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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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)

8. 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

9. 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”!

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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