2. Voluntary Engagement: Deci’s Experiment A group of participants in an experiment were given a puzzle to solve. During an eight-minute break, they were secretly observed. They all spent about four minutes voluntarily engaging with the puzzle. After that, half were promised $ for solving the puzzle. During the break time, the group who were promised $ worked about five minutes on the puzzle – a minute more than previously. In the third stage of the experiment, the participants who were promised a $ reward now had that carrot taken away. During the break, they worked voluntarily for only three minutes – time spent fell by two minutes from the previous break time.
3. Voluntary Engagement: Deci’s Experiment Deci’s experiment uncovered that “payment for working with the puzzle depressed free choice for the same activity”. Hence, giving something away for doing something right may not always be the better option. “Doing something because it interests you makes it a different kind of activity than doing it because you are reaping an external reward.”
4. For love. Not money. Make the activity itself the reward. Two intrinsic motivations: Satisfaction from doing something you’re interested in autonomously (you have full control) Joy and pride from becoming competent in something you’re interested in
5. Voluntarily collaborating… Grobanites for Charity dot org Started by a few fans of Josh Groban. Have raised millions of dollars. All unpaid volunteers. What’s their intrinsic motivation? Linux OS LinusTorvalds asked for collaborators. The whole world joined him. All unpaid volunteers. Why did they give time and brain power to do this?
