100 Things Every Presenter Needs to Know About People

33. People Are More Motivated By Intrinsic Rewards than by Extrinsic Rewards

So far in this chapter, the conversation has been about operant and Pavlovian conditioning and the use of rewards and reinforcements. Although the use of rewards and reinforcements has been proved to establish and shape behavior, there are drawbacks to using operant and Pavlovian conditioning.

One of the criticisms of operant and Pavlovian conditioning is that the behavior may not stick forever. These methods work well when you are trying to change behavior during one presentation session. But what if you are interested in more permanent behavior change when the presentation is completed?

Research shows that sometimes giving rewards and reinforcements (called extrinsic ...