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Intrinsic Motivation

The two main types of motivation in psychology are intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the most crucial concept in developmental psychology, which majorly involves deep exploration and curiosity. 

It is the act of doing any activity without expecting any external rewards in return from anyone. A person does that activity because he/she enjoys doing it and finds it attractive always. When a person’s behaviour is intrinsically motivated, the activity itself becomes the reward. 

Intrinsic motivation is considered to be better than extrinsic motivation because the people who are intrinsically motivated are successful, committed, persistent, and creative. Intrinsic motivation is seen in children because they always thrive on adapting, squash, or shout at the new things they come across while playing. 

Nonetheless, adults can also feel intrinsic motivation while playing their favourite sports, making paintings, gardening, or watching movies/series with their loved ones. For them, these activities are challenging, interesting, and internally rewarding. 

Here, the goals come from within, and the outcomes or results are satisfactory enough for your basic psychological needs for relatedness, competence, and autonomy. The theory of intrinsic motivation comes from the theory of people’s needs. Like biological needs (hunger and thirst), people also have psychological needs that help them develop into better human beings. 

Some of the examples of intrinsic motivation include; 

  • Participating in your favourite sport, because it gives you immense pleasure and you play it for yourself and not for winning an award. 
  • You like exploring new things. 
  • You wish to learn a new language.
  • Cleaning your house not because your parents have told you but because you like it neat and tidy.
  • Exercising every day to make your body healthy and fit. 
  • Spending time with your loved ones because you love being with them and their company, and not because you want to show off that you are a social animal.
  • Paintings in leisure time not to earn, but you are just passionate about art. 

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