According to Kasser and Ryan, college students who are primarily concerned with money, personal appearance, and social recognition score lower than average in vitality, self- actualization, and general well-being. Discuss these findings using Maslow's hierarchy of needs and his description of the meta-needs; and then explain the difference in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and how these two

Question

types of motivation can be involved in turning "work into "play" or "play" into "work.".

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer will include that these students' energies are focused on and are being motivated by the lower deficiency needs of safety, love and belonging, and esteem. Until these needs are met to an optimal level, they cannot aspire toward self-actualization and the meta-needs, such as fairness, wholeness, truth, and meaningfulness. With the meta-needs being unfilled, the students will fall into a "syndrome of decay" marked by despair, apathy, alienation, and a lack of general well-being. Regarding motivation, when you do something for enjoyment or to improve your abilities, your motivation is usually intrinsic. Intrinsic motivation occurs when we act without any obvious external rewards. We simply enjoy an activity or see it as an opportunity to explore, learn, and actualize our potentials. In contrast, extrinsic motivation stems from external factors, such as pay, grades, rewards, obligations, and approval. Most of the activities we think of as "work" are extrinsically rewarded. Apparently, "play" can be turned into "work" by requiring people to do something they would otherwise enjoy, that is, changing the reward from intrinsic to extrinsic. Thus, basing one's major or selection of a job only on money or choosing activities based on gaining social recognition leads to one "working" for extrinsic motivation, while making choices based on activities one enjoys can lead to a more lasting motivation and higher vitality.