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We examined the effects of trait intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, measured by the Work Preference Inventory (WPI; Amabile, Hill, Hennessey, & Tighe, 1994), on creativity and academic performance. In an experimental creative writing task, intrinsic motivation correlated with creativity. In a follow-up study, intrinsic motivation correlated negatively with year-1 GPA, whereas extrinsic motivation correlated positively. Findings suggest that our college environment discourages intrinsic motivation and creativity.
Intrinsic motivation is the tendency to engage in tasks because one finds them interesting, challenging, involving, and satisfying, whereas extrinsic motivation is the tendency to engage in tasks because of task-unrelated factors such as promise of rewards and punishments, dictates from superiors, surveillance, and competition (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Intrinsic motivation has been traditionally measured in experimental conditions as free-choice time spent on an interesting task following the departure of the experimenter: The longer the participant keeps working on the task by own choice, the higher intrinsic motivation (Deci, 1971; Deci & Ryan).
Experimental manipulations have shown that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are state variables that can rapidly change. Factors that can turn off intrinsic motivation and promote extrinsic motivation include surveillance, competition, and rewards that do not provide performance feedback, such as paying a person for completing a task irrespectively of the quality of his or her work (Deci & Ryan, 1985). When these factors are manipulated in experimental conditions to induce temporary states of extrinsic motivation, participants exhibit poorer concept attainment (McCullers & Martin, 1971), impaired problem solving (Glucksberg, 1962), and lower creative output (Amabile, 1979).
In Deci and Ryan's (1985) organismic integration theory, intrinsic motivation is the energizer of the organismic integration process through which elements of one's internal and external worlds are first differentiated and then integrated harmoniously with one's existing structures. The integrative process requires exploratory behaviors to provide the development of competencies. The exploratory behaviors are typically intrinsically motivated; if they actually lead to the development of competencies, they in turn enhance intrinsic motivation. Environments that provide optimal challenges, support for autonomy, and competence feedback facilitate exploratory behavior and promote intrinsic motivation, whereas environments that provide excessive or insufficient challenges, penalize autonomy, and provide controlling feedback discourage exploratory behavior and thwart intrinsic motivation. The theory postulates that the interaction between the person's...