Overjustification effect in psychology

Big Rewards

The overjustification effect is a finding that the pursuit of a desirable goal decreases when an external incentive is presented to encourage the effort.

The decrease in effort or motivation appears to be caused by the intrusion of the external incentive.

Comment

Some online explanations may be confusing external incentives with rewards and reinforcers when they do not consider the perspective of the person pursuing the goal. An external stimulus that produces a decrease in behavior is not a reinforcer because, by definition, a reinforcer strengthens behavior. The fact that a person thinks they are rewarding or reinforcing another's person's behavior does not mean they are providing a reward or reinforcer. If behavior decreases, following the presentation of something thought to be an incentive then it obviously was not an incentive (or reward or reinforcer).

Research quote from Lepper et al. (1973).

A field experiment was conducted with children to test the "overjustification" hypothesis suggested by self-perception theory—the proposition that a person's intrinsic interest in an activity may be decreased by inducing him to engage in that activity as an explicit means to some extrinsic goal.

Reference

Lepper, M. R., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (1973). Undermining children's intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward: A test of the "overjustification" hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28(1), 129–137. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0035519

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

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