Implications and Applications

Abstract

The main finding of the work reported in Chapters 5 and 6 is that there tends to be a negative relationship between the amount of extrinsic reward an individual receives for engaging in an activity and the amount of intrinsic motivation he has for that activity. Extrinsic rewards which are more than sufficient tend to decrease intrinsic motivation, and insufficient extrinsic rewards tend to increase intrinsic motivation, though we’ve seen that there are limiting conditions to this. For example, verbal reinforcements do not decrease the intrinsic motivation of college males (Chapter 5), intrinsic motivation will not be enhanced by insufficient extrinsic rewards unless the person feels personally responsible for the outcomes of his action (Chapter 6), and a need for a feeling of equity sometimes leads to behavior which seems inconsistent with the negative relationship assertion (Chapter 7).