Overjustification Effect

Definition

Overjustification occurs when play becomes work as a result of payment or other reward. More formally, it is the process by which intrinsic interest in some activity or behavior is supplanted through the presentation of an extrinsic reward. An activity that was once interesting in and of itself becomes less interesting and less attractive after a person is rewarded for completing the activity. This leads to the ironic and surprising result that rewarding a behavior can inhibit future repetitions of that behavior.

The overjustification effect occurs when internalized motives are supplanted by external motives. It occurs because people do not have perfect access to the preferences and motives that guide their decisionmaking processes. These preferences are often inferred from observation of their own behavior, and sometimes people get it wrong. When two motives exist for a given behavior—both internal and external—people often assume that the more obvious external justification is the cause of their behavior. This observation leads to a permanent change in how people think about the given activity, and it can lead to a loss of the internalized motives for the behavior. Thus, large rewards [Page 647]can extinguish the inherent joy of some positive activity, and large punishments can extinguish the moral inhibitions against some negative activity.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Reward

Some activities, such as eating, drinking, learning, and socializing, are intrinsically interesting, and people pursue them with little encouragement. Other activities are usually performed only to gain an external reward. For instance, people typically go to work only because they are paid, and children make their beds or take out the trash for praise or an allowance. These behaviors are rewarded by extrinsic sources, and when the rewards stop, so too do the behaviors. Thus, some behaviors are intrinsically rewarding, and some are extrinsically rewarding. In all cases, the rewards lead to an increased likelihood of repeating the given behavior.

However, something strange occurs when extrinsic rewards are given for activities that are already intrinsically interesting. At first, as long as both rewards are present, the person continues the activity. But when the extrinsic rewards are removed, the person stops performing the activity, as if his or her intrinsic interest had been wiped away.

Consider the classic experiment among nursery school students conducted by Mark Lepper and his colleagues. These students were given the opportunity to draw pictures with an attractive set of Magic Markers during their free play time. Hidden observers recorded their behavior and learned, not surprisingly, that children needed little encouragement to play with the markers. Several weeks later, these same students were given another opportunity to play with the markers. But this time some of the students learned that they would receive a very special “good player” award with a ribbon and gold star if they were willing to draw some pictures; others were simply invited to draw for fun. Thus, the experiment had two groups of students involved in an activity with high intrinsic interest: one that received a reward for playing, and one that did not. Several weeks later, the students were again monitored when the markers were brought out during playtime. The results were very clear: Children who had been given an extrinsic reward showed far less interest in playing with the markers than did the children who were not offered the reward. Something about the reward had reduced the children's desire to play with the markers.

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