Sport has always been associated with the formation of the motivational sphere and the individual characteristics. What motivation has a stronger impact on us? How does external motivation differ from internal one? Let’s look at these issues together.
External and internal motivation
External motivation most of all influences the course of sports competitions in order to get an award, public recognition, self-satisfaction or to avoid a negative result.
Internal motivations influence satisfaction and the promotion of long-term stays in sports. Simply put, this exercise for the sake of himself, and not for the sake of obtaining awards and titles.
What motivation is stronger?
Between them there is a big difference. If intrinsic motivation arises within a person, then extrinsic motivation is outside of it. Scientists also noticed how effective they are in the current behavior of an athlete.
According to the research it was found that the issuance of material remuneration for the behavior can lead to a significant weakening of the athlete’s internal motivation. This was evident in the example of young children and their interest in toys. The researchers rewarded the children for playing with the toy, which is already showing interest. Children began to pay less attention to the toy.
Outward motivation is beneficial in many circumstances, but:
• Reward or praise can be used to encourage people to gain new knowledge and skills. When receiving primary skills, people need additional motivation to continue their studies;
• The mere fact of recognizing or issuing remuneration can arouse a person’s desire for a case that didn’t initially interest him;
• The reward is able to act as a feedback, showing people that they have reached a certain level of incentives.
When should we avoid external factors of motivation:
• The reward system can turn an interesting activity into a regular one;
• If a person already finds the chosen activity interesting for himself, then excessive awarding should be avoided.
Many people tend to believe that intrinsic motivation is more effective than extrinsic, but this is not true for every situation. There are cases when a person simply does not have an inner desire to perform any actions.
While most people are inclined to believe that intrinsic motivation is more effective, this is not true for every situation. In some cases, people simply do not have an inner desire to perform any actions.
Excessive rewarding may be superfluous. However, with reasonable use, motivation factors can be a useful tool. Extrinsic motivation can be used to encourage people to do work or prescriptions to which they have no intrinsic interest (for example, training or performing at competitions)
The researchers made several conclusions about the impact of rewards on a person’s internal motivation:
- If one praises a person who does something better than others, then this substantially increases his internal motivation;
- Unexpected rewards do not diminish intrinsic motivation. For example, an athlete was finally able to surpass his old result, practicing for months, and the coach decided to treat him for it or make a small gift. This will not discourage the person to continue to engage;
- Unexpected rewards do not diminish intrinsic motivation. For example, an athlete was finally able to surpass his old result, practicing for months, and the coach decided to treat him for it or make a small gift. This will not discourage the person to continue to engage.
External motivation, by definition, can be changed, because of an external motivator – you can change the reward. A meta-analysis of internal and external motivational research found that intrinsic motivation for playing sports negatively affects when material extrinsic motivation is tied to behavior. This undermining of intrinsic motivation is the result of a perceived decline in the autonomy and competence of a person receiving an external reward.
Нет точного ответа на вопрос, что конкретно мотивирует нынешних спортсменов. Потому что ответов столько же, сколько и мнений людей. Кто-то занимается ради денег и славы, кто-то хочет почувствовать дух соперничества, кто-то решает таким образом бросить вызов себе. Самое главное, что вы сами точно знаете, для чего начали заниматься спортом. Определите ваши основные мотиваторы и научитесь правильно применять их в своей личности.