The secrets of motivation: fear or enthusiasm?

An element which appears to be recurrently used in education (both at school and by parents, at home) is fear. Many a time, this is not necessarily a problematic element, but the specter of negative consequences for innapropriate behavior is rather common for the educational praxis. For instance, the student is told at school: ʽIf you don't study now, you will face the consequences later!ʼ. Then, at home, parents emphasize this with: ʽIf you don't do this, I will punish you!ʼ Is motivation by fear really efficient? We can indeed use fear as a motivator, but how can we do this concretely? Where and what are the risks of using it?

Let us see what the specialized literature has to say about this. Janis and Feshback issued a hypothesis according to which the audience of a speaker becomes more motivated to accept his statements if he uses a default level of fear (the induction of emotional tension). In order to test their hypothesis, the two authors conducted an experiment in which they were recommending the appropriate dental care. There were three situations where each message contained a few pieces of information on the effects of dental damage and some recommandations for a better dental care.

1. The message that intended to induce a high level of fear described to the subjects how dental infections can cause secondary infections that can lead to arthritic paralysis or complete blindness.
2. The message with a moderate level of fear was based on describing the common dangers of a poor dental hygiene.

3. Finally, the message with a low level of fear was centered on basic information about dental growth and functioning.

The authors noted that the most effective way to induce a proper dental hygiene to the subjects belonged to the message with a low level of fear. They argued that the message with a high level of fear irritated the subjects, who switched to a defensive behavior of avoidance. They became so frightened after listening to the message that they would rather avoid thinking about the whole issue.

What is the conclusion of this experiment? High levels of fear can cause inhibition.

Is fear nonetheless a powerful motivator?

Coon asks us to answer the following question: how can we learn to enjoy the activities that seem unpleasant or even ʽfrighteningʼ at the beginning? Why do some people jump with a parachute and others bathe in frozen lakes in winter? Fear should have motivated us to choose the exact opposite behavior. What internal spring is triggered – through learning – so that we can overcome this initial inhibition? Are there any other elements that can provide a positive emotional motivation?

The answer is quite simple and can be implemented right away. It is all about developing enthusiasm. (Strong) enthusiasm can be considered a highly intense emotional motivator with an extremely fast level of activation. 

Effective Motivation: a Candy or a Word?

Throughtout the past few years, extrinsic motivation has been approached from two different perspectives: on the one hand, it has been used by parents and teachers with the only purpose of "controlling" their children and on the other hand, it was regarded as entirely useless, since the student must come to learn just "for the pleasure of it".

Both perspectives are probably correct as long as we approach them from the right angle. It is not advisable for a parent to condition learning by an extrinsic motivator ("I will buy you X if you get an A). For that matter, research has shown the inefficiency of such a perspective in various areas (not only the educational one).

Many a time, external rewards earned by an individual tend to weaken his personal interests, his joy and his satisfaction, since the person in question does something for purposes other than the thing itself (Huffman, Vernoy, Williams and Vernoy). For instance, the companies that offer substantial discounts on purchasing their products during a promotional campaign (extrinsic motivation) sometimes notice that after withdrawing the promotion, many buyers who had purchased their product at a lower price do not remain loyal to that product.

We were stating though that the truth is much more complex than that. The specialized literature, through the perspective of several researchers (Ryan Deci on the one hand and Manderlink Harackiewicz on the other hand) pointed up that external rewards do not invariably reduce the intrinsic interest for an activity. A positive extrinsic motivation occurs when the reward is based on competence and comes after achieving an outstanding performance; in this case, the reward is not a prize for simply engaging in an activity. A reward for competence produces a strong feeling of pride and can support the individual in his desire to have a similar future performance.

Furthermore, as noted by another researcher (Carlson), many of the reinforcements / rewards we receive are not direct, but they are related to our behavior. Thus, if a child tells a story properly, he can be extrinsically motivated by receiving a candy. However, a form of positive external motivation can indeed occur in this activity (although it can no longer fall so easily into extrinsic motivation) if the child is rewarded based on his audience's interest in his story.

To conclude, although a "candy" is easy to buy, it does not have such a high efficiency. Not even a whole bag of candies or the bike most wanted by your child. However, if you show interest in what he does, praise him for his success and show joy whenever he reaches a success (even a small one), then there are chances for you to be on the right track.