Intrinsic Motivation

As I begin to write this Preface, I feel a rush of excitement. I have now finished the book; my gestalt is coming into completion. Throughout the months that I have been writing this, I have, indeed, been intrinsically motivated. Now that it is finished I feel quite competent and self-determining (see Chapter 2). Whether or not those who read the book will perceive me that way is also a concern of mine (an extrinsic one), but it is a wholly separate issue from the intrinsic rewards I have been experiencing. This book presents a theoretical perspective. It reviews an enormous amount of research which establishes unequivocally that intrinsic motivation exists. Also considered herein are various approaches to the conceptualizing of intrinsic motivation. The book concentrates on the approach which has developed out of the work of Robert White (1959), namely, that intrinsically motivated behaviors are ones which a person engages in so that he may feel competent and self-determining in relation to his environment. The book then considers the development of intrinsic motiva tion, how behaviors are motivated intrinsically, how they relate to and how intrinsic motivation is extrinsically motivated behaviors, affected by extrinsic rewards and controls. It also considers how changes in intrinsic motivation relate to changes in attitudes, how people attribute motivation to each other, how the attribution process is motivated, and how the process of perceiving motivation (and other internal states) in oneself relates to perceiving them in others.

Contenu
I The Nature of Intrinsic Motivation.- 1. Some Comments on the Why of Behavior.- 2. Conceptualizations of Intrinsic Motivation.- 3. Intrinsic Motivation and Development.- 4. The Intrinsic Motivation of Behavior.- II Extrinsic Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation.- 5. Cognitive Evaluation Theory: Effects of Extrinsic Rewards on Intrinsic Motivation.- 6. Cognitive Dissonance Theory: Effects of Insufficient Justification on Intrinsic Motivation.- 7. Inequity and Intrinsic Motivation.- 8. Implications and Applications.- III Related Issues.- 9. Pro-Attitudinal Advocacy: Effects of Extrinsic Rewards on Attitudes.- 10. Attribution and Motivation.- 11. Perceiving Intrinsic Motivation in Oneself and Others.- References.- Author Index.