Fostering intrinsic motivation

Almost everyone in my household has been feeling out of sorts in some shape or form this past week. One evening my toddler was inconsolable with discomfort. The only way to calm him was being a human couch while he binge watched his favourite cartoon.

The time was drifting towards dinner and my hungry upper primary daughter asked what we would be having. I replied “pasta” and instead of asking when it would be ready, she said four magic words: “Can I make it?” This was something she had never done before and so it would be a learning process. I gave instructions as needed from the couch and she adamantly cooked for us all.

Remember the last time you decided to learn something new? There was likely some intrinsic motivation in the mix. We produce better work and are more productive when motivation is intrinsic, but it’s not something that can be switched on at will or coerced from others.

Self-determination theory can help us better understand when and how to cultivate intrinsic motivation.

Tina

Self-determination theory

Autonomy, a sense of effectiveness, and relatedness to other people or a greater cause are key ingredients to encouraging intrinsic motivation.

Two groups of university students were given the task of writing headlines for the campus newspaper. After a round of work one group was offered 50 cents for each headline written and the second group continued working without any reward. In a third round of headline writing the 50 cent incentive was removed.

This classic experiment was undertaken alongside a number of others to better understand the foundations of intrinsic motivation. The experiments found that extrinsic rewards, such as money, decreased intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic rewards would lead to improvement for a short time, but then performance subsequently declined when the extrinsic reward was no longer offered (Deci 1971).

Besides influencing performance, intrinsic motivation is a central aspect to effective learning. Intrinsically motivated individuals tend spend increased time on tasks, persist in the face of failure, undertake more elaborate information processing, exhibit greater creativity and risk taking, select more difficult challenges and choose to undertake tasks without the need for extrinsic rewards (Fou-Lai et al 2001).

According to self-determination theory, intrinsic motivation flourishes in environments that satisfy three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence and relatedness (Ryan et al 2023).

Autonomy refers to having control over one’s actions and decisions. It’s the feeling of freedom and empowerment to make choices and influence activities that we are engaged. Although we may not be able to choose everything we do, we can exercise autonomy in how we think about and undertake our responsibilities.

Competence is a feeling of effectiveness and being capable of achieving the goal. It means engaging in activities that are not too easy or too difficult; that are optimally challenging. We are more likely to find competence in an activity or subject area when our curiosity is sparked, or we find joy in it regardless of the outcome.

Relatedness emerges from the feeling of connection or relationships with others, or from taking part in activities that contribute to a greater cause.

In workplaces satisfying these three needs has been linked to better performance, reduced burnout, more organizational commitment and reduced turnover intentions (Gagné et al 2022).

Self-determination theory can also be utilised to support children’s intrinsic motivation in school. For instance, by enabling autonomy in choosing pursuits and completing work (focusing on learning rather than grades), being involved and providing structure.

Quality of involvement matters more than quantity. Types of involvement include school involvement by attending events, intellectual involvement by discussing current happenings and visiting places of interest, and personal involvement by talking about the school day and knowing the names of classmates (Grolnick 2009).

References

Deci, E.L. 1971. Effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 18: 105–115. 

Fou-Lai, L. & Cooney, T. J. 2001. Making sense of mathematics teacher education. Kluwer Academic Publishers; Boston.

Gagné, M., Parker, S.K., Griffin, M.A. et al. 2022. Understanding and shaping the future of work with self-determination theory. Nat Rev Psychol 1, 378–392.

Grolnick, W. 2009. The role of parents in facilitating autonomous self-regulation for education. Theory and Research in Education 7(2):164-173. 

Ryan, R.M. & Vansteenkiste, M. 2023. The Oxford handbook of self-determination theory. Oxford University Press. 3-30.