Overjustification effect

Overjustification effect

The overjustification effect occurs when an external incentive such as money or prizes decreases a person's intrinsic motivation to perform a task. According to self-perception theory, people pay more attention to the incentive, and less attention to the enjoyment and satisfaction that they receive from performing the activity. The overall effect is a shift in motivation to extrinsic factors and the undermining of pre-existing intrinsic motivation.

In one of the earliest demonstrations of this effect, Mark Lepper and Richard Nisbett promised a group of 3–5-year-old children that they would receive a "good player" ribbon for drawing with felt-tipped pens. A second group of children played with the pens and received an unexpected reward (the same ribbon), and a third group was not given a reward. All of the children played with the pens, a typically enjoyable activity for preschoolers. Later, when observed in a free-play setting, the children who received a reward that had been promised to them played significantly less with the felt-tipped pens. The researchers concluded that expected rewards undermine intrinsic motivation in previously enjoyable activities.[1] A replication of this experiment found that rewarding children with certificates and trophies decreased intrinsic interest in playing math games.[2]

Contents

Theories

One explanation of the overjustification effect is self-perception theory. According to this approach, people infer causes about their behavior based on external constraints. The presence of a strong constraint (such as a reward) would lead people to conclude that they are performing the behavior for the reward.[3] This would shift the individual's motivation from intrinstic to extrinsic.

The most detailed explanation for the overjustification effect is cognitive evaluation theory. This theory proposes that tangible rewards (like money) are perceived as controlling or coercive, and act to decrease perceived self-determination and undermine intrinsic motivation. Because unexpected tangible rewards do not motivate behavior during a task, they are less likely to be perceived as controlling, and thus less likely to undermine intrinsic motivation. Informational rewards (like praise) increase perceived self-determination and feelings of competence, and consequently tend to enhance intrinsic motivation.[4]

Controversy

The overjustification effect is controversial because it challenges previous findings in psychology on the general effectiveness of reinforcement on increasing behavior, and also the widespread practice of using incentives in the classroom. Nevertheless, two meta-analyses found that intrinsic motivation is diminished by expected, tangible rewards in both children and adults, especially when the reward is given for simply performing a task, regardless of the results. Nontangible rewards, such as verbal praise, and unexpected rewards do not undermine intrinsic motivation. In fact, praise may actually increase intrinsic motivation.[5][6]

These conclusions were challenged in a separate meta-analysis which found that tangible rewards offered for outperforming others and for performing uninteresting tasks (in which intrinsic motivation is low) lead to increased intrinsic motivation.[7] A rebuttal defended the original findings and concluded that this analysis was flawed.[8]

Application

Research in this area suggests that parents and educators should rely on intrinsic motivation and preserve feelings of autonomy and competence as much as possible.[9] When the task is unattractive and intrinsic motivation is insufficient (e.g. household chores), then extrinsic rewards are useful to provide incentives for behavior. Student grades may not undermine intrinsic motivation because grades convey information about competence, much like praise.[10]

School programs that provide money or prizes for reading books have been criticized for their potential to reduce intrinsic motivation by overjustification. However, a study of the Pizza Hut program, Book It!, found that participation in the program neither increased nor decreased reading motivation.[11] Although motivating students to read by rewarding them may undermine their interest in reading, it may also encourage the reading skills necessary for developing an interest in reading.

See also

References

  1. ^ Lepper, M. R.; Greene, D.; Nisbett, R. E. (1973). "Undermining children's intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward: A test of the 'overjustification' hypothesis". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 28 (1): 129–137. doi:10.1037/h0035519. 
  2. ^ Greene, D.; Sternberg, B.; Lepper, M. R. (1976). "Overjustification in a token economy". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 34 (6): 1219–1234. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.34.6.1219. 
  3. ^ Aronson, E.; Akert, R. D.; Wilson, T. D. (2006). Social psychology (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. 
  4. ^ Enzle, M. A.; Ross, J. M. (1978). "Increasing and decreasing intrinsic interest with contingent rewards: A test of cognitive evaluation theory". Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 14 (6): 588–597. doi:10.1016/0022-1031(78)90052-5. 
  5. ^ Deci, E.; Koestner, R.; Ryan, R. (1999). "A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation". Psychological Bulletin 125 (6): 627–688. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.125.6.627. 
  6. ^ Deci, E. L.; Koestner, R.; Ryan, R. M. (2001). "Extrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation in education: Reconsidered once again". Review of Educational Research 71 (1): 1–27. doi:10.3102/00346543071001001. 
  7. ^ Cameron, J. (2001). "Negative effects of reward on intrinsic motivation- A limited phenomenon: Comment on Deci, Koestner, and Ryan". Review of Educational Research 71 (1): 29–42. doi:10.3102/00346543071001029. 
  8. ^ Deci, E.; Koestner, R.; Ryan, R. (2001). "The pervasive negative effects of rewards on intrinsic motivation: Response to Cameron (2001)". Review of Educational Research 71 (1): 43–51. doi:10.3102/00346543071001043. 
  9. ^ Deci, E. L. (1995). Why we do what we do: The dynamics of personal autonomy. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0399140476. 
  10. ^ Rosenfield, D.; Folger, R.; Adelman, H. F. (1980). "When rewards reflect competence: A qualification of the overjustification effect". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39 (3): 368–376. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.39.3.368. 
  11. ^ Flora, S. R.; Flora, D. B. (1999). "Effects of extrinsic reinforcement for reading during childhood on reported reading habits of college students". Psychological Record 49 (1): 3–14. 

Further reading

  • Deci, E.L. (1995). Why we do what we do: The dynamics of personal autonomy. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
  • Kohn, A. (2005). Unconditional parenting: Moving from rewards and punishments to love and reason. New York: Atria Books.
  • Pink, D.H. (2009). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. Riverhead.

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • User-generated content — UGC redirects here. For other uses, see UGC (disambiguation). User generated content (UGC) covers a range of media content available in a range of modern communications technologies. It entered mainstream usage during 2005 having arisen in web… …   Wikipedia

  • Cognitive evaluation theory — (CET Deci 1975)[1] is a theory in Psychology that is designed to explain the effects of external consequences on internal motivation. Specifically, CET is a sub theory of Self Determination Theory that focus on competence and autonomy while… …   Wikipedia

  • Mark Lepper — Nationality American Fields Psychology Institutions …   Wikipedia

  • Prejuicio cognitivo — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda El hombre en el centro ha cometido un error en sus pasos de baile, y choca contra la mujer, que se enoja y los demás murmuran. Sólo las personas que vieron la miniserie Orgullo y prejuicio (1995) pueden entender el… …   Wikipedia Español

  • List of effects — This is a list of names for observable phenonema that contain the word effect, amplified by reference(s) to their respective fields of study. #*3D audio effect (audio effects)A*Accelerator effect (economics) *Accordion effect (physics) (waves)… …   Wikipedia

  • List of psychology topics — This page aims to list all topics related to psychology. This is so that those interested in the subject can monitor changes to the pages by clicking on Related changes in the sidebar. It is also to see the gaps in Wikipedia s coverage of the… …   Wikipedia

  • Reinforcement — Reinforce redirects here. For the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha character, see Reinforce (Nanoha). This article is about the term used in operant conditioning. For the construction materials reinforcement, see Rebar. For reinforcement learning in… …   Wikipedia

  • Cognitive dissonance — The Fox and the Grapes by Aesop. When the fox fails to reach the grapes, he decides he does not want them after all. This is an example of adaptive preference formation, which serves to reduce cognitive dissonance.[1] …   Wikipedia

  • List of education topics — This is a list of education topics. See also: Education, , and the List of basic education topics.: External link: [http://tools.wikimedia.de/ daniel/WikiSense/CategoryTree.php? wikilang=en wikifam=.wikipedia.org m=a art=on userlang=en… …   Wikipedia

  • Korrumpierungseffekt — Der Korrumpierungseffekt (auch Effekt der übermäßigen Rechtfertigung oder Selbst Korrumpierung) bezeichnet die Verdrängung von primärer Motivation (Handeln aus eigenem, inneren Antrieb, „intrinsische Motivation“) durch sekundäre Motivation… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”