Why we do what we do

Human motivation seemed to operate by laws that run counter to what most of us tend to believe. We knew what got people going. Rewards intensify interest and enhanced performance.

What Edward Deci found, and then confirmed in the studies he conducted, was almost the opposite. “When money is used as an external reward for some activity, the subjects lose intrinsic interest for the activity,” he wrote.

Rewards can deliver a short-term boost—just as a jolt of caffeine can keep you cranking for a few more hours. But the effect wears off—and, worse, can reduce a person’s longer-term motivation to continue the project.

– Pink, Daniel H.. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Human beings have an “inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, to extend and exercise their capacities, to explore, and to learn. But this drive needs the right environment to survive. Deci’s advices, “one who is interested in developing and enhancing intrinsic motivation in children, employees, students, etc., should not concentrate on external-control systems such as monetary rewards.”