Self-determination continuum
Also known as: Organismic integration theory, Types of regulation
Extrinsic motivation isn't one thing — it ranges from feeling forced to fully owning the reason behind an action.
What it means
The self-determination continuum, articulated in organismic integration theory (a sub-theory of SDT), arrays motivation by how fully a behavior's regulation has been internalized and integrated with the self. It runs from amotivation, through four types of extrinsic motivation — external regulation (rewards and punishments), introjected regulation (internal pressure, guilt, ego), identified regulation (valuing the goal), and integrated regulation (the goal fits one's identity) — to intrinsic motivation. The key insight is that more autonomous forms of extrinsic motivation function like intrinsic motivation, yielding better persistence, well-being, and performance, while controlled forms are brittle. Internalization is fostered by supporting autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The nuance is that the goal is not always to make people intrinsically motivated, but to help them autonomously internalize necessary behaviors. It matters because it dissolves the crude intrinsic-versus-extrinsic dichotomy into a graded quality of motivation.
Examples
One person exercises only to avoid a spouse's nagging (external), another because guilt drives her (introjected), another because she values her health (identified) — the last sustains the habit far longer.
A nurse learns the new records system because her manager checks compliance; a colleague learns it because it saves her patients time — a year on, only the second still uses it well.
A teenager practises piano to stop the nagging, then to quiet his guilt, then because he wants to be someone who plays — the same hour, three different motivations.
First described in Edward Deci & Richard Ryan (1985, 2000).