Still others seek to demonstrate intrinsic superior ability either by outperforming others or by achieving notable successes with little or no effort. Other students strive to develop intrinsic new skills for the sake of self-mastery and will not stop until they are acquired. Some students learn in order to earn extrinsic gold stars and may stop when these rewards are no longer forthcoming. The younger the child the more prevalent and useful extrinsic motivation are but as the child matures well designed cognitive learning materials should encourage the intrinsic desire to learn for its own sake thus gradually replacing external motivations.
Regarding adult motivation, the extrinsic motivation found in a job or profession is the compensation one needs to live while the intrinsic motivation is found in job or career satisfaction and is its own reward.Īlthough both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation have their place in K-12 education the goal should be to replace extrinsic education reward with intrinsic rewards as soon as possible.
#Explaining extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation professional#
Intrinsic rewards include things such as: personal achievement, professional growth, sense of pleasure and accomplishment. Extrinsic motivation is based on tangible rewards, is external to the individual and is typically offered by a supervisor or teacher.