The 2 types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic

The 2 types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic

A set of elements that allows an individual to adopt behaviors in order to accomplish their tasks or achieve their goals, motivation is an essential concept in the business world as well as for every human being.

It therefore plays a decisive role in the effectiveness of a company and also of a person. With this attitude of motivation, the individual voluntarily and naturally engages in the completion of their task.

While using this motivation in the accomplishment of their tasks or goals, the individual seeks to satisfy three types of needs: the need for competence, the need for affiliation, and the need for autonomy.

According to the self-determination theory, developed by “Deci and Ryan in 2002”, three (3) types of motivation are distinguished. Namely, extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, and amotivation. We will share with you intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

What is intrinsic motivation?

A person shows intrinsic motivation when they engage in an activity spontaneously and voluntarily.

They do it because of the interest they have in the activity and the pleasure they find in performing it, without expecting an external reward.

For example, a student who is willing to go to the board to solve a problem because they love mathematics shows intrinsic motivation.

What is extrinsic motivation?

Different from intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation is when a person performs an activity not because of the pleasure it brings them, but rather for often external reasons or instrumental motives (reward, social pressure, obtaining approval from a third party, punishment, etc.).

This motivation is divided into four subcategories. Namely:

• External regulation,
• Introjected regulation,
• Integrated regulation,
• Identified regulation.

Generally, extrinsic motivation is practiced more than intrinsic motivation. If it happens that the element motivating you to accomplish a task has no direct relation to the task assigned to you, then you are exercising extrinsic motivation for its completion.

It is important to understand that when you do something with a later goal in mind, your motivation is classified as extrinsic. For example, when a person is in university, they put a lot of effort into their studies.

Why do they do it? We know that it is to obtain good grades and subsequently a good job. This type of motivation is therefore characterized as extrinsic motivation.

Effects of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations

We can say that both types of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic, lead to adopting a behavior to achieve satisfaction. However, it should be noted that they do not manifest the same long-term consequences.

Regarding intrinsic motivation, it is associated with a set of positive behaviors such as pursuing a task (activity) without any constraints, commitment to the task, desire to learn, curiosity, good performance, and creativity, as well as well-being in the short and medium term.

Different from extrinsic motivation, it is associated with low persistence, less satisfaction in completing the task (activity), and goals focused on performance.

In the exercise of the activity, when a person is driven by extrinsic motivation, it is known that this person will cease the activity as soon as the external constraint disappears (the hierarchical superior, an exam, an obligation, etc.).

It should be noted that a behavior, even if extrinsically motivated, can give rise to forms of regulation producing effects similar to those of intrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic or intrinsic motivation: which is better?

In a company or even in life, it is more or less impossible to have an employee who completely manifests intrinsic motivation. Not being so is not a fatality.

In general, most individuals adopt both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. The most important thing is to know what motivates an individual to carry out an activity.

When talking about motivation, it is because it has a powerful impact on performance. Knowing that this performance is not stable, it must be acknowledged that the more motivated one is, the better the performance becomes.

We must also understand that while motivation is an important factor in achieving goals or accomplishing tasks, there are others, such as personality, emotional intelligence, and cognitive habit.

We must recognize that all these different factors are interconnected. This is why, instead of focusing on one of these elements at a time, it would be better to consider the person as a whole. Since not all people are the same, motivation will also vary from one person to another.