Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: The Psychology of Reward and Desire

Why do we pour hours into a hobby for free, yet have to drag ourselves through a task we're paid for? What is the real difference between doing something for the love of it versus for a reward? This distinction is central to the psychology of motivation and explores the powerful forces of our internal desires versus external pressures. Let's break this down and look at how our thoughts about a task can be more motivating than any prize.

Understanding Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

At its core, motivation can be separated into two types: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic Motivation

This is the drive to do something simply because it is inherently interesting, challenging, or enjoyable. According to Self-Determination Theory (SDT), people are most intrinsically motivated when three basic psychological needs are satisfied:

• Autonomy – Feeling that you have control and choice over your actions.

• Competence – Feeling capable and effective in what you're doing.

• Relatedness – Feeling connected to others or to a larger purpose.

Examples:

• Learning a language because you're fascinated by the culture

• Solving a puzzle just for the fun of it

• Practicing guitar because you love the process, not because someone told you to

Why It Matters:

Intrinsic motivation tends to lead to longer-lasting engagement, greater creativity, and better well-being. You're more likely to enter a flow state and stay consistent over time, because the reward is the process.

Extrinsic Motivation

This is the drive to do something because it leads to a separate outcome. It's a "do this to get that" mentality, where the motivation comes from external incentives like money, grades, or praise.

Extrinsic motivation is often misunderstood as being “bad” or “less ideal,” but that’s not necessarily true. It becomes problematic when it’s controlling (e.g., “I have to do this or else”), but it can actually support internal motivation if aligned well.

Examples of extrinsic motivation:

• Financial Incentive: An employee completes a presentation skills course because her company offers a bonus or a salary increase for team members who are certified as "presentation-ready" for international clients.

• Praise and Recognition: After using Talaera to refine his email writing, a project manager receives a company-wide email from a senior leader praising his clear and concise communication. He is motivated by this public acknowledgment.

• Avoiding Negative Consequences: A company makes business English training mandatory for all sales staff. An employee participates in a training program primarily to fulfill this requirement and keep their client-facing role.

• Promotion: An employee's direct path to a promotion to "Regional Lead" requires her to demonstrate improved cross-cultural communication skills, so she uses Talaera as a necessary step to achieve that new title.

The two types often coexist, and that's okay. You might love teaching (intrinsic), but also appreciate the salary and recognition (extrinsic). Problems arise when extrinsic rewards crowd out the internal joy –this is known as the overjustification effect.

The Hidden Cost: How Extrinsic Rewards Can Decrease Motivation

You might think that adding a reward to an activity someone already loves would only boost their motivation. However, research reveals a surprising twist known as the hidden cost of rewards: external rewards can actually crush our natural interest in a task.

A classic experiment with preschoolers who already enjoyed drawing illustrates this perfectly:

• Expected Reward Group: These children were told they would get a "Good Player" award if they drew. They all received one.

• Unexpected Reward Group: This group was simply asked to draw and then, to their surprise, received the same award afterward.

• No Reward Group: This group was asked to draw and received nothing.

The result? When later observed during free time, the children who had expected a reward spent significantly less time drawing than before. The reward had effectively turned their play into work, undermining their intrinsic motivation.

Why Do Rewards Sometimes Backfire?

According to Cognitive Evaluation Theory, any external event, like a reward, can have two different psychological functions:

• A Controlling Function: If the reward feels like a tool to pressure you ("If you do X, then you get Y"), it undermines your sense of autonomy and decreases intrinsic motivation.

• An Informational Function: If the reward signals a job well done ("Because you did X so well, you've earned Y"), it affirms your competence and can increase intrinsic motivation.

The impact of a reward depends entirely on which function feels more prominent to the person receiving it.

The Spectrum of Extrinsic Motivation: From Compliance to Core Values

Not all external motivation is the same. It exists on a spectrum from feeling completely forced to feeling personally chosen. This is the process of internalization, where we take in a belief or behavior and make it our own.

Psychologists break extrinsic motivation into four levels of regulation, from least to most self-determined:

External Regulation

Purely motivated by rewards and punishments.

Examples:

• "I recycle to make 5 cents on each can."

• "I study to avoid failing."

• A company mandates 8 hours of business English training per quarter. A learner joins their session just to avoid being flagged by their manager. They’re not learning for growth, just compliance.

Introjected Regulation

Motivated by internal pressures like guilt, shame, or pride.

Examples:

• "I recycle because I ought to, if I am going to feel good about myself."

• “I have to work out or I’ll feel bad.”

• A perfectionist employee attends every single Talaera live session because they feel they should. They don’t want to be the one who didn’t show up or the one whose English isn’t perfect on client calls.

Identified Regulation

You consciously value the behavior and see it as personally important.

Examples:

• "I recycle because it is important for a cleaner environment."

• “I don’t love studying, but I want to become a doctor.”

• A sales professional in Mexico signs up for Talaera because she wants to break into the APAC market and knows stronger cross-cultural communication will help. She’s not doing it just because her boss asked, she values the skill for her career.

Integrated Regulation

The behavior is now part of your identity and aligns with your core values.

Example:

• "I recycle because it reflects and expresses who I am and what I believe."

• “I work hard because being responsible is who I am.”

• A rising star at a tech company sees communication as central to her identity as a future leader. She uses Talaera as a tool not just to improve English, but to express her ideas more clearly, mentor across cultures, and lead global teams. It aligns with who she is and wants to become.

How to Foster Genuine Intrinsic Motivation

While extrinsic motivators have their place, the most durable and satisfying drive comes from within. The way to cultivate this, in ourselves and others, is to create environments that support our three core psychological needs:

Support Autonomy

Offer choice, provide a rationale for tasks, and use non-pressuring language.

For example, if you want to improve your business English skills, you can do these to take the wheel:

• Reflect on why you're working on a communication goal, not just what you're told to improve

• Set your own challenges: e.g., “I’ll open today’s meeting instead of just observing.”

• Use non-pressuring language with yourself: swap “I should speak more clearly” for “I want to get better at expressing myself.”

Support Competence

Provide optimal challenges that stretch our skills, offer clear guidance, and give constructive feedback.

Let's take that same example of wanting to improve your business English skills, here's what you can do to feel more capable and challenged:

• Break communication skills into micro-goals: “Today I’ll pause before answering questions,” or “I’ll clarify one unclear point in the meeting.”

• Track wins—even small ones. (“I explained my idea without rambling!”)

• Ask for feedback not just on correctness, but on impact and clarity

Support Relatedness

Foster warm, caring relationships where people feel understood, validated, and connected to others.

In the context of improving your communication skills:

• Find “language allies” at work or in your network, people you feel safe practicing with.

• Use language not just to inform, but to connect. Ask follow-ups. Show interest. Use “we” more than “I.”

Make it yours.

Track the small wins.

And connect with others while you grow.

When these needs are supported, our natural, intrinsic motivation can flourish, leading to greater engagement, creativity, and well-being.

"But it is not healthy to be a stranger to yourself. To be blind to your own struggles and blind to your own strengths. — Matt Haig

Sources:

Psychology of Motivation and Emotion, Unit 4. University of Valencia

• Chapter 5: Extrinsic motivation and internalization (7ª Ed). Reeve, J. (2018). Wiley.

• Chapter 6: Psychological needs. Understanding motivation and emotion (7ª Ed).

  Reeve, J. (2018). Wiley.

• Chapter 15: Growth, motivation, and positive psychology. Understanding motivation and emotion (7ª Ed). Reeve, J. (2018). Wiley.