Clarification and expansion of the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation dichotomy

What is it about?

The goal of this paper is to provide a long overdue clarification and upgrade to what has been called the intrinsic-extrinsic dichotomy in the realm of motivation. We argue that the concept of intrinsic motivation should be limited to refer to the pleasure gained from an activity, divorced from any further elements. It means liking the doing. The term has been confounded with a different type of motivation, which is properly labelled achievement motivation and which refers to competition against some standard of excellence (subconscious or conscious). Achievement motivation means wanting to do well. One can like doing something and not care about how well one does it. Conversely, one can strive to do well even if one does not like an activity. The third type of motivation, known as extrinsic, has been focused heavily on the effect of withdrawing a monetary incentive. We argue that this focus is far too narrow and that extrinsic motivation should be generally defined as doing something as a means to an end. It means doing something now in order to get something later. Nor should money be regarding as “controlling” since people routinely make many choices in the realm of money. We suggest a research program on the three types of motivation, their possible interrelationships, and their outcomes. We hope to spark a discussion and invite comments on this paper.

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Why is it important?

For 100 years the terms "intrinsic motivation" and "extrinsic motivation" have been used but their is no common definition. Consequently, nobody know what people mean when they use these terms. We also argue that the dichotomy is not sufficient to capture motivation at work and in other domains. We therefore suggest to add "achievement motivation" in order to better understand the different types of motivation that energize, direct, and orient our behaviour towards a goal.

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