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for most of us in the middle class. As per Maslow’s theory, there are other

motivational needs as we progress up in the need hierarchy — namely “safe-

ty”, “social”, “esteem” and “self actualisation” What experience shows is that

selfish motives are weaker than

altruistic motives. Any mother will tell you that her motivation to teach

her children is much stronger than pursuing her own higher studies. Similar-

ly a committed teacher will find motivation to teach his students stronger

than pursuing his higher studies. In my own case, I could keep awake and

work for long hours at night when I knew that the lives of my troops and

civilian population were endangered. I could not have done so for selfish

reasons.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

When I do a job, solve Math problems, read History, play a game, which I

like, irrespective of any external reward I am ‘intrinsically motivated’. When I

do the same activities but the ‘motivation’ is the reward, like salary, marks in

exams, earning from game, the motivation is extrinsic. Intrinsic motiva-

tion is much stronger than motivation that is extrinsic. An example

of intrinsic motivation is the reason the protagonist in ‘3 Idiots’ gives for

studying mechanical engineering — his love for machines. A combination of

intrinsic and altruistic motives is a very strong force. For example, take

Tendulkar or Leander Paes playing for India. They both find the game IN-

TRINSICALLY MOTIVATING and combined with the MOTIVATION TO

PERFORM FOR THE COUNTRY (ALTRUISTIC MOTIVE), THE FORCE IS

VERY STRONG.

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