Intrinsic Motivation Questionnaires, Methods, Strategies

Extrinsic motivation refers to doing something not for its inherent enjoyment, but for a separable outcome, such as receiving rewards or avoiding punishment. Very often, we do things not because we enjoy them, but because they are necessary or we want to obtain something else. When this happens, we are extrinsically motivated to do so.

Intrinsic motivation refers to when we feel compelled to do something for internal reasons, such as when a task interests us (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is the need to do something for external reasons, such as meeting a deadline or wanting approval.

Knowing how to identify intrinsic motivation can be very useful in the following contexts:

1. Designing incentives to reward people, such as in the workplace or classroom
2. Understanding how different incentives affect people differently
3. Identifying candidates who are intrinsically motivated

In this post, we review various tools that you can use to measure intrinsic motivation.

Measuring Intrinsic Motivation: 8 Useful Tests & Questionnaires

There are two general approaches to measuring intrinsic motivation (Harackiewicz, 1979).

In laboratory studies, intrinsic motivation is measured in task-specific ways. For example, Harackiewicz (1979) measured intrinsic motivation for puzzle solving in the laboratory. In the experiment, intrinsic motivation was inferred from:

• Self-report measures of enjoyment for the experimental task were measured immediately after the task and then again one month later
• The time that participants dedicated to the task
• Participants’ willingness to return for subsequent experiment sessions
• The number of extra puzzles that participants were asked to complete
• Participants immediately returned to a task even when there was no reward
• Participants offered to return to the laboratory for subsequent sessions

In field studies, measurements of intrinsic motivation are domain specific. For example, different tools are used when measuring motivation in the classroom versus in the industry.

Knowing that different studies use different measurements of intrinsic motivation, here is a list of resources curated from the literature.

Self-Regulation Questionnaires

Ryan and Connell (1989) detailed the development of various self-regulation questionnaires across various domains including academia, exercising, and learning.

Ryan and Connell (1989) posited a model to explain people’s perception of the origin of their motivation to perform certain tasks or behaviors, and arranged these motivational reasons (loci of control) on a continuum.

The types of possible motivational origins were:

1. External reasons – for example, my boss wants it done
2. Introjected reasons – for example, self-motivated reasons that were related to self-esteem
3. Identification reasons – for example, stemming from self-generated goals
4. Intrinsic reasons – for example, tasks performed for pleasure

From numerous motivational interviews with key sample groups (e.g., teachers, students, and volunteers), Ryan and Connell (1989) developed a set of behaviors integral to each domain and an example of responses that matched each type of motivation.

For example, a behavior typical of a classroom setting is completing homework. For the question “Why do you complete your homework?” example responses include (Ryan & Connell, 1989, p. 752):

1. Because I’ll get in trouble if I don’t (external motivation)
2. Because I want the teacher to think I’m a good student (introjection motivation)
3. Because I want to understand the subject (identification motivation)
4. Because it’s fun (intrinsic motivation)

The developed questionnaires demonstrated good validity and correlated well with other tools that measured similar phenomena, such as scales of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in academic domains.

Since then, many versions of the questionnaires have been developed:

• Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire
• Prosocial Self-Regulation Questionnaire
• Treatment Self-Regulation Questionnaire
• Learning Self-Regulation Questionnaire
• Exercise Self-Regulation Questionnaire
• Religion Self-Regulation Questionnaire
• Friendship Self-Regulation Questionnaire

The questionnaires, instructions, and scoring manuals are available for free from the Center for Self Determination. You need to sign up as a member to access the materials, but membership is free.

Situational Motivation Scale

If you want to measure intrinsic as well as other forms of motivation posited by Deci and Ryan (1985), then consider using the Situational Motivation Scale.

Guay, Vallerand, and Blanchard (2000) developed the Situational Motivation Scale in response to the need for a standardized set of questions to measure motivation. At this stage, most studies observed how much time participants spent on a task or used self-report measures to measure intrinsic motivation.

At that time, the self-report measures typically used were ill suited to in-field studies or limited to only intrinsic motivation. The scale was measured in five experiments, and the authors found that the items in the scale reliably loaded onto four sub-domains: intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, external regulation, and amotivation. In total, there are 16 items, and the respondent indicates the degree to which they agree with each item on a scale from 1 to 7.

5 Helpful Inventories & Scales

There are a great many helpful interventions, but we decided to discuss these five.

Intrinsic motivation inventories for the workplace

If your clients are employees, then you will find the Work Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation Scale (WEIMS; Tremblay, Blanchard, Taylor, Pelletier, & Villeneuve, 2009) useful.

The WEIMS was originally developed as L’Inventaire des Motivations au Travail de Blais (Blais, Brière, Lachance, Riddle, & Vallerand, 1993) and then translated from French into English. The WEIMS comprises 18 items, with an equal number of items dedicated to six sub-domains: intrinsic motivation, four different types of regulations, and amotivation.

Each item describes a particular behavior, and responses are made using a Likert scale from 1 to 7, where ‘1’ indicates that the behavior does not correspond at all, and ‘7’ shows that the behavior corresponds exactly.

Tremblay et al. (2009) tested and validated the scale in three studies and consistently found evidence of good psychometric properties across various types of industries such as healthcare, military, retail, and service.

The scale can be downloaded from ResearchGate.

A second useful scale is the Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale (Gagné et al., 2015).

From its original 55 items, the scale was tested and refined until only the highest factor loadings were retained, resulting in a 19-item scale.

One strength of this scale is that it has been tested and retested across various cultures and languages, including in China, France, Senegal, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Indonesia, Canada, and Belgium.

The scale assesses six dimensions: amotivation, social extrinsic regulation, material extrinsic regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and intrinsic motivation.

This scale is available in the original manuscript.

A third scale that measures workplace satisfaction and motivation is the Work-Related Flow inventory (WOLF; Bakker, 2008). This inventory is different from the previous inventories in that it measures ‘flow,’ an experience of deep engagement and enjoyment while performing a particular task (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997).

Flow is closely related to intrinsic motivation; in fact, intrinsic motivation is one of its defining characteristics. If a client doesn’t experience flow, they may not be intrinsically motivated to perform a particular task.

The WOLF inventory consists of 13 items, and five of them specifically measure intrinsic motivation. Clients are asked to indicate on a 7-point scale the frequency that they have experienced each item in the last two weeks.

By using a two-week period, it is possible to track your client’s intrinsic motivation over time and identify trends and patterns in their motivation and behavior.

The full scale is available in the original manuscript.

Measuring intrinsic motivation in the classroom

If you are interested in measuring intrinsic motivation in the classroom, then you can use the Scale of Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Orientation in the Classroom (Harter, 1981).

In this scale, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are considered opposite poles, which forms the underlying assumption of the five sub-domains measured. Specifically, the scale includes questions about:

1. Motivation to learn, contrasting curiosity with satisfying the teacher
2. Motivation to work, contrasting enjoyment with the need for good grades
3. Work preference, contrasting difficult work with easy work
4. Work style preference, contrasting working independently with working alongside a teacher
5. Measures of success, contrasting internal measures of success with external measures of success

The scale was originally validated on third- through sixth-graders (Harter, 1981), but the revised tool can be administered to children between 8 and 18 years old.

The scale format has been designed to reduce socially desirable responses, a common concern when working with children. Respondents are presented with two contrasting descriptions of an example child and are asked (1) which description best resembles them, and (2) the degree of this resemblance. There are 30 items in the scale.

A second scale was constructed that teachers can use to evaluate children in their classroom, consisting of 10 items.

These two scales, scoring instructions, and information about their psychometric properties are in the manual, which can be downloaded from Professor Susan Harter’s website.

11 Questions to Ask Your Clients

Intrinsic motivation has typically been measured in two ways:

1. Domain-specific questionnaires
2. Task-specific measures

In domain-specific questionnaires, types of motivation are measured by questions that specifically ask about ‘why’ the respondent is performing a specific task. Responses that describe internal motivations, the absence of external pressure, and enjoyment indicate intrinsic motivation.

For example, when asked why they perform their homework, children who respond that the homework is fun show intrinsic motivation.

Knowing this, when speaking to your client, aim to determine the source of their motivation to perform certain tasks. We can infer evidence of intrinsic motivation from answers such as:

• “I enjoy x.”
• “I find x interesting.”
• “X is fun.”

The Center for Self Determination curated the different questions used in various experiments, available on their website. These questions were typically asked after participants completed the tasks of interest in the studies.

Using these questions as a guideline, here are some revised questions you can ask your client:

• How did you experience the task? Was the task fun, enjoyable, interesting, exciting, stimulating?
• Was the task boring?
• Was it easy to pay attention to the task? Did you find the task engaging?
• How did it feel to complete the task? Did it feel like it took long, or did the time fly by?

While talking to your client, look for evidence of metacognitive processes and experiences during the task. An example is your client describing that they remember thinking about how enjoyable the task was while performing it.

If your client is discussing an interaction with another person, then tailor your questions to ask about the interaction or the people with whom they interacted.

For example:

• How did you experience the interaction/person? Was the interaction/person fun, enjoyable, interesting, exciting, stimulating?
• Was the interaction/person boring?
• Was it easy to pay attention to the interaction/person? Did you find the interaction/person engaging?

Look for evidence of motivation and excitement after the interaction. For example, did your client feel ‘inspired’ to do something afterward?

How to Foster Intrinsic Motivation 101

To persist at anything, we need mechanisms in the brain that initiate and maintain effort. Without them, we cannot start or sustain action (Deci & Ryan, 2008).

Yet, according to Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, the variation in motivation we see across individuals is not found in such psychological mechanisms, but rather in sociocultural conditions.

Deci and Ryan’s (2008) Self-Determination Theory (SDT) of motivation assumes that “humans are by nature active and self-motivated, curious and interested, vital and eager to succeed because success itself is personally satisfying and rewarding.”

However, circumstances and environments can leave us “alienated and mechanized, or passive and disaffected” (Deci & Ryan, 2008).

But we can change them for better ones.

Intrinsic motivation involves doing something because it is both interesting and deeply satisfying. We perform such activities for the positive feelings they create, and they typically lead to optimal performances (Deci & Ryan, 2008).

Extrinsic motivation involves engaging in an activity because it leads to a tangible reward or avoids punishment.

Studies have consistently shown that intrinsic motivation leads to increased persistence, greater psychological wellbeing, and enhanced performance (Deci & Ryan, 2008).

And the good news is that we can develop it.

Fostering perceptions of competence, autonomy, and relatedness to others supports people’s intrinsic motivation and behavior. Indeed, satisfying these three basic and universal psychological needs promotes optimal motivation and leads to better psychological, behavioral, and developmental outcomes (Deci & Ryan, 2000).

Increased autonomy – having the perception of control over what we do – as opposed to a lack of control is important in achieving intrinsic goals in all areas of our lives. Indeed, it has also been consistently proven to increase psychological health in Eastern and Western cultures, education, workplaces, home, and sports (Deci & Ryan, 2008).

5 Foolproof Methods and Strategies

1. Satisfying our basic psychological needs

Susan Fowler (2019) describes the three basic psychological needs recognized by the SDT as “foundational to all human beings and our ability to flourish.”

Satisfying each one leads to engaged, passionate individuals doing high-quality work in any domain.

Increased intrinsic motivation can be encouraged by building environments that promote:

• Autonomy – people need to believe they have choices.
  • Have a say in what they are doing.
  • Frame goals as being essential to individual success.
  • Let people choose to perform rather than being pressured to deliver.
• Relatedness – people need to deepen their connections with others.
  • Identify how people feel regarding what they do.
  • Encourage people to develop their values while working.
  • Connect their work to a higher cause (political, moral, spiritual, or corporate).
• Competence – people need to have the right skills and the opportunity to show them.
  • Make resources available for learning.
  • Set learning goals rather than result-oriented goals
  • Ask “how did you grow today and what do you need for tomorrow?” rather than “what did you achieve today?”

Such practices and environments are applicable in most contexts and should not be limited to the workplace.

2. Engage in great storytelling

Engaging people with a narrative can be motivating; creating a story around what they do encourages a sense of connection.

How we feel about our work is typically less about the activity and more about how we frame it. For example, are you a bricklayer merely putting one brick on top of another, or are you part of a team building a church?

Is the task mundane and pointless, or are you creating a better environment for others?

The medical student studying their anatomy books late on a Friday night is either preparing for an in-class test on Monday or readying themselves to save lives in a future hospital placement (Grenny, 2019). Perception is everything.

3. Find your one sentence

Most of us live a life of many goals with our time spread thinly across each one.

In his book, Drive, Daniel Pink (2018) challenges readers to regain focus and clarify their purpose.

He asks us to define a sentence that sums up our life.

To help, he offers two examples from U.S. Presidents:

• Abraham Lincoln’s sentence might be He preserved the Union and freed the slaves.
• Franklin Roosevelt’s might be He lifted us out of the Great Depression and helped us win the war.

What’s yours?

Each day, ask yourself, Am I closer to my goals than I was the day before? What do I need to do tomorrow to move forward in the right direction?

4. A strategy for educators

While there are aspects of education that students will inevitably not find enjoyable, showering them with rewards is unlikely to be the answer.

Instead, to increase intrinsic motivation, we should engage children according to their basic psychological needs.

Pink (2018) suggests that in any teaching environment (school, home, youth group, etc.), content is more crucial than the volume of work, and we should ask ourselves:

• Am I providing students with a degree of autonomy regarding when and how they do their work?
• Is this task engaging, novel, and encouraging mastery (competence)?
  Or, is it unthinking, bland, and learning by rote?
• Do the students understand the relevance or purpose of this piece of work?
  For example, perhaps it leads to something further down the line or a larger piece of work within the class.

Set aside time for the child to develop their own problem or project to work on. This will give them the autonomy to work on something of their choosing.

5. Giving praise

We should be cautious regarding how we offer praise.

If we are not careful, praise becomes a series of “if you do X, then you will get Y reward” statements that can damage creativity and intrinsic motivation.

Instead, in her book Mindset, Carol Dweck (2017) says we should give praise with the following points in mind:

• Praise effort and strategy rather than being smart.
  It is vital that children (and adult learners) are recognized for the challenges they take on and the effort they put in.
• Praise must be specific.
  What has the individual done that deserves special attention?
• Praise in private.
  Provide praise in a one-on-one encounter. After all, it is not a ceremony but a personal show of gratitude for what someone has done.
• Only praise when there is a good reason.
  Do not praise everything; instead, recognize extra effort and be sincere.

Praise is a powerful tool for motivation, yet poorly handled, it can negate many of the positives.

9 Techniques to Use in Your Therapy Sessions

The following techniques can help to encourage perceptions of autonomy, relatedness, and competence and support positive outcomes in psychotherapy and behavioral change (Ryan & Deci, 2017).

• Motivational interviewing is a valuable counseling technique that helps patients overcome ambivalence.
• The therapeutic alliance between therapist and client has been shown to increase a sense of autonomy and encourage behavioral change.
• An internal frame of reference, encouraged through empathic and careful listening, can identify the client’s motivations and values, validate their curiosity, and develop reasons for change.
• A focus on feelings and emotions to understand the client’s perspective can identify those experiences that interfere with the satisfaction of needs while uncovering and addressing resistance to change.
• Taking an interest in the client shows engagement with their experiences and encourages feelings of relatedness.
• By maintaining authenticity and transparency, the therapist is perceived as honest, interested, and open, fostering feelings of relatedness in the client.
• It is crucial to focus on setting optimal challenges for the client, rather than unduly stressful, demanding, or even impossible ones.
• Offering relevant, rich, and informational feedback supports the perception of competence.
• Promoting internal evaluation of performance by the client helps them recognize gaps between their skills and mastery.

Tips & Questionnaires for Employees

A 2014 study by Deloitte found that 87% of Americans felt unable to give their full potential at work due to a lack of passion (Su, 2019).

So, how do you tackle a lack of intrinsic motivation in the workplace?

To improve motivation at work, we need a change in mindset. There are strong correlations between “believing in the mission, enjoying the job, and performing at a high level” (Su, 2019).

There are several techniques that leaders can adopt to encourage increased intrinsic motivation in their staff (Su, 2019; Bolino & Klotz, 2019):

• Servant leader mindset
  A servant leader adopts a mindset where they serve their staff; putting their employees’ needs first and helping them develop.

Perhaps surprisingly, it takes strength as a manager to be in the “service of a larger vision, mission, or shared purpose beyond their own agenda or ego” (Su, 2019).

• Questions that can uncover people’s passion
  Good managers provide opportunities for their staff to reflect on what drives them.

They ask their staff:

Before a piece of work:

• • What excites you about the new project?
  • How might you develop, learn, and grow with this new piece of work?

Once the work is complete:

• • What were you most proud of?
  • What was rewarding or meaningful?
  • What aspect did you find most enjoyable and inspiring?

In annual reviews:

• • What did you most enjoy working on over the past year and why?
  • What would you like to get more involved in next year?
• Encourage work where passion and contribution meet
  Identify where an employee’s passion meets what they can contribute to the team or organization. Also, recognize when it is time to move the employee to something new.
• Encourage citizenship behaviors
  Provide employees with the opportunity to go beyond their (defined) role, helping out coworkers, taking on special assignments, and introducing new working practices.
• Understand employee motivation, engagement, and disengagement
  Use questionnaires such as those included in our article Intrinsic Motivation in the Workplace to gain insight into the degree to which staff is intrinsically motivated and how engaged they are in what they are doing.

A Note on Using Rewards

While it is typical for parents to give their children rewards for studying well, and companies typically incentivize their staff for going the extra mile, extrinsic recognition can damage intrinsic motivation.

Research has shown that rewarding someone who is intrinsically motivated using extrinsic rewards, such as money or awards, can reduce intrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2008).

The unintended effect is that individuals lose interest in what they are doing, especially when the reward is contingent on successful performance.

Our 4 Favorite TED Talks

Watch some of these fascinating talks, backed up by science and research into motivation, to understand how to promote performance.

1. The puzzle of motivation

Author Daniel Pink gives an excellent talk on how incentives (especially financial ones) can have a negative, even demotivating, impact when people are engaged in solving complex problems.

Instead, feeling interested in what we do and having a sense of importance is crucial to motivation. By encouraging employees to be the best they can be at something while showing their relevance to the overall company, we can address the mismatch between what science knows and what business does.

2. The happy secret to better work

If you think that working hard and achieving success make you happy, you may have it the wrong way around.

In Shawn Achor’s hilarious video, he explores how being happy makes us productive, more intelligent, creative, and bursting with energy.

He suggests that by adjusting organizational culture and focusing on positivity, we can leverage what he calls the “happiness advantage” and improve personal and business outcomes.

3. How motivation can fix public systems

Abhishek Gopalka’s wonderful talk on motivating change in the public sector explores how to improve what is fundamentally broken.

Through Gopalka’s work with India’s public health system, he learned how to use accountability to the citizen to trigger motivation and fix the system.

It worked. Following a series of promises made to patients, failure was no longer an option.

4. What makes us feel good about our work

Dan Ariely suggests that while happiness is precious, we flourish most when we have a sense of purpose and see progression in what we do.

While salary is important, research shows it is not sufficient to motivate employees.

According to Dan, it is increasingly crucial that organizations set up environments where work feels more meaningful and workers feel increasingly invested and care more about what they do.

4 Books on the Topic

There are many books available about motivation; we have chosen some of our favorites.

They are all evidence-based and focus on the realities of the environment in which they are relevant.

1. Self-Determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation, Development, and Wellness – Richard M. Ryan and Edward L. Deci

Written by the creators of the Self-Determination Theory, this book synthesizes over four decades of research into human motivation.

The text stands as perhaps the ultimate guide to understanding the essence of the motivation behind our growth and wellbeing and the psychological needs upon which it is based.

Find the book on Amazon.

Self-Determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation, Development, and Wellness

• Ryan, Richard M. (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 756 Pages - 11/06/2018 (Publication Date) - The Guilford Press (Publisher)

$59.00

Buy Now On Amazon.com Price incl. tax, excl. shipping

2. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

This book is a beautifully written classic in psychological literature. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi takes us on a journey through the science and research of flow and offers a potential path for ongoing motivation.

The many anecdotes and stories included increased readability and add color and depth to the psychological insights.

Find the book on Amazon.

Amazon Best Seller

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

• A great option for a Book Lover
• Great one for reading
• Compact for travelling
• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 336 Pages - 07/01/2008 (Publication Date) - Harper Perennial Modern Classics (Publisher)

$14.99 −$5.10 $9.89

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3. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us – Daniel H. Pink

Bestselling author Daniel Pink states the case for motivating people through the need to take control of our lives, create and learn, and make things better for ourselves and the world.

Packed full of techniques for fostering intrinsic motivation in education, family, and workplace environments, this is a valuable resource for any individual or counselor.

Find the book on Amazon.

Amazon Best Seller

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

• Great product!
• Pink, Daniel H. (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 288 Pages - 04/05/2011 (Publication Date) - Riverhead Books (Publisher)

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4. HBR Guide to Motivating People (HBR Guide Series) – Harvard Business Review

Containing 28 chapters, this easy-to-read, insightful book tells us what to do and what not to do to create organizational cultures to foster motivation.

The author(s) of each chapter offer different yet complementary advice, giving practical examples of organizational changes that can have the most significant positive impact.

Find the book on Amazon.

A Take-Home Message

Intrinsic motivation energizes and directs who we are and what we do. By meeting our basic psychological needs, including having a sense of control, competence, and relatedness, we set ourselves up to flourish (Ryan & Deci, 2017).

Creating the right environment to satisfy each factor results in highly engaged, passionate individuals ready to flourish and perform high-quality work in any domain.

Our perception of control in any given situation is crucial “in terms of effective performance, especially on heuristic tasks, psychological wellbeing, and healthy development” (Deci & Ryan, 2008). Indeed, autonomy supports motivation in multiple domains, including healthcare, education, parenting, and relationships.

Along with relatedness and competence, fulfilling our basic needs leads to more intrinsic motivation and readiness to engage with the world and experience better psychological health.

Intrinsic motivation is defined by enjoying a task and feel stimulated, with an internal motivation to complete the job at hand. These are the golden threads that connect these inventories.

The difficulty with simply asking your client to reflect on ‘why’ they are performing a particular task is that their reasons may seem internal to them.

Therefore, inventories that measure different types of motivations shed more light on what is driving your client’s decision-making. Using the results of the inventory, you and your client can further explore their motivations, decision-making, and behavior, and tackle any unhealthy influences.

Recognize that there may be many reasons why clients may not feel intrinsically motivated about particular tasks. For example, stressful deadlines, toxic work environments, or too much work can all contribute to clients feeling unmotivated. Use the results from the inventories to explore your client’s feelings and identify obstacles that can be removed or improved.

Hopefully, after gaining insight into their current life circumstances and motivations, you can help your client foster an internal love for things that are important to them.