The overjustification effect is when an external reward reduces internal motivation to perform a task. Studies show that promised rewards can cause people to associate tasks with external motivation, leading to a decrease in engagement. Critics argue that rewards can reinforce behavior.
The overjustification effect is a phenomenon in which the presence of an extrinsic reward can reduce internal motivation to perform a task. Much of the groundbreaking work in this area has been done by Richard Nisbett and Mark Lepper, two social psychologists interested in how cognition affects human behavior. Numerous studies have confirmed their findings, although the concept has some critics.
The original research to explore the effect of overjustification involved a group of preschoolers who were given markers and asked to draw. All of them enjoyed drawing before the experiment and experienced internal motivation in the form of pleasure and satisfaction in completing the drawing projects. Some children were promised a reward for drawing, while others were given a surprise reward and a third group received nothing. The researchers waited to begin the second part of the experiment, an observation session to determine how rewards or lack thereof influenced behavior.
When the researchers returned to watching the children play, they noticed that children who had received a promised reward during the experiment were less likely to draw. These children had come to associate their drawing with external motivation, the reward for doing the work, rather than the internal motivations that prompted them to start drawing in the first place. Other studies on the effect of overjustification have looked at different populations to see if the effect is consistent across different age groups, activities, and types of rewards. As a general rule, it is; those who receive promised rewards for activities will stop engaging in them for their own good.
This research is part of a larger field of self-perception studies. Under the effect of overjustification, people begin to associate a task with external motivation and believe that this is why they do it, discarding internal rewards. An enjoyable activity can become burdensome when a transactional reward enters the scenario. A painter, for example, cannot paint for pleasure when he is used to being paid for his work.
Some critics of the overjustification effect believe that reward acts as a reinforcer to encourage repetition of the behavior, rather than extinguishing it. The belief that rewards reinforce behavior can be widely seen in the form of incentives offered in a variety of settings, from the workplace to the classroom. Many behavior modification programs designed to encourage positive behaviors by discouraging others use rewards for their participants to cultivate a desired behavior.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
