Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Rewards (and Their Differences from Motivations)

Hello misterrosen,

First, my apology for responding so late. The notification email for this comment got stuck in my clutter folder and I just recover it.

Thank you for your questions. Let me give it a stab to see if I can clarify it more.

1. Although science keeps discovering new findings, so far the data do suggest that extrinsic rewards do have a crowding out effect for intrinsic motivation. That, if you keep pushing extrinsic rewards to people, you will inadvertently reduce their intrinsic motivation for the task. It's know as the overjustification effect. It's a fairly well documented phenomenon.

That said, it doesn't mean this effect will apply to everyone in every case. Some people's intrinsic motivation may be so strong that they simple don't pay attention to the extrinsic rewards. Which is the case for some admirable academicians, artist, musicians, etc. who refuse to be bought. Some may call them stupid, but they simply have more conviction about what they do.

However, I wouldn't say that extrinsic rewards are "by definition" less satisfying, they are just different. They often satisfy people faster, but that satisfaction feeling also go away faster. So extrinsic rewards can be seen as more satisfying than intrinsic in the short term. But over longer time horizons, yes, extrinsic is less satisfying than their intrinsic counterpart.

2. The answer is yes, but it's hard.

A. You can shift people's locus of motivation from outside to within, but keep in mind that simply shift their focus from extrinsic reward to intrinsic rewards, with are both still extrinsic motivation. The trick is that the students have to really learn it (have a epiphany or some realization like an aha moment).

But it's really difficult to tell if student really learned something. They can just remember it all, but haven't actually learn anything. They may do what you want them to do and even act like they enjoy doing it, but not really learn to love it just for the sake of doing it.

Bottom line is you can but it's not easy.

B. Yes recognition is an extrinsic motivation, but it can be an intrinsic reward that is not tangible. Remember that any reward (intrinsic or extrinsic) are extrinsic motivation b/c they are no part of the behavior. 

I don't think there is a danger of recognizing intrinsic motivation leading to a reduction of the behavior, because you can't really recognize intrinsic motivation easily. Like I said, you can have external measure for them, but you never really know what's the real reason someone do something. And it's hard to prove it because you would have to take away all the extrinsic motivations (which include both intrinsic rewards as well as extrinsic rewards) and demonstrate that this person still love doing the task.

Remember, intrinsic motivation means the reason you do something is inherent part of the behavior that you are doing; that means what drive to do something is actually just that you are doing, and nothing else (please read my previous blog for a deeper discussion). So I would just recognize lightly but seriously, and emphasize that is the exemplary behavior (that is if you are really sure he's intrinsically motivated, which you cannot really prove).

Ok, I hope I've clarify any confusion you may have. But if anything is still unclear, please let me know. I'm happy to discuss further here.