Page 331 - Understanding Psychology

Figure 12.2 Incentive to Win
The incentive theory explains that we engage in certain behaviors because we are motivated by positive incen- tives such as praise or recognition. How are incentives different from drives?
5. Application Activity
When you are motivated, three things are true: you are energized to engage
in an activity, you focus your energies toward reaching a goal, and you have differing intensities of feelings about achieving your goal. Use the cri- teria above to describe two activities or behaviors you engaged in today.
playing basketball because you wish to excel at the sport, you are following intrinsic motivation. If you spend hours playing basketball because your parents want you to excel at the sport, you are following extrinsic motivation. How- ever, if you play basketball just for the fun of it, you are following intrinsic motivation.
In many instances, you engage in an activity because of both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. For example, you may go out to dinner with your friends because you need to satisfy your hunger (an extrinsic motivation) and because you enjoy the taste of the restaurant’s food and wish to socialize with your friends (intrinsic motivations). If you are motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic motiva- tions, do you perform more effectively or persistently at a task? Psychologists have proposed the overjustification effect: when people are given more extrinsic motivation than necessary to perform a task, their intrinsic motivation declines. Say, for example, you enjoy reading books. According to the overjustification effect, if someone started paying you to read books, you would enjoy reading books less. You might ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” and answer, “It’s not because I enjoy reading books; it’s because I’m getting paid to do it.” If you are suddenly paid less, you may start reading less. If you are no longer being paid to read books, you might lose all interest in the task.
Assessment
1. Review the Vocabulary What is the difference between extrinsic and intrin- sic motivation?
2. Visualize the Main Idea Compare and contrast two theories of motivation by using a diagram similar to the one below.
Theory 1 Both Theory 2
Give an example of a fixed action pattern. Why are fixed
action patterns unable to explain moti- vation adequately?
4. Think Critically Which theory of motivation might best explain why you work (or do not work) to get good grades? Explain.
3. Recall Information
Chapter 12 / Motivation and Emotion 317