Overjustification effect

In this blog, I would like to focus on the textbook topic

Social Perception: Perceiving the Self and Others
This topic looks into how people judge other people and themselves.

Self-perception theory
The self-perception theory is one that suggests that when we evaluate our own internal states, we do so by comparing them with our past behaviour and deduce internal states that correlate with our current behaviour unless there were obvious environmental causes of our behaviour. Research has shown evidence that this theory holds through for internal states that are clearly defined as opposed to weak and ambiguous.

Overjustification effect
Overjustification effect is the inference that we participated in a potentially enjoyable task for the sake of receiving a reward rather than because we enjoyed it. Research has shown that when a reward is given for quality of effort as opposed to mere participation, this might actually increase intrinsic motivation.

According to the overjustification effect, a person who enjoys mathematics and works as an accountant will probably lose an interest in mathematic. This is because in his job, he would probably be paid his salary for simply doing mathematics constantly.

This theory might explain why most people I know do not seem to like their jobs and usually focus on getting their salary rather than enjoy the process of going to work everyday. The theory also suggests that if a boss recognizes when an employee works well (high quality work) and responds by them bonuses (rewards), employees are more likely to increase in their liking for their jobs.

Personally, I enjoy baking very much. I have also been selling my home baked cakes to my friends and family for some time. Despite the fact that I am rewarded with money for performing my hobby, my intrinsic interest for baking has not decreased. In fact, I am currently more interested in baking than ever. I suppose that I have not lost interest in baking as every time I make something for a customer, I have to ensure that the quality of the cakes is as good as or better than previously (I am only rewarded if I achieve high quality cakes. If not, I lose a customer.)

I realize that I often reward people far more than necessary. After going through this topic in lecture, I have become much more cautious when I deal with people. I think twice before rewarding them. This is the case especially when I deal with children as the overjustification effect appears to have quite a large impact on them.