Our Internal Drive

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Our Internal Drive
According to Daniel H. Pink, in his book, Drive, people are not motivated by external motivators, or rewards. Instead, people are motivated by internal factors. Once basic needs are met, people are more motivated by a desire for mastery and a sense of autonomy toward a specific purpose. In the following paragraphs I will give supporting information regarding motivation and key factors to reach full motivation.
Motivation
According to Webster’s Dictionary, motivation is a “force or influence that causes someone to do something” (www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motivation). Human motivation consists of the need to survive, the desire for rewards and to avoid punishment. Motivating performance based on external motivations, such as rewards and punishments for behaving a certain way, are no longer seen as effective. Instead, it is intrinsic motivators, such as finding joy in completing a task, that will continually motivate a person in their work.
Extrinsic Motivators
Extrinsic motivators are found to diminish a persons’ motivation. Pink refers to the fact that carrots and sticks are not effective by calling it the Sawyer Effect (Pink, Pg. 35). The Sawyer Effect sees the counteractive results of extrinsic incentives and explains that obliging someone to do something can turn play into work, but not obliging someone to do something can turn work into play.
According to Pink, there are Seven Deadly Flaws when it comes to extrinsic motivators. The first is that it can “extinguish intrinsic motivation” (Pink, pg. 57). Reward can become the reason that a person completes the task and, in turn, kill the intrinsic enjoyment of the task itself. External rewards can favor short-term gains and unintentiona...

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...aximum drive.

Works Cited

Ariely, D., Gnezzu, U., Lowenstein, G., & Mazar, N. (2005). Large Stakes and Big Mistakes. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Working Paper, 5-11.

Ariely, D., Bracha, A., & Meier, S. (2007). Doing Good or Doing Well? Imagine Motivation and Monetary Incentives in Behaving Prosocially. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Working Paper, 7-9.

Dweck, C. S. (1999). Self-theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.

Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Romer, C. T. (1992). The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance. Psychological Review 100, 363.

Motivation. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster. Retrieved April 4, 2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motivation

Pink, D. H. (2009). Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.

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