Intrinsic or extrinsic motivation
Starter
1. On the cards you find a number of aspects that students might think
important with regard to schools. Which aspects are very important for
you, which are less important? Sort the cards into a diamond.
A diamond looks like this:
The most important item comes on top, the least important one at the buttom. The middle
row has the items that you find neither really important nor really unimportant, while the two
rows inbetween have items that are either more or less important (top) or more or less
unimportant (buttom).
good marks
not to much stress
the opportunity to use
initiative
that all students are
treated equally
little homework
the chance to obtain a
good degree
Anke Uhlenwinkel – University of Potsdam/Germany
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to be able to take part in
the decision-making
process at school
2.
interesting subjects
to be responsible for your
learning process
Are you rather intrinsically or extrinsically motivated? To find this out, you first have to
be clear about, what these too terms mean. Here you find definitions of the terms and
statements of two people working in different European countries.
Intrinsic motivation: People, who are intrinsically motivated, do things because they want
to and because they think that what they do is interesting. They like what they do.
Extrinsic motivation: People, who are extrinsically motivated, do things because they want
to achieve other things, that is, they don’t do it, because they like what they do, but because
the action will help to get other things.
Dariusz Rogala
Jean Charbonnier
What does work mean to you?
What does work mean to you?
„It is a means to an end that is to earn
money. I don’t enjoy doing it.“
„My job has always interested me and I
never found doing it a pain. I worked
seven years longer than I had to, without
getting any extra pension. Simply
because it was fun.“
(Source: Fischer, Gabriele; Lau, Peter (2008) (Hrsg.): Der Mensch. Die kleinste
wirtschaftliche Einheit. – München, S. 52/53 und 120/121)
Who of the two is more intrinsically motivated and who is more extrinsically motivated?
Anke Uhlenwinkel – University of Potsdam/Germany
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3.
Which aspects on the cards show a more intrinsic, which show a more extrinsic
motivation? Write them onto the line using the letters at the buttom right.
intrinsic
4.
______________________________________________________
extrinsic
So how is your motivation? Is it rather intrinsic or rather extrinsic?
Investigating motivation at different scales
5.
Now calculate the average motivation in your class. To do that you assign different
values to your cards as laid out in the diamond: the file card at the top gets 5 points, the
next two cards get 4 points each, the three cards in the middle get 3 points each and so
forth. Than you add the points for each aspect and produce a diamond for the whole
class.
5
4
3
4
3
2
3
2
1
Example: Aspect X may appear on top with one student, in the middle row with another
student and in the second last row with a third student. This would mean that you have to
add 5 + 3 + 2 = 10. You can now calculate the average dividing 10 by 3, which makes 3.33.
6.
Compare your personal diamond with the diamonds of your classmates and the „class
diamond“. What similarities and differenes do you find?
7.
Explain how and why the statement of the “class diamond” differs from the statements
of your personal diamonds.
Anke Uhlenwinkel – University of Potsdam/Germany
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8.
In a large scale study sociologists from different European countries have tried to find
out, whether people in Europe show rather an intrinsic or an extrisic work motivation.
German participants gave the following answers (1 = important; 0 = unimportant):
Produce a diamond for the work motivation of the Germans.
9.
Compare the diamond of the German adults with the diamond of your class. Are there
similarities? Are there differences?
10.
How do German adults judge compared to the work motivation in other European
countries? Use the following diagrams of the Netherlands and of Turkey for a
comparison.
Anke Uhlenwinkel – University of Potsdam/Germany
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Netherlands
Turkey
11.
The scientists visualized their data in a number of maps to make it easier to compare
attitudes towards work in different European countries.
Anke Uhlenwinkel – University of Potsdam/Germany
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Anke Uhlenwinkel – University of Potsdam/Germany
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Choose one of the maps and compare the scores of Germany, the Netherlands and
Turkey.
Note: If you like to work on another aspect of work motivation, you can download the
appropriate maps from www.atlasofeuropeanvalues.eu.
12.
The diagrams and the maps show the same data in different ways. Formulate a
question which can be answered by looking at the diagrams. Formulate another
question that can be answered by looking at the maps.
13.
Make a short note on what you have to keep in mind, when reading diagrams and
maps.
What does it all mean for you?
14.
Many scientists today think that enterprises can only compete in the global market,
when they succeed in finding employees that are flexible and mobile, that is that they
can alter their working hours and work places without any problems. They also have
to be able to adjust themselves to new situations and to be creative and innovative.
Keeping in mind these requirements, how do you jugde your chances on the
European labour market when looking at your answers from the very beginning? What
makes you think so?
Anke Uhlenwinkel – University of Potsdam/Germany
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Evaluation questions
1. What did you learn about work motivation?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
2. What did you learn about the visualisiation (in maps, digramms or even diamonds) of data
sets?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
3. What aspects of the assignment did you like?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
4. What aspects of the assignment did you dislike?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Anke Uhlenwinkel – University of Potsdam/Germany
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Teacher Information
This assignment is primarily aimed at pupils at key stage 3 (11-14 years old), but can also be
used with older students.
The aim of the assignment is to make pupils aware of their own work ethics and of those of
others, inside their class, inside their country and in Europe (knowledge of Europe;
geographical concepts: scale, diversity). Apart from that the assignment wants to raise an
awareness of the fact, that data on value judgements of people may change their meaning
when put into different contexts, as shown in a comparison of the analysis of a set of data in
one European country with the analysis of one set of data across all European countries
(value education). Furthermore the assignment aims to foster critical thinking skills in relation
to data handling, data representation and data interpretation (critical citizenship).
The assignment can be taught in two lessons with the first one focusing on tasks 1 to 7 and
the second one dealing with tasks 8 to 14. Depending on where the lesson is taught, it would
make sense to exchange the examples so that the country of the pupils is included. In case
there is only one lesson avaible, task 5 to 8 could be left out. Task 14 could be made into a
homework.
The assignment is intended to be taught in the geography classroom. If taught in geography,
tasks 9 to 13 should be included. Apart from geography, the assignment can also be taught
in citizenship or political education.
Relating to the student
The sorting exercise in task 1 seeks to relate the rather abstract topic of work ethics to the
pupils own lives and judgements. The aspects were chosen with regard to the aspects that
the European Values Study uses in the question on work motivation. Not all items mentioned
in the questionnaire can be translated easily into a school context. Unfortunately EVS 3
(1999/2000) and EVS 4 (2007/2008) use slightly different aspects: the aspect of how good
the chances are for promotion is only found in the third wave, while the questions of being
treated equally and being given the chance to take part in the decision making process were
only considered in the fourth wave. Once the data of the fourth wave are available it would
be good to integrate them into the diagrams in task 7 and 9.
The cards were “numbered” with letters to use in task 3. To prevent students from
suspecting a kind of hidden agenda, the letters used do not follow the alphabet.
The outcomes of the diamond ranking can show pupils whether they are rather intrinsically
are extrinsically motivated. But before they can understand what the diamond may tell them,
they have to have a clear idea of the concepts and they have to understand that not very
aspect can be categorized easily. This last question can be investigated by another classical
sorting exercise (task 3). It was not only put in to deepen the students’ understanding of
“extrinsic” and “intrinsic”, but also because some aspects are deeply contested in the
scientific discussion (Mandel, 2007). For example, “good chances for promotion” are seen by
some as intrinsic and by others as extrinsic motivation.
Anke Uhlenwinkel – University of Potsdam/Germany
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The book from which the pictures and quotations in task 2 were taken offers some more
information on the persons shown:
Dariusz Rogala, 28, worker (Poland)
Jean Carbonnier, 77, engineer (France)
Investigating motivation at different scales
The main part of this assignment leads the pupils from their personal results to the result of
their class, on to a comparison with the results of adults in their country and then other
European countries and Europe as a whole.
In this movement up the scale task 5 gives students the chance to do a little science for
themselves and thereby train scientific competences. More able students might be asked to
use the average instead of the sum.
Task 7 focuses on the difference between individual statements and sums or averages.
Although these sums and averages somehow mirror what the individuals in a group think or
feel, it may still be that some of the ideas of individual people get lost “in the great, big
whole”.
Turning the data in the diagram in task 8 into a diamond does not only make it easier to
compare the students’ diamond with the adults’ results, but it also shows students that you
can visualize the same information in different ways, thereby sometimes making the content
clearer.
For this task you should also use the data of your respective country. This might mean, that
you also have to adjust the data in task 10.
Form the German point of view, Turkey and the Netherlands have been chosen for
comparison for different reasons. Turkey for Germans is an obvious country for comparison
because a lot of Turkish people live in Germany. The Netherlands are a direct neighbour and
often people from outside the two countries think that they are pretty similar (like we tend to
think that Spain and Portugal are similar, which is not the case).
Turkey has also been chosen because the pattern of their answers is pretty singular and one
might get the impression that the Turkish participants in the EVS may have a different
answer behaviour, which makes it more difficult to interpret the results. Thinking about this
methodological question is at the core of task 11 and 12.
What does it all mean for you?
Task 14 leads back to the beginning, but also asks students to take a good look at the
material and not to draw to quick a conclusion.
Anke Uhlenwinkel – University of Potsdam/Germany
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Solutions
Task 1
Individual answer
One possible answer could be:
interesting
subjects
little homework
good marks
to be responsible
for your learning
process
not too much
stress
the opportunity to
use initiative
the chance to
obtain a good
degree
to take part in the
decision-making
process
that all students
are treated
equally
Anke Uhlenwinkel – University of Potsdam/Germany
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Another possible answer could look like this:
that all students
are treated
equally
to take part in the
decision-making
process
the chance to
obtain a good
degree
not too much
stress
good marks
interesting
subjects
the opportunity to
use initiative
little homework
to be responsible
for your learning
process
Note: These are just two out of the 362,880 answers possible!
Task 2
Dariusz obviously expresses a completely extrinsic motivation, while Jean is intrinsically
motivated.
Task 3
As stated above the results might slightly vary. Nevertheless “good marks”, “little stress” and
“little homework” probably sooner belong to the “extrinsic” side, while “interesting subjects”,
“initiative”, “responsibility” and “taking part in decision making” might be found on the
“intrinsic” side. “Being treated equally” and “having good chances for promotion” can easily
be found somewhere in between.
Anke Uhlenwinkel – University of Potsdam/Germany
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Task 4
Individual answer
As there is such a wide variety answers possible in task 2, this task can not be answered
here. In task 5 you find two diamonds that show on the one hand a rather intrinsic and on the
other hand a rather extrinsic motivation scheme. But keep in mind that all in all there are
362,880 different diamonds possible. That, of course, means that there are also a large
number of ways of expressing either more intrinsic or more extrinsic views.
Task 5
Individual group answer
One possible intrinsic motivation scheme:
interesting
subjects
the opportunity to
use initiative
that all students
are treated
equally
to be responsible
for your learning
process
to take part in the
decision-making
process
not too much
stress
the chance to
obtain a good
degree
little homework
good marks
Anke Uhlenwinkel – University of Potsdam/Germany
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One possible extrinsic motivation scheme:
good marks
not too much
stress
little homework
that all students
are treated
equally
to take part in the
decision-making
process
the opportunity to
use initiative
the chance to
obtain a good
degree
to be responsible
for your learning
process
interesting
subjects
Task 6
Individual answer
As this comparison might take place between 362,880 possible answers, it is impossible to
formulate a meaningful possible answer here.
Task 7
The sum or average at the same time show more and less than individual answers, as they
give an overview but thereby also hide the complexity of the matter.
Anke Uhlenwinkel – University of Potsdam/Germany
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Task 8
good pay
pleasant people
to work with
interesting job
achieve sth.
responsibility
chances of
promotion
initiative
little stress
generous
holidays
Task 9
Individual group answer
Taking the answers in task 2 as a background, both students would find, that they value
“good marks” a lot less than adults value “good pay”. Student 1 values generous sparetime
(= little homework) a lot more than the adults do, while student 2 comes closer to the adult
point of view. On the other hand student 2 hardly finds an “interesting” work important, while
student 1 and the average of the adults rank it pretty high.
Task 10
The diagrams of Germany and the Netherlands look pretty similar, but in some aspects there
are also marked differences: the Dutch value “pleasant people to work with” and the
opportunity to use one’s initiative a lot higher than Germans do. To them “pleasant people to
work with” are even more important than “good pay”. On the other hand they seem to be
more prone to stress.
Anke Uhlenwinkel – University of Potsdam/Germany
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The diagram of Turkey differs a lot from both the diagrams of the Netherlands and of
Germany. For them almost everything is more important than for anybody else and there is
also little variation in the answers given, except for “generous holidays” and “interesting
work” which show lower scores, but only the aspects of “interesting work” scores lower than
in the other two countries.
Task 11
Individual answer depending on map chosen; but no matter which map you chose, Turkey
almost always has the highest scores.
Task 12
Diagrams: How important are the different aspects of work for people in this country?
Maps: How important is this one aspect of work for people from different countries?
Task 13
Both, diagrams and maps, show only a part of the complex reality. It is not their fault,
because it would be impossible to show everything in just one map or one diagram. But the
user of diagrams and maps should be aware of this and be ready to ask questions and to
look at things from a number of different perspectives before coming to conclusions.
Task 14
Individual answer
Student 1 in task 2 may come to the conclusion that his strong emphasis on doing things
that interest him and having a lot of time for himself could be a bit of a drawback, as well as
his reluctance to take initiative. On the other hand his sense for responsibility could be very
useful to him.
References
Fischer, Gabriele; Lau, Peter (2008) (Hrsg.): Der Mensch. Die kleinste wirtschaftliche
Einheit. – München
Halmann, Loek (2009): Work values in Europe. Instrumental versus expressive; extrinsic
versus intrinsic. – Tilburg (unveröffentlichtes Manuskript)
Mandel, Wiebke (2007): Der Wertewandel in der Arbeitswelt. Ursachen, Theorien und
Folgen. – Saarbrücken
Anke Uhlenwinkel – University of Potsdam/Germany
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