Getting Off the Couch: Motivation

In the movie Office Space, the main character is struggling to figure out what he wants to be when he grows up. He recalls a procedure from high school for determining what his profession should be:

Our high school guidance counselor used to ask us what you'd do if you had a million dollars and you didn't have to work. And invariably what you'd say was supposed to be your career. So, if you wanted to fix old cars then you're supposed to be an auto mechanic.

Suppose you didn't have to get up and go to work tomorrow. How would you spend your time? What would motivate you to get out of bed?

"It's a problem of motivation, all right?" -Peter Gibbons

Motivation is a slippery subject. To help clarify our discussion, let's start with a definition. I am using the word motivation to describe your own private rationale for engaging in some activity. In other words, motivation is your internal mechanism for figuring out how to spend your time. You might be motivated to engage in an activity because it will result in some concrete output (e.g., earning a paycheck, painting a picture, or writing a poem), builds a new memory or skill (e.g., going sight-seeing, attending a top-rope course, or skateboarding), or just passes the time (e.g., watching television or playing a game).

What are the sources of motivation? Off the top of my head, I can think of a few:

• Power
• Money
• Prestige
• Fame
• Impressing a potential mate
• Demonstrating mastery
• Contributing to something bigger than yourself (meaning)
• The promise of a better future
• Someone in power tells you what you must do (authority)
• Your or someone’s life depends on you completing a task (survival)

Some of these sources are better motivators that others [1]. For example, seeing a grizzly bear is a powerful motivator to leave the situation (i.e., survival). On the other hand, some sources are more nuanced, and they might ebb and flow. On some days you might feel like practicing the piano, while other days you just can't bring yourself to sit down in front of the keys and practice your scales (i.e., demonstrate mastery).

Thanks for all your hard work...bzzz!

Now that we have a working definition, let's talk about what the data say about motivation. One of my favorite motivation studies was led by the behavioral economist Dan Ariely [2]. The study included two experiments. The first of which asked undergraduate participants (who we will call "laborers") to find duplicate letters (e.g., "ss") on a sheet of paper filled with hundreds of letters. There were three different experimental conditions. In the Acknowledged condition, the laborers turned in their work to the experimenter. The experimenter then checked the work to see if the laborer found all the duplicate letters. In the Ignored condition, the experimenter took the sheet and, without checking the accuracy of the completed work, placed it on a very tall ream of paper. In the Shredded condition, the experimenter took the laborer's sheet and promptly ran it through a paper shredder. Bzzt!

After completing the first sheet, the laborer had to make a choice. Does she want to fill out another sheet or stop? Of course, there was a catch. The first sheet paid a "salary" of $0.55; but for each sheet thereafter, the salary decreased by $0.05. There was a diminishing return on the laborer's time. The experimenters were interested to see if manipulating the meaning of the work had any impact on how many sheets the laborers completed in the three experimental conditions. What would you predict? 

If you mentally placed yourself in the participant's shoes, you may have predicted that the Acknowledged condition completed far more sheets. And you would be correct. On average, they completed about 9 sheets, which was many more than the participants in the Ignored (~7 sheets) and Shredded (~6 sheets) conditions. By the way, there was no statistical difference between the Ignored and Shredded conditions.

In the second experiment, participants were asked to assemble Bionicle Lego robots. What could be more fun than getting paid to play with Legos!? In the Meaningful condition, the robots were placed on the experimenter's table, so the laborer could see the fruits of her labor. In the Sisyphus condition, when the laborer turned in a robot, the experimenter promptly disassembled it. Like the previous study, the laborer could decide to stop at any time. Laborers in the Meaningful condition assembled an average of 10.6 robots, while the Sisyphus condition only assembled an average of 7.2 robots.

What is the implication for motivation? It demonstrates that when you hold money constant, people are willing to work much longer on tasks that they find even the tiniest bit meaningful. The meaning in this experiment, of course, was derived from the acknowledgement from another person. The person in charge had to acknowledge that the work had been completed. Looked at another way, the worst thing a manager can possibly do is fail to acknowledge that an employee has done a task. Instead, a manager should help employees see how their work is in some way connected to a greater purpose or project. In other words, don't run your employee's work through the proverbial paper shredder once they are done.

The STEM Connection

The danger in education is that in-class assignments and homework can feel like busy work. Unfortunately, students can't fall back on rationalizing the time they spend by thinking, "Well, at least I'm getting paid." Instead, students need to find motivation elsewhere. Teachers and guidance counselors might have to periodically remind students that they are investing their time in the promise of a better future. 

Some students, however, are more concrete and live for the moment. How do we help this type of student find motivation to study? Offering rewards won't work because studying is, by its very nature, a deferred investment. Offering an external reward can also easily undermine students' intrinsic motivation [3]. Instead, the Lego study suggests that students might be motivated by keeping track of their progress. Each completed assignment is an incremental step along a much greater path. If each assignment and exam can be quantified in some way, it is highly motivating to look back and see how far you've come.

Another source of inspiration for how to motivate people is the video-game industry. We all know how addictive video games can be. What is it about their design that draws us in and keeps us coming back? Keeping track of progress is almost universally used, and so is the idea of "leveling up." As you play the game, the user becomes more proficient. Like the idea of the flow channel, a game needs to be simultaneously accessible to beginners and challenging for expert players. Thus, games need to evolve to be commensurate with the user's improving skill. Video games allow kids to demonstrate their proficiency. Is there a way we can engineer the classroom experience so that demonstrating mastery is looked upon favorably (e.g., spelling bees, math competitions, debates)? 

In summary, motivation is fickle. Sometimes we have it; sometimes it is nowhere to be found. Probably the most reliable source of motivation is spending time on an activity that we chose for ourself, and that we find meaningful. If we can help our students find a connection to something beyond themselves, then we can tap into the same motivation that has built things like Wikipedia. 


Share and Enjoy!

Dr. Bob

For More Information

[1] Pink, D. H. (2011). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. New York: Penguin.

[2] Ariely, D., Kamenica, E., & Prelec, D. (2008). Man's search for meaning: The case of Legos. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 67(3), 671-677.

[3] Kohn, A. (1999). Punished by rewards: The trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, A's, praise, and other bribes. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.