How the Overjustification Effect Reduces Motivation

The overjustification effect is a phenomenon in which being rewarded for doing something actually diminishes intrinsic motivation to perform that action. Think about a few of the things that you love to do.

Is there a sport such as volleyball or basketball that you love to play? Are you passionate about knitting, reading, or collecting movie memorabilia? Normally, you engage in these activities simply for the sheer joy and pleasure of it, not for some type of outside reinforcement.

The activity itself serves as its own reward. Would it surprise you to learn that when you are rewarded for things that you already enjoy doing, your desire to participate in those activities is sometimes lessened?

Edward Deci, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, first demonstrated the overjustification effect with a series of experiments in the 1970s.

When Does the Overjustification Effect Occur?

The overjustification effect can have a serious impact on your motivations and behaviors. Let's explore what this effect is and how it can influence behavior.

The overjustification effect occurs when an external incentive decreases a person's intrinsic motivation to perform a behavior or participate in an activity.

Edward Deci demonstrated the overjustification effect in one study, in which he compared the motivation of two groups of participants: one group was paid to complete a puzzle, and the other wasn't paid to complete it.

After removing the extrinsic motivation (money), the group that was previously paid to play experienced less motivation to complete the task compared to the group that was never paid and did the puzzle only for enjoyment.

Another well-known study conducted by Mark Lepper observed the overjustification effect in children. Children were prompted to draw pictures with magic markers—some chose among various "rewards" they would receive for coloring, such as receiving a "good player" award. The award, in this experiment, acted as the extrinsic motivation

Those who had agreed to receive the award for their drawings displayed significantly less interest and put less effort into their drawings than those who weren't contracted to receive any reward and were drawing for the fun of it.

Causes

Why does the overjustification effect occur? According to one theory, people tend to pay more attention to these external rewards rather than their own enjoyment of the activity. As a result, people think that their participation in the activity is the result of the external rewards rather than their own internal appreciation of the behavior.

Another possible explanation is that people sometimes view external reinforcement as a coercive force. Since people feel like they are being "bribed" into performing the behavior, they assume that they are doing it only for this external reinforcement.

According to the self-determination theory, there are three conditions needed in order to feel intrinsically motivated:

• Autonomy: Freedom of external constraints
• Competence: The need to feel capable
• Relatedness: The need to feel involved with others

The three components above are needed in order for people to feel intrinsically motivated and perform at their best.

According to Deci, the cognitive evaluation theory (CET) explains why participants in his experiments became less motivated after they were offered money for their completion of the puzzle. CET posits that extrinsic motivation—in Deci's experiment, money—decreases a person's autonomy, one of the necessary components of intrinsic motivation.

In Deci's experiment, the money prevented the participants who received it from experiencing the "freedom of external constraints," (also known as autonomy in the self-determination theory). The constraint, in this case, was the money and the pressure to perform, as opposed to the freedom felt by those who were doing the puzzle only for pleasure.

Observations

Research has found that if extrinsic reinforcement is dependent upon doing something well, then the behavior is less influenced by the overjustification effect. Being rewarded for studying, for example, probably will not diminish any intrinsic motivation you may have to study.

This is because your grade is a performance-contingent reinforcer. They reinforce your studying behavior, but they are dependent upon actually doing well rather than simply going through the motions.

Children who are praised for their effort ("You worked really hard on that assignment!") rather than their abilities ("You are so smart!") tend to believe that success hinges on effort rather than innate talent. Children who develop this type of mindset are also more likely to persist in the face of obstacles.