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The Influence of Positive Affect on Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: Facilitating Enjoyment of Play, Responsible Work Behavior, and Self-Control

Motivation and Emotion volume 29, pages 295–323 (2005)Cite this article

Two experiments demonstrated that positive affect fosters intrinsic motivation, as reflected by choice of activity in a free-choice situation and by rated amount of enjoyment of a novel and challenging task, but also promotes responsible work behavior in a situation where the work needs to be done. Where there was work that needed to be done, people in the positive-affect condition reduced their time on the enjoyable task, successfully completed the work task, but also spent time on the more enjoyable task. These results indicate that positive affect does foster intrinsic motivation, and enjoyment and performance of enjoyable tasks, but not at the cost of responsible work behavior on an uninteresting task that needs to be done. Implications for the relationship between positive affect and such aspects of self-regulation as forward-looking thinking and self-control are discussed.

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Notes

  1. Overall, participants rated the colorful hard candies (M = 4.5) and assorted chocolates (M = 4.5) as equally attractive. As to the choice between the two bags, participants split almost evenly (21 of 40, 52% preferred the hard candies). Participants' attractiveness ratings and choice between bags of candies did not differ as a function of the affect manipulation.

  2. We tested for possible order effects to see whether first playing with one activity or the other affected any of our five dependent measures. Participants who puzzle-solved first did not differ significantly from participants who engaged the letter strings first on any measure: Interest in puzzle (t < 1); interest in letter strings (t < 1); free-choice persistence with puzzle (t = 1.61, p > .1); free-choice persistence with letter strings (t = 1.28; p > .1); and performance speed on letter strings (t = 1.37; p > .1).

  3. As in Experiment 1, the experimenter asked the participant to rate each bag of candy on a 1–7 scale. Again the two types of candy were rated and chosen about equally (bag of chocolates, M = 5.1 rating with 35 of 60, 58% choosing it; bag of hard candies, M = 4.6 rating with 25 of 60, 42% choosing it).

  4. We tested for possible order effects to see whether first playing with one activity or the other affected any of our five dependent measures. Participants who puzzle-solved first did not differ significantly from participants who engaged the letter strings task first on any measure: Interest in puzzle (t = 1.04; p > .1); interest in letter strings (t < 1); free-choice persistence with puzzle (t < 1); free-choice persistence with letter strings (t < 1); and performance speed on letter strings (t < 1).

  5. When we used difference scores (persistence on puzzle minus persistence on letter-strings) instead of persistence on the puzzle as the dependent measure, results were virtually the same. Planned comparisons showed that when given a free orientation positive affect participants played relatively more with the puzzle than did neutral affect participants (Ms = 276.4 vs. 21.4, t = 3.14, t < .01); when given a work orientation, positive affect participants played relatively less with the puzzle than when given a free orientation (Ms, 10.5 vs. 276.4, t = 3.53, p < 01).

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Acknowledgment

The authors thank Lisa Aspinwall for her helpful comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cornell University, NY, USA

    Alice M. Isen

  2. Department of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations, 361 Lindquist Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA

    Johnmarshall Reeve

  3. Cornell University, 359 Sage Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Alice M. Isen

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Correspondence to Alice M. Isen.

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Isen, A.M., Reeve, J. The Influence of Positive Affect on Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: Facilitating Enjoyment of Play, Responsible Work Behavior, and Self-Control. Motiv Emot 29, 295–323 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-006-9019-8

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KEY WORDS:

  • self control
  • positive affect
  • intrinsic motivation