Motivation Monday: a series pt 3

In this third installment our Motivation Monday series we will expand on our earlier pieces here and here. Today we want to start to examine the types of motivation which fall in two main categories; extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic is simply that which is driven by primarily external forces and internal, well, the opposite. Simple enough right? Of course, it’s not quite that simple.

Extrinsic motivation is built of the majority of our motivational phases as once we remove that piece, motivation is completely internalized. To begin we will first examine external regulation.

External regulation is that which behavior is controlled by external forces such as praise, reward, or avoiding punishment. This is the classic drill sergeant or old school football coach. We are doing the thing for someone else. While this type of motivation can be very powerful in the short term (anyone in my age bracket who played sports can probably attest to game day fear as motivator) it’s rarely effective long term.

Next on the scale, or continuum, is introjected regulation. The “voice” of introjected regulation is internalized though we would still consider this a form of extrinsic motivation. It is mainly directed by guilt or worry. The individual is driven to achieve not because they want to but because they fear not to due to a sense of obligation. An example of this might be going to exercise because you don’t want to let your coach down.

Next we reach into identified regulation which is that in which the individual recognizes and values their behaviors as beneficial on their own merits. Such an example would be recognizing that exercise is beneficial for health and valuing it on those merits alone.

The most internalized form of extrinsic motivation is integrated regulation. Integrated regulation is when a behavior is fully integrated into one’s personal values and beliefs. This would be when we go to the gym because not to would violate our value system. We see ourselves as someone who works out and that is of utmost importance.

Next week we will delve into intrinsic motivation. That is where the gold standard is and we work towards to gain mastery. I hope you are enjoying these bite-sized bits of motivational theory. The better we can understand the structure of motivation the better we can identify and describe the challenges we face.