What’s the difference between Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Rewards

Red pill blue pill1 What 8217 s the difference between Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Rewards

A very common question in gamification is “What is the difference between Intrinsic and Extrinsic” when talking about rewards and motivation. Well..

  • Intrinsic motivation: Personal/internal needs and reasons acting.
    • Relatedness, Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose are examples of this.
    • You don’t play video games for the reward, you play because you enjoy them
    • You read for pleasure, not monetary reward.
    • You spend time with your family because you want to.
    • Learn because you want to improve and be better.
    • Read More ...

  • Getting rewards right. Recognise, don’t Bribe.

    Rewards recognise dont bribe Getting rewards right Recognise don 8217 t Bribe

    One of the things that my daughters school like to do is give certificates to students for various achievements. Below are two that she has had over the last few months. Which one do you think she was happiest to get?

    If you guessed the Gold award for reading 25 times or more in a term – you were wrong. She has half a dozen of them on the wall. The Bronze award for a “brilliant and inspiring” science experiment had her far more excited than all of the Gold awards put together.

    I have mentioned our struggles to get my eldest to bond with reading and to be honest, even though she now does it quite happily, it really is not something she enjoys much. The thing is, she knows that it is something good to do and for the most part is OK with reading every night. That makes the Gold award pretty much guaranteed without having to put any abnormal effort in. Read More ...

    Just rewarding activity is not gamification: stop it!

    Image Just rewarding activity is not gamification stop it

    I have promised in the past not to write about the dangers of extrinsic rewards anymore. However, can’t stand reading about gamification being a failure anymore, when the articles proclaiming this almost always start with “gamification is about awarding points, or physical rewards to people for doing dull tasks”.

    No quoting from Dan Pink or Deci and Ryan this time, just facts based on experience.

    If you offer a reward, especially a material reward that has value to people, you are setting yourself up for failure. Every time I have seen a ‘gamified’ campaign that offers someone like an iPad as a prize for participation, it has had problems. The worst culprit is when the prize is offered for nothing more than activity (so no actual creativity needed). Read More ...