The 3 Dimensions of Motivation

Many people are motivated to do things for many different reasons. In class we talked about some of these reasons. We talked about the three dimensions of motivation. These dimensions are extrinsic rationale, relational rationale, and intrinsic rationale. Extrinsic rationale is the motivation to do something because you get tangible rewards such as money or prizes, credit towards something, experience to build your resume, opportunity for advancement, avoiding penalties, public recognition, knowing that someone may return the favor or competition with others. Relational rationale is motivation because you do not want to let others down, you want to make a difference for someone else, you want to please others, you want individual recognition, you want to achieve or maintain status/credibility, you feel the need to be loyal to the values of one’s community or you want to be accepted by others. The intrinsic rationale is motivation by learning something or being better at something, seeing the fruits of your labor/accomplishment, wanting to do well because you took it on, competition with self, caring about the project or task, advocating for something you believe in or leaving a legacy.

An example of when the extrinsic rationale was my main motivator was in the beginning of the semester when my Communications professor offered extra credit to participate in a communication study. Of course the last thing I wanted was one more thing to do that week, but the extrinsic rationale of extra credit motivated me to get out of bed at 9am, walk over to the communication building and participate in the study.

An example of when the relational rationale motivated me was when I was assigned to do a group project with three other students last semester. We all met up with each other and we were all assigned to do a specific part of the project. In this situation everyone was relying on everyone else to do his or her part so we could receive the grade we deserved. I felt that I could not let my group down and that gave me the motivation to complete my task and make it the best that it could be.  

An example of when the intrinsic rationale motivated me was during my four years of studying the Spanish language. One of my main goals in life is to become fluent in a language other than English. Although I struggled to get through each and every Spanish class I took, I had the motivation to continue on with my studies because I was determined to become better at speaking Spanish and I was dedicated to learning the most I could about Hispanic culture.

Clearly different things motivate different people. Everyone, in some way, has been motivated at some point in his or her life by extrinsic rationale, relational rationale, or intrinsic rationale. I believe that you can tell a lot about a person just by knowing what motivates them to do the things they do. Now think, what motivates you?