The Psychology of Motivation

A lightning talk giving a very simple overview of how people are motivated.

Transcript

1. The Psychology of Motivation by Nicolas McCurdy
2. Types of Motivation Intrinsic Motivation: powered by personal reward • Not typically affected by external rewards. • Can be increased through praise. • Can be decreased by external rewards that are too specific. Extrinsic Motivation: powered by wanting to receive reward or avoid punishment
3. The Candle Problem Your goal is to light the candle without dripping wax onto the table.
4. The Candle Problem: Solution Common Solutions: • Melt the candle partially and try to adhere it to the wall. • Tack the candle directly to the wall. Actual Solution: Put the candle in the box and tack the box to the wall.
5. The Candle Problem: Research Participants were paid different amounts of money as reward for solving the problem successfully. Results: • The task was easier when the tacks were not inside the box. • The more people were paid, the less they succeeded!
6. The Candle Problem and Motivation Functional Fixedness: "[A] mental block against using an object in a new way that is required to solve a problem." - Karl Duncker The Overjustification Effect: An external incentive can decrease the intrinsic motivation to perform a task.
7. Sources • http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candle_problem • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_fixedness • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overjustification_effect • http://icreate-project.eu/index.php?t=245 Want to access this presentation? http://goo.gl/XoNdRe