Increasing intrinsic interest with superfluous extrinsic constraints.

Abstract

When superfluous extrinsic controls are used, that is, when people are given extrinsic reasons not to perform an activity they had little interest in to begin with, intrinsic interest in the activity may increase. It is argued that this is an overjustification phenomenon. When people have both an intrinsic reason (I don't like it) and an extrinsic reason (I'm not supposed to do it) not to perform an activity, they may discount the intrinsic reason, which would lead to an increase in interest in this activity. In Study 1, children were told that they could not play with an unattractive toy motorcycle. Control subjects were allowed to play with whatever toy they chose, although few played with the motorcycle. Subjects told not to play with the motorcycle showed more interest in this toy at a second session with a different experimenter than did control subjects. In Study 2, college students were given either a severe threat, mild threat, or no threat not to cheat in a situation in which there was minimal motivation to cheat. Subjects in the threat conditions were significantly more likely to cheat on an intelligence test several days later in a different setting. Alternative explanations for these findings (e.g., reactance) are considered, and the implications of the use of superfluous extrinsic controls are discussed.