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What actually motivates us?

2024-01-19 · Short · Ali · recording, 0:40 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Mindset, motivation and happiness · mode: Explanation and tutorial · tags: Evidence-based framing, Feel-Good Productivity thesis

In a clip tied to his book Feel-Good Productivity, Ali tells how the psychologist Edward Deci, from the early 1970s, questioned the view that incentives drive motivation, and says that according to self-determination theory intrinsic motivation is substantially more powerful than extrinsic: lasting motivation comes from within.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Edward Deci, the motivation spectrum and self-determination theory

  • ★★ Ali says the psychologist Edward Deci, starting in the early 1970s, asked what motivates people to do hard things; until then most scientists thought motivation was mainly driven by incentives such as rewards and punishments. — 00:00:00
  • ★ Ali relates that motivation came to be seen as a spectrum, from intrinsic motivation, which comes from the inside through self-fulfilment, curiosity and a genuine desire to learn, to extrinsic motivation, which comes from the outside through pay rises, material rewards and social approval. — 00:00:00

  • ★★★ According to self-determination theory, Ali says, intrinsic motivation is substantially more powerful than extrinsic motivation: lasting motivation comes from within. — 00:00:29

    “Lasting motivation comes from within.”

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: self-determination theory

Also: Edward Deci · extrinsic motivation

Only in the description or credits: Feel-Good Productivity (book)

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