Definition
Intrinsic motivation, which is the motivational component of people’s natural proactivity, refers to doing an activity because it is interesting, enjoyable, and inherently satisfying of their basic (i.e., innate and universal) psychological needs. Intrinsic motivation is often contrasted with various forms of extrinsic motivation on a continuum of self-determined regulation (Ryan & Deci, 2000; 2017). When intrinsically motivated, people’s psychological need satisfaction derives directly from the target activity, during the activity, rather than from satisfaction of physiological needs (i.e., drives) or from some future satisfaction contingent on separable consequences, such as rewards. Thus, the word “intrinsic” in the term intrinsic motivation refers both to people’s inherent activity aimed at providing satisfaction of their inherent psychological needs and to the target activity itself being rewarding to them.
Description
History. The concept of intrinsic motivation (IM) in psychology can be traced back to two seminal papers from the 1950s, which argued for a different kind of motivation, one that would complement the kind of motivation derived from homeostatic physiological drives (e.g., hunger, thirst, and the avoidance of pain). Both Harlow ( 1953) and White ( 1959) postulated that this new form of motivation could be used to account for play, exploration, and a variety of other behaviors that do not require reinforcement for their maintenance. The introduction of the concept of IM required a major reformulation of motivation theory, as previous theories [e.g., Hull’s ( 1943) drive-reduction theory and Skinner’s ( 1953) operant theory] dictated that the nature of organisms was exclusively passive and mechanistic, whereas the concept of IM implies that organisms are also active and growth-oriented.
IM and Psychological Needs. White ( 1959) further postulated that this kind of motivation (now referred to as intrinsic motivation) is initiated and sustained by the positive feeling of effectance that follow from competent interactions with the environment (as such, White referred to this kind of motivation as “effectance motivation”). Later motivation theorists extended this line of thinking, arguing that intrinsic motivation is fuelled by an organism’s propensity to seek out psychological need satisfaction and identifying effectance (or competence) as one of the basic psychological needs. When people feel as though they are being challenged to extend their skills, they experience satisfaction of the need for competence. According to self-determination theory, other basic psychological needs include needs for autonomy and relatedness (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000, 2017). Autonomy is characterized by feeling as though one’s behavior is freely chosen and endorsed (see also perceived freedom), rather than pressured or coerced (de Charms, 1968). Relatedness is characterized by feeling connected to others and by caring and being cared for in the context of a trusting relationship (see also sense of belonging). Self-determination theorists argue that when intrinsically motivated, people’s behavior helps to satisfy one or more of the three psychological needs (autonomy, competence, or relatedness) and to be experienced as interesting and enjoyable.
Outcomes Associated with IM. Intrinsic motivation has been consistently associated with a number of important outcomes. Affectively, IM is closely related to elevated mood or positive affect. The concept of flow is considered an intense experience of intrinsic motivation that corresponds with a high degree of task immersion and concentration, a loss of self-consciousness, a distorted sense of time, and a subjective effortlessness (Csíkszentmihályi, 1990). Flow, like intrinsic motivation, involves being attracted to optimally challenging activities. Both flow and intrinsic motivation, more broadly, have also been associated with enhanced creativity and cognitive flexibility across a wide variety of contexts, including the visual arts, music, writing, and invention (Amabile, 1996). Another set of outcomes that have been closely related to IM concern learning (in and out of formal education contexts). To summarize these findings, IM tends to lead to deeper processing of material, heightened conceptual understanding, and better long-term retention in memory (Reeve, 2002).
IM and Development. From the perspective of human development, intrinsic motivation is understood to play a vital role in terms of initiating both physical and psychological growth. That is, many of the behaviors (e.g., exploration, challenge seeking, and human interaction) that are prototypic of intrinsic motivation are also closely associated with healthy physical and psychological maturation over the long run, building physical strength and facilitating psychological integration and self-actualization.
The Undermining Effect. One of the most well-studied phenomena associated with intrinsic motivation concerns the influence of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Indeed, over one hundred experiments have been run exploring this effect (Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999). In general, the findings from these studies indicate that tangible extrinsic rewards (e.g., money, awards, tokens) tend to undermine intrinsic motivation, particularly when the rewards are contingent, expected, and salient, and thus are experienced as controlling and pressuring (thereby thwarting one’s psychological need for autonomy). In contrast, positive feedback, which is sometimes referred to as verbal rewards (Deci et al. 1999; Henderlong & Lepper 2002), and choice (Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008), typically enhances people’s intrinsic motivation. Importantly, the quality and quantity of rewards (or choices) have been shown to be less relevant than how those rewards (or choices) are framed (Morgan, 1984). Because subjective interpretation of rewards is considered critical to whether the reward will or will not undermine intrinsic motivation, characteristics of the individual are also relevant. Hagger and Chatzisarantis ( 2011) recently demonstrated that causality orientations moderate the undermining effect of rewards on intrinsic motivation, such that those who tend to see the world as controlling are more aversely influenced by rewards. Other factors, in addition to extrinsic rewards, that have been shown to undermine intrinsic motivation are externally imposed deadlines, surveillance, evaluation, goal imposition, and sometimes negative feedback (Fong, Patall, Vasquez, & Stautberg, 2019).
Assessment of IM. Intrinsic motivation has historically been measured in two ways, either via subjective self-report or via objective behavior using a free-choice paradigm. Self-reported intrinsic motivation can be measured at state- or activity-level (e.g., during an activity), at the domain-level (e.g., in school or at work), and at the global- or person-level (e.g., in general or in one’s life) (see Vallerand’s ( 1997) hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation). The intrinsic motivation inventory (IMI) is a well-validated, multidimensional measurement device for assessing participants’ subjective experience related to intrinsic motivation for a target activity in laboratory experiments. The instrument assesses participants’ interest/enjoyment (which is the indicator of intrinsic motivation), as well as perceived competence, effort, value/usefulness, felt pressure and tension, perceived choice, and relatedness while performing a given activity, each providing a subscale score. The IMI and many other context-specific measures of IM are publicly accessible for research purposes via the self-determination theory website ( http://www.selfdeterminationtheory.org/questionnaires). Event-level intrinsic motivation (and flow) is also commonly measured in the field using experience sampling (with self-report data entered into an electronic handheld device or paper diary).
A complement to self-report measures of IM is objective measures of behavior using the free-choice paradigm. This paradigm entails providing people with a variety of activities to choose from (e.g., magazines, music, games) including a target activity (e.g., a puzzle) for a fixed period of time. Participants are typically told a cover story during this free-choice time in order to make them believe that no one is paying attention to their behavior (e.g., before leaving the room, an experimenter might explain to a participant that he/she needs 10 min to set up the next part of their study but that the participant may feel free to do any or none of the available activities while waiting). Participants’ behavior is then surreptitiously observed, and time spent on the target activity is assessed as an indicator of IM. Recently, investigators have begun to explore and identify the neural correlates of IM. Murayama, Matsumoto, Izuma, and Matsumoto (2010) used a modified free-choice paradigm and replicated the classic undermining effect following performance-contingent monetary rewards, while also tracking its neural correlates using functional MRI. Undermined IM was correlated with decreased activity in the anterior striatum and prefrontal areas, leading the authors to postulate that the corticobasal ganglia valuation system is associated with the undermining of IM through the integration of extrinsic reward value and intrinsic task value.
Discussion. The concept of intrinsic motivation represented a paradigm shift in terms of motivation theory when first introduced in the 1950s (Harlow, 1953; White, 1959). Since that time, the IM concept has received considerable attention, both in basic and theory-oriented research and applied research, in a wide range of contexts that include educational, industrial-organizational, sports and leisure, medical, and virtual (i.e., videogames and virtual reality). And the resulting findings from IM-oriented research have broad implications for public policy and regulation at nearly all levels of governance and for improving quality of life (QOL).
Cross-References
Competence
Enjoyment
Experience Sampling
Flow
Perceived Freedom
Positive Affect
Quality of Life (QOL)
Self-Actualization
Self-Determination Theory
Sense of Belonging
References
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