now listen to part of a lecture in a psychology class why do we do the things we do what drives us to participate in certain activities to buy a certain car or even to choose a certain career in other words what motivates us to do what we do well in studies of motivation psychologists distinguish between two very different types our reasons for doing something our motivations can be extrinsic in other words based on some kind of external reward like praise or money or they can be intrinsic meaning we engage in the activity because it pleases
us internally both create strong forces that lead us to behave in certain ways however intrinsic motivation is generally considered to be more long-lasting than the other as i said extrinsic motivation is external it's the desire to behave in a certain way in order to obtain some kind of external reward a child for example who regularly does small jobs around the house does them not because she enjoys taking out the garbage or doing the dishes but because she knows if she does these things she'll be given a small amount of money for doing them but how
motivated would the child be to continue doing the work if her parents suddenly stopped giving her money for it with intrinsic or internal motivation we want to do something because we enjoy it or get a sense of accomplishment from it most people who are internally motivated get pleasure from the activity so they just feel good about doing it for example i go to the gym several times a week i i don't go because i'm training for a marathon or anything i just enjoy it i have more energy after i exercise and i know it's good
for my health so it makes me feel good about myself and that's what's kept me going there for the past five years using points and examples from the talk explain the two types of motivation
