Intrinsic Motivation - Motivation Without External Pressure

Intrinsic motivation refers motivation doing an activity for its own sake because it is interesting and satisfying in itself, in opposition to doing something for an external reward. In that sense, the reward is inherent to that activity.

However, all human actions and behaviors have a motive. In this case it is motivated by our larger goals of self-growth and our innate psychological needs.

Intrinsically motivated actions and behaviors relate to those innate needs, which make people act without any external pressure or influence. 
According to Deci and Ryan, eminent psychologists have carried out extensive research on human motivation and personality that lead to the Self-Determination Theory, in the 1970s.

The self-determination theory is concerned with peoples’ innate growth tendencies and their innate psychological needs. It focuses on the degree to which a person ‘s behavior is self motivated and self-determined.

They have identified three main intrinsic needs involved in self-determination. These needs motivate the self to initiate behavior that is essential for psychological health and well-being.

These needs are our needs for

• competence,
• autonomy and
• relatedness.

Competence refers to being effective in dealing with the environment a person finds himself in.

Autonomy is the human urge to be self-reliant and act in harmony with our inner selves.

Relatedness is the human want to interact, be connected to and experience caring for others.

Our desire to keep growing, to keep stretching ourselves towards higher levels of knowledge and achievement make our lives continue to be exciting.

There are several layers to this type of motivation.

There are apparent levels which are self-worth or self-esteem and at deeper levels are that of self-actualization.

In general, all human beings life’s goals are to feel whole, that is to be able to satisfy one’s own needs and desires and to develop our potentialities to their maximum.

However, we can also safely say that our extrinsic motivations can carry intrinsic motivation. Let me explain.

When our extrinsic motivations are aligned with our ultimate inner psychological needs of self-actualization, we can say the actions we perform or the behavior we adopt carry in itself the inherent satisfaction for achieving that particular goal.

In that sense all extrinsic motivations emanate from intrinsic motivations. The degrees at which we measure them make them appear as being intrinsic or extrinsic.

At the end of the day all actions and behaviors are intrinsically motivated.

Learn more about motivation theories. 

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