Lesson video

Hi, there.

Great to have you with me.

It's Mr. Broom here with a lesson on "Motivation: Intrinsic and extrinsic," from the sports psychology, mental preparation for performance unit.

Great to have you with me.

As I said, today's lesson is all about different types of motivation, on what motivates people to play their sports or do their physical activities.

We all have different things that motivate us, and it's gonna be interesting to see whether the things that motivate you are things that are going to keep you motivated for the long term, whether you're gonna be committed to your sport or want to continue your sport, and whether your sources of motivation are good ones.

And this lesson will help you analyse that.

Let's begin, shall we? So by the end of today's lesson, you should be able to explain the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in sport, and provide some relevant examples of each.

Four key words for today.

Extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, tangible, and intangible.

Four words you'll become very familiar with during the lesson.

But feel free to pause the video here and have a look at their definitions if you wish to.

Today's lesson is a two-parter.

Our first section is called, "Understanding intrinsic and extrinsic motivation." Jacob has a question for you, "What motivates you to do your sport or physical activity?" And that's something you might want to pause the video here and reflect on.

What is it that keeps you coming back for more? What is it that makes you turn up for training or for performances? Aisha says, "I love running because I feel really proud every time I get a new personal best." And Sam says that they like trying to win medals and trophies with their basketball team.

And what differences do you notice between these two motivations? Have a look at them carefully, and what is it about them that might be a little bit different? Let's take Aisha's motivation.

She loves running "because I feel really proud every time I get a new personal best." Aisha is motivated by pride.

We know that, don't we? And feelings of satisfaction in her personal achievement.

And this is what we call intrinsic motivation.

It's the drive that comes from within you.

You want to feel proud, or satisfied, or a sense of accomplishment or self-worth.

All these are emotions and feelings that come from inside you.

Let's compare that to Sam.

So what we can see is that Sam is motivated by the medal or the trophy, and this is an external reward.

The medal, the trophy, something external, isn't it? It's not coming from within.

And so we call this extrinsic motivation.

We've got intrinsic and we've got extrinsic motivation.

Now, extrinsic motivation is the drive to perform well or to win in order to gain external awards such as prizes, money, and praise, anything that comes from outside of you as a reward for how well you've performed.

So which of these is intrinsically motivated, like Aisha with her running? Is it Alex who says, "I want to get my 50-meter swimming badge?" Is it Laura? "I play because I love the sound of applause from the crowd when I do well." Or could it be Jacob? "I just love the feeling I get when I'm dancing." Which of those are intrinsically motivated? Well done if you spotted that Jacob is the intrinsically motivated of the three.

Let's have a look at each of them in turn.

Alex wants a badge, a 50-meter swimming badge.

That badge is something that somebody's going to give to him.

So it's external, isn't it? Or extrinsic.

Laura loves the sound of applause from the crowd.

That's not the sound of the applause from herself.

That's the sound of other people clapping.

And so, again, it's an external reward for how well she's done.

It's an extrinsic motivation.

But Jacob loves the feeling he gets when he's dancing.

Might be a sense of satisfaction or pride.

Whichever it is, he loves that feeling.

He's not talking about anybody else.

He's not getting something from somebody else, or a prize, or a badge, or applause.

What he is talking about there is the feeling he gets.

And so he's intrinsically motivated.

Now, extrinsic motivation, like Alex and Laura, perhaps just demonstrated, can be categorised in two ways.

Medals, certificates, trophies, et cetera, et cetera.

I'm sure you can think of some other types of external rewards that you can see and touch.

And this see and touch is something we call tangible rewards, okay? So if you could see and touch it, they are tangible rewards.

But the other side of extrinsic rewards could be getting praised, or getting applause, or some positive feedback that somebody says to you.

They're still external sources of motivation 'cause they've come from somebody else, but they're not ones that you can touch, or take home, or hang up on your wall.

That means these are intangible rewards.

So they're extrinsic, but they're intangible.

Let's check for your understanding.

Which of these images show intangible rewards? What we've got here is some baseball as they're kind of giving high fives, and smiling and chatting to each other.

We've got B, a trophy, and C, somebody giving you a thumbs up.

Well, A and C are intangible.

Yes, you can touch a high five, but you can't keep it, all right? Once it's done, it's done.

It's over.

And somebody giving you a thumbs up, again, you can't touch it, you can't keep it.

Whereas a trophy is something that you can touch and you can keep.

And so a trophy is something that's tangible, whereas the high fives, or the praise, and the thumbs up, are examples of intangible rewards.

So, well done if you got that the correct way around.

Here's a practise task for this first section on understanding intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Here we see a group of people.

And I wonder if you can tell what sport they're playing.

They're playing something called crown green bowls or crown green bowling.

So they're a group of friends who meet twice a week to play crown green bowls, and once a month at their bowls club, there's a competition between the members for the club trophy.

What I'd like you to do, is identify one source of intrinsic motivation, one source of tangible extrinsic motivation, and one source of intangible extrinsic motivation which might motivate the friends.

We don't know for sure what motivates each of them, but we can suggest what might motivate them.

Pause the video here and write down the three answers that you have.

Okay, so let's begin with intrinsic motivation.

What could possibly be intrinsically motivating this group of friends? You might have said that they are motivated by enjoyment of the game.

They might just love turning up to play crown green bowls, and the love of the game and the enjoyment of the game is all they need.

They are intrinsically motivated.

Something else you might have said, "They get satisfaction or self-satisfaction from performing well, or maybe even for improving their performance." So they might be getting better at crown green bowls, and that's the reason that they love going back every week to try and improve even more.

Or it might be that they get a feeling of self-worth and belonging.

This is a great example of sport providing a social setting for people to see their friends and be part of a group and part of a club, and that feeling of self-worth that comes with that might be the motivation that they need to continue attending.

How about tangible extrinsic motivation? Now, I mentioned in the task that there's a club trophy, which is up for grabs each month.

So the friends might enjoy competing for the club trophy each month, and they might be the one that wants to take the trophy home.

It's a trophy so it's tangible.

They can take it home and put it on the mantle piece.

How about intangible extrinsic motivation? So, not something that you can take home and put on the mantle piece, but it still comes from outside of you.

Well, this is something you might have said.

You might have said that they like being praised or applauded when they play crown green balls well.

What we can see here in the picture is there's a bit of a celebration going on.

Somebody's obviously performed well.

They're getting praised.

They're getting cheered.

They're getting clapped.

And that feeling of getting that intangible extrinsic motivation might be the reason that they turn up each week.

They might enjoy that feeling of being praised or applauded, and that intangible extrinsic motivation might be the reason they keep going back each week.

Well done if you've got something similar under the three different categories that I asked you to.

That brings us to the second part of today's lesson, "Evaluating the merits of different motivations." So, extrinsic rewards, like the medal that this guy has won, can be a great source of pride and of self-satisfaction.

People often display their extrinsic rewards in their home to remind them of their achievements, and provide further extrinsic motivation.

I've seen lots of professional athletes who have, maybe like, a trophy cabinet, or even a room dedicated to extrinsic rewards that they've received down the years, depending on how successful they've been of course.

Certificates, medals, badges, and stickers, work particularly well with motivating young people.

So you'll see in lots of primary schools, for example, lots of certificates being handed out, lots of badges, lots of awards being handed out to help motivate the students.

Now, Jun asks an interesting question here, accompanied by this picture of a girl who's clearly won a lot of tangible extrinsic rewards in her young tennis career.

But Jun says, "Can you think of any dangers of relying on extrinsic rewards for your motivation?" If this girl, for example, only now plays tennis because they want to win the next trophy and add to that great collection that they've got, what might be the danger of that? Have a little think here.

Maybe even pause the video while you have a think about how you'll answer Jun's question.

So one of the dangers, the big danger of only relying on extrinsic rewards for motivation is that that person then maybe become over-reliant on extrinsic rewards and give up if or when they stop winning, okay? This girl has enjoyed a tennis career with lots of medals, lots of trophies.

If suddenly she stopped winning those medals and started finishing fourth or fifth in the competition, for example, would she still be motivated to play tennis? Or has now the lack of medals and trophies meant that she's not as interested anymore? And is that a good thing? What will that lead to? Quite possibly it'll lead to her not playing tennis anymore if the trophies were the only thing that were motivating her.

So, intrinsic motivation on the other hand, is generally deemed more effective 'cause it's personal, that personal motivation from within.

So intrinsic motivation is more likely to lead to somebody having continued effort, commitment, and participation.

Let's think back to the girl with all the trophies.

If she was playing tennis because she loved the feeling of playing tennis, she just loved the sport, it was completely intrinsic motivation, and all those medals and trophies that she received were just a happy bonus of her playing her sport, but she would play whether she got those trophies or not.

That's the benefit of being intrinsically motivated rather than extrinsically.

So too much extrinsic motivation can undermine the strength of intrinsic motivation.

So we've got to be careful not to keep rewarding people with extrinsic motivation, on not allowing the intrinsic motivation.

The love of participation, the feeling of satisfaction, the enjoyment of participating and feeling of self-worth perhaps, needs to grow inside the person so that they are doing it for them and not for the trophies and the extrinsic rewards that they may get but might dry up in future.

Let's check for understanding.

A benefit of using extrinsic rewards as motivation is that it can be a great source of pride.

Is that true or false? It's true.

Now, why did you think that was true? Well done if you said true, by the way.

Why do you think that's true? Well, extrinsic rewards such as medals and trophies provide a tangible reminder of your achievements and can be a great source of pride and self-satisfaction.

As I said earlier, young people love certificates, and trophies, and medals, and stickers, okay? But as we get older, let's be honest, we still enjoy receiving them.

Even adults still enjoy receiving medal or trophy, and it more than likely will end up on display somewhere perhaps as a reminder of how well you did.

And so, yes, extrinsic rewards can be a real source of motivation and pride.

No harm in that at all.

Second check for understanding.

Which of these statements is correct.

Is it A, extrinsic motivation should not be used because people become over-reliant on it, B, we should ensure that extrinsic rewards are not the only source of motivation, because intrinsic motivation is very important, or C, too much intrinsic motivation can undermine the strength of extrinsic motivation? Which of those statements is correct? Well done if you said B.

B is this correct statement there.

Let's go through them and understand why.

So A, extrinsic motivation should not be used because people become over-reliant on it.

There's an element of truth that we can become over-reliant on extrinsic motivation, but doesn't mean it should be ruled out altogether.

We can use use extrinsic motivation, just not all the time, and not allow people to become over-reliant on it.

But it could still be a great source of motivation.

C said that too much intrinsic motivation can undermine the strength of extrinsic motivation when actually it's the other way around.

So well done if you spotted that.

Too much extrinsic motivation can undermine the strength of intrinsic motivation.

But as we know, B was the correct statement.

We should ensure that extrinsic rewards are not the only source of motivation.

So it's okay to use them, because intrinsic motivation is very important and we don't want to discourage the development of intrinsic motivation by relying on extrinsic rewards all the time.

Well done if you said B.

Now, a little bit of background here before you do a task, and that task involves a little bit of understanding of the London Marathon.

If we think about the London Marathon, did you know around 54,000 people participate in the London Marathon? It's one of the biggest marathons in the world.

Now there are only four race winners.

So there's a male winner, a female winner, a male wheelchair winner, and a female wheelchair winner.

And they're the four different categories that you can win the London Marathon in.

So four out of 54,000 people can say that they won the London Marathon.

And most of the world's top marathon runners take part in the elite race, okay? So lots of the best runners in the world want to take part and try to win that medal and say that they won the London Marathon.

It's a bit of background information that's gonna help you with this practise task now.

So Jacob, who is 16 years old, has just started running in his spare time, okay? And he says that "When I turn 18, I'm going to enter the London Marathon and win the trophy." So Jacob is certainly motivated to keep his running up for at least another two years.

Questions for you, based on what we know about Jacob, and a little bit about what we know about the London Marathon as well now.

What type of motivation does Jacob have? Number two, identify one problem which may result from Jacob's source of motivation.

Three, suggest a way in which Jacob could benefit from a different source of motivation.

And the fourth part of this task, is explain why you think the majority of runners take part in the London Marathon.

What is their motivation? Pause the video here and complete the four different parts of that task, and I will see you shortly for some suggested answers.

Okay, here's Jacob again.

And as we know, Jacob wants to win the London Marathon when he's 18, which is in two years' time.

So what type of motivation does he have? It's extrinsic, isn't it? He talked about wanting to win the trophy.

He wants that London Marathon trophy in his hands.

So that's extrinsic motivation.

You may have also said tangible extrinsic motivation.

Well done if you did.

Then I asked you to identify a problem which may result from Jacob's source of motivation.

This idea that he's going to win the trophy in two years' time.

I wonder what you said about that.

Did you say that he may become over-reliant on extrinsic motivation? The problem that that may lead to, is that it may undermine any intrinsic motivation he has.

And if he doesn't win the trophy, which is extremely likely, an 18-year-old runner, no matter how good they are, generally won't win the London Marathon, it's never happened before.

So he might lose motivation and give up running when he realises on that first marathon that he takes part in as he turns 18, that actually it's very unlikely he'll even come close to winning with all the different elite runners that are taking part.

Will that mean that he just gives up on running altogether based on the fact that his motivation all along was just to win the trophy? It could be the case, couldn't it? Section 3 of the task said, "Suggest a way in which Jacob could benefit from a different source of motivation." And hopefully you recognise that if Jacob can find a source of intrinsic motivation, he's more likely to continue running and continue his efforts.

He could perhaps find enjoyment or self-satisfaction in his personal achievements in running.

If he forgets the idea of winning the trophy and instead focuses on how running makes him feel, and how maybe he's made progress, and how he's got a personal best that he's aiming to beat and feel great about it every time he does beat his personal best, it's much more likely that Jacob is going to continue running than it is if he just focuses his efforts on trying to win the London Marathon trophy.

Okay, and the fourth part of our task was to explain why you think the majority of runners take part in the London Marathon.

We know there's 54,000 people taking part.

A tiny, tiny percentage of people can win that marathon.

And so most of them know that they can't win, if they're realistic.

And so they're not extrinsically motivated in terms of "I'm going to win the trophy." "I'm going to cross the finish line first." "I'm going to be the one in the photo holding the trophy and say, 'I'm the London Marathon winner.

'" However, you might, if you know a little bit about the the London Marathon, everybody does get a participation medal, which will be a great source of pride for lots of people.

And so it might be that some people do it because they want to receive that medal, and that would be extrinsic motivation, wouldn't it? It's an extrinsic reward, a tangible one.

They might be extrinsically motivated by performing in front of a crowd.

A huge crowd turns out for the London Marathon, and they cheer them on and they create this great atmosphere.

And so, that might be a motivating source for people who take part in the London Marathon, to be part of that event, and to be cheered by the crowd, and perform in front of a crowd.

Most of them though are doing it for the sense of pride that they're going to get in crossing the line.

The sense of achievement at being able to complete a marathon, and a feeling of self-worth in completing the distance, which is a tough challenge for the most of the people who take part in the marathon.

But that would therefore be an intrinsic source of motivation, wouldn't it? Another reason you may have noted, and well done if you did, is that lots of people use the London Marathon to get sponsored and to raise money for charities, which again gives this very self-satisfying feeling of helping others.

Again, it's an intrinsic motivation, that feeling of helping other people.

So here's our summary on today's lesson on motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic sources of motivation.

And people are motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic sources.

Intrinsic motivation comes from within you.

And the examples here are pride and self-satisfaction, but there are more as we know.

Extrinsic motivation comes from external sources, and they can be tangible, something like medals, or intangible, something like praise.

Intrinsic motivation is more likely to lead to continued effort and participation, whereas extrinsic motivation can provide a sense of pride but should not be used excessively, otherwise, it may be over relied on.

So thanks for being part of today's lesson and joining me for this lesson on motivation.

I wonder what motivates you to take part in your physical activity and sport, and whether what we've learned today makes you think a little bit more about the sources of motivation you get, and whether it's going to help you to maintain your participation and your commitment to your sport.

Be interested to find out.

I'll see you soon for another lesson.

You take care.