Effects of external contingencies on an actively caring behavior: a field test of intrinsic motivation theory
Reward programs and incentive plans are popular methods of increasing desired behaviors in applied settings. Yet, opponents of "carrot and stick" interventions claim these programs are perceived as controlling and as a result are counterproductive to people's intrinsic motivation t...
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| Format: | Others |
| Language: | en |
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Virginia Tech
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40720 http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-01202010-020331/ |
| Summary: | Reward programs and incentive plans are popular methods of increasing desired
behaviors in applied settings. Yet, opponents of "carrot and stick" interventions claim
these programs are perceived as controlling and as a result are counterproductive to
people's intrinsic motivation to emit a desired response. The current research studied
intrinsic motivation theory in a community setting by combining written commitments
with external rewards, and manipulating the time at which the reward was delivered
(either prior to or subsequent to task completion). It was found that written commitments
only had no effect on the rate at which the target response was emitted. Written
commitments combined with contingent rewards increased the rate of responding during
intervention, but upon withdrawal, response rates dropped significantly below baseline.
Written commitments in combination with non-contingent rewards, offered in advance,
increased response rates during intervention and were more effective in maintaining
responding after the withdrawal of all contingencies. Additionally ~ the current research
used the Actively Caring (A C) Model (Geller, 1991) in an attempt to predict who would
be more likely to emit the AC target response. The model did not successfully predict the
rates at which the target response would be emitted. The implications of this research are
discussed from the theories of behavior analysis, intrinsic motivation, and equity.
Directions for future studies of intrinsic motivation in applied settings are also offered. === Master of Science |
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