Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation (and a Fly on the Wall)

When was the last time you did something simply for the sheer joy of doing it? And, let’s leave sex out of it for the time being! How did it make you feel? What kind of state were you in? Science tells us that the reason you did it was that you were motivated intrinsically or by the pleasure of doing it. That is what today’s post is all about – intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and how to use more of the former!

What is the Difference Between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation?

Before we get to some entertaining examples, let’s quickly explore the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

As we have said, there are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from within yourself; that is, doing something for the sheer pleasure of doing it.

Extrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from outside yourself; that is, doing something to obtain some type of reward or to avoid some type of punishment.

We will discuss intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in more detail in a bit, but first…

How About Some Examples?

Imagine, if you will, that I have figured out how to transform you into a fly.  While it has its disadvantages (no need to get into those now, but we all know what they are), it does have many advantages. One of the biggest being that you now have the ability to be the proverbial ‘fly on the wall’!  This means that you can go anyplace, at any time and simply observe, listen and learn.

Let’s stop for a moment and take a minute to reflect.

If you could be a fly on the wall for a day, where would you go? What would you observe? listen to? learn?

While you are pondering that, I am going to stop you dead in your tracks and at least for this blog post, I am going to tell you where you are going to go.

Yup, it’s my blog post and I get to decide – them’s the breaks!  Talk about negative extrinsic motivation!

Ready…Set…Fly!

Now, seeing as how this post is about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, you are going to ‘fly’ around and be a fly on the wall in a few different situations. Each situation will be an example of intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. Your job as the ‘fly on the wall’ is to try to figure out whether it is intrinsic or extrinsic.

Your First Stop…

Is to an office of a manager in a Fortune 500 Company in the southwestern United States. As you are on the wall, you witness a few employees enter the office to ask the manager some questions:

Employee 1: I’m so excited, Mary and I have found a new better way to create those TPS reports. Would you like to see them?

Manager:  How dare you collaborate with someone else on your team behind my back? No, you dumbass! You have to do them exactly how I told you to and if you don’t you will both be fired!  I do not want to hear any of your stupid ideas and you must not take any risks that may lead to failures.

Employee 2:  I was wondering if I could participate in that cool new project that is slated to begin soon. What do you think?

Manager: You will work on the projects I tell you to work on.  And I really don’t care if you are interested in them or not. All I care about is that you hit your monthly quota.

Employee 3: I heard about this really amazing conference that is coming up and was wondering if I could attend as I really haven’t had any opportunities for personal development since I started working for you.

Manager:  We don’t have time for any of that personal development crap. Just be happy that you have a job!

Ok, you have seen just about enough! The manager is not only abusive, she is clearly using negative extrinsic motivators (threatening to fire the employee and caring only that they hit their quota). Furthermore, she is not exactly promoting intrinsic motivation either (she is micromanaging and discouraging collaboration, new ideas, personal development, and letting employees work on projects they are interested in). She is not someone you would ever want to work for – that is when you are back as a human.

Next, You Are Off to…

A classroom in Metairie, Louisiana where a teacher is introducing herself to the students on the first day of class.

“Hi students, I am Miss Bliss, I am very excited to have you in my class this year! My focus is on your learning, being curious and enjoying the pursuit of knowledge. Do you have any questions?”

Johnny: So how will we be evaluated?

Teacher:  There will be no grades and no exams. You will be given assignments which I will review with you and you will modify them until you master the subject.

Melissa: Will there be any group assignments?

Teacher: Yes Melissa! I want you to learn how to cooperate and help each other learn and work together.

Ben: Will we be able to try new things and give suggestions?

Teacher: That is a great idea, Ben. Yes!  It would be great if you guys let me know as we go along if you have anything specific you would like to learn and if you have suggestions to make our classroom experience better!

Wow, how refreshing, where was Miss Bliss when I was in school? She obviously gets the concept of positive extrinsic motivation!

Time to stretch your wings for a bit of a flight as…

It’s Time to Visit Tuscaloosa, Alabama…

Home of college football’s national champion, the Alabama Crimson Tide.  You stop by the practice field and start to freak out. It actually consists of several big open fields and there are no walls, how are you supposed to be a fly on the wall if there are no walls? You quickly calm down and sit on the shoulder of the head coach, Nick Saban, as he addresses the team. He is so focused on delivering his message to them that he doesn’t even know you are there.

What strikes you most about his talk to the team is that he doesn’t mention winning or the scores whatsoever. He keeps talking to the players about focusing on the process of getting better, of individual players improving their skills, about everyone playing together as a team, of contributing to the mission, of helping each other get better – it really is inspiring! You notice how motivated and excited the players seem. Hmmm, maybe this is part of the reason Alabama has won 5 out of the last 9 national championships? Saban is a master at using positive intrinsic motivation you tell yourself – no wonder he is considered one of the best coaches in college football history.

You ride on Saban’s shoulder as he heads back into his office, hoping to glean some more gems from the master. Just then, one of his assistant coaches sees you and grabs a fly swatter.

That’s When…

I quickly end this part of this blog post and turn you back into a human being.  Did you really think I was going to end this blog post like that? Come on! Plus it’s kind of tough to have an intelligent discussion on intrinsic and extrinsic with a fly!

 Now – a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is better…

…than only extrinsic motivation in the long run; it is a continuum.  Different people fall along different points of the continuum. We all use extrinsic motivation to some extent in our lives.

BUT we suggest using extrinsic motivation intelligently, as it can lead you down a dangerous path.

In his book ‘Drive’, Daniel Pink says that intrinsic motivation is good for students and employees due to the fact that we are motivated by 3 things (that is after our basic needs are met), and they are:

Autonomy – being able to direct our own lives and have some control over what we do.

Purpose – being part of something that we are connected to.

Mastery – having the opportunity for improvement.

Pink discusses intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and suggests that utilizing extrinsic motivators such as rewards and punishments inhibit employees from succeeding in tasks that are cognitively challenging such as writing.

Need More Evidence?

According to a study, ‘of over 200,000 U.S. public sector employees. The results showed that employee engagement levels were three times more strongly related to intrinsic than extrinsic motives, but that both motives tend to cancel each other out. In other words, when employees have little interest in external rewards, their intrinsic motivation has a substantial positive effect on their engagement levels.’ 1

As for Me…

In case you were wondering what motivates yours truly…I fall closer to the intrinsic end of the continuum.

For example, when I write, I write to feel the joy of writing, to learn new things, to improve my writing skills and to share a little camaraderie with my Prime Your Pump co-bloggers, Bri and Howie.

But, I must admit, there are some extrinsic motivators at play for me:

  I enjoy checking our blog stats to see how we are doing.
  Hearing feedback from our readers that they are being entertained and learning actionable content from our blog is motivating to me.
  Comments, shares and likes on both the blog and social media.

So, while I work on increasing my intrinsic motivation, I have a favor to ask.

Help increase your boy’s extrinsic motivation and keep those comments, likes and shares coming!

And if you haven’t already – please sign up for our weekly newsletter!

Until next time, keep getting motivated and as always…PYMFP!

–Rick

How to Release Intrinsic Motivation – Use it Or Lose It

Intrinsic motivation is something that can be used to motivate yourself as well as others.

Some of the ways you can release it depending on your situation are:

As a Boss:

You will want to promote such things for your employees as:

  Giving them more responsibility and freedom.
  Letting them do work that matters and contributes to the mission.
  Giving them opportunities for learning, growth, experimentation, personal development.
  Ensuring they are not fearing failure.
  Working on projects and completing tasks and assignments that interest them and provide ownership.
  Giving them an opportunity to improve their work.
  Letting them work as part of a team and doing goal setting as a team.

You will want to cease such things as:

  Micromanaging.
  Using punishments and rewards such as raises, promotions, perks, badges, targets, quotas.
  Motivating through fear.

As a Teacher/Parent:

You will want to encourage children to:

  Master a subject.
  Pursue knowledge through curiosity and spark their curiosity.
  Enjoy the challenge of learning and thinking.
  Make time for the process of learning by teaching them methods like Socratic questioning.
  Figure out how they learn the best.
  Have a say in the learning process.

You will want to cease or minimize such things as:

  Grades, gold stars, prizes, discipline for poor grades, trophies.

When Working Out:

Focus on things such as:

  How you feel.
  Enjoyment of the activity and improving at it.

You will want to cease or minimize such things as:

  What you weigh, how much you can lift or how fast you can run. (although some of them are needed to measure improvement – you don’t want to focus strictly on them)

When to Use It:

All day, every day – you are always using intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in your life.

What Do You Think?

How do you use intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in your life? Where do you fall on the continuum?

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