What Really Motivates Us

In the mid 1990’s, two Swedish economists ran an experiment with the objective of trying to settle a longstanding debate about donating blood. 

Will more people donate blood if they are offered a reward?

The economists found 153 female volunteers interested in donating blood and split them into three groups.  The first group would not receive anything for donating blood.  The second group would receive a modest sum for donating and the third would also receive a modest sum, but with the option to donate it to a charity.

What they found was quite interesting.  The % of people who actually donated blood was the lowest for the group that was offered money.  In other words, more people will donate blood for altruistic purposes than for receiving a reward.

This experiment was identified in the book Drive by Daniel Pink.  The main point of his book is that the existing model of motivating people through rewards and punishments don’t work anymore.

This is because people are intrinsically motivated to act when it comes to doing things such as giving, or critically thinking, or being creative or really doing anything that’s not assembly line type work.

This is also the reason why open source projects such as Wikipedia and Firefox are so successful.   

People aren’t being paid to contribute to these projects; they are contributing because they are internally motivated to do so. 

This revelation can have profound impacts on how businesses are run, how governments illicit actions and how aid organizations (such as Red Cross) motivate people. 

However, it is important to note that not all people are motivated to do the same thing.  One person will be more driven to donate blood, while another will be more motivated to volunteer their time.  It depends on the person’s preferences. 

While people are intrinsically motivated as per Daniel Pinks book, it is important to bring up the point of altruism.  Defined as an:

Ethical theory that regards the good of others as the end of moral action; by extension, the disposition to take the good of others as an end in itself.

The main point of altruism is that people don’t expect anything for their action.  There is longstanding debate about whether true altruism exists, because it is well documented that people are internally rewarded for performing acts of kindness. 

Benefits include:

-        Increased positivity

-        Less Social-Anxiety

-        Lower Blood Pressure

-        Higher levels of happiness

While the debate is philosophical in nature, the main points are that there are clear benefits to performing acts of kindness and that we are intrinsically motivated to do that.

With these in mind, your third challenge is to perform three random acts of kindness within the next week and write a Tryary about your experience.

Here are a number of ideas to help you:

-        Help someone load or unload groceries

-        Buy coffee for the person behind you in line

-        Donate to charity

-        Sign up for a volunteer opportunity

-        Visit people at an old age home

-        Donate your old books to a library

-        Send a meal to someone has lost a love one

-        Buy gifts for children in a hospital

-        When you receive good service, go out of your way to provide feedback to their boss

Send a thank you note (not an email) to someone who had a profound impact on your life