Achievement-Based Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation: A Test of Cognitive Mediators.

This study assessed how rewards impacted intrinsic motivation when students were rewarded for achievement while learning an activity, for performing at a specific level on a test, or for both. Undergraduate university students engaged in a problem-solving activity. The design was a 2 × 2 factorial with 2 levels of reward in a learning phase (reward for achievement, no reward) and 2 levels of reward in a test phase (reward for achievement, no reward). Intrinsic motivation was measured as time spent on the experimental task and ratings of task interest during a free-choice period. A major finding was that achievement-based rewards during learning or testing increased participants' intrinsic motivation. A path analysis indicated that 2 processes (perceived competence and interest-internal attribution) mediated the positive effects of achievement-based rewards in learning and testing on intrinsic motivation. Findings are discussed in terms of the cognitive evaluation, attribution, and social-cognitive theories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of reward on intrinsic motivation—Negative, neutral, and positive: Comment on Deci, Koestner, and Ryan (1999).

Comments on the meta-analytic review by E. L. Deci et al (see record 1999-01567-001) concerning the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Meta-analyses indicated that rewards increase perceived self-determination and that rewards' effects on intrinsic motivation depend on the performance requirement. Reward for meeting vague performance standards reduced the subsequent choice to carry out the task and did not affect self-reported interest. Reward for meeting absolute performance standards did not affect free choice but increased self-reported interest. Reward for exceeding others increased both free choice and self-reported interest. Applied studies commonly found positive or null relationships between reward and intrinsic motivation. The findings suggest that reward procedures requiring ill-defined or minimal performance convey task triviality, thereby decreasing intrinsic motivation. Reward procedures requiring specific high task performance convey a task's personal or social significance, increasing intrinsic motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation.

A meta-analysis of 128 studies examined the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. As predicted, engagement-contingent, completion-contingent, and performance-contingent rewards significantly undermined free-choice intrinsic motivation (d?=?–0.40, –0.36, and –0.28, respectively), as did all rewards, all tangible rewards, and all expected rewards. Engagement-contingent and completion-contingent rewards also significantly undermined self-reported interest (d?=?–0.15, and –0.17), as did all tangible rewards and all expected rewards. Positive feedback enhanced both free-choice behavior (d?=?0.33) and self-reported interest (d?=?0.31). Tangible rewards tended to be more detrimental for children than college students, and verbal rewards tended to be less enhancing for children than college students. The authors review 4 previous meta-analyses of this literature and detail how this study's methods, analyses, and results differed from the previous ones. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does intrinsic motivation theory explain the adverse effects of rewards on immediate task performance?

In an effort to answer the question posed in the title, we assessed the effects of rewards on the immediate task performance of preschool children in two studies. Both studies had within-subjects, repeated measures designs, and both yielded highly consistent results showing a detrimental effect of reward on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and on the Goodenough-Harris Draw-a-Man test. Performance decrements were confined to sessions in which subjects were rewarded; when rewarded subjects were shifted to nonreward, their performance improved dramatically. Although these studies were not concerned with the effects of reward on intrinsic motivation, the findings appear to present theoretical difficulties for current cognitive-motivational explanations of the adverse effects of material rewards on immediate task performance. An alternative viewpoint that material rewards can produce a temporary regression in psychological functioning is suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overjustification and children's intrinsic motivation: Comparative effects of four rewards.

Studied the relative overjustifying effects of various types of rewards on 30 boys' and 30 girls' (mean ages 72.6 and 72.4 mo, respectively) intrinsic motivation. Four reward procedures were examined—tangible, verbal, symbolic, and self-administered symbolic (self) rewards. Ss attempted to solve mazes under 1 of 5 training conditions and were then given a free-play period in which to engage in further maze play or try other materials. Ss receiving tangible rewards and those who self-administered symbolic rewards (self-reward) showed less subsequent intrinsic motivation than Ss in the control, verbal reward, and symbolic reward conditions. Moreover, internal locus-of-control expectancies (Stanford Preschool Internal–External Scale) were inversely related to intrinsic motivation for Ss in the self-reward condition. Results are discussed from 2 perspectives—the intrinsic–extrinsic reward continuum and E. L. Deci's (1975) distinction between the controlling (detrimental) and informational (competence- and motivation-enhancing) aspects of rewards. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of the maximal-operant principle to motivate children's intrinsic interest.

The present research examined the hypothesis that in contrast to theory and research indicating that tangible reward decreases subsequent interest in enjoyable academic activities, rewards are perceived by adults as effective techniques to maximize long- and short-term subsequent interest for academic tasks of both high and low initial interest level. The results of our first three studies demonstrated that college students and parents view tangible reward as more effective than other less controlling techniques to enhance intrinsic motivation and value rewards more for intrinsically interesting academic behaviors in comparison with others (e.g., prosocial behaviors). Our fourth study supported the hypothesis that adults do not subscribe to the minimal-sufficiency analysis of increasing intrinsic motivation but prefer a maximal-operant principle in which the likelihood of producing long-term interest in academic tasks is assumed to vary positively with the size of a reward. Our fifth and sixth studies investigated illusory correlation as one mechanism that may perpetuate beliefs about the assumed positive relation between tangible reward and intrinsic interest in academic tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of rewards on children's prosocial motivation: A socialization study.

This study examined the relation between mothers' attitudes/practices regarding the use of rewards and children's susceptibility to the undermining effects of rewards. We assessed the attitudes/practices regarding rewards for 72 mothers and assigned their children to a control condition or to one of four experimental conditions that differed in whether children received rewards for helping and whether children engaged in the helping task or watched other children help. Children were then given an opportunity to help in a nonreward free-choice period. Rewards enhanced helping in the immediate situation. However, rewards undermined children's helping in the free-choice period, but only for children whose mothers felt positive about using rewards. Moreover, mothers who felt more positive about using rewards reported their children to be less prosocial than children of mothers who had less positive attitudes. It was suggested that children's responses to rewards depend in part on their experiences with rewards. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preference for unpredictable food rewards occurs with high proportion of reinforced trials or alcohol if rewards are not delayed.

A recently developed mathematical model (DMOD) also predicts that Ss prefer the unpredictable reward situation under conditions that substantially decrease aversiveness of unpredictable nonreward (Daly & Daly, 1982). Because a high proportion of reinforced trials (lenient schedule) and alcohol decrease aversive conditioning, these variables were tested with rats in 5 E-maze experiments. A choice to 1 side of the maze resulted in a stimulus uncorrelated with reward outcome (unpredictable). A choice to the other side resulted in stimuli correlated with reward and nonreward (predictable). Stimuli were not visible until after the choice was made. A lenient reinforcement schedule resulted in preference for the unpredictable reward situation if rewards were not delayed. Alcohol resulted in preference for the unpredictable reward situation if a medium 5-pellet reward was given. A lenient reinforcement schedule combined with an alcohol injection resulted in faster acquisition of the preference for the unpredictable reward situation than did a lenient schedule combined with a saline control injection. These results pose a major challenge to most theories, yet were predicted by DMOD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rewarding pinball wizardry: Effects of evaluation and cue value on intrinsic interest.

Examined the effects of rewards for pinball competence on subsequent interest in the game in 3 studies with 219 Ss in which 3 components of performance-contingent reward structures—an evaluative contingency established before playing, performance feedback, and the receipt of a reward—were identified. The symbolic cue value of the reward may affect interest independently of evaluation and competence feedback. To isolate its effect, groups receiving a performance-contingent reward were compared with groups that experienced the same evaluative contingency and feedback and with feedback-only controls (Studies 1 and 3). Results show that evaluation reduced intrinsic motivation, compared with controls, whereas reward enhanced intrinsic motivation relative to evaluation. In Study 2, groups receiving rewards for attaining competence but differing in whether the evaluation was anticipated before playing were compared. Results indicate that unexpected performance-contingent rewards enhanced interest, compared with expected rewards. Findings suggest that the 3 reward properties have separate effects on intrinsic motivation. Anticipation of evaluation was responsible for negative reward effects, whereas competence feedback and due value had independent positive effects (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of salience of extrinsic rewards on liking and loving.

Tested the attribution theory notion that making the extrinsic rewards that individuals provide for their partners salient would decrease the amount of love and, perhaps, liking that the partners actually report for their girlfriends or boyfriends. 19 undergraduate dating couples were induced to adopt either an extrinsic or an intrinsic cognitive set regarding their reasons for associating with their partners. Then their liking and love for each other were assessed. Results indicate that the induced salience of extrinsic rewards led couples to report less love but not less liking. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Observing response acquisition: Preference for unpredictable appetitive rewards obtained under conditions predicted by DMOD.

To investigate the preference for unpredictable rewards predicted by the present author and J. T. Daly's (see record 1983-20275-001) modification, known as the DMOD model, of R. A. Rescorla and A. R. Wagner's (1972) previous model of reinforcement, the present author conducted 5 E-maze experiments with 144 male Holtzman rats. In Exps I–V, Ss were given a choice between receiving reward and nonreward in a situation in which stimuli were correlated with reward outcome (predictable situation) vs a situation in which the stimuli were uncorrelated with reward outcome (unpredictable situation). Preference for the unpredictable situation occurred under the following conditions: small (1 37-mg pellet) immediate rewards, small delayed (15-sec) rewards when the cues correlated with reward outcome were absent during the delay interval, large (15 pellets) immediate rewards when a difficult discrimination was required, and when the stimulus predicting nonreward was present at the choice point. Preference for the predictable situation was strongest if reinforcement was delayed and large or if the stimulus predicting reward was present at the choice point. A weaker preference for the predictable situation occurred if reinforcement was immediate, large, and required a simple discrimination or if reinforcement was large and delayed and the cues that correlated with reward outcome were absent during the delay interval. Findings support the predictions of the DMOD model of appetitive learning. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neurological correlates of reward responding in adolescents with and without externalizing behavior disorders.

Opposing theories of striatal hyper- and hypodopaminergic functioning have been suggested in the pathophysiology of externalizing behavior disorders. To test these competing theories, the authors used functional MRI to evaluate neural activity during a simple reward task in 12- to 16-year-old boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and/or conduct disorder (n = 19) and in controls with no psychiatric condition (n = 11). The task proceeded in blocks during which participants received either (a) monetary incentives for correct responses or (b) no rewards for correct responses. Controls exhibited striatal activation only during reward, shifting to anterior cingulate activation during nonreward. In contrast, externalizing adolescents exhibited striatal activation during both reward and nonreward. Externalizing psychopathology appears to be characterized by deficits in processing the omission of predicted reward, which may render behaviors that are acquired through environmental contingencies difficult to extinguish when those contingencies change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incremental effects of reward on creativity.

The authors examined 2 ways reward might increase creativity. First, reward contingent on creativity might increase extrinsic motivation. Studies 1 and 2 found that repeatedly giving preadolescent students reward for creative performance in 1 task increased their creativity in subsequent tasks. Study 3 reported that reward promised for creativity increased college students' creative task performance. Second, expected reward for high performance might increase creativity by enhancing perceived self-determination and, therefore, intrinsic task interest. Study 4 found that employees' intrinsic job interest mediated a positive relationship between expected reward for high performance and creative suggestions offered at work. Study 5 found that employees' perceived self-determination mediated a positive relationship between expected reward for high performance and the creativity of anonymous suggestions for helping the organization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of cooperative and individualistic reward on intrinsic motivation

The effects of cooperative versus individualistic reward on students' intrinsic motivation were investigated. The controlling aspects of extrinsic reward may be heightened or produce greater ego threat in the individualistic situation when compared with a group situation. We predicted that students in the cooperative social situation would show higher levels of intrinsic motivation. Fifth-grade students from existing cooperative groups were assigned randomly to receive a tangible reward based on either cooperative or individualistic achievement for completing pattern block designs. Cooperation affected intrinsic motivation positively. Students in the cooperative dyad solved the block designs more quickly, interacted positively, and viewed the task as easier than did those in the individualistic situation, and they reported that their peers were helpful. There was little evidence that the controlling functions of reward or ego-threat were factors in producing the outcome. Some evidence supporting the importance of the social nature of cooperation was provided.     

Supervisors' beliefs and subordinates' intrinsic motivation: A behavioral confirmation analysis.

Numerous studies have documented that when supervisors are more supportive of autonomy and less controlling, subordinates demonstrate higher levels of intrinsic motivation. The present research examined the role of supervisors' beliefs about a subordinate's intrinsic or extrinsic motivation in explaining this relation. A teaching paradigm was used in which participants were assigned the role of supervisors or subordinates. Supervisors were given no information regarding the subordinate, told that the subordinate was extrinsically motivated, or told that the subordinate was intrinsically motivated. Results revealed that subordinates who were believed to be intrinsically motivated perceived their supervisor as being significantly more supportive of autonomy, reported significantly more intrinsic interest, and spent significantly more time on the task during the free-choice period than subordinates whose supervisors believed them to be extrinsically motivated. Theoretical implications of the behavioral confirmation process for social perception and intrinsic motivation research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of fear of success on intrinsic motivation, causal attribution, and choice behavior.

Examined the extent to which fear of success (FOS) moderates effects of choice and task outcomes on intrinsic motivation, causal attribution, and subsequent choice behavior. 139 undergraduates worked either on puzzles of their choice or puzzles that were assigned to them and were then informed that they had performed either better or worse than the majority of other Ss. Measures of intrinsic motivation (task engagement during a free-choice period) and of attribution for performance were obtained. Ss then indicated how much choice they wanted to have over similar tasks that they were going to perform. Finally, Ss completed the Fear of Success Scale and a resultant achievement motivation measure. Results show that following success, low FOS Ss (in comparison to high FOS Ss) showed higher intrinsic motivation, made more internal attributions, and wanted to have more choice if initially they had been given choice and less choice if initially they had been given no choice. There were no significant differences between low and high FOS Ss following failure. Results could not be accounted for by resultant achievement motivation that was unrelated to FOS. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of extrinsic financial rewards on intrinsic motivation.

Utilized a chess-problem task to evaluate E. L. Deci's hypothesis that contingent extrinsic rewards will decrease intrinsic motivation. After observing the amount of time 28 undergraduates spent working on the task in a free period, one group was offered a financial incentive for performing the task while another group was not. One week later, Ss were again observed in a free period and then performed the task again with no financial incentive. Results support the hypothesis, and data that rule out specific methodological criticisms of Deci's paradigm are presented. Findings are discussed in terms of whether extrinsic rewards and motivation interact with intrinsic motivation. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Can salient reward increase creative performance without reducing intrinsic creative interest?

Two experiments, involving 416 preadolescent school children, investigated the effects of monetary reward on generalized creative performance and intrinsic creative interest. In Experiment 1, the explicit requirement of novel performance in 1 task (generating unusual uses for physical objects) produced greater subsequent creative performance in an entirely different task (picture drawing) when a large reward was used rather than a small reward or no reward. In Experiment 2, reward for novel performance increased subsequent intrinsic creative interest, measured here by the choice to produce original drawings rather than copy a familiar drawing. Intrinsic creative interest was reduced only by reward for uncreative performance. These findings suggest that the explicit requirement of novel performance for salient reward enhances generalized creativity without any loss of intrinsic creative interest. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Positive mood effects on delay discounting.

Delay discounting is the process by which the value of an expected reward decreases as the delay to obtaining that reward increases. Individuals with higher discounting rates tend to prefer smaller immediate rewards over larger delayed rewards. Previous research has indicated that personality can influence an individual's discounting rates, with higher levels of Extraversion predicting a preference for immediate gratification. The current study examined how this relationship would be influenced by situational mood inductions. While main effects were observed for both Extraversion and cognitive ability in the prediction of discounting rates, a significant interaction was also observed between Extraversion and positive affect. Extraverted individuals were more likely to prefer an immediate reward when first put in a positive mood. Extraverts thus appear particularly sensitive to impulsive, incentive-reward-driven behavior by temperament and by situational factors heightening positive affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When rewards reflect competence: A qualification of the overjustification effect.

Suggests that it is not contingency per se, but whether the rewards provide information about the Ss' competence, that determines how Ss will react to rewards. Results from 118 female university students reveal that when rewards did not indicate level of ability, higher rewards led to less intrinsic motivation, regardless of whether these rewards were contingent. But when the level of reward reflected ability (higher rewards were supposedly given for greater skill), higher rewards led to greater intrinsic motivation. This latter result is similar to findings in the control condition in which Ss were not given any rewards but were given competency information. Results are discussed in terms of their application to educational and business settings where rewards are often based on ability. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)