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EFFECTS OF INITIAL LEVEL OF INTEREST, REWARD, AND TASK DIFFICULTY ON INTRINSIC MOTIVATION: A COMPARISON OF COGNITIVE EVALUATION THEORY AND OPERANT THEORY
Abstract
Deci's cognitive evaluation theory (CET) suggests that a monetary reward will damage the intrinsic motivation (IM) of subjects with high initial interest in a task. Operant theory suggests that reward will increase motivation if it acts as a reinforcer (increases performance). Using Deci's preferred measure of IM, voluntary engagement in a posttreatment task without reward, operant theory's crucial variable of motivation, treatment task performance, and perceptual measures (posttreatment feelings of interest and competency about the task) as dependent variables under crossed conditions of task difficulty (easy vs. hard task), reward (contingent vs. none) and levels of initial level of interest (high, HI vs. low, LI) predictions based on these theories were compared for a sample of 160 college students who attempted an anagram task. The results from three multivariate ANOVA's (on all subjects, HI subjects, and LI subjects) more closely supported operant theory hypotheses even though reward did not function statistically as a reinforcer for any group. Reward had no effect on voluntary engagement in the posttreatment anagrams of the HI students, but both reward and difficulty increased their posttreatment feelings of competence. Reward increased time of voluntary engagement in posttreatment anagrams by the LI students. These findings and the highly significant effects of pretask interest on all four dependent variables resulting from the ANOVA for all subjects indicate the need for measurement of initial level of interest prior to prediction or selection of dependent variables. Finally, examination of the error correlation matrices provided descriptive support for operant theory's contention that feelings accompany treatment task performance. The data suggest that operant theory provides more accurate prediction of the effects of reward and difficulty on motivation than CET, particularly if perceptual measures are the preferred indicators of motivation. There was no evidence to support the claim that extrinsic motivation undermines intrinsic motivation.
Subject Area
Educational psychology
Recommended Citation
MOHR, PATRICIA ANN, "EFFECTS OF INITIAL LEVEL OF INTEREST, REWARD, AND TASK DIFFICULTY ON INTRINSIC MOTIVATION: A COMPARISON OF COGNITIVE EVALUATION THEORY AND OPERANT THEORY" (1982). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8227027.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8227027