For many, this takes the form of receiving a paycheck for a job. While you may desire to spend your day doing something leisurely or fun outside ofwork, receiving a paycheck allows you to afford your monthly expenses and have those desired experiences outside of work. Therefore, most of us typically set aside time for your job each week as a result.

While this form of motivation can certainly propel you to take action in some instances, intrinsic motivation is typically a more powerful incentive for behaviors that require higher dedication over the long term. If the goal of achieving personal growth fuels your motivation to succeed, you experience a more meaningful form of motivation.

Types of Extrinsic Rewards

Does Extrinsic Motivation Work?

This type of reward should be used sparingly, as the value for a certainbehaviorcan be weakened over time. Deemed “overjustification,” a kind of saturation occurs when a person enjoys a reward so often that they lose interest. In fact, in onestudy, researchers found that research participants were less likely to engage in helpful behaviors if they received too many material rewards.

External vs. Intrinsic Motivation

To increase your level of intrinsic motivation, consider the followingfactors:

Understanding the Impact of Motivation

It’s no secret that extrinsic motivation has the power to influence a person’s behavior and actions, but due to the overjustification effect, its impact has very clear boundaries. When engaging in new activities, it can be valuable to understand what type of motivation you’re experiencing: Is it intrinsic or extrinsic? In doing so, you’ll start to get a sense of what drives you to accomplish something and can take a closer look at why you pursue certain activities over others.

Working toward an external reward can still be valuable — especially if you find a task or activity unengaging or uninteresting. A desire to earn a paycheck, for instance, may help you stay on task remain focused no matter how boring the job may be. Why not try a mixture of both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, recognizing the unique qualities that each can elicit.

Our goal at Talkspace is to provide the most up-to-date, valuable, and objective information on mental health-related topics in order to help readers make informed decisions.

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