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Motivation: Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Essay

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Motivation can be defined as the desire or inspiration to carry out specific tasks or to do something. Motivation is required when goals are being set and more so in their execution. In a work setting, motivation can be defined as a process through which individuals choose between alternative forms of behavior with the aim of achieving personal objectives. The goals sought by individuals can be extrinsic or relatively tangible such as monetary rewards and promotion, or intrinsic or intangible such as self esteem or job satisfaction (Armstrong, 2006). In learning, the desire to attain good grades is what motivates a student to study hard everyday as they prepare for the exam. On the other hand, for a teacher to put his best foot forward, he …show more content…

Extrinsic motivation it is the motivation brought about by what a person is getting from a certain task, rather than interest in the task. An example of extrinsic motivation is when a student who is not particularly interested in math works hard in order to attain a good grade, and in a working person’s life, it could be working on a task that is not necessarily interesting to him/her, but that is giving a good amount of financial reward. A good example of intrinsic motivation is working as a volunteer in a children’s home because taking care of children is of personal interest and satisfaction, to the person, despite getting no reward. In a classroom setting, it may be clear that most students are more extrinsically motivated to undertake their academic work, even though for some, it could be inherent extrinsic motivation, an example being, a student who understands that studying hard and doing assignments has a bigger reward in the long-term, as they will pass exams and attain good grades. In the same class could be another student who does assignments to avoid sanctions by teachers or parents (Lepper, Corpus and Iyengar, 2005). Both of these examples showcase students who are extrinsically motivated to study even though one appears to be more inherently thoughtful of their own benefit, while the other is doing it just to avoid punishment and is more dependent on the teacher’s or parent’s reaction. Children mostly do things that are

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