The Motivation Paradox: Why Is a Carrot-and-Stick Approach Contra-productive Igor Petrikovic Bachelor Thesis 2013 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 2 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 3 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 4 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 5 ABSTRAKT Bakalárska práca sa zaoberá problémamy systému motivácie založenej na odmene a treste. V práci poukazujem na výskum a experimenty rôznych psychológov, ekonómov a iných humanistických vedcov za cieľom podloženia argumetov podporujúcich teóriu negatývnych vplivov vonkajších podnetov na vnútornú motiváciu a kreativitu. Zmysel práce spočíva vo zvýšení povedomia o týchto problémoch, pretože sa zdá že podrývajú základnú podstatu zaužívaných motivačných princípov v biznise, školstve a každodennom živote. Kľúčové slová: vnútorná motivácia, vonkajšia motivácia, cukor a bič, heuristické úlohy, algoritmické úlohy, kreativita, finančné odmeny, odmeny “ak-tak potom” ABSTRACT The Bachelor thesis deals with the issues of motivation system based on rewards and punishments. In the thesis, I refer to research and experiments of various psychologists, economists and other social scientists in order to back up the arguments in favor of the theory of negative effects of extrinsic incentives on intrinsic motivation and creativity. The goal of the thesis is to increase awareness about these issues because they seem to undermine the fundamental foundation of motivation principles exerted in business, education and everyday life. Keywords: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, carrot-and-stick approach, heuristic tasks, algorithmic tasks, creativity, financial incentives, “if-then” rewards TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor Mgr. Jana Vondřejcová for her support, patience and for providing me with a dose of optimism every time we met. Secondly, I would like to thank everybody who have contributed to the birth of the idea of this thesis, because it helps to get an insight in the elements essential for leading more productive and meaningful life. Most importantly I would like to thank my family and friends, especially my parents for providing me with psychological and financial support during my studies. TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 7 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 8 1. THE FIRST EXPERIMENTS ............................................................................... 10 1.1 HARRY HARLOW’S PUZZLE .................................................................... 10 1.2 EDWARD DECI’S EXPERIMENT .............................................................. 11 1.3 THE CANDLE PROBLEM ........................................................................... 13 2. THE SIX REASONS ........................................................................................... 16 2.1 INTRINSIC MOTIVATION .......................................................................... 16 2.2 PERFORMANCE ........................................................................................... 17 2.3 CREATIVITY ................................................................................................ 18 2.4 ALTRUISTIC BEHAVIOR ........................................................................... 20 2.5 CHEATING AND UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR ............................................ 21 2.6 ADDICTION .................................................................................................. 23 3. THE SITUATIONS WHEN CARROTS AND STICKS WORK ................... 25 3.1 ALGORITHMIC TASKS .............................................................................. 25 3.2 HEURISTIC TASKS ...................................................................................... 25 4. THE THREE ELEMENTS ................................................................................. 29 4.1 AUTONOMY ................................................................................................. 29 4.2 MASTERY ..................................................................................................... 31 4.3 PURPOSE ....................................................................................................... 33 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 37 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................. 39 LIST OF PICTURES ........................................................................................................ 41 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 8 INTRODUCTION Dating back to my high school studies at grammar school in Piešťany, I have always felt a bit fed up with the subjects which were taught by the infamous style of pointless memorizing of information. The only motivation which most of the students had to study these subjects in this manner, including me, was the motivation to get the grade. I have always somehow done better in the subjects, which were taught by the professors, who knew how to be inspiring and did not miss the opportunity to explain the purpose or useful implications of the stuff we were learning about. Believe or not, there were subjects I have enjoyed to sit through, mostly social sciences and languages like philosophy and English. Usually they were taught by interesting professors, who always knew how to motivate with purpose and were very well in communicating their thoughts. In contrast, there were the professors, whom teaching methods were not so interesting, moreover their methods of motivating students by promising them a good grade, or threatening them with a bad one in order to get better results in my opinion never seemed to work very well. However, I am not saying, that professors should take the full responsibility for how the students are performing, I am just trying to emphasize, that their approach can be very influential. I am sure many people can relate. My point is, that intrinsic motivation, in my opinion can be encouraged under the right circumstances. While looking for a topic for my bachelor thesis I have discovered this topic, which appeared to be quite consistent with my previous thoughts. However, as I have found out, the issue of motivation based on the carrots-and-sticks or “if-then” approach, which is so deeply rooted in our business, education and everyday life seems to be much more intriguing and serious. More and more studies done over the last sixty years in field of behavioral psychology, economy and other humanistic fields are starting to suggest, that the motivation based on extrinsic incentives, which most of us thinks works just fine, not only does not work as we would wish, but often does harm. Moreover the extent of this issue seems to have a bigger scale than one would think, concerning the various field of study to which it does reach. The goal of this thesis is to explain why the carrot-and-stick approach in many cases does not increase productivity. Advert the evidence found by various researchers in order to back up the arguments in favor of this hypothesis. Provide the reasons, why the motivation system based on rewards and punishment does not work accordingly. Point out the negative effects it has on our behavior. Mention the special occasions, when “if-then” TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 9 external incentives work. And finally to provide an insight into the elements and motivation system we should try to encourage in order to increase productivity, utilize our time more meaningfully and promote better overall well-being. In the first chapter I will describe the first experiments, which were happened to be the foundation of the idea, that extrinsic incentives can have harmful effects on intrinsic motivation, productivity and creativity. In the second chapter, I will try to explain, the reasons, why the carrot-and-stick approach does not work, which are undermining on intrinsic motivation, negative effect on productivity, discouragement of creative thinking, prevention of altruistic behavior, promotion of cheating and unethical behavior and addiction. In the third chapter I will try to point out the situations when carrots and sticks does come into consideration, based on the distinction between algorithmic and heuristic tasks. And finally in the fourth chapter I will present the three key elements on which the motivation based on intrinsic motives can be encouraged in order to increase productivity, employee engagement and overall satisfaction. These three key elements are autonomy, mastery and purpose. The main idea comes from Daniel Pink’s book “Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us.” I have found my way to this topic through his TED talk on youtube, and then I have read his book. Turned out it is just one of the many books about this issue, but I have found his division of the topics the most practical. I will therefore use the division of topics similar to his and enrich these topics from the sources I have found over my research and also with my personal insights. TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 10 1 THE FIRST EXPERIMENTS In this chapter I will introduce you to the first experiments focused on the effects of external rewards on intrinsic motivation and creativity conducted by Harry Harlow, Edward Deci and Sam Glucksberg. 1.1 Harry Harlow’s Puzzle To make a case, let me introduce an experiment of Canadian professor