About Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation

Depending on who you talk to, a given motivation springs from very basic needs. It could be eating because you're hungry, covering up because you're cold. It could be selfish or selfless, moral or immoral. No matter what a motivation entails, it is can be classified by "why." Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are just two categorizations of motivation.

Identification

• In the most rudimentary terms, motivation is the reason someone does something. It is the root basis of a specific behavior, basically, referring to the cause of an action. When you're speaking of intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, you're essentially applying the theory of incentive to the reason (or motive) behind why someone does something. It sort of defines the "intent" for a given behavior to move from isolated to habitual.

Significance

• By defining a motivation as either intrinsic or extrinsic, you're identifying whether the intent comes from inside or outside, otherwise known as internal or external forces. If the intent behind the reason you do something is based on you and you alone, it is considered an intrinsic motivation. Therefore, if the incentive behind the reason you do something else is based on someone else, it would be considered an extrinsic motivation. While they are both seemingly separate foundations of behavior, the two motivations are actually quite solidly intertwined.

Effects

• Probably one of the easiest ways to accurately observe and fully understand the effects of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is to apply the idea or the theory of incentive to the world of sports, though any activity we take part in, like our jobs or even our relationships, can be looked at within this concept. For someone to compete in a given sport out of purely intrinsic motivation, it could be said that this person plays for the love of the game, or that he is personally driven to be the best, or that she simply enjoys this particular athletic pursuit. All of these reasons may be intangible incentives or "rewards," but if they come from within, they are entirely intrinsic. Now, for someone to compete in a given sport out of entirely extrinsic motivation, it would be said that this person plays for the money or the medals, while not actually enjoying the game, or that he took up the sport out of obligation, because his father played football, or that she buckled under peer pressure and joined a particular team. While all of these reasons may be more tangible in nature, any motivation, be it intrinsic or extrinsic, can be either tangible or intangible. It is solely based on the origin of the incentive.

Considerations

• Motivation itself is a fairly complicated concept, since so many factors or incentives are usually behind the reason someone does something. This is why both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are said to be entangled in one another, and why one person's motivation can be so extremely divergent from the next while working within the same activity. Rarely will you find a person performing a behavior out of a solitary motive; there are usually numerous internal and external forces at play within any deed.

Function

• To use the pursuit of sports again as a way to explain the complicated nature of motivation, you can essentially look at a person who took up the sport of football out of interest or curiosity (both intrinsic motivations), continued to play it out of love and a desire to succeed (two more intrinsic motivations), began to lose interest and enjoyment for the game because of his coach (extrinsic motivation) and quit the team because his teammates felt he wasn't good enough (another extrinsic motivation). Of course, this is a very simple explanation for a fairly intricate concept, but it should illustrate the difference between the two motivations and their relation to one another.