Intrinsic vs Extrinsic

Joseph Reagle

Today’s question

Are there dangers to employing extrinsic motivators?

The old man’s plan?

What was the old man’s plan at the start of the reading?

  1. bully the kids back
  2. “kill them with kindness”
  3. deflect their attention
  4. other

Theories of motivation

Intrinsic & Extrinsic

intrinsic motives
the performance of an activity as an end in its own right
extrinsic motives
means to achieve some other outcome (Kraut et al. 2012, “Building successful online communities”, p. 24)

Self-Determination Theory

three innate needs:

  • competence: control & mastery
  • relatedness: interaction & connection
  • autonomy: agency

Temporal Motivation Theory

\(motivation = \frac{expectancy \times value }{impulsiveness \times delay}\)

(Theory X & Y)

Manager think employees

  • dislike and shirk work and need to be extrinsically motivated (X)
  • find work rewarding and can exercise creative self-direction (Y)

Motivation

Intrinsic?

an activity as an end in its own right; directly fulfill a basic desire; independent of downstream consequences; activities which are fun, interesting, or challenging; or, (broadly) anything people perform without external incentives

Extrinsic?

an activity performed to achieve some other outcome (Kraut et al. 2012, “Building successful online communities”, p. 24, 41, 58)

Faux anonymity?

Selfless good deeds

Fake philanthropy?

Is altruism an intrinsic act?

Ultimately, society is better off with altruism than grift, even if both motivated by greed.

Similarly, I’d rather be friends with someone who enjoys being kind than someone who enjoys being mean.

Kohn: Why rewards fail

1. Rewards punish

reward is the other side of the punishment

2. Rewards rupture relationships

  • competition means one’s peers are obstacles to one’s own success
  • competition creates anxiety, discourages those who don’t think they have a chance, results in attribution to factors beyond their control
  • collective rewards result in the weakest person being punished

3. Rewards ignore reasons

… rewards do not require any attention to the reasons that the trouble developed in the first place.

4. Rewards discourage risk-taking

… when we are working for reward, we do exactly what is necessary to get it and no more.

How long can extrinsic “crowd out” intrinsic?

A single, one-time reward for doing something you used to enjoy can kill your interest in it for weeks… even if it didn’t seem to be controlling your behavior at the time you received. The reward may also spillover to spoil your attitude about brand-new activities, in effect making you more dependent on extrinsic incentives generally. (Kohn 1999, “Punished by rewards”, p. 74)

Why does extrinsic “crowd out” intrinsic?

… rewards are usually experienced as controlling, and we tend to recoil from situations where our autonomy has been diminished. (Kohn 1999, “Punished by rewards”, p. 78)

A story about day care

The deterrence hypothesis predicts that the introduction of a [~$2.70] penalty that leaves everything else unchanged will reduce the occurrence of the behavior subject to the fine.

“A Fine Is a Price” (GneezyRustichini 2000)

What do you think happened?

Mnemonic for rewards fail?

  1. Punish
  2. Rupture relationships
  3. Ignore reasons
  4. Discourage risk-taking

mnemonic: hurt PRID(e)

Six alternatives?

  1. “Get rewards out of people’s faces”
  2. “Offer rewards after the fact, as a surprise”
  3. “Never turn quest for rewards into a contest”
  4. “Make rewards as similar as possible to the task”
  5. “Give people as much choice as possible about how rewards are used”
  6. “immunize individuals against the motivation-killing effects of rewards [by refocusing attention]” (Kohn 1999, “Punished by rewards”, pp. 92-94)

Extrinsic rewards ever merited?

Circular response

  • You cannot speak unless you reference someone else’s comments as a springboard for your own.
  • Okay to say you can’t think of a response to the previous speaker, but if so why?
    • No relevant experience, difficulty making a connection, unfamiliar with language, hard to follow.

What about for …

  • simple vs creative task
  • competitive vs collaborative task
  • long vs short term
  • personality type
  • scale (of task and number of actors)

Resentment

The Net

On Gittip, the effort comes first. First, I release the software. First, I quit my job. First, I jump. Then the net appears. (Whitacre 2013)

revamp homepage

… talking about money can lead to resentment.

  • replace “top givers” with “patrons”
    • only includes explicit patrons, not just anyone
  • replace “top receivers” with “user spotlight”
    • random profile
  • replace “new receivers” with “recent activity”
    • includes sign-ups but also other events (tip, toot, etc.)
  • add “communities”
    • show active + in formation

How many crowdfunding communities?

Hundreds!

ex. Improve incentive system

  • In small groups identify a communal incentive system (e.g., Patreon or college learning).
  • Identify its faults and how you could improve it.
  • Share with the class.

Apps

Supporti

Pavlok

Conclusion

Wrap up

Where have you seen rewards fail in your life? Why?

Discuss

Review

4 reasons why rewards fail?

  1. Punish
  2. Rupture relationships
  3. Ignore reasons
  4. Discourage risk-taking

mnemonic: hurt PRID(e)

What to do?

  1. “Get rewards out of people’s faces”
  2. “Offer rewards after the fact, as a surprise”
  3. “Never turn quest for rewards into a contest”
  4. “Make rewards as similar as possible to the task”
  5. “Give people as much choice as possible about how rewards are used”
  6. “immunize individuals against the motivation-killing effects of rewards [by refocusing attention]” (Kohn 1999, “Punished by rewards”, pp. 92-94)