What motivates us?

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing? It all hinges on motivation. Although it’s often treated as a singular construct, our motivation to act is prompted by a range of different factors, producing a variety of experiences and consequences. Sometimes we’re motivated by our own personal values and beliefs, known as intrinsic motivation, and sometimes we’re motivated by outside influences such as financial gain, prestige, or fear of punishment, known as external motivation. The contrast between the two is surely familiar to us all, and it’s not unusual for us to draw on multiple causes of motivation in the pursuit of a goal. Imagine you’re training to compete in a marathon for example. As well as being intrinsically motivated by the satisfaction you gain from the activity itself, you might also be extrinsically motivated by a desire to win a medal and gain approval from others.

However, it’s intrinsic motivation that most effectively encourages and sustains action. By nature, we’re intrinsically motivated to satisfy not only our physiological needs such as those for food that are necessary for sustaining life, but also our psychological needs such as developing a sense of self, which are essential for our mental health and wellbeing. When we pursue activities and behaviours that are intrinsically motivated and aligned with our personal goals, we feel happier, more in control, and capable.

Self-Determination

In psychology, self-determination is an important concept that refers to our ability to think independently, make decisions, and manage our own lives. By looking closely at the perceived forces that move us to act, Self-Determination Theory (SDT), developed by psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan in the 1980’s, explores the interplay between the internal motivators inherent in human nature, and the external factors that can influence them, and has classified several distinct types of motivation, each of which have specific consequences for learning, performance, personal experience, and well-being. Also, by identifying the circumstances under which each type of motivation is developed and sustained, or forestalled and undermined, SDT is able to account for the differences in our psychological health.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations

As children we’re active, inquisitive, curious, and playful. The construct of intrinsic motivation describes this natural inclination toward assimilation, mastery, spontaneous interest, and exploration that’s so essential to cognitive and social development. But, as we progress through the teenage years and into adulthood, we face an increasing number of external (extrinsic) influences that we’re expected to deal with. These influences, coming in the form of career goals, societal values, rewards, deadlines, and penalties, are not necessarily bad, but they ultimately undermine our intrinsic motivation, and have the potential to adversely affect our personal growth and development.

Comparisons between people whose motivation is authentic (literally, self-authored or endorsed) and those who are externally controlled, typically reveal that the former, relative to the latter, have more interest, excitement, and confidence, which in turn is manifest both as enhanced performance, persistence, and creativity. Choice, acknowledgement of feelings, and opportunities for self-direction were found to enhance intrinsic motivation because they allow people a greater feeling of autonomy. In contrast, threats, deadlines, directives, pressured evaluations, and imposed goals, diminish intrinsic motivation because, like tangible rewards, they’re perceived as having an external locus of causality. In short, carrots and sticks don’t work, except for very basic tasks.

Integration Theory

It might seem as if intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation are diametrically opposed – but that’s not necessarily the case according to SDT. By definition, intrinsically motivated behaviours, the prototype of self-determined actions, stem from the self, and are by far the more effective method of initiating and sustaining action. They are unalienated and authentic in the fullest sense of those terms. However, extrinsically motivated actions can also become self-determined if we identify with, and fully assimilate, their regulation. Thus, through internalization and integration, we can be extrinsically motivated - and still be committed and authentic.

Within SDT, Deci and Ryan introduced a sub theory called Organismic Integration Theory (OIT), to detail these different forms of extrinsic motivation, and the contextual factors that either promote or hinder their internalization and integration. Internalization refers to people's ‘taking in’ a value or regulation, and integration refers to the further transformation of that regulation so that, subsequently, it will emanate from their sense of self. Internalization and integration are clearly central issues in childhood socialization, but they also continue to be relevant for the regulation of behaviour throughout our lives. Perhaps you can recall something that you initially saw no interest or value in, that was not spontaneously adopted, but which you have gradually embraced?

As people internalize regulations and assimilate them to the self, they experience greater autonomy in action. This process may occur in stages, over time, but it’s not a developmental continuum in the sense that people must progress through each stage of internalization with respect to a particular regulation. Rather, they can relatively readily internalize a new behavioural regulation at any point along the continuum depending on both prior experiences and current situational factors.

Let’s take a closer look at Deci and Ryan’s Continuum of Intrinsic Motivation:

Autonomous, purely self-determined behaviours are on the right-hand side of the continuum, and controlled behaviours - those that are performed only because we’re under pressure to think, feel, or behave in particular ways - are on the left.

On the far right of the continuum is the classic state of intrinsic motivation; the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfaction. It’s highly autonomous and represents the archetypical instance of self-determination.

Then come four extrinsically motivated behaviours that cover the continuum between intrinsic motivation and amotivation, gradually varying in the extent to which their regulation is autonomous.

First is integrated regulation. Integration occurs when identified regulations are fully assimilated to the self, which means they’ve been evaluated and brought into congruence with our other values and needs. Actions characterized by integrated motivation share many qualities with intrinsic motivation, although they’re still considered extrinsic because they’re done to attain distinct outcomes rather than for their inherent enjoyment.

Next, a more autonomous, or self-determined, form of extrinsic motivation is regulation through identification. Identification reflects a conscious valuing of a behavioural goal or regulation, such that the action is accepted or owned as personally important.

The third type of extrinsic motivation is labelled introjected regulation. Introjection involves taking in a regulation but not fully accepting it as our own. It’s a relatively controlled form of regulation in which behaviours are performed to avoid guilt or anxiety, or to demonstrate ability (or avoid failure) in order to maintain feelings of worth.

The last, and least autonomous extrinsically motivated behaviour is referred to as externally regulated, and these behaviours are performed solely to satisfy an external demand or reward contingency.

At the far left of the continuum lies amotivation. This behaviour lacks motivation completely due to not valuing an activity, not feeling competent to do it, or not expecting it to produce a desired outcome.

So, according to OIT, whenever a person, be it a parent, teacher, employer, or therapist, attempts to foster certain behaviours in others, the others' motivation for the behaviour can range between amotivation through to active personal commitment, depending on the degree to which the value and regulation of the requested behaviour has been internalized and integrated. For example, students who do their homework because they personally grasp its importance for their chosen career are extrinsically motivated, as are those who do the work only because they are adhering to their parents' control. Both examples involve external pressures rather than enjoyment of the work itself, yet the former case of extrinsic motivation entails personal endorsement and a feeling of choice (identification), whereas the latter involves compliance and control (external regulation).

Accumulated research suggests that identified regulation is associated with more interest and enjoyment of school and with more positive coping styles, as well as with expending more effort, better performance, lower dropout, and higher quality learning. In the realm of health care, greater internalization has been associated with increased adherence to medications among people with chronic illnesses, better long-term maintenance of weight loss among morbidly obese patients, improved glucose control among diabetics, and greater attendance and involvement in addiction-treatment programmes.

So OIT gives us a clearer perspective of the different levels of extrinsic motivation that exist, and the processes of internalization and integration which can eventually result in our autonomous choice of performing an activity for its intrinsic perceived pleasure and value, the advantages of which appear to be numerous, and of particular benefit in education, employment, health, and social care settings.

Psychological need satisfaction

Despite the fact that humans are endowed with intrinsic motivational tendencies, evidence suggests that the maintenance and enhancement of these inherent tendencies requires supportive conditions, without which, they’re likely to be at diminished. In another sub-theory within SDT called Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET), Deci and Ryan identified the social and environmental factors that facilitate versus undermine, intrinsic motivation. Their findings led them to conclude that regardless of a person’s culture or stage of development, there are three innate psychological needs; autonomy, competence, and relatedness, which, when satisfied, yield enhanced self-motivation and mental health, and when thwarted lead to a loss of motivation and well-being.

• Autonomy

  Autonomy arises when we feel as if we have choice and control over our own lives and can be our true selves, and is something that most, if not all of us, would want to have. Autonomy also facilitates internalization and is a critical element for a regulation to be integrated. We must understand its meaning and synthesize that meaning with respect to our other goals and values. Such deep, holistic processing is facilitated by a sense of choice, volition, and freedom from excessive external pressure toward behaving or thinking a certain way. In this sense, support lor autonomy allows us to actively transform values into our own.

• Competence 

  Competence is the term used to describe someone having sufficient knowledge and skills to successfully perform a given task, resulting in feelings of self-development and efficacy. These feelings of competence enhance our intrinsic motivation for the activity and generate a sense of mastery.

• Relatedness

  Social support is key to developing a strong sense of self, and our relationships and interactions with others can either foster or thwart our motivation and personal growth. In infancy, intrinsic motivation is readily observable as exploratory behaviour and, as suggested by attachment theorists such as Bowlby, is more evident when the infant is securely attached to a parent. SDT hypothesizes that a similar dynamic occurs in interpersonal settings over the life span, with intrinsic motivation and internalization more likely to flourish in contexts characterized by a sense of security and relatedness.

So, to summarize, the CET framework suggests that social environments can facilitate or forestall intrinsic motivation by supporting versus thwarting people's innate psychological needs.

Extrinsic rewards

On the flip side, numerous studies have revealed that when our needs have been thwarted, we tend to adopt extrinsic goals that will lead to external indicators of worth such as wealth, fame, and image, rather than the internal feelings of worth such as affiliation, personal growth, and self-actualization that result from need satisfaction.

Studies by Ryan, Chirkov, and Kasser found that whereas attainment of intrinsic aspirations is positively associated with wellbeing, attainment of extrinsic aspirations is not. Extrinsic aspirations become a type of need substitute, even though they provide little or no direct need satisfaction. As our behaviour becomes increasingly controlled by external rewards, belief in our own personal qualities reduces as our intrinsic motivation is further diminished, which may account for the feelings of alienation and amotivation expressed by teenagers who reject their parents’ values, employees who lack initiative, and patients who fail to adhere to their treatment plan. It may also explain why highly successful people might experience less than optimal wellbeing if the goals they achieve, though highly prized by many, do not fulfil their basic psychological needs.

Conclusion

So SDT asserts that conditions supportive of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are associated with positive psychological health and motivation, and the integration of social values and responsibilities, whereas conditions that control behaviour and hinder perceived efficacy and connectedness, are linked to rigid functioning and diminished well-being.

Promoting self-determination skills

Since self-determination is, by definition, not directed by others, it may seem counter-intuitive to suggest that there are some things we can do to help strengthen our self-determination, and that of our children… nevertheless, here are some practical suggestions you might like to try:

• Develop self-awareness skills. Identify and understand your needs, strengths, and limitations.

• Take responsibility. Your behaviour and the choices you make will influence outcomes.

• Practice self-regulation. Set goals and develop an action plan. Evaluate the outcomes, and adjust your plan accordingly.

• Develop problem-solving skills. Be prepared for setbacks. Think creatively about possible solutions.

• Develop decision-making skills. Take time to consider the pros and cons and potential consequences of your decisions, before making them.

• Practice self-advocacy. Express your needs and wants assertively, and take action on your own behalf.

• Gain mastery. Develop an interest in a hobby, sport, or other pastime. The more you learn and practice, the more skilled and self-determined you’ll feel.

• Find social support. Strong social relationships can foster motivation and well-being, especially when you share values.

Thank you for reading this blog post. If you have any thoughts to share, or ideas for future posts, please do let me know. I would love to hear from you.