Needs: I-E Motivation & Goal Setting

I have to say when I was very intrigued when I first saw this topic in the unit outline. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. So… what exactly is it??

As I had detailed in my blog on psychological needs, we have an inherent need to explore, examine and interact with our environment in order to grow and learn. But what we looked at these readings and the lecture for I-E motivation and goal settings is the deeper source of where these needs come from. What I have learnt and what I hope to give an explanation of in this blog is where exactly that is. Simply put, that motivation comes from ourselves and from the environment and those around us.

To be more precise, intrinsic motivation is ‘the inherent desire to engage one’s interests and to exercise and develop ones capacities’ (Reeve, 2009, pp. 111-12). For example…. I GO RUNNING (engaging activity) because IT IS ENJOYABLE (satisfies my psychological need for competency and develops my capacity to run further/longer). There are a number of other examples one could think of… I am studying (engaging) motivation and emotion because it is fun and enjoyable. Here again we can see that intrinsic motivation also plays a part in satisfying our psychological needs of: Autonomy, Competence and relatedness. This gives us a sense of freedom, capability and that we have a purpose in life. This point was confirmed in our lecture (Neill, 2010) on the benefits of intrinsic motivation, these were:

·         Persistence: The higher ones intrinsic motivation is the more persistence they will generally show on completing that task.

·         Creativity: The greater one’s own interest is and the more satisfaction they gain from completing their tasks, or challenges, the more creatively they will apply themselves.

·         Conceptual ability: It truly allows for flexible thinking and allows for learning to occur in a more natural and more quality way. Which then leads to….

·         Optimal functioning: Which allows us to have a greater sense of self actualisation, greater vitality, less anxiety (one would hope!) and a greater sense of self-esteem.

Extrinsic motivation – What is ‘Extrinsic motivation’? Well believe it or not folks, but as much as motivation comes from within, it also comes from those around us and the world we live in! As stated by Reeve (2009, pp. 113-14), extrinsic motivation is an environmentally create reason, an incentive or consequence, to engage in an action or activity. For example, that class mate looks interesting, for me to get to know them (extrinsic motivation incentive), perhaps even become friends with them, I will have to talk to them (required behaviour). Perhaps, we could think of this as an operant behaviour. That is, we choose to engage (operant behaviour) this person of interest in order to obtain the friendship (desired outcome). It’s clear that this operates on a flow of:

Incentive -> Consequence -> Reward

So essentially, an incentive motivates us to engage or avoid a certain types of behaviour. An incentive will always precede behaviour and guide us toward engaging (+ incentive) or avoiding (- incentive). Furthermore, an incentive value is learnt through experience with our environment (Reeve, 2009, p. 114).

A consequence is the result of our behaviour and will guide us in future situations. For example, a reinforcer will generally increase a behaviour, while a punishment will terminate it. There are two forms of reinforcement, Positive reinforcement will add or give something as a result, I studied hard and I was reinforced with good grades. Negative reinforcement will remove something as a result of the displayed behaviour. That is, if I am feeling cold I will shut the window or put on a coat in order to stop feeling cold. Hopefully this works! In any case, either positive or negative, reinforcement always increases the likelihood that we will engage in a particular behaviour. In our text book Reeve (2009, p. 115) gives a great definition of a reinforcer, as an extrinsic even which increases behaviour. If you get a pay check and that pay check is the reason you keep coming back to work, then the pay check is the reinforcer.

In order to reduce the likelihood of a particular behaviour it is necessary to use a punisher (or punishment). A punisher decreases the probability of a desired behaviour occurring (Reeve, 2009, p. 118). For example, theft may be deterred (although.. clearly not always…) by the enforcement of fines and jail time (depending on the crime). One is usually put off shop lifting by the prospect of being caught, humiliated, fined and possibly sent to jail.

We also learnt that rewards are actually quite different to reinforcers. They create positive emotion and they can facilitate behaviour as being rewarded signals the opportunity for personal gain. However, the distinction that needs to be made between the two is…. Although all positive reinforcers are rewards, only some rewards will actually function as positive reinforcers (Reeve, 2009, p. 120). How is this so? Well.. rewards DON’T always work! Sometimes the manner in which people use rewards, sometimes irrespective of if they actually enforce behaviour or not, is much too liberal. Better that we see rewards as potential  motivators.

I was up to this point in time unaware that reward could have a negative hidden cost. How is this so? Well when you look at reward  in regards to promoting an activity, it does achieve its intended primary affect, it promotes the desired behaviour. Yet… it’s the hidden side effects that many of us may be unaware of. For example, I want (intrinsic) to get good grades and if I were offered money (extrinsic) in order to do so, you would think this would increase productivity twofold… but this is not the case. The imposition of an extrinsic award for an activity which is intrinsically interesting would ultimately undermine my intrinsic motivation. Additionally, my learning experience would suffer, as the focus would be on reward rather than deep knowledge. Furthermore, rewards also interfere with autonomy and self-regulation. For example, if you were always rewarded by your parents for washing and cleaning, what would happen once you were living on your own and no longer received such an incentive to clean? If your behaviour was always governed by your extrinsic motivation, rather than your intrinsic it may be quite difficult to engage and self-regulate. On an more selective basis, such as to congratulate a job well done, they may in fact be very beneficial.

Following on  Cognitive evaluation theory states that all external events have a controlling function and an informational function (Reeve, 2009, p. 128). Reeve (2009) further elaborates on the above using the following three points:

·     External events event’s affect an individual’s intrinsic motivation when they affect that persons Perceived Locus of Control (PLOC). Hence being offered money for grades would promote a more external locus of control and decrease my intrinsic motivation.

·     Rewards can influence intrinsic motivation so long as they promote ones sense of competence.

·     If information gives one a sense of competence (well done for getting good marks), this will enhance intrinsic motivation, however, it does depend on the intentions of the one providing the information. For example, your grades were good, but not as good as I would have liked… this places more emphasis on extrinsic motivation (satisfying your parent) rather than on your own sense of competence. 

Up to this point I’m starting to question… should extrinsic motivation be used in order to motivate others? In order to promote uninteresting and potentially boring activities then it has potential. In order to provide a rationale, that is, why is task ‘worth doing?’ Why should it warrant ones attention? Providing a rationale helps to provide a spark, a sense of value, a sense of identification and internalisation. An uninteresting task then becomes ‘worthwhile.

 

In the second part of our lecture, we addressed Goal setting and goal striving. Essentially we examined the cognitive mechanisms that plan and direct out goal seeking and striving behaviour. Essentially, we compare our present state with our ideal state. Our ideal state is what we would like to be. When our present state does not match with our ideal state, well… then we have a discrepancy. But it is the discrepancy which motivates us to change our present state in order to become closer to the ideal state (Neill, 2010).

So… how do we do this? We use a cognitive plan, the TOTE unit. As mentioned above, first we test, is our present state congruent with our ideal self? If not… operate make changes in order to make this more congruent. Test again in order to see if those operational changes made a difference. If there is now a difference and our present state is now more congruent with our ideal self then we exit this cognitive mechanism (Neill, 2010). It would also be beneficial to add, that there are two types of operational methods used to reduce discrepancies. Discrepancy Reduction, that is, my grades are not congruent with my ideal self (high!), so I’ll study more. OR, discrepancy creation, that is, creating a new, different or higher goal (I think I’ll go to med school instead…).

Effectively the process of setting goals gives one motivation in raising performance and removing discrepancies. Setting a goal energises behaviour, increasing effort and creating persistence to work longer and harder. It also gives direction to behaviour and the element of planning allows for smoother and more productive work to occur. Having goals clarifies what you expect to achieve and counteracts boredom and apathy. Feedback is also very important; it defines your level of performance and in doing so, acts as a reinforcer.

References

Neill, J. (2010). [I-E Motivation and Goal Setting]. Lecture presented at the University of Canberra, ACT. [Lecture notes]. Retrieved from http://learnonline.canberra.edu.au/

Reeve, J. (2009). Understanding motivation and emotion. USA: Wiley.