Motivation Weblog

Motivation can be defined simply as the things that leads us to take certain actions or behave in a certain way. This is the reason why or that pushes a person toward a desired goal.

The reasons can be classified into something that is within us, that is intrinsic / internal motivation, or something that is external to us that is, extrinsic motivation or external.

Grounds in the internal performance of a task occurs when the task itself has experience as rewarding and there is no need for any external reward before it is done. Examples are the love of the task, self-satisfaction, sense of achievement, relaxation effects, etc.

Foreign motivation in carrying out a task occurs when the task is carried out because of an external reward. Examples include praise, recognition, money, stickers, grades, material rewards, etc.

Motivation can be viewed as a continuous process of being driven abroad increasingly driven internally. All those who start in life is driven by the outside world. Remember how many children were bribed with candy or stickers, and doing things to get praise from adults. But as mature and our material needs increasingly satisfied, we become more internally driven. Although intrinsic motivation is generally accepted as best as it is in internal control of the person, external motivation is useful to help a person to obtain initially on a task when it does not feel intrinsically motivated to do so.

However, the excessive use of external motivation could have harmful effects. This has been demonstrated in research or experiments that examine the effects of external rewards in a task for domestic reasons.

The 1973 document "Undermining children’s intrinsic interest with extrinsic rewards: A test of the hypothesis overjustification" Lepper M, Green R & D Nisbett, reported an interesting observation pilot. During children free play time, a fun activity drawing was presented. They observed children playing and selected those children who seem to find satisfaction inherent in the picture. These children were subjected to three different conditions.

Condition 1: "good player" certificate was shown some of the children, and asked if they would like to bring to earn the certificate.

Condition 2: Some children had the opportunity to simply focus on drawing and children were given the "good player" certificate unexpectedly.

Condition 3: Some children simply states without waiting for or receive any reward.

Two weeks later, all these children were again allowed to participate in the activity of drawing. The result was interesting. It was found that children who chose to draw the reward showed less interest in drawing, and also if the reward was withdrawn, these children simply stopped drawing. Children in the other two conditions showed no significant changes in its interest in drawing. The result seems to suggest that the external rewards of a "good player" destroyed the original certificate of intrinsic motivation for the drawing.

In 1975, THE Deci reported the results of its investigation into the "intrinsic motivation," that when people were given rewards to pursue the objectives inherently satisfaction, decreased motivation is the result. The result seems to suggest that if people already enjoy what they are doing, give rewards for their participation in this activity can act as a deterrent to continue that activity.

These two reports seem to suggest that external rewards can destroy the intrinsic motivation. Therefore, there is a danger "overjustification" in our enthusiasm to motivate good performance across rewards.

What are the lessons we can learn to motivate our children, students or subordinates? The suggestions are as follows:

1. To develop the intrinsic motivation for the tasks, for example, providing a secure environment so they can pursue their own interests without undue interference.

2. Encouraging intrinsic motivation for example, to provide work opportunities for the exchange of work and personal satisfaction gained.

3. Provide rewards external restraint, and without giving expectations in this regard.