Chapter 6 Flashcards
Extrinsic motivation
An environmentally created reason (e.g., incentives or consequences) to engage in an action or activity
Colloquial sentence for extrinsic motivation
“What’s in it for me?” type of motivation
Equation for incentives and consequences
S : R –> C
S in S : R –> C
Situational cue (incentive)
Does the stimulus cause the response? Explain.
Stimulus does not cause the response, but may set the stage for the response
: in S : R –> C
Sets the occasion for
R in S : R –> C
Response (behavioural action)
–> in S : R –> C
Causes
C in S : R –> C
Consequence (reward, punisher)
Incentives
An environmental event that attracts or repels a person toward or away from initiating a particular course of action
2 broad categories of consequences
Reinforcers
Punishers
2 types of reinforcers
Positive
Negative
What do reinforcers always do?
Increase the occurrence of behaviour
What do punishers do?
Decrease occurrence of behaviour
What kinds of behaviour do consequences entail?
Reactive and proactive
Rewards
Any offering from one person given to another person in exchange for their service or achievement
3 characteristics that make a good reward
Unexpected
Not every day
Valuable to the person at that point in time
Do rewards facilitate desirable behaviour?
An extrinsic reward enlivens positive emotion and facilitates behaviour because it signals the opportunity for a personal gain
When events take an unexpected turn for the better, then DA release and BAS neural activation occur, as the brain inherently latches onto the environmental signal of the unexpected gain
Intended primary effect of using a reward to engage someone in an activity
Promotes compliance
Unintended side effects of using a reward to engage someone in an activity
Undermines intrinsic motivation
Interferes with the quality and process of learning
Interferes with the capacity for autonomous self-regulation
Why is undermining intrinsic motivation bad?
It results in an increased likelihood psychological needs are not met
Intended consequence of corporal punishment
Immediate compliance
Unintended consequences of corporal punishment as a child
More aggressive
More antisocial behaviour
Poor mental health
More internalization
Poor quality of parent-child relationship
Victim of physical abuse
Unintended consequences of corporal punishment as an adult
More aggressive
Poor mental health
Alcoholism
Use of abusive techniques in parenting one’s own children
Criminal and antisocial behaviour
What does research show punishment as?
An ineffective motivational strategy
3 side effects of punishment
Negative emotionality
Impaired relationship
Negative modelling
Negative emotionality
Screaming
Crying
Feeling afraid
What psychological need does negative emotionality correspond with?
Autonomy
Impaired relationship
Between punisher and punishee
What psychological need does impaired relationship correspond with?
Relatedness
Negative modelling
Of how to cope with undesirable behaviour in others
What psychological need does negative modelling correspond with?
Autonomy/competence
Benefits of incentives, consequences, and rewards
When there is no intrinsic motivation to undermine (uninteresting tasks), rewards can make an otherwise uninteresting task seem suddenly worth pursuing
Give some examples of when incentives, consequences, and rewards can have benefits
Developing daily living skills such as dressing
Participating in recycling
Getting motorists to stop at stop signs
Preventing drunk driving
Intrinsic motivation
The inherent desire to engage one’s interests and to exercise and develop one’s capacities
4 reasons not to use extrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivators still undermine the quality of performance and interfere with the process of learning
Using rewards distracts attention away from asking the hard question of why another person is being asked to do an uninteresting task in the first place
There are better ways to encourage participation than extrinsic bribery
Extrinsic motivators still undermine the individual’s long-term capacity for autonomous self-regulation
What does cognitive evaluation theory provide?
A way for predicting the effects that any extrinsic event will have on motivation
What does cognitive evaluation theory explain?
How an extrinsic event (e.g., money, grade, deadline) affects intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, as mediated by the event’s effect on the psychological needs for competence and autonomy
According to the cognitive evaluation theory, what two functions do all external events have?
Control behaviour
Inform competence
In cognitive evaluation theory, what affects how the external event will affect intrinsic and extrinsic motivation?
Which functions are more salient (i.e., control behaviour, inform competence)
What are two factors of the reward that can either increase or decrease intrinsic motivation?
Tangibility of the reward decreases intrinsic motivation
Verbal/non-tangible reward does not decrease intrinsic motivation
Controlling function
If you do X then you get Y
Outcomes of controlling function
Decreases intrinsic motivation
Interferes with quality of learning
External regulation increases; self regulation undermined
Informational function
Because you were able to do X, that means you are effective, competent
Outcomes of informational function
Increases intrinsic motivation
Enhances high-quality learning
Enhances self-regulation
Cognitive evaluation theory model
See slides
Self-determination continuum showing types of motivation
See slides
What does self-determination theory posit?
That different types of motivation can be organized along a continuum of self-determination or perceived locus of causality
4 types of extrinsic motivation
External regulation
Introjected regulation
Identified regulation
Integrated regulation
Introjected regulation
Slightly autonomous
The taking in, but not truly accepting or personally endorsing, other people’s suggested ways of thinking, feeling, or behaving
Identified regulation
Highly autonomous
Voluntarily accepting as one’s own the merits and utility of other people’s suggested ways of thinking, feeling, or behaving
Integrated regulation
Fully autonomous
Fully transforming an identified regulation (way of thinking, feeling, or behaving) into the self in a coherent and conflict-free way
Internalization
The process through which a person transforms a formerly externally prescribed way of thinking or behaving into an internally-endorsed one
2 ways to promote more autonomous types of extrinsic motivation
Providing a rationale
Building interest
Providing a rationale
Explain why the uninteresting activity is important and useful enough to warrant one’s volitional engagement
Building interest
Involves first catching one’s situational interest in an activity and then holding that initial interest over time by developing an individual interest in the activity
