External controlling factors such as rewards, salary, grades, controlling praise, and punishment almost always undermine autonomous motivation (Deci et al., 2001)
What do you think about the this? Does it mean we shouldn’t thank volunteers for the work they are doing and at the same time suggest another project we think would be a good fit for them? Or that the writing competitions with financial incentives can actively harm autonomous motivation unless people have already internalised the values. But in that case do we need the financial reward? I also wonder if this suggests rewarding organisers with gift cards or job certificates undermines autonomous motivation.
Great question! While expected tangible rewards (e.g. prizes) undermine autonomous motivation, unexpected rewards don’t undermine autonomous motivation, and verbal rewards generally enhance autonomous motivation (Deci et al., 2001). Let’s brake it down to it’s components:
Our behavior is often controlled by the rewards we expect to obtain if we behave certain desirable ways such as engage with work, perform well on a task, or complete an assignments. Conversely, we do not experience unexpected rewards as controlling since we cannot foresee what behavior will lead to the unexpected outcome. Verbal rewards are often experienced as unexpected, and may enhance perceived competence which in turn enhances autonomous motivation. That being said, if verbal reward is given in a context where people feel pressured by it to think, feel, or behave in particular ways (e.g. controlling praise) it will typically undermine autonomous motivation.
I therefore think that thanking volunteers for the work they are doing is unproblematic, and if some information value is included it will enhance autonomous motivation via competence-support (e.g. at an EAG event: “thank you for doing a good job at welcoming the event speakers. We received feedback that they felt relaxed during their stay at the green room, and that they were impressed by the punctuality of you volunteers.”).
Assuming that the engagement in writing competitions with financial incentives is driven by the expectance of a tangible external reward, I would expect writing competitions with financial incentives to undermine autonomous motivation unless the rewards are well internalized. The same amounts to gift cards and job certificates. Whether we need financial rewards or not, is a tough question I do not have a good answer to. I believe it is a trade-off between short-term and long-term impact, where financial rewards may improve the outcome of a specific activity, such as a writing contest, but lead to lower quality outcomes in the long run because people no longer engage in those activities voluntarily due to low autonomous motivation.
What do you think about the this? Does it mean we shouldn’t thank volunteers for the work they are doing and at the same time suggest another project we think would be a good fit for them? Or that the writing competitions with financial incentives can actively harm autonomous motivation unless people have already internalised the values. But in that case do we need the financial reward? I also wonder if this suggests rewarding organisers with gift cards or job certificates undermines autonomous motivation.
Great question! While expected tangible rewards (e.g. prizes) undermine autonomous motivation, unexpected rewards don’t undermine autonomous motivation, and verbal rewards generally enhance autonomous motivation (Deci et al., 2001). Let’s brake it down to it’s components:
Our behavior is often controlled by the rewards we expect to obtain if we behave certain desirable ways such as engage with work, perform well on a task, or complete an assignments. Conversely, we do not experience unexpected rewards as controlling since we cannot foresee what behavior will lead to the unexpected outcome. Verbal rewards are often experienced as unexpected, and may enhance perceived competence which in turn enhances autonomous motivation. That being said, if verbal reward is given in a context where people feel pressured by it to think, feel, or behave in particular ways (e.g. controlling praise) it will typically undermine autonomous motivation.
I therefore think that thanking volunteers for the work they are doing is unproblematic, and if some information value is included it will enhance autonomous motivation via competence-support (e.g. at an EAG event: “thank you for doing a good job at welcoming the event speakers. We received feedback that they felt relaxed during their stay at the green room, and that they were impressed by the punctuality of you volunteers.”).
Assuming that the engagement in writing competitions with financial incentives is driven by the expectance of a tangible external reward, I would expect writing competitions with financial incentives to undermine autonomous motivation unless the rewards are well internalized. The same amounts to gift cards and job certificates. Whether we need financial rewards or not, is a tough question I do not have a good answer to. I believe it is a trade-off between short-term and long-term impact, where financial rewards may improve the outcome of a specific activity, such as a writing contest, but lead to lower quality outcomes in the long run because people no longer engage in those activities voluntarily due to low autonomous motivation.