Immediate Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Woolley, Kaitlin Rose, author.
Imprint:2017.
Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2017
Description:1 electronic resource (103 pages)
Language:English
Format: E-Resource Dissertations
Local Note:School code: 0330
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11715019
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:University of Chicago. degree granting institution.
ISBN:9780355076950
Notes:Advisors: Ayelet Fishbach Committee members: Ann L. McGill; Jane L. Risen; Oleg Urminsky.
Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 78-12(E), Section: A.
English
Summary:How do immediate rewards influence intrinsic motivation? Whereas these phenomena comprise separate areas of research and have typically been studied independently, some degree of overlap exists between the psychology of both. Intrinsic rewards make up the experience of activity pursuit and are often immediate; extrinsic rewards are the outcome of pursuit, often arriving with a delay. Accordingly, in two chapters I explore this relationship and the consequences for motivating goal pursuit. Chapter 1 examines the valuation of intrinsic rewards across stages of goal pursuit, documenting that intrinsic rewards are more important inside pursuit, when they are experienced, than at a distance outside pursuit. For example, people care that an exercise relieves stress and is relaxing in the present more than in the future. This work further documented that people expect intrinsic rewards to arrive earlier, during pursuit, than extrinsic rewards. Following this, Chapter 2 examines whether the early arrival of rewards renders an activity intrinsically motivated. Building on the notion that intrinsic motivation is the outcome of a strong association between an activity and its goal, I find immediacy increases intrinsic motivation by strengthening this activity-goal association.