People’s naiveté about how extrinsic rewards influence intrinsic motivation

Murayama, K., Kitagami, S., Tanaka, A. and Raw, J. (2016) People’s naiveté about how extrinsic rewards influence intrinsic motivation. Motivation Science, 2 (3). pp. 138-142. ISSN 2333-8121 doi: 10.1037/mot0000040

Abstract/Summary

Despite the voluminous empirical research on the harmful effects of extrinsic incentives (e.g., money, competition prizes, etc.) on people’s intrinsic motivation (“undermining effect”), our society is still reliant upon the use of extrinsic incentives to motivate people. To better understand the reason underlying this theory-practice gap, the current study examined people’s beliefs about how extrinsic incentives influence recipients’ intrinsic motivation. Participants were presented with a description of a previous experiment which demonstrated the undermining effect, and were asked to make a prediction about the results of the experiment. The findings showed that the majority of participants firmly, but wrongly believed in the beneficial effects of reward on intrinsic motivation and did so with greater confidence. This inaccurate belief about motivation may play a role in the current, frequent use of extrinsic incentives in our society, and the current study suggests the importance of targeting stakeholders’ beliefs in intervention research.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/68204
Identification Number/DOI	10.1037/mot0000040
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Language and Cognition Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Social
Publisher	American Psychological Association
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