I'm veering off the beaten path this month. Instead of my usual Money Connection, I'd like to share with you my research over the past few weeks on motivation theory. I was specifically interested in motivation theory applied to giving kids an allowance.
It's a big topic surrounded by lots of passion. And that makes it a longer-than-usual piece of writing. Because of that, I will share the introduction here, and then if you are interested in the results, I have it available below as a pdf. As always, I welcome your comments.
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Motivation Theory Applied to the Allowance/Chore Debate
So you've got kids and you're beginning to give thought to the idea of giving them an allowance. If you're like most people, you'll follow one of two typical allowance approaches.1 The first approach ties allowance to the completion of chores. The second approach emphasizes allowance as practice money to teach basic money management skills. Both approaches teach important lessons. But is one approach more effective than the other? Turns out, the answer is yes.
My goal is to address the two allowance approaches in a way that gets you to think beyond any personal experiences or biases you may have. To do that, I'm going to use current research in motivation theory to determine the effectiveness of each approach.
Motivation
What motivates us? That was the question asked by psychologist Edward L. Deci over three decades ago. Since then, his research and collaborations with Richard M. Ryan, combined with the research of countless others, has given us a framework within which we can come to understand human motivation. This framework, called Self-Determination Theory, developed out of the study of extrinsic and intrinsic rewards, the two forces, if you will, that move us to do something.
Extrinsic rewards come from without. Think stickers, grades, and candy. The focus is the reward so once the reward is removed, the desired behavior typically disappears. In addition, because we habituate quickly to extrinsic rewards, the reward needs to increase over time in order to maintain the desired behavior.
Intrinsic rewards come from within. They are things like the sense of accomplishment or personal challenge that we feel as a result of doing something that we find interesting. Intrinsically motivated people were found to be persistent, hard working, and happier when they felt they were in control of their own lives. Self-Determination Theory attributes these findings to meeting three psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
· Autonomy refers to our need for free choice.
· Competence is our desire to master things that are interesting to us.
· Relatedness refers to our need to be connected to others.
The conclusion from the research is that intrinsic rewards, rewards derived from the activity itself, are more sustaining and contribute more to our personal well-being than extrinsic rewards, rewards that come from without. In fact, extrinsic rewards were found to have a substantial undermining effect on intrinsic motivation.
Self-Determination Theory Applied to Allowances
How do two seemingly unrelated topics - Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and kids' allowance - fit together? Since it makes sense that we would want to promote intrinsic motivation in our kids, we can use SDT to evaluate how well each of the allowance approaches promotes the three psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
Click here to read the entire paper as a pdf.
The Money Connection: Returns next month!
