Most theories and beliefs about motivation are quite far removed from the neurochemical reality. But theories that ignore the neurochemical basis of motivation are not only not useful, they can also be harmful. We’ll look at three ways beliefs based on these theories can get in our way, but first, let’s review motivation one more time.
Motivation Redux
The purpose of the brain is to figure out what action to initiate based on its interpretation of the circumstances we’re in. Motivation is the mechanism of movement, the mechanism by which we take an action toward a potential reward or away from a potential threat.
My brain may very likely interpret a set of circumstances differently from your brain’s interpretation of the same circumstances. And my brain has been trained by me to identify rewards and threats just as your brain has been trained by you to identify rewards and threats. Therefore, even in extremely similar sets of circumstances, we are likely to have different interpretations and response, and we are likely to take different actions. The processes are the same; the outcomes of those processes differ from person to person.
This brain training started roughly at birth for each of us and has been ongoing since then. We are training our brain daily to either maintain the status quo (continue to interpret circumstances the same way and take the same actions in response to those interpretations) or to change it. It’s far easier to train the brain to maintain the status quo (reinforce it) than it is to train it to change the status quo. Although that’s probably obvious, it bears emphasizing given that the brain is always looking for the path of least resistance. The current status quo is that path of least resistance so it will always be more compelling.
We don’t need to “motivate” ourselves to take action to maintain the status quo. We are already motivated to take the actions we’re currently taking. It’s a mechanical process: no congratulation or castigation is warranted. Because most of this brain training was unconscious rather than intentional, however, we may be more satisfied by some of the actions we’re currently taking—and the outcomes of those actions—than we are by other actions. But whether we’re pleased or not:
- The same process of brain training is responsible for all the actions we are currently taking.
- Our brain releases wanting and either liking or stress neurochemicals for all the actions we are currently taking.
This neurochemical activity happens outside our awareness, without our moment-to-moment influence, and faster than our 40-bit brain can process. Yet, if we want to create positive, intentional, significant, and sustained change, we have to modify our brain’s neurochemical activity. If we don’t succeed in doing that, we won’t succeed in changing our behavior.
Hopefully that makes it reasonably clear that motivation is motivation is motivation—meaning there are not different kinds of motivation, such as intrinsic and extrinsic. The belief in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation—and the supposed superiority of intrinsic motivation lead us to think that:
1. We Ought to Be Motivated to…
Current motivational theories strongly suggest that we ought to be (intrinsically) motivated to take some actions rather than others. They also suggest that understanding the value or benefit of taking an action ought to lead directly (meaning motivate us) to taking that action.
This ridiculous notion is even applied to children with the expectation that they ought to be motivated to take the actions we want them to take. That’s not how motivation works. Children don’t come pre-motivated to follow arbitrary social rules, for example. You can train children to take an action you want them to take—if that’s your aim—but your chances of success will be greatly enhanced if you use an extrinsic reward.
Neither adults’ brains, nor children’s brains, automatically produce wanting and liking neurochemicals on demand or because it would be convenient for said brains to do so.
Adults who believe not only that they ought to be motivated to take specific actions that they are not currently taking, but also that their lack of motivation reflects badly on them, tend to have a diminished sense of personal agency and self-efficacy. We have to train our brain to be motivated to do what we want it to do. This takes intention, planning, repetition, and perseverance, which we are much less likely to engage in if we believe motivation ought to be automatic.
2. Enjoying an Activity Is an Indicator of Intrinsic Motivation
Current motivational theories place an undue emphasis on the extent to which we find an activity or an endeavor enjoyable or satisfying in-and-of-itself. I addressed this in previous posts on motivation. What I want to point out here is that there are plenty of things we find enjoyable that we would actually prefer not to do because they lead to undesirable outcomes. If they weren’t enjoyable it would be much easier to not do them.
But we’re only motivated to do what we’re motivated to do—that is, what we’ve trained our brain to be motivated to do. So if we want to get a different outcome, we have to train our brain to do something different. Again, this is a mechanical process. There’s no underlying meaning in the fact that you or I are doing something we don’t want to do or are not doing something we want to do. If we want to develop a new behavior we need to artificially generate liking neurochemicals which the brain will eventually take notice of and begin generating dopamine (the wanting neurochemical) in order to get.
We may come to enjoy the new behavior or activity in-and-of-itself or we may not. In any case, the brain will generate the neurochemicals that motivate us to do the thing and get the desired outcome—which is something we need to identify if we want to create change. Focusing on momentary enjoyment rather than long-term satisfaction is extremely short-sighted. It generates unreasonable expectations about the kind of experience we think we should be having. And it keeps us from developing a relationship with our future self: the person our current actions are creating.
3. Using an Extrinsic Reward Is Cheating
This is based on the false belief that doing the thing is not good enough; we also have to be doing it for the right reason. Presumably we have a reason for wanting to do the thing and whatever it is it’s a good enough reason. The point is to do the thing we want to do instead of the thing we don’t want to do—and to be motivated to continue doing it. Extrinsic rewards are excellent contrivances (tools) to facilitate the motivational process.
If we believe we shouldn’t need a reward or that extrinsic rewards are somehow unnatural, we further handicap ourselves in our attempts to create change. In case anyone hasn’t noticed, transformational change is possible but it isn’t probable. We need all the help we can get!
Recognizing the neurochemical nature of motivation and using the process intentionally can help us cut to the chase so we can act as we prefer to act and be who we prefer to be.
This is the third of three posts on motivation. The first one is here. The second one is here.
