The Effects of Expected Reward and Locus of Control on Intrinsic Motivation

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1 The Hurn University Cllege Jurnal f Learning and Mtivatin Vlume 46 Issue 1 Article The Effects f Expected Reward and Lcus f Cntrl n Intrinsic Mtivatin Mathieu Wuhrmann Fllw this and additinal wrks at: Part f the Psychlgy Cmmns Recmmended Citatin Wuhrmann, Mathieu (2008) "The Effects f Expected Reward and Lcus f Cntrl n Intrinsic Mtivatin," The Hurn University Cllege Jurnal f Learning and Mtivatin: Vl. 46: Iss. 1, Article 9. Available at: This Article is brught t yu fr free and pen access by the Psychlgy at Schlarship@Western. It has been accepted fr inclusin in The Hurn University Cllege Jurnal f Learning and Mtivatin by an authrized administratr f Schlarship@Western. Fr mre infrmatin, please cntact kmarsha1@uw.ca.

2 Incentives, lcus f cntrl and intrinsic mtivatin 151 The effects f expected reward and lcus f cntrl n intrinsic mtivatin. Mathieu Wuhrmann Hurn Cllege, University f Westem Ontari The current study explres the effects f expected reward and lcus f cntrl n intrinsic mtivatin. 36 students frm the University f Westem Ontari were asked t slve six cgnitive tasks. They were equally assigned in a rewarded r a cntrl grup. As predicted, lcus f cntrl had a significant effect n intrinsic mtivatin (F(2,32) = 5.01, p<.05), hwever cntrary t the verjustificatin thery's predictin (Lepper, Greene & Nisbett, 1973) incentives had n effect n intrinsic mtivatin fr bth internals and externals. Results supprt the learned industrius thery (Eisenberger & Armeli, 1997). It is abut time the belief that incentives have a negative effect n intrinsic mtivatin disappeared. Nwadays, ne f the mst imprtant features a business can imprve is cmpetitiveness. Researchers have abundantly prduced mdels and theries t help managers effectively develp wrking envirnments and emplyees' perfrmances. Emplyers value creative, flexible and spntaneus wrkers; these characteristics are als utcmes f intrinsic mtivatin (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Deci (1975) defines intrinsically mtivated behavirs as behavirs fr which there is n apparent reward except the activity itself. The imprtance f this attribute is nt cnfined t the business wrld. Educatin prgrams, fr example, can explre intrinsic mtivatin t enable mre thrugh invlvement f schlars in schl activities, and maybe better verall results. Incentive plans, althugh cntrversial, are ften used as a mean t increase emplyer's prductivity. There is little dubt that such plans will increase extrinsic mtivatin by rewarding perfrmance with mney, hwever the effects f such rewards n intrinsic mtivatin are still unclear. The uncertainty f such utcmes has nt

3 Incentives, lcus f cntrl and intrinsic mtivatin 152 stpped peple frm setting up incentive plans in numerus envirnments. Recently, mre then 200 seventh-graders in the The Brnx have been ffered rewards up t $100 U.S. fr their perfrmances n tw peridic assessments tests (Gnen, 2007). On the ther hand, skepticism n the benefits f such plans still exists. Khn (1993) wrte an article stating that mney rewards will shadw, thus deterirate, intrinsic mtivatin resulting in diminished creativity and spntaneity. The ambiguities f the effects rewards have n intrinsic mtivatin are nt due t lack f research n the subject. Hwever, the huge amunt f research has nt led t any cnsensus between results. Kamil and Rss (1977) fund that rewards will increase intrinsic mtivatin, hwever, Deci (1971) fund ppsite results. Camern and Pierce (1994) cnducted a meta-analysis f ver 100 studies that cncludes rewards have n effect n intrinsic mtivatin. There are different types f situatins that might cause the absence r presence f an effect f reward n intrinsic mtivatin. Reward expectancy, type f reward and reward cntingency might be the reasn fr variability between researches. If we cnsider nly incentive plans as they wuld be implemented in everyday life, the variables shuld be stable: rewards are expected by the individual, the type f reward is mney and the mney is given subsequent t the task achievement. Many hyptheses have been elabrated t give an estimated predictin f the effects f incentives n intrinsic mtivatin. The cgnitive evaluatin hypthesis states that peple have innate needs fr cmpetence and self-determinatin; in the absence f rewards, the demanded behavir is perceived as infrmatinal, s it will trigger full utilizatin f cmpetence; n the ther hand, if an incentive is presented, the demanded

4 Incentives, lcus f cntrl and intrinsic mtivatin ^ 5. behavir will be perceived as restrictive which shuld result in a decrease f selfdeterminatin (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Furthermre, the ver-justificatin hypthesis states that if a task is already intrinsically mtivating, the implementatin f an incentive plan will give the persn t many reasns t participate in the activity which will result in a shift f the perceived cause f ne's wn participatin frm an interest in the activity t an interest in the reward (Lepper, Greene & Nisbett, 1973). The learned industriusness thery suggests that any behavir that is rewarded will be reinfrced; if perfrmance n a very lw intrinsically mtivating activity is rewarded, this shuld reduce the reward value f high intrinsic mtivatin, and increase the reward value f lw intrinsic mtivatin, which shuld lead t an verall decrease in intrinsic mtivatin; hwever if the rewarded activity is highly intrinsically mtivating, then the reward value f high intrinsic mtivatin shuld increase as an utcme (Eisenberger & Armeli, 1997). Bth the ver-justificatin and leamed industriusness theries depend n initial levels f intrinsic mtivatin t hypthesize the effects f rewards n an activity. Althugh it is generally admitted in the literature that intemal lcus f cntrl is crrelated with higher verall intrinsic mtivatin, few studies n this subject have been published. If peple with intemal lcus f cntrl are indeed mre intrinsically mtivated than externals, the ver-justificatin thery states that incentives shuld reduce their intrinsic mtivatin, while the industriusness thery states it shuld increase their intrinsic mtivatin after a series f repeated rewards. The cirrent study aims t study the pssible effects f incentives n intrinsic mtivatin fr tw different grups f lcus f cntrl, namely intemals and extemals. The hypthesis is based n the assumptin that intemals will be mre intrinsically

5 Incentives, lcus f cntrl and intrinsic mtivatin 154 mtivated then extemals. Accrding t the ver-justificatin thery elabrated by Lepper et al. (1973) in an already intrinsically mtivating activity reward will diminish intrinsic mtivatin. Expected results f the present study are a decrease in intrinsic mtivatin fr intemals when presented t an incentive, but n change fr extemals. Methd Participants 36 undergraduate students were recruitedfirmthe University f Westem Ontari in Lndn, Canada. The ages f the participants range frm 17 years t 22 years. An apprximately equal number f males and females participated. Materials An intemal-extemal (EE) cntrl scale frmulated by Rtter (1966) was used with the nrmal prcedures and instmctins. This is a 29-item test (with 6 fillers) which is scred in such a way that lw scres represents an "intemal" persn and high scres an "extemal" persn. The test-retest reliability f this scale has been cmputed t 0.61 by Lange and Tiggemann (1981) and shwn t be valid thrugh its use in numerus studies. Fllwing the EE cntrl scale, six small "cgnitive matches tasks" were given t the participant. These tasks cnsist f matches dispsed t frm grups f squares r triangles. The matches were represented by an apprximately 3 cm black line. The lines were drawn extremities tgether, in different rientatins, t frm series f shapes that were placed side by side r n tp f each ther. Each f the six tasks had a tw-line instmctin assciated t it, which instmcted the participant t crss ut a certain number f matches in rder t result with a certain number f given shapes. An example making the tasks clear was given, and is als printed in Appendix A. The questins used t

6 Incentives, lcus f cntrl and intrinsic mtivatin 15! measure intrinsic mtivatin were based n the finding that enjyment f an activity is highly crrelated with intrinsic mtivatin (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975), and n the Intrinsic Mtivatin Inventry (SMI) which has shwn high validity (McAuley, Duncan, & Tammen, 1989). Tw questins were asked twice in the middle and at the end f the six tasks activity. The repetitin was implemented t make sure intrinsic mtivatin was measured fr participatin in the activity as a whle and nt nly ne part f it. The first questin asked if participants were wishing t be ding smething else at that mment. A "n" answer wuld give them ne pint, and a "yes" wuld give them a negative pint. The secnd questin asked if the participants were enjying the activity at that mment. If the participants answered "n", they wuld get a negative pint, if they answered "nt s much" they wuld nt get any pints, and if they answered "yes" they wuld get a psitive pint. Finally, in additin t thse tw sets f questins, the participant was asked at the end f the activities if he wuld like a detailed answer sheet in additin t his scre. If the participant answered yes, he wuld be "awarded" tw pints, if he answered n he wuld be given tw negative pints, and if he circled "I dn't knw" his scre wuld nt change. Overall, the intrinsic mtivatin scre culd rangefirm-6 t 6. The lwer the scre the less intrinsically mtivated the participant was. Prcedure All participants were given a letter f infrmatin, a cnsent frm, the EE cntrl scale, the six cgnitive matches tasks cupled with the intrinsic mtivatin questins and a debriefing frm. Althugh the average time t cmplete the study was 15 minutes, participants were given a maximum time f 25 minutes t cmplete the study. The first 18 subjects t participate in the study were given n reward and prmised

7 Incentives, lcus f cntrl and intrinsic mtivatin ^ 5t nthing fr the cmpletin f the study. The grup assignments were chsen this way t avid participants frm the cntrl grup knwing abut the rewarded grup. There is the pssibility that knwledge f a reward withut having access t it might skew the intrinsic mtivatin scres f the cntrl grup. The fllwing 18 participants were placed in the rewarded grup. The rewarded grup was tld they wuld receive at the end f the study 20 Canadian cents fr every crrect answer n the six cgnitive matches' activities, fr a maximum f $ The difficulty f the tasks were tested n fur randm participants, they were verall able t slve the six activities and agreed t say they were "nt t hard but nt t easy". Data was cllected ver tw weeks, frm Mndays t Fridays. Results The intrinsic mtivatin mean was (SD = 3.88). A split median design was used n the verall I/E cntrl scres. The lcus f cntrl mean was (SD = 3.47), and the median was Nine participants had intemal lcus f cntrl (I/E scre 11 r lwer) in each f the tw grups: rewarded and cntrl. Nine participants had extemal lcus f cntrl (I/E scre 12 r higher) in each f the rewarded and cntrl grups. A tw-by-tw tw factr ANOVA was cnducted n these fur grups. The results f the analysis (shwn in Figure 1) illustrate that the means f the tw lcus f cntrl grups differed significantly frm ne anther (7^(2,32) = 5M,p <.05). The mean intrinsic mtivatin scre fr intemals was 1.06 (SD = 4.15) and (SD = 3.14) fr extemals. Als, 14% f the variability in intrinsic mtivatin scres was due t lcus f cntrl. Hwever results als shw that n significant interactin and n difference between the cntrl and reward grup existed.

8 I. CO O I > i 0-2 Internals Externals I CO a I. B Cntrl grup Reward grup Figure 1. Interactin plt f the effects f rewards and lcus f cntrl n mean intrinsic mtivatin c^

9 Incentives, lcus f cntrl and intrinsic mtivatin 151 Discussin The current study shws that the mean intrinsic mtivatin scre f intemals was significantly higher then that f extemals. These results supprt the assumptin made in the intrductin, that intemals will naturally have higher intrinsic mtivatin when perfrming cgnitive activities. Althugh these results might nt be surprising t many researchers, little published articles have shwn this pre-cnceived ntin. Intemals tend t attribute utcmes f events t their wn cntrl, and extemals tend t attribute these utcmes t extemal circumstances (Rtter, 1966). In this activity, intemals might f had attributed the utcmes f their behavirs (slving the cgnitive matches' tasks) as a result f their wn wrk; hwever extemals prbably attributed these same utcmes t the situatin itself. Since the activities were relatively easy, mst participants were able t crrectly slve all puzzles. Maybe intemal attributed their success t the effrt they put in the task, r their persnal cmpetence, while extemals attributed this same success t the "easiness" f the tasks themselves. If we cnsider Deci's and Ryan's (1985) cgnitive evaluatin thery, cmpetence and self-determinatin are majr determinants f intrinsic mtivatin. Althugh Deci et al. (1985) believe these attributes t be innate, intemals when faced t an easy task still feel challenged t shw their cmpetence, while extemals prbably feel it is neither a challenge nr an pprtunity t shw self-determinatin. There were n significant interactins; we can thus nt accept ur hypthesis that intemals will "lse" intrinsic mtivatin when presented t an incentive. This ges against the ver-justificatin thery elabrated by Lepper et al. (1973) and the cgnitive evaluatin thery created by Deci et al. (1985). Althugh the results f lcus f cntrl are cherent with previusfindings,the intrinsic mtivatin scale might lack validity and

10 Incentives, lcus f cntrl and intrinsic mtivatin reliability. Firstly it was measured using nly five items due t time and material cnstraints. Since these items are partly explicitly measuring enjyment, it is pssible participants were influenced by the researcher's presence and answered "yes" t please him. Furthermre, it is als pssible that these enjyment questins were actually measuring perceived cmpetence mre then enjyment because participants accurately slved mst f the tasks with n great difficulty. Further mre, split-half reliability between the different cmpnents f the intrinsic mtivatin's measures has nt been perfrmed; intemal cnsistency f this variable culd pssibly be very lw which culd result in un-regular data. Furthermre, the small number f participants in the study as well as their cmmn backgrund may render generalizatin f results t the ppulatin difficult. Indeed, participants were yung students wh might nt be the best representatives fr high schl students, r even lder peple. Crpus, Hayenga and McClintic-Gilbert (2007) have shwn that children's intrinsic mtivatin changes in as little as ne schl year. Other research suggests that intrinsic mtivatin linearly decreases as a child grws lder (Lepper, Crpus & Iyengar, 2005). In additin, participant's were nt randmly assigned t a grup, but chsen upn arrival time. Sme extemal factrs might be affecting the first 18 participants in the cntrl grup that were nt affecting the 18 participants in the rewarded grup, in which case intrinsic mtivatin measurement might be unreliable. Hwever this was seen as the better f tw evils, because randm attributin t a grup culd f lead t participants in the cntrl grup that were aware that ther individual's were getting paid t d the same study. This culd have meant that their intrinsic mtivatin was lwer then expected.

11 Incentives, lcus f cntrl and intrinsic mtivatin ^ Als, the attributin t ne f tw lcus f cntrl grups was dne using a split-mean design. Rtter (1966) himself wrte that the EE cntrl scale was cntinuus. The dichtmizatin f this cntinuus variable might hide interactins with intrinsic mtivatin and reward. Researchers might als argue that the incentive value was nt salient enugh. This is a true restrictin t the study as the magnitude f the reward might have little effect n participants' mtivatin. As much as $1.20 Canadian can be a significant amunt fr sme university students, it might be andyne t thers. Put aside these reliability and validity difficulties, results d suggest that there is n interactin between lcus f cntrl, intrinsic mtivatin and incentives. The hyptheses did nt predict the utcmes f this study and are thus cnfrnted t a prblem. Many researchers have been fighting against the ntin that rewards diminish intrinsic mtivatin. This belief was cnceived based n studies cnducted by Deci (1971) that have never been reliably reprduced (Camern & Pierce, 1994; Eisenberger & Armeli, 1997). The leamed industriusness thery wuld predict that an intrinsically mtivating task that is rewarded will reinfrce the intrinsic mtivatin; hwever a lw intrinsically mtivating task that is rewarded will reinfrce lw intrinsic mtivatin (Eisenberger & Armeli, 1997). Even thugh nly ne sessin f reward was cnducted in the present study, and can thus nt accunt fr any leamed phenmena, the leamed industriusness thery prvides a crrect predictin: intrinsic mtivatin shuld nt change (because it has nt yet been reinfrced r punished) fr either f the tw grups. If this study was repeated several times t enable learning cmpnents, predictins based n this behaviural thery culd be made: if a particular behaviur is

12 Incentives, lcus f cntrl and intrinsic mtivatin 161 rewarded, be it by giving incentives t cmplete a task, that behaviur shuld als be reinfrced. Since intemals believe they have cntrl ver utcmes f events (Rtter, 1966), intrinsic mtivatin will be a strng cue when perfrming the behaviur. Reinfrcement f the behaviur shuld inevitably reinfrce the current state f intrinsic mtivatin. Fr example, intemals that start with a high intrinsic mtivatin shuld perceive reinfrcement f behaviur as a reinfrcement f that high initial intrinsic mtivatin as well. On the ther hand, intemals that start with a lw intrinsic mtivatin shuld perceive reinfrcement f behaviur as a reinfrcement f lw intrinsic mtivatin. In ther wrds, since the level f intrinsic mtivatin in intemals is salient, it is bund t be reinfrced by any reward that reinfrces behaviur. Hwever, extemals give a lt mre imprtance t extemal circumstances, and less imprtance t intemal cues, thus reinfrcing an external's behaviur prbably des nt affect the level f intrinsic mtivatin as much as fr intemals. Rewarding an extemal suggests that his intrinsic mtivatin will nt change. Further research culd lk int the effect f repeated incentives, lcus f cntrl and initial state f intrinsic mtivatin n intrinsic mtivatin fr a particular activity. The current study cannt make any predictins because it nly dealt with ne sessin f reward. Clearly incentives d nt always lead t a drp in intrinsic mtivatin. This study just shwed that there is n clear direct effect f incentives n intrinsic mtivatin. The thery f verjustificatin (Lepper, Greene & Nisbett, 1993) has yet again failed t predict utcmes f the effect f reward n intrinsic mtivatin. Hwever the study shws that peple with an intemal lcus f cntrl have higher intrinsic mtivatin then

13 Incentives, lcus f cntrl and intrinsic mtivatin peple with extemal lcus f cntrl. This study als pens the dr t further interpretatin f Eisenberger's and Armeli's (1997) leamed industrius thery.

14 Incentives, lcus f cntrl and intrinsic mtivatin 163 References Camern, J., & Pierce, D.W. (1994). Reinfrcement, reward and intrinsic mtivatin: A meta-analysis. Review f Educatinal Research, 64, Crpus, J. H., Hayenga, A. O., & McClintic-Gilbert, M. S. (2007, April). Cntextual predictrs fwithin-grade changes in children's intrinsic and extrinsic mtivatinal rientatins. Pster presented at the 2007 biennial meeting f the Sciety fr Research in Child Develpment, Bstn, MA. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1975). Beynd Bredm and Anxiety. San Francisc: Jssey-Bass. Deci, E. L. (1971). Effects f externally mediated rewards n intrinsic mtivatin. Jurnal f Persnality and Scial Psychlgy, 18, Deci, E. L. (1975). Intrinsic mtivatin. New Yrk: Plenum. Deci, E. L. & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic mtivatin and self-determinatin in human behavir. New Yrk: Plenum Press Eisenberger, R., & Armeli, S. (1997). Can Salient Reward Increase Creative Perfrmance Withut Reducing Intrinsic Creative Interest? Jurnal f Persnality and Scial Psychlgy. 72, Gnen, Y. (2007). Brnx pupils Scre: Kids paid fr taking tests. New Yrk Pst. Kamil, R. & Rss, M. (1977). The effect f perfrmance relevant and perfrmance irrelevant rewards n children's intrinsic mtivatin. Child Develpment, 48, Khn, A. (1993). Why incentive plans cannt wrk. Harvard Business Review. Lange, R.V. & Tiggemann, M. (1981). Dimensinality and reliability f the Rtter Intemal-Extemal Lcus f Cntrl Scale. Jurnal f Persnality Assessment, 45, Lepper, M. R., Crpus, J. H., & Iyengar. S. S. (2005). Intrinsic and extrinsic mtivatinal rientatins in the classrm: Age differences and academic crrelates. Jurnal f Educatinal Psychlgy, 97, Lepper, M. R., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (1973). Undermining children's intrinsic interest with extrinsic rewards: A test f the "verjustificatin" hypthesis. Jurnal f Persnality and Scial Psychlgy, 28, McAuley, K, Duncan, T.E. & Tammen, V.V. (1989) Psychmetric prperties f the Intrinsic Mtivatin Inventry in a cmpetitive sprt setting: A cnfirmatry factr analysis. Research Quarterly fr Exercise and Sprt 60,

15 Incentives, lcus f cntrl and intrinsic mtivatin Rtter, J. (1966). Generalized expectancies fr intemal versus extemal cntrl f reinfrcements. Psychlgical Mngraphs, 80, Whle N. 609.

16 Incentives, lcus f cntrl and intrinsic mtivatin 165 APPENDIX A Example f a cgnitive match task given t participants Grups f matches will be laid ut t frm patterns f squares r triangles. Yur task will be t take away a certain number f matches s that a certain number f squares r triangles remain. Yu must take away the exact number f matches asked fr. Fr example: Take away 2 matches And leave 2 squares Will give: Yu have t indicate the crrect matches t be taken away by crssing them ut. If yu have any questins please ask them nw.

17 Cntrl grup: Lcus f cntrl Intrinsic mtivatin Lcus f cntrl median: Lcus f cntrl mean: Intrinsic mtivatin mean: Lcus f Intrinsic r Rewarded grup: Lcus f cntrl Intrinsic mtivatin a 3 i <: B CD hd «W ^ B S. n

18 Incentives, lcus f cntrl and intrinsic mtivatin APPENDIX C Statistical analysis f the tw-by-tw tw factr ANOVA > m 5 00 ui d d "<f d S s U- s ij^ U. ts * CO -"J- CO irj CO n i_ w S in s S CO iri CO t (O in X3 d t s O OT t 52 CO t t O ai cj c\ CO CO 1 I 2 c Qt ><