Do you agree that there is no such thing as intrinsic motivation?

Question

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/inmotiv.htm

Answer 1

Whilst the logical and grammatical notion of substance is perfectly fine, it is also acceptable to ask, 'Which are the ultimate substances?' - the things required accountability to provide a complete description of physical reality. The notion of substance put forward to solve a pseudo-problem is however, untenable.

In “doing it because you want to”, it purportedly has a collection of qualities forming the “intrinsic”, but is simply without. It rides on motivation as an illusory matter where reward and enjoyment, happened to run parallel to a non-exclusive common trajectory; The notion of intrinsic with a means-end definition has a ring of finality whose qualities, are not necessarily corollary to motivation, is mutable and at the same time ambiguous.

Answer 2

No, I dont agree that there is no such thing as intrinsic motivation.
Read: KARMA AND FOLLOWING:

It is thought that students are more likely to experience intrinsic motivation if they:

Attribute their educational results to internal factors that they can control (eg. the amount of effort they put in, not 'fixed ability').
Believe they can be effective agents in reaching desired goals (eg. the results are not determined by dumb luck.)
Are motivated towards deep 'mastery' of a topic, instead of just rote-learning 'performance' to get good grades.
Note that the idea of reward for achievement is absent from this model of intrinsic motivation, since rewards are an extrinsic factor.

In knowledge-sharing communities and organizations, people often cite altruistic reasons for their participation, including contributing to a common good, a moral obligation to the group, mentorship or 'giving back'.

This model of intrinsic motivation has emerged from three decades of research by hundreds of educationalists and is still evolving.)

Answer 3

Au contraire. All motivations are ultimately intrinsic. It's all about - as the professor points out - what makes people happy. Happy is an intrinsic motivation. Motivation may come from without, but must be applied from within the individual for the individual to move in a direction. (The root of motivation and movement are the same).

Answer 4

I read part of the article: It was somewhat contradictory!

Suggesting we do things we like to do intrinsically, but things that reward us for doing things..as they said..work for money is dependant on the person, I believe.

But would agree that we that we do things we like to do intrinsically.. so yes, there is such a thing as intrinsic motivation in the context the article was written.

Answer 5

Just a comment really; I certainly see where you are headed with your scenario and you make some good points. If we don’t base our laws on God’s word, which is the absolute standard, society will eventually crumble. I think politics could be all, but done away with, if when passing a law we first looked at what the absolute standard said instead of “majority rules”. A majority did not want to follow Moses into the Promise Land. A majority built a golden calf and rebelled against God and Moses. I’m not taking the time to look up chapter and verse, but several places in the Old Testament say something in the nature of “and each man did according to what was right in his own eyes.” Without an absolute standard to follow (God’s Word) what might be right in MY eyes, might not be right in yours. With the direction the United States is heading we are certainly heading to a time where right and wrong are relative. We are calling good evil, and evil good. If you go back, say 100 years and took with you some of the bills that have been in front of congress they would laugh in your face. I’ll pick on gay marriage as an example. Would gay marriage have been an issue 100 years ago? Even now, if we were to use God’s Word as our political and social standard it would not be an issue. “What does the bill say? Now what does the Bible say? Well, that’s pretty cut and dry. Let’s go home now.” One final thought. If everything is relative and each man does what is right in his own eyes, I’m going to remember that the next time I play Monopoly. I don’t care what the rules say on the inside of the cover I’m going to do what I want. The game wouldn’t be very fun for everybody if one of the players did what they wanted when the wanted to. Everything goes much smoother when we all follow the rules that have been laid out for us before hand. No, you can’t please everybody. Somebody in Monopoly has to lose, but it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.

Answer 6

Without having read the article, I disagree. Novels wouldn't get written, some films wouldn't get made, many inventions wouldn't have been invented without some kind of intrinsic motivation for something more... I think any kind of intrinsic motivation has been disguised recently by simple financial necessity - we continue to do things simply because we need to get paid (kids, mortgage, car, etc.). But there are some that are driven by other things, namely an intrinsic need to do more.

ADDED: interesting article, and interesting points, but I stand by my answer. There are still things people do without regard to what they can expect in return.

Answer 7

Now, that I understand the question a bit better...

The ONLY true motivation is intrinsic. The others are fallacy. For example, the reward of money is mute, because money can simply fly awaybe "burned", squandered, stolen or otherwise disposed of.

“The results are always turned around to prove their hypothesis.”

Answer 8

I think Reiss is absolutely right. It's a pointless distinction. I see no real difference between doing something "because you want to"(intrinsic) and doing it for a reward. If you're doing it for the reward then you are simply doing it because you want the reward. You could also say that doing it because you want to , or because you will enjoy it is the reward in itself. So where is the distinction to be made here? In both cases you are doing it because you want to. Intrinsic motivation is a muddled concept because of the false distinction between categories of motivation. Call it all "intrinsic" or not, but it all has the same source: our biology.

Answer 9

Of course not.. we are genetically wired to do and not do a variety of things. Stay away from excrement for example, or do not breed with relatives...instrinsic motivation is a phrase that denotes we are wired in ways to continue as a species.. Darwin knew, and now, so do you.

Answer 10

No. What is..........a biological clock?
What are hormones?
What is "Fight or Flight"?