Intrinsic Motivation: What Is It And How To Promote It?
When talking about motivation and, specifically, intrinsic motivation, the first thing we consider is: What drives people to act the way they do? what makes a person persist in achieving a goal (such as passing exams) despite the pain and effort that this entails? Why are there people capable of persisting in a task and others postpone it or start it? others at the same time without finishing any of them?
The study of intrinsic motivation is a topic of Basic Psychology. We know that human beings act for reasons: either to get what they need (food, money, prestige…), or to avoid what they fear (obstacles, diseases, punishments…). In this article we are going to try to discover what it is and why it is so important.
To understand where the psychological construct of intrinsic motivation comes from, it is important to know what they are. the origins of this concept linked to the mental processes linked to what motivates us. These date back to times when psychology as a science did not even exist.
Motivation has been present in all times. Plato already talked about anger, courage, instincts, Aristotle mentioned goals, Epicurus focused on the search for pleasure and the escape from pain.
Since the foundation of scientific Psychology we will remember McDougall (1908) who resorted to instincts as an explanation of behavior, and Freud (1910) with unconscious motivation. Although the behaviorism of Watson and Skinner did not deal with this issue since they understood learning as the only motor of action, until neobehaviorism through Clark Hull (1943) saw that learning was not enough to execute a behavior.
It is not until the personal causation theories of the 70s (De Charms) and the theory of self-determination, back in the 80s (Deci and Ryan), that we begin to talk about intrinsic motivation.
What is intrinsic motivation?
Intrinsic motivation originates within the individual, and is driven by the needs for exploration, experimentation, curiosity, and manipulation, which are considered motivating behaviors in themselves. In other words, intrinsic motivation is the type of motivation that is self-administered, and that predisposes the individual to make an effort to get closer to achieving a goal.
Intrinsic motivation, according to Deci, is an underlying need in the individual for social competence and self-determination. That is, those behaviors that are performed in the absence of any apparent external contingency are considered intrinsically motivated. Carrying out the activity is an end in itself and its realization allows the subject to feel autonomous and competent, essential for the proper development of healthy self-esteem.
We can all give some example of intrinsic motivation in our lives: participating in volunteering, altruistic acts, doing our job well, seeking more knowledge, self-improvement in playing a sport, pursuing hobbies…
In short, the reasons that lead to activating a behavioral pattern are inherent to the person. External stimuli are not needed as in extrinsic motivation, but they are not mutually exclusive. That is, you can carry out an activity for which you are intrinsically motivated (helping others) but also obtain an external reward (money).
Unlike what is achieved with extrinsic motivation (external rewards), With intrinsic motivation we achieve experiences, feelings of effectiveness and mastery of the task. Three linked feelings usually appear:
At first it was thought that both types of motivation were independent, but Deci and Lepper showed that an activity that had high intrinsic interest could be diminished if rewards were introduced, which they called the overjustification effect. Curiously, the subject lost interest. The negative effect of the reward is known as the hidden price of the reward.
What is better, intrinsic or extrinsic motivation?
We must clarify that neither extrinsic nor intrinsic motivation are “bad” per se, but rather it will depend on how present they are in each person’s life, its context and their psychological and personal situation.
Extrinsic motivation is driven from the outside, either by the force of the reward or by the force of the possible punishment (e.g., that student who starts studying the night before for fear of failing and having to pay a fee). highest number of academic credits).
In these cases, the subject can see himself doing something that he does not like simply for the reward (think of all those people who do work that does not intrinsically motivate them for the economic reward). This type of motivation is available in the entire society, even the educational system is extrinsically motivated. The great handicap of this motivation is that it cannot satisfy the need for self-determination.
Therefore, the development and change from the extrinsic to the intrinsic is necessary, which is possible by making the subject reach levels of autonomy in the task they perform and offering a context or environment that facilitates interpersonal relationships.
A very clear example of this last reflection is to start educating children by promoting their autonomy and self-realization through the process itself (the intrinsic) instead of focusing only on extrinsic rewards/punishments so that they carry out the tasks. This is not so easy: When carrying out activities and starting them, extrinsic motivation is often necessary to start routines, especially in children. However, once they have been started and incorporated into the subject’s routine, they would be maintained due to intrinsic motivation.
Thanks to Psychology, we know that when motivation comes from within, it is capable of making us tend to persevere in the task for longer; That is why it is so important to encourage it in processes such as studies, competitive examinations or in high-performance athletes. This is so, among other things, because being intrinsic does not depend so much on the situations that arise around us, and helps us adapt to each situation and each obstacle.
On the other hand, it must be taken into account that There is no such thing as “pure” intrinsic motivation, since this is always linked to events that occur around us. The fact that it is more useful for us to understand it as an element that occurs in the individual, instead of as something that comes from the outside, does not mean that in practice the individual and the environment are closely related.
We will fundamentally base ourselves on what Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory proposes. One of the fundamental objectives of moving from the extrinsic to the intrinsic is to focus on satisfying our needs for autonomy and self-determination.
In the workplace, thinking in terms of “I have to”, “I should do…” leads us to feel overwhelmed, pressured, and to feel that we are full of imposed “mandatory” tasks. We feel tied down, and even if we get paid for these activities (which promotes extrinsic motivation), it may not be enough to make us feel good.
It is positive to try to put aside the backpack of “I have and I must” and start thinking about “I want.” When we think about what we want to do we are satisfying our needs for autonomy and self-determination. Today at my work: Do I want to feel like I have contributed something positive? Do I want to feel like I’ve helped someone else? Do I want to feel satisfied with the effort I have made? Do I want to learn new things?
Next we can ask ourselves: “to achieve what I want to do, what can I do to achieve it?” When we consider what we can do, we are encouraging the need to feel competent and in control in what we do, and we are putting ourselves in the driver’s seat of our life. It is in our hands to choose to do our job well, to choose to help another person, to choose to seek more information to learn a little more…
Obviously, we will not be able to apply this change of perspective in all situations, but it can be useful to reflect on why we do things and how we can change those that do not make us feel good and are modifiable.
