Pros and cons of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards - Essay Example

The Pros and Cons of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Rewards al Affiliation The Pros and Cons of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Rewards Motivation is one of the factors that determine the performance of individuals relevant to the activities they may get engaged into. The nature of motivation used to promote such individual performances may vary depending on the interests of those issuing such motivations. There are different forms of motivations. Some of these forms of motivations may comprise of intrinsic motivation as well as extrinsic motivation (Sansone and Harackiewicz, 2000).

Based on the above, it is important to understand the differences that exist between the two forms of motivation relevant to their definitions and meanings. Extrinsic motivation refers to such outside or external factors and aspects that may influence the behavior of human beings in certain measures. These may involve boosting of the moods of the person thereby leading to developing of interests towards an activity and liking it altogether, this may be associated with increased performance of such an individual (Cameron, 2006).

Intrinsic motivation may refer to the inward motivation and drive that pushes people to perform certain tasks because they like it, but not necessarily for any presupposed gain. This paper is going to explore the benefits and demerits of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. The pros of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards One of the benefits of extrinsic and extrinsic motivations is the increased performance (Sansone and Harackiewicz, 2000). Extrinsic motivations may take the forms of rewards.

This contributes a lot towards making the individuals to dedicate more of their efforts, skills and time in completion of certain take. Rewards, both tangible and psychological always lead to increased performances and high quality outcomes. In classroom setups, both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations may lead to increased competition since each student may want to be rewarded at the end of it all. This boosts academic outcomes and shapes the students towards excellence. The cons of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards There are several demerits of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.

In classroom setups, extrinsic motivations may be viewed and argued as aspects of discriminations against the students. This follows that it always leads to some form of academic barriers and stigmatizations (Cameron, 2006). Some students who may not get the rewards as regular may be perceived incompetent by other colleagues. This demeans and belittles those students. In addition, in many cases, the rewards are always given out based on the person who leads but not the one who has shown tremendous improvement in an area.

In most cases, such always lead to some forms of discriminations. The same may also apply to the workplaces. As such, it is important to note that rewards may be demoralizing at times. Bibliography Cameron, J. (2006). Rewards and intrinsic motivation: Resolving the controversy. S.l.: Information Age Pub Inc. Sansone, C., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: The search for optimal motivation and performance. San Diego: Academic Press.