Craig Parks Provost’s Office and Department of Psychology A Motivation Primer Craig Parks Provost’s Office and Department of Psychology

What motivates people to do what they do? Extrinsic motivators are things that we do not possess but would like to have. Behave in order to get them Money, recognition, possessions Intrinsic motivators are personal factors that induce particular behaviors in us Morals, enjoyment, self-knowledge Neither is “bad” or “good.” All of us are influenced by both types

Taylorism: Early 20th century: Workers are like parts in a machine Extrinsic motivators Taylorism: Early 20th century: Workers are like parts in a machine Bolts don’t “want” to work. Neither do humans Must induce work via incentive When a bolt breaks, you replace it. When a worker “breaks,” replace him/her Most jobs in developed nations are based, at least in part, on Taylorism Employee assistance programs remove the “broken worker” aspect

Types of extrinsic motivators: External: Behavioral contingencies “Do your job and you will get a paycheck” (reward) “Drive the speed limit or you will get a ticket” (negative motivator) Person perceives the behavior as beyond their control: “I have to do this” Introjected: Avoidance of negative feelings “If I don’t go to the family reunion, my mother will make me feel guilty” “I won’t apologize because I don’t want to admit that I was wrong” Person feels pressured by emotions to do the behavior

Identified: Connection to valued, related outcome “I practice my scales because I want to be a good guitarist” “I eat a low-carb diet to maintain my weight” Person sees the behavior as necessary to achieve a larger goal Integrated: Connection to valued, unrelated outcome “I help pick up litter because I want to be a good citizen” “I volunteer in a classroom so that I’m not just sitting at home all day” Person sees the behavior as one way to achieve a larger goal

The challenge with extrinsic motivators: Behavior ends when they are taken away You will no longer get a ticket for excessive speed Your mother does not care if you go to the reunion or not Research indicates that carbohydrates do not affect your weight The local disposal company begins doing litter pickup Thus extrinsic motivators, once applied, must always remain in place However, this is less of an issue if the behavior can be Identified or Integrated with a larger goal that the person values

Behavior is self-determined; I do it because I want to Intrinsic motivators Behavior is self-determined; I do it because I want to I enjoy it I am interested in it It is a core part of my values Self-knowledge/improvement is important to me I get satisfaction from doing it Intrinsically motivated behaviors will usually persist for a long time (though not necessarily forever)

What makes an activity intrinsically interesting? And, why do some people find an activity interesting yet others do not? All humans have needs to feel competent, autonomous, related to others Intrinsically interesting activities are those that help fulfill one or more of these needs

Feelings of competence are promoted through Setting of optimal goals Feedback that the person is performing effectively Absence of demeaning evaluation Goal-setting: Difficult to get right Optimal goals are Moderate-to-low probability of attainment Specific on all relevant dimensions Doable given the person’s abilities and resources “Do your best”: No no no no. Awful “goal”!

Promote autonomy through self-direction Person feels that they are engaging in the behavior because they want to The presence of extrinsic motivators can make performance of the behavior decrease “I will pay you to do your hobby” Incentives, threats, deadlines, competition all decrease intrinsic motivation Micro-management will kill intrinsic motivation (and task mastery) Promote autonomy through self-direction Provide goal, get out of the way

Some people prefer to master one specific skill set and apply it Important note: There can be large differences in desire for self- knowledge/self-improvement Some people prefer to master one specific skill set and apply it Prefer jobs with low variety, high routine, high specificity Some people prefer to continually add to their skill set and seek constant challenge Prefer jobs with high variety, low routine, low specificity

For others, repetition kills motivation For some people, “maximal performance” might involve doing the same thing every day for 40 years, with no mistakes For others, repetition kills motivation “I already know that I can/cannot do this task. Why would I do it again?” Thus, learn your employee’s intrinsic style before trying to motivate them

Extrinsic motivation is not a bad thing. We do it all the time Takeaways Extrinsic motivation is not a bad thing. We do it all the time But, once applied, extrinsic motivators have to remain in place, unless task becomes intrinsically interesting Intrinsic motivation encourages persistence and striving, maximal performance But it’s easy to kill intrinsic motivation. Be careful