers to the actions we do that we don't particularly want to do, such as chores.
In the movie Dope, our main character, Malcolm, lists us his various and precarious (for his background) interests. They refer to this list in the beginning as "white shit" and it includes activities such as skateboarding, comics, guitar, trash talk, and Donald Glover. These are all examples of activities that Malcolm would take part in because he purely just wants to and enjoys these things. This is a perfect example of intrinsic motivation, these are all things Malcolm would take part in just because he really wants to. One of the standout characteristics of Malcolm is that he is very smart, and a very good student. I would like to say that this is because Malcolm is intrinsically motivated to get good grades, however I'm not sure this is the case. Malcolm wants more than anything to become a man of Harvard, the movie does not explain as to why that is really, just that that is his ultimate goal. If that is the goal, then is Malcolm only a spectacular student because it is the only way he will achieve his goal of getting into Harvard. In this case, he would be extrinsically motivated to be a good student.
Malcolm does however encounter quite a bit of extrinsic motivation throughout the film. The first standout scenario to me where this happens is when Malcolm was invited to Dom's party by Dom. Malcolm and friends don't seem to be all that interested, and even a little afraid about the idea of being in that atmosphere. Malcolm can't seem to say no though because of the beautiful girl he's after. He knows she will be there, so he says yes to the party in order to get close to her. A similar situation occurs after Malcolm finds himself at AJ's house. AJ invites Malcolm and his friends into his house, they are reluctant at first until they see AJ's sister, Lily, undress. The thought of being with this beautiful woman is enough extrinsic motivation to get all three of them into the house because they are seeking a reward, regardless of how dangerous the situation might be. The other reoccurring situation that happens to Malcolm is him trying to keep from being arrested. Malcolm must trust Dom and do as he says in order to keep from getting arrested or killed. Malcolm leaves his SAT session, risking a lower score, to keep the police from finding the drugs in his locker. Malcolm also decides not to turn the drugs in after discovering them because he thinks the police will instantly arrest him and his friends. Malcolm also makes some questionable decisions to get into Harvard, such as letting someone under the influence of drugs drive him to his interview so that he is not late. The climax of the film also comes when Malcolm decides he is going to sell the drugs he's stumbled upon in order to wow his Harvard interviewer. And last but not least, Malcolm ultimately decides to blackmail the same Harvard interviewer in order to achieve his goal of becoming a Harvard student. This movie is filled with extrinsic motivation and scenarios where Malcolm is forced to do something he doesn't want to do in order to save he and his friends' skin.
Terms used: Extrinsic Motivation, Intrinsic Motivation, Reward

In Chapter five we learn about extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. In the movie “Dope” we see a lot of motivations come from Malcom and if we analyze where those motivations come from, they are a mix between extrinsic and intrinsic. Intrinsic motivations are behaviors that are done because of an internal reward, like pure satisfaction. Extrinsic motivation is a behavior that is done because you will receive something that makes it worth it, such as money, trophy, stickers, or praise. Malcom and his friends enjoy 90s hip-hop culture, and are good students. Malcom has an intrinsic motivation to get As because of his desire to get into Harvard. An important characteristic of intrinsic motivation is persistence. Persistence is doing a behavior for a long period of time despite how difficult it is. I think this is something Malcom does a great job of throughout the movie because basically everything he does is motivated by getting into Harvard.
Malcom meets Dom and becomes a messenger to him and Nikia. This is one of the first examples of extrinsic motivation (and also could be intrinsic) because he gets to talk to Nikia. She says she will only attend Dom’s party if Malcom is there, so Malcom and his friends agree to go, this is an example of intrinsic motivation because they aren’t getting any certain reward other than satisfaction. While at the party, other gang members bust in and start shooting Dom and his gang. The police show up to bust the party and the drugs, so Malcom and his pals run from the situation because of extrinsic motivation and negative consequence. Dom finds Malcom’s backpack and stuffs the Molly in to hide it. This leads to an even bigger problem for Malcom because he’s a good student who is trying to work his way into Harvard. Macolm’s next mission was to get rid of the drugs by selling them and using the money to bribe his way with Austin Jacoby. Getting rid of the drugs would be an intrinsic motivation because he wouldn’t have to worry about carrying them in his backpack anymore. This also falls under extrinsic motivation because he will get a reward if he sells them. The money from the drugs would be the reward. Malcom makes a deal with Austin Jacoby and if the reward of getting into Harvard wasn’t so high on his intrinsic motivation, Malcom would have obviously given up by then. The risk outweighed getting killed by the gang members who were controlling him.
Malcom’s story begins and ends with intrinsic motivation. If he didn’t have a desire to get into the Ivy League school to support his family, there is no way he would have done anything with drugs. The geek showed his motivation by doing behaviors that he wouldn’t do on a normal given week. The end of the movie shows Malcom rewriting his submission essay for Harvard. He decides to write about why he even needs to prove why he wants to get into Harvard. If he was white, he wouldn’t have to justify what kind of neighborhood he lives in. He wouldn’t have to justify what makes him want to get good grades. This is all driven by his needs and wants to satisfy himself.
Malcom risked his life dealing with the drugs and selling them all because of his intrinsic motivation to get into Harvard.
Terms: Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, reward, negative reinforcement

Throughout the movie Dope the main chapter Malcom was faced with multiple situations that lead him to be extrinsically motivated. The events that came up in his life were all mostly motivated by his want to get into his dream school which was Harvard. All of the events that came up in his life were all mostly geared from his intrinsic motivations things that he knew he wanted. Nobody had to tell him that he should or needed to get into Harvard but that was what he wanted for himself. Everything started to change after the one day of taking a different way when his path was blocked and he had too it was then that he ran into Dom. He then had the backpack that was full of cocaine and it was when he then went to his interview with Harvard that his inner motivations kicked into play full speed. It was at his interview that he was told he needed to sell or lose the cocaine or that he could say goodbye to his years at Harvard. This was when he really started to step up his game in the fact that he really needed and wanted to get rid of the cocaine. He then went through many obstacles to get rid of the cocaine but to him it didn’t matter what he had to go through because he had one thing on his mind and that was getting into his dream school. Another thing that was displayed in the movie that dealt with the chapter was the scene with AJ and how Malcom chose to blackmail him and tell him to write a letter to help him get into the school since he was the reason he got into all this trouble in the first place. Malcom told AJ that he needed to help him or that he would get in trouble and possible face jail time. AJ also did the same to Malcom when he told him that he needed to get rid of the drugs or that he was not going to get into his schools. Malcom was a good kid all throughout his days he made sure to try hard and get good grades and he wasn’t going to let the bag of cocaine take away from getting into the school that he wanted. His intrinsic motivation took him to the point of what he wanted. Towards the end of the movie in the last scene it was shown by the look on his face that he made it into the school that he wanted Harvard. After all that he had gone thought and all of the trying from hard event that came up and was going to stop him from getting in and that pushed him to try harder and achieve his goals. This movie was a prime example to show that even when things come up and become hard that has humans we all have goals within ourselves that can push to come out no matter what the outcome.

Terms:
Intrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation
Punisher
Motivation

Malcolm is a young man who is driven by several sets of motivating forces that sometimes conflict. He shows intense intrinsic motivation to pursue activities which he enjoys, even if that marks him out for ridicule and misjudgment by his peers and others. He enjoys ‘90s hip hop, and the trappings that go with it, even though this is out of style. He is interested in learning, and academic success, even though this marks him as different from his peers. And as he says in his personal essay for admission to Harvard, his atypical interests have led to him not fitting in to any of the social realms he travels in. And yet he is able to meet his strong need for marching to the beat of his own drummer (autonomy need), benefit from the satisfaction of meeting his need for competence in numerous areas, and enjoys close relationships (relatedness and affiliation need) with his two loyal friends. His intrinsic motivation to pursue his interest in all things ‘90s hip hop related, and desire to learn lead to higher levels of learning and understanding that allow him to later in the movie to apply skills and competences in new, but similar tasks. Despite the bullying and not fitting in to the larger peer culture, we see evidence of well-being derived from following his quirky interests and the friendship that is connected to them. Of course, we also see extrinsic motivation play a role in his drive to succeed academically and go to Harvard. But, with evidence like his quirky first essay draft and his willingness to risk Harvard to stay true to himself, the extrinsic motivation appears to be secondary and reinforcing of the strong intrinsic motivation to learn and pursue his academic interests.

At the same time, he is responding to cues from his environment that sometimes motivate him to behave in ways that threaten to disrupt his goals. Desire for sex drives him to pursue both Nakia and Lily. Their appearance, especially Lily’s nudity creates an incentive that intensifies his drive for sex. The two women’s smiles and other verbal and non-verbal cues provide a positive reinforcement to increase his continued sex-seeking behavior. These ultimately lead to him making several choices that threaten his desire for college. He ends up in a club which is a high risk environment in pursuit of Nakia. He forgets about his alumni interview for Harvard because of his pursuit of sex with Lily. The testosterone increases his attention in the two women and also interferes with cognition.

Once the MDMA and gun are placed in Malcolm’s backpack, we also see a very strong negative emotional state (fear) motivate him to try to pick his way through a series of constrained and risky choices. His desire for relief from the negative emotional state that environmental signals are triggering in him, drive him on to ultimately engage in activity that is at odds with his image of himself and values. But, after he learns that the alumni interview is with the drug distributor and that his entry into Harvard can be ruined or helped by whether or not he does a good job delivering on the mission AJ presses on him, we see a change in Malcolm’s behavior. The external motivation marries up with his personal goals. Rather than bumbling from one scrape to the next, we see a return to his previous competence and comfort in his choices return. He reasserts his autonomy by taking the bad situation and making choices that turn it to fit with his own desires. As he achieves success in tasks that draw on his strengths but provide new challenges, we see evidence of dopamine releases (reward) helping to reinforce his persistence and increasing his enjoyment of the tasks. He is no longer just trying to escape the unpleasant emotional state, but taking pleasure from his accomplishments, and gaining confidence to take on new challenges (such as the black market exchange of cash for bitcoins).

Terms:
intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, environment, autonomy, competence, relatedness, affiliation, sex, need, testosterone, positive reinforcement, negative emotional states, fear, dopamine, reward, persistence.

One of the first things that I noticed throughout the film “Dope” was the use of intrinsic motivations and extrinsic motivations. This entire film is based in the ghetto of California and focuses on a kid named Malcolm, who has made it a goal in his life to get accepted into Harvard. Although he lives in “the bottoms,” he is set on not becoming a thug and on keeping his nose out of trouble. One large intrinsic motivation for him to get into Harvard is the fact that Malcolm wants to be better for himself and getting into an Ivy League school would make him feel more secure in that. However, Malcolm seeking a better future is also considered an extrinsic motivation, because by going to Harvard Malcolm will [assumingly] build connections, get better job offers, and essentially better his life; all motivations from the outside, or environment. Nakia is also both an intrinsic and extrinsic motivator, because as the film develops he begins to fall in love with her. This is intrinsic because it involves Malcolm wanting to better himself for her, but Nakita herself is also an extrinsic motivation because she is also an outside motivator. One of the largest extrinsic factors—aside from Harvard—was Malcolm’s mother. It is said throughout the film that Malcolm wants to be able to support her and getting into an Ivy League school is a big step towards that.
Malcolm also must face rewards and punishments throughout the film. One of his main rewards is at the end of the film, when it implies that he got into Harvard after all the dismal things that he had to do. He faces both positive and negative reinforcement throughout the film, such as meeting Nakita and his dreams of Harvard being threatened. Meeting Nakita was a positive reinforcer, because she is one of the reasons that Malcolm gets into the world of trafficking drugs and dealing with other illegal activities. Harvard was threatened by a man named Austin Jacoby, who was not only an admissions leader, but also the drug leader that lead Malcolm down the path of drug and bitcoins in the first place. He would be a negative reinforcement, because he’s threatening to take Harvard away from Malcolm if he doesn’t deliver, motivating Malcolm to continue with the drugs.
This film focuses a lot on goals; both short-term and long-term. Clearly, Malcolm’s main goal is to get into Harvard to support his mother. His goals also include impressing Nakita –whom he met from the men threatening him to sell their drugs that they snuck into his bag at a party— so that she will go out with him and getting out of the worm hole and world of drugs that he accidentally wandered into when he has to take a different walkway home in the beginning of the film. Chapter five helped us to look at goals and how they motivate us, and Malcolm’s above-listed goals were the main motivators that pushed Malcolm throughout the movie.

Intrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic Motivation
Rewards
Punishments
Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Goal

Malcom is a high school geek who loves hip hop, spending time with his two other geek friends Jib and Diggy, and playing funk music. Although he lives in Inglewood, California, a city known for gangs and crime, Malcom is confident and motivated that he will be admitted into Harvard. His path to Harvard gets tougher when a drug dealer named Dom puts a ton of molly in his bag and is forced to sell it in order to get a good recommendation for Harvard.
Throughout the movie Malcom is extrinsically motivated. Extrinsic motivation comes from “environmental incentives and consequences” and “arises from a “Do this and you will get that” behavioral contract; it exists as an “in order to” motivation” (Reeve, 113). When he is riding on his bike home from school he runs into a drug dealer/gang member named Dom. Dom tells Malcom to go up to a girl named Nakia and invite him to his birthday party. The first example of extrinsic motivation is when Dom. This is a good example of Extrinsic motivation because Malcom is threatened by Dom and fears the potential consequences that could occur if he doesn’t do what Dom says. After Dom’s birthday party gets interrupted by a different gang and a shootout starts, Nakia gives Malcom a ride home and talks about how she is going to get her GED and go to a community college somewhere in California. They somehow start talking about prom and he gets the nerves to ask her to prom. She says that she wouldn’t be able to go to prom because she would be busy studying for the GED. He asks if he helped her pass the GED if she would go to prom with him and she says maybe. The insensitive for helping her pass the GED is that he will get to go to prom with him.
Another notable example of extrinsic motivation in the movie is when Jacoby (AJ) reschedules their Harvard interview and tells Malcom that if he doesn’t sell the molly that Dom left in his bag that he will not give him a good recommendation. The incentive in selling the molly is that Malcom will get a great recommendation from AJ and the reward is being accepted into Harvard. If Malcom decided to decline AJ’s deal, then he is faced with the consequences of never getting to go to the school of his dreams. When Malcom decides to sell the molly, he experiences the consequences of getting caught, especially because he is storing the molly in school and he has to sell a lot of it.
Malcom is also intrinsically motivated throughout the movie. 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. It emerges spontaneously from psychological needs and innate strivings for growth” (Reeve, 111). The first example of intrinsic motivation that I noticed was that Malcom is intrinsically motivated through being with his two friends Jib and Diggy and playing music. Because Malcom is a geek and doesn’t fit in with the norm of living in Inglewood, California hanging out with his geek friends and playing music are intrinsically motivating to Malcom because it helps him feel free, competent, and related/emotionally close to others.

Extrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic Motivation
Insensitive
Consequence
Reward

This week’s movie was the 2015 film, Dope, that relates to chapter five, in the textbook, on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. In the film, we follow Malcom as he navigates life as a 90’s nerd in modern day Inglewood, California. This premise allows for several cases of these types of motivation, as well as, different external regulators like consequences and incentives. Throughout this post, I will explore examples of these elements of motivation as they appeared in the film.

The textbook explains that intrinsic motivation derives from psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This can be see in Dope through three different examples of Malcom’s intrinsic motivation. First, it is clear that Malcom, and his friends, are fans of 90s culture and seek to emulate it through their personal style and band. This interest shows an intrinsic motivation that is inspired by their need for autonomy and allows them to express themselves creatively. Second, Malcom explains that he is made fun of for being into “white shit” such as getting good grades. This interest comes from the psychological need for competence and allows him to have a high-quality learning experience. Lastly, Malcom’ multiple relationships throughout the film, particularly those with Nakia and Lily, are a result of the intrinsic motivation for relatedness. Malcom continually approaches his motivation towards Nakia by being persistent in his pursuit of her.

When considering examples of extrinsic motivation, two specific examples stood out to me during the film. First, was the proposition made by AJ that if Malcom sold the drugs, AJ would get him into Harvard. The acceptance to Harvard was to be Malcom’s reward for dealing drugs. Despite not intending to play that role, Malcom agrees to this behavior based on the extrinsic motivation provided by AJ. Also, Malcom makes a deal with Nakia that if he can help her pass her GED, he would be allowed to take her to prom. Despite this being an expected and tangible reward, Malcom’s intrinsic motivation towards being around Nakia does not decrease due to extrinsic rewards but, arguably, increases.

In connection to these last two points, is that the expectation of rewards worked as an incentive for Malcom to sell the drugs and help Nakia with her studies. On the other hand, there were some external regulations that worked as consequences throughout the film. Firstly, the student who was in the gang, Bloods, imposes a negative reinforcement on Malcom when he bullies him to give up his shoes. It is clear that this event has occurred in the past and presents two ways in which Malcom could have handled this negative reinforcer. In the film, Malcom begins to give the student his shoes as a form of escape behavior. In the future, Malcom could choose to wear less appealing shoes to employ avoidance behavior as a means of keeping the student from bullying him in the first place. Secondly, towards the end of the movie, that same student bullies Malcom again and grabs the bag that holds the money he made from selling drugs. As a punisher for harassing him and grabbing his bag, Malcom pulls a gun on the student. This punisher worked to decrease their behavior at that moment and in the future, as they purposely do not bully Malcom again after this incident.

Overall, Dope showcased multiple examples of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Malcom and his friends were intrinsically motivated by their love of 90s cultures and desire to get good grades. Malcom was extrinsically motivated by incentives and rewards to help AJ and Nakia. The use of concequences such as punishers and negative reinforcers were used by Malcom and a bully to effect behavior.

Terms:
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
Autonomy
Competence
Relatedness
Creativity
High-Quality Learning
Persistence
Rewards
Expected and Tangible Rewards
External Regulation
Consequences
Punisher
Negative Reinforcer
Escape Behavior
Avoidance Behavior
Incentives

Dope follows the story of Malcolm, a smart high schooler in a poor neighborhood who is presented choices during the film that are related to intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Malcolm and his intrinsic motivations are enhancing his creativity. For example, the idea to leave a trail of evidence, is a good idea and would require specific steps and processes to be done to be able to carry out a plan that could be complicated. During the course of the film, Malcolm’s intrinsic motivation is to get accepted into Harvard, while some decisions during the film, like blackmailing a former Harvard alumni with pull to get accepted. Malcolm’s other intrinsic motivations include wanting a relationship with Nakia, a girl who like Malcolm who he tutors so she can get her GED. One of the drug dealers in his neighborhood suggests that he invite her to a party, knowing that Nakia likes Malcolm. He goes to the party, in hopes of having a dance or intimate contact with her. It is intrinsic motivation as it is something that he desires, and serves as a personal goal or natural feeling. Intrinsic motivation is also related to persistence, which could be an example of him not wanting to give up and achieve his intrinsic goal of attending Harvard. It also could explain how well he does in school in that he continues to attend and stay in school.
An example of extrinsic motivation seen throughout the movie is when he blackmails AJ, a former Harvard alum who is selling drugs. AJ forces Malcolm to try to sell the drugs in return for a chance of getting into Harvard. But Malcolm switches it on AJ, by leaving a trail of evidence of bitcoins, and microtransactions that if Malcolm isn’t admitted to Harvard will result in his arrest. This is extrinsic motivation as the reward is external and that it is letter admitting him into Harvard. He saw an opportunity where possibly the reward outweigh the risks, and took the steps to get there. This could be a negative or positive reinforcer, depending on how he interprets it. A reinforcer is something that increases a behavior. If he may have another opportunity to blackmail someone that may result in him gaining a reward or incentive, he may or may not do it again. The same could be said for selling the drugs, he did sell it and make a lot of money, but did depending on how he viewed that it could be good or bad. Malcolm is a very crafty and intelligent student, and at the end uses the phrase of “Student A is a music geek that plays in a punk band and gets straight As, while student b suffers in the hood and makes money in immoral ways.” He is describing himself is this and is using both forms of motivations. An intrinsic motivation he likes to play music cause he gains joy or satisfaction out of it could be considered autonomous, while an extrinsic motivation would be making money in immoral ways like selling drugs to have a form of gain of money or information that could be used to blackmail someone.

Dope provides many examples of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Malcolm is a very intrinsically motivated teen when it comes to getting good grades, getting into college, and making someone out of himself. When getting into college becomes jeopardized, though, he takes many risks in order to stay out of jail, not get shot, and make it through high school and into Harvard. These risks came from the extrinsic motivation of money, incentives, consequences, and staying alive. Throughout the entire it movie, there is the constantly battle with Malcolm between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. After the situation at Dom’s house where Malcolm ends up a load of dope, he struggles with the right decision to make. When he meets with the interviewee for Harvard, he realizes that he must sell this dope or he can kiss his dream of Harvard goodbye. The intrinsic motivation being that his lifelong dream is to go to Harvard, but there is now an incentive present of “do this or kiss your dream goodbye” present, making it an external motivation to sell the drugs.

As the movie progresses, we reach the many scenes consisting of Malcolm and his friends selling the Dope on a website that cannot be tracked by the government by using bitcoins. At first, he is cautious and concerned about this behavior, but he knows it must be done in order to reach the reward of going to Harvard. During this, they begin to make more and more money as they sell the dope, and Malcolm becomes more and more confident in himself. Throughout this process the money he is receiving becomes a positive enforcer, which results in him wanting to keep selling dope to get more money.

The movie also exhibits a good example of a punisher. In Malcolm’s high school, he’s the nerd that dresses goofy, does his homework on time, and is the butt for all the bullies to kick. Malcolm engages in the undesirable behavior of dressing silly and not trying to fit in, and he pays the consequences of listening to the criticisms (punisher) that the bullies throw at him. Internal motivation is also present when Malcolm decides to go to Dom’s party in order to see Nakia, the girl that Dom invited. Malcolm is so persistent on seeing her in the beginning that he finds any way he can to get into the house, with the intrinsic motivation of interest being what drives him to make the irrational decisions that he did, since the higher one’s intrinsic motivation, the more persistence they will be with a certain action or behavior.

By the end of the movie, Malcolm has reached a very high state of autonomy and competence. He has made it through being shot at, selling dope on the internet and not getting caught, and getting into Harvard because he completed the task he was told to do. He now feels very in control of his life and he has learned from his experiences which helps him feel more competent for the future.

Terms: Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, Consequence, Punisher, Positive Reinforcer, Autonomy, Competence, Persistence.

The movie Dope was released in 2015 and is a popularly watched movie on Netflix. The main character is Malcom, in which he goes through many different intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors. Intrinsic motivation is when we are driven by internal rewards such as how we feel during and after we complete a task. Specific examples of this kind of motivation would be if an individual works out at the gym because it makes them feel proud of their commitment and determination to live a healthier lifestyle. No one has to tell them or force them to go work out at the gym, because it is something that they will want to do anyway. Extrinsic motivation would be if an individual goes to the gym to work out in order to receive compliments from others on their body or if someone paid them to go. There would need to be an external reward or some kind of incentive to work out, because it is not something they just want to do. There are many different scenes throughout this movie where you see Malcom and his friends go through their intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.

One of the most important details about the movie and main character Malcom is that he has a specific dream of getting into Harvard which is his dream school. Having the dream to go to a school like Harvard and working so hard on his academics is a form of intrinsic motivation. Malcom enjoys learning overall and it makes him feel really good about his persistence and determination when it comes to completing projects, essays, exams, etc. As we learned in Chapter 5 intrinsic motivation is responsible for our creativity. Malcom is really into different kinds of fashion styles with vibrant colors and patterns as well as being really into 90’s hip-hop culture. His close friends also enjoy the same things helping the intrinsically motivated side of the argument because it is something him and his friend bond together with. Listening to music and being interested in fashion is something that they love as a group, because it makes them happy and they enjoy it. There is no one that has to force them to engage in these behaviors and they do not get any kind of physical reward for doing so.

Another very important detail about the movie Dope and main character Malcom is that he finds himself caught up with the possession of drugs and a weapon. This started because Dom, a drug dealer, invited Malcom to come to one of his legendary parties if he could get a girl named Nakia to go. Malcom and his friends end up getting into the party and further into the night some rival gang members end up busting the party and shooting. Basically when Malcom goes to school the next day he discovers that Dom had stashed molly and a gun in his backpack. Malcom then gets a call instructing him to bring the stash to a specific location in order to get rid of it. This is an example of extrinsic motivation for Malcom, because the reward for him returning the stash to the owner means safety. It means that he will not get busted for it himself and that he will get to live for not returning it to the police instead. If it were his choice he would probably give it to the police in order to do the right thing and feel good about himself, but there are more important things on the line such as his and his friends lives.

Malcom’s relationship with Nakia could also be seen as intrinsic and extrinsic forms of motivation for a couple different reasons. Malcom volunteers to help her complete her GED and he does this intrinsically, because he loves to learn and help others learn to. He also genuinely cares about her and wants to do what he can to help her be happy. This situation could also be extrinsic motivation, because this could get their relationship closer for her to be his girlfriend. He would feel good about helping someone achieve their dreams as well, but it would be nice to have a girlfriend to show off as a reward. This could also score her as a date for him to go to the prom with. Again this is intrinsic, because it would make him happy to be with her due to the desire and also extrinsic due to having a physical date or girlfriend as an external reward. There are many more scenes that show intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and all could be analyzed well enough to show this distinctively. Malcom spends a lot of time deciding to engage in an action or behavior because it is something he truly enjoys without force or to do something solely because there would be an external reward for doing it.

Terms:
Intrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation
Reward
Punishment
Incentives
Consequences
Reinforcement
Persistence

Chapter 5 talks about Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation comes from a desire to succeed and achieve internal awards. Extrinsic motivation comes from a desire to achieve external rewards or to avoid any negative consequences. In the movie Dope, these topics are demonstrated often throughout the film. The main character Malcolm is a very nerdy, geeky kid that lives in California. The main intrinsic motivation for him is to attend Harvard, which is his absolute main goal in life. There are many twists and turns in this movie that introduce extrinsic motivations. These redirections eventually lead up to his main goal of attending Harvard, or at least getting accepted. When an extrinsic motivator is present, the original intrinsic motivator is slowly diminished while the remaining extrinsic motivation is increased. Although there were many extrinsic motivators that were introduced, Malcolm kept his underlying intrinsic thoughts wanting to go to Harvard.

An example of extrinsic motivation in this movie would be selling the molly that came from Dom’s party. During the party, Dom and his friends were selling powdered molly to clients. After a rival gang starts shooting, Dom thinks fast and puts molly and a handgun into Malcolm’s backpack. After later finding out the contents of his own backpack, he feels the need to comply with the intentions of Dom which are selling his molly. This is extrinsic motivation because there are environmental factors that work into his behavior, and not for personal gain. The motivational factor that played the biggest role is the selling of the molly. When Malcolm went to his Harvard interview, AJ told him that in order to receive an invitation to the prestigious school, he must sell the rest of the molly to potential buyers.

Another example of intrinsic motivation is the desire to go the Dom’s party because Nakia would be there, and he might have a thing for her. When we are interested in someone’s overall character, we get intrinsically motivated to see them to fulfill our internal needs. We have an overall longing to be with another human due to our physiological make up. Even though many things happen during the span of Dom’s party including the gang fight and people receiving molly and a gun in their backpacks, his needs were still met by talking to her and getting to hang out. The book states that the higher an individual’s intrinsic motivation, the higher their persistence will be involving that task. These persistent behaviors include continuing the actions that motivate as well as adhering to the needs of others.

This movie overall was very enjoyable and included many terms from this chapter. There was an underlying intrinsic motivator that stayed true throughout the entire movie, while many extrinsic motivators were introduced on top of that. In the end, his intrinsic motivations payed off, and he looks into the camera and smiles after receiving a letter from Harvard. This implies that he received the acceptance letter, proving that his hard work and dedication pulled through.
Terms:
Intrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic Motivation
Needs
Persistence
Reward

Dope is a modern movie about the journey of three high school individuals, Malcolm, Jib, and Diggy, and their experiences with the drug dealing realm and with racial stereotypes that come with living in his little hometown. In the beginning the drug dealing became an extrinsically motivated task, like pulling a gun on someone to protect drug money to afford school and then towards the movies resolution the drug dealing seized but also is an intrinsically motivated task when Malcolm decided to take his own initiative and rewrite his admission paper to Harvard so that way people would see how great of a kid he is and that he is beyond where he lives. Malcolm seems to find himself as the main character in all of these extrinsically motivated tasks and then turning to intrinsically motivated towards the end.
Extrinsic motivation is an environmentally created reason (incentives or consequences) to engage in an action or activity. Malcolm exhibits many scenes in the movie using extrinsic motivation but one scene in particular that I want to talk about is when Malcolm pulls a gun on the Blood gang that takes his shoes in school. In this scene in particular though is when the gang tried to take Malcolms fake purse and drug money. I say this is an example of extrinsic motivation because AJ told Malcolm he had to sell all the drugs so that way AJ would reward him with trying to get him into Harvard or he would get some form of punishment. If this situation was an intrinsically motivated situation Malcolm would not have had to been threatened or told by an outside source, also known as AJ, to sell the Lily.
Intrinsic motivation is the inherent desire to engage one's interests and to exercise and develop one's capacities. To make this into more simple terms, intrinsic motivation is basically the desire to do things for yourself above all. Malcolm towards the end of the movie only showed this more prevalently. The biggest example was when he decided to change his paper from an Ice Cube thesis statement, to a statement about two students and challenging imagery for racial stereotypes. Malcolm was told by his teacher that he cannot make it to Harvard because of who he is and that Harvard would overlook him. Malcolm throughout the course of the whole movie ignored his teacher and was just going to submit the paper because he wanted to. This would be considered extrinsic motivation for a period of time because his teacher suggested to change his topic but I think it changed from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation because Malcolm changed his paper topic because he wanted to do to what he learned in his academic and drug dealer lives and what racial profiling he has experienced. His new topic addressing the fact that his student A and his student B, while they are both him, don’t match to most stereotypes was a genius topic and it was a positive reinforcement that the teacher ended up helping him in the choice of changing his topic. While the choice was ultimately up to Malcolm I think the right choice was up to him because he ended up making a beautiful piece with his experience that showed his true self and not some person that people can assume about over a piece of paper.

Terms:
Extrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic Motivation
Positive Reinforcement
Reward
Punishment

There were many ways that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were present within this movie. One of the first examples I noticed was concerning Diggy’s visual appearance. Whether she was forced or had a choice, the church tried to extrinsically motivate her to dress and act more like a woman, literally attempting to pray away the gay. The extrinsic motivation was ineffective because Diggy’s intrinsic motivation was to dress like a boy and hang out with boys, which aligned with her sexual identity and overpowered the extrinsic motivation (introjected regulation) attempts.

Diggy, Jib, and Malcom loved ’90s music, which led to intrinsic motivation to dress like they were living in the ’90s, wearing acid-washed clothing and flat bill snapbacks, Malcom even sporting a ’90s flat-top haircut. They seemed to enjoy the autonomy of dressing how they wanted, even though other people (such as Dom) made fun of their look. Awreeoh, Diggy, Jib, and Malcom’s band, seemed to contribute to competence, especially when they played at the Molly party and received a lot of attention. The group also experienced competence when they successfully sold the dope. Relatedness came into play, since Diggy, Jib, and Malcom indulged in the ’90s fashion and music together, contributing to the bonds of their relationship. Together, they were very persistent (tried to get the dope to AJ, then successfully sold all the dope), creative (making music and utilizing the school to package and sell the dope), and had a high level of understanding (hacking AJ’s firewalls and creating an ultimatum that trapped AJ into recommending Malcom for admittance into Harvard).

Examples of extrinsic motivation were easy to identify: Malcom rewriting his essay after Mr. Bailey expressed that he thought Malcom could do better, Malcom hitting the bitcoin exchange man after the bitcoin man kept daring Malcom to hit him, Malcom retrieving his drug-filled backpack from his locker during the SATs when he was fearful of punishers, such as being arrested or expelled, as the drug dogs and cops were walking the halls, etc. It was more challenging to determine whether a motivation was intrinsic or extrinsic when intrinsic motivation was not made completely obvious in the movie. It was particularly challenging to know which motivation was stronger when the situation was sexually motivated. For example, when Jib and Diggy were leaving the house to go eat with Jaleel, Malcom made a choice to stay back with Lily after she practically got naked in front of Malcom. It could have been intrinsic motivation because Malcom really did want to stay with her, hoping for the opportunity for sex. It was also extrinsic motivation/external regulation because Lily was taking her clothes off, creating an incentive for Malcom to stay behind with her. Lily, on the other hand was motivated to tempt Malcom because she was intrinsically motivated by the potential reward of molly.

I particularly enjoyed the scenes from the movie when I could think about Malcom’s decision-making process, like when he was deciding which way to go down the street on his bike. If he went straight, he’d have to ride through a music video, which would not end well; if he went down 104th Street (the cross-street), he’d have to ride past the dope dealers, who would attempt to steal his bike. Although the narrator didn’t say exactly why Malcom chose to take 104th Street, I can assume it’s because Malcom weighed the consequences of each possible scenario, and 104th Street seemed like a safer option.

Terms: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, incentive, reward, punisher, consequences, external regulation, introjected regulation