Attribution and contrast

Within motivational theory, there have been several demonstrations that giving an ‘external’ reward for a task reduces ‘intrinsic’ motivation. One explanation of these results is that the subject attributes engaging in the rewarded task for the reward rather than to the ‘intrinsic’ value of the task. This article provides evidence suggesting that the finding of reduced value of a rewarded task is, in some cases, due to perceptual contrast. By giving an ‘external’ reward, the task is judged against the reinforcement background of the more highly rated stimulus ‐ the reward. The task is perceived as being of reduced reinforcement value by contrast with the reward

Attribution · Cognitive psychology · Contrast (vision) · Intrinsic motivation · Intrinsic value (animal ethics) · Perception · Reinforcement · Stimulus (psychology) · Task (project management) · Value (mathematics) · Artificial Intelligence · Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies · Neuroscience · Psychology · Social Psychology