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Give up or go on? At the grocery store, at school, at the office, while exercising, and in our daily lives, we face these choices every day, consciously or unconsciously. We are often manipulated by the dark twin of motivation: demotivation. It makes us cling to bad habits, prevents us from achieving our goals, and tells us to give up. But why?
In our subconscious, different forces are fighting for supremacy. Curiosity vs. boredom, stress vs. relaxation, distraction vs. attention, ambition vs. contentment, routine vs. variety. Depending on which one takes over, our behavior changes. No wonder the motivation process is one of the most exciting areas of research in neuroscience. In fact, for the first time, researchers have been able to analyze the true dimensions of these hidden forces and debunk some of the biggest myths about motivation. With surprising results.
Does reward drive us forward?
Until recently, salary increases, bonuses or premiums were considered to be one of the strongest stimuli or incentives to increase a person’s motivation. This principle is called extrinsic – motivation that comes from outside. However, many psychologists and neurobiologists are now convinced that extrinsic reward systems create short-term incentives at best and do not improve a person’s motivation.
On the contrary. At least that is the conclusion of a meta-analysis by psychologists Edward Deci and Richard M. Ryan from the University of Rochester (USA), who analyzed 128 experiments. Their conclusion is that rewards – from sweets to money – have a negative effect on intrinsic motivation, i.e. self-motivation. In numbers: For each dose of additional reward, intrinsic motivation decreases by 25 percent. There is one exception, though. When it comes to monotonous activities, money can increase intrinsic motivation.
“A pay rise only provides a short-term feeling of happiness, not lasting satisfaction,” explains business psychologist Mahena Stief. And even researchers from the neoliberal economic institute London School of Economics – after evaluating 51 studies on the subject of incentives – come to a clear conclusion: “Extrinsic incentives weaken our motivation.” And this does not only apply to financial rewards.
Does praise function like a drug?
“Keep it up!”, “Very good!”, “Great!” – parents can never praise their children enough and bosses can never compliment their employees enough – this motivational myth persists to this day. However, many researchers are now convinced that generations of parents have raised their children incorrectly because of this motivational error, and management seminars still recommend strategies for dealing with children that are, at best, ineffective or even counterproductive. Reason: By constantly praising someone, you may end up creating a real motivation junkie.
Motivation researcher Steffen Kirchner, on the other hand, advises using praise sparingly, but in a more targeted and personal or meaningful way: “In this way, it can actually have a motivating effect. Praise works like a drug. The more often you use it, the higher the dose has to be the next time to achieve an effect.”
Demotivation – I’d rather not
Another myth on motivation: To this day, managers are trained to motivate their employees in every possible way. The truth is that it is more than enough not to demotivate them. The biggest motivation killers are unrealistic goals, threats, and disrespectful treatment. Managers who can avoid these demotivators, they have already achieved much.
“When people are given the opportunity to take on responsibility and experience themselves as important, then their enthusiasm for their work returns. And enthusiasm is like fertilizer for our brains,” explains neurobiologist Gerald Hüther. But it is also a fact that it is not always extrinsic factors such as money, bonuses or the behavior of our fellow human beings that influence our motivation and our will. Often our own brain makes us give up, fail or wait – instead of overcoming ourselves, taking action and pushing boundaries…
