Abstract
Numerous research findings have supported that external rewards can reduce an individual’s intrinsic motivation under well-specified conditions in many domains. This study focused on video game play situations and aimed to examine whether external rewards could undermine children’s game-play intrinsic motivation and whether initial interest serves as a potential moderator in this conditional process. Using two-phase experiment designs, two samples of children were and were not rewarded for playing a targeted video game (study 1) and their most favorite/least favorite video games (study 2). Intrinsic motivation was measured by self-reported questionnaires, including affective aspects (i.e., game liking) and decisional aspects (i.e., game-play willingness). The results did not show an overall undermining effect of external reward on game play intrinsic motivation, but revealed a decrease in game-play willingness (not game liking) only for the video games with high initial interest. Taken together, this study was the first attempt to apply the undermining effect in video game play situations and suggested that high initial interest would strengthen the occurrence of this undermining effect, which offers valuable insights for developing targeted interventions to reduce children’s excessive game-play behaviors from a novel perspective.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596
Bear, G. G., Slaughter, J. C., Mantz, L. S., & Farley-Ripple, E. (2017). Rewards, praise, and punitive consequences: Relations with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 65, 10–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.03.001
Bem, D. J. (1967). Self-perception: An alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena. Psychological Review, 74(3), 183–200. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0024835
Cai, X., Cebollada, J., & Cortiñas, M. (2022). Self-report measure of dispositional flow experience in the video game context: Conceptualisation and scale development. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 159, 102746. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2021.102746
Cameron, J., & Pierce, W. D. (1994). Reinforcement, reward, and intrinsic motivation: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 64(3), 363–423. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543064003363
Cameron, J., & Pierce, W. D. (2002). Rewards and intrinsic motivation: Resolving the controversy. Bergin & Garvey.
Cameron, J., Pierce, W. D., Banko, K. M., & Gear, A. (2005). Achievement-based rewards and intrinsic motivation: A test of cognitive mediators. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97(4), 641–655. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.97.4.641
Cooke, L. J., Chambers, L. C., Anez, E. V., Croker, H. A., Boniface, D., Yeomans, M. R., & Wardle, J. (2011a). Eating for pleasure or profit: The effect of incentives on children’s enjoyment of vegetables. Psychological Science, 22(2), 190–196. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797610394662
Cooke, L. J., Chambers, L. C., Anez, E. V., & Wardle, J. (2011b). Facilitating or undermining? The effect of reward on food acceptance. A Narrative Review. Appetite, 57(2), 493–497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2011.06.016
Deci, E. L. (1971). Effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 18(1), 105–115. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0030644
Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), 627–668. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.125.6.627 discussion 692–700.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. Plenum.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The" what" and" why" of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2015). Self-determination theory. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 21, 486–491. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.26036-4
Dollinger, S. J., & Thelen, M. H. (1978). Overjustification and children’s intrinsic motivation: Comparative effects of four rewards. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36(11), 1259–1269. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.36.11.1259
Eisenberger, R., Rhoades, L., & Cameron, J. (1999). Does pay for performance increase or decrease perceived self-determination and intrinsic motivation? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(5), 1026–1040. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.77.5.1026
Filsecker, M., & Hickey, D. T. (2014). A multilevel analysis of the effects of external rewards on elementary students’ motivation, engagement and learning in an educational game. Computers & Education, 75, 136–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.02.008
Fu, X., Liu, J., Liu, R. D., Ding, Y., Wang, J., Zhen, R., & Jin, F. (2020). Parental monitoring and adolescent problematic mobile phone use: The mediating role of escape motivation and the moderating role of shyness. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(5), 1487. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051487
Gentile, D. A. (2009). Pathological video-game use among youth ages 8 to 18: A national study. Psychological Science, 20(5), 594–602. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02340.x
Gentile, D. A., Swing, E. L., Lim, C. G., & Khoo, A. (2012). Video game playing, attention problems, and impulsiveness: Evidence of bidirectional causality. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 1(1), 62–70. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026969
Granic, I., Lobel, A., & Engels, R. C. (2014). The benefits of playing video games. American Psychologist, 69(1), 66–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034857
Hagger, M. S., & Chatzisarantis, N. L. D. (2011). Causality orientations moderate the undermining effect of rewards on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47(2), 485–489. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2010.10.010
Hefner, D., Knop, K., Schmitt, S., & Vorderer, P. (2018). Rules? Role Model? Relationship? The impact of parents on their children’s problematic mobile phone involvement. Media Psychology, 22(1), 82–108. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2018.1433544
Hewett, R., & Conway, N. (2016). The undermining effect revisited: The salience of everyday verbal rewards and self-determined motivation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37(3), 436–455. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2051
Hong, W., Liu, R.-D., Ding, Y., Zhen, R., Jiang, R., & Fu, X. (2020). Autonomy need dissatisfaction in daily life and problematic mobile phone use: The mediating roles of boredom proneness and mobile phone gaming. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(15), 5305. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17155305
Houlfort, N., Koestner, R., Joussemet, M., Nantel-Vivier, A., & Lekes, N. (2002). The impact of performance-contingent rewards on perceived autonomy and competence. Motivation and Emotion, 26(4), 279–295. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1022819120237
Kelly, H. H. (1967). Attribution theory in social psychology. In D. Levine (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation (pp. 192–238). University of Nebraska Press.
Koo, D.-M. (2009). The moderating role of locus of control on the links between experiential motives and intention to play online games. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(2), 466–474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2008.10.010
Lepper, M. R., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (1973). Undermining children’s intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward: A test of the “overjustification” hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28(1), 129–137. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0035519
Lobel, A., Engels, R. C., Stone, L. L., Burk, W. J., & Granic, I. (2017). Video gaming and children’s psychosocial wellbeing: A longitudinal study. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 46(4), 884–897. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-017-0646-z
Loveland, K. K., & Olley, J. G. (1979). The effect of external reward on interest and quality of task performance in children of high and low intrinsic motivation. Child Development, 50(4), 1207–1210. https://doi.org/10.2307/1129350
Maras, D., Flament, M. F., Murray, M., Buchholz, A., Henderson, K. A., Obeid, N., & Goldfield, G. S. (2015). Screen time is associated with depression and anxiety in Canadian youth. Preventive Medicine, 73, 133–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2015.01.029
Mikuska, J., & Vazsonyi, A. T. (2018). Developmental links between gaming and depressive symptoms. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 28(3), 680–697. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12359
Pierce, W. D., Cameron, J., Banko, K. M., & So, S. (2003). Positive effects of rewards and performance standards on intrinsic motivation. The Psychological Record, 53(4), 561–578. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf03395453
Promberger, M., & Marteau, T. M. (2013). When do financial incentives reduce intrinsic motivation? Comparing behaviors studied in psychological and economic literatures. Health Psychology, 32(9), 950–957. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032727
Rehbein, F., Kleimann, M., & Mossle, T. (2010). Prevalence and risk factors of video game dependency in adolescence: Results of a German nationwide survey. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 13(3), 269–277. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2009.0227
Reid, G. (2017). Motivation in video games: A literature review. The Computer Games Journal, 1(2), 70–81. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf03395967
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. Guilford Publications.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2020). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: Definitions, theory, practices, and future directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, 101860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101860
Stevens, M. W., Dorstyn, D., Delfabbro, P. H., & King, D. L. (2021). Global prevalence of gaming disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 55(6), 553–568. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004867420962851
Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2019). Media use is linked to lower psychological well-being: Evidence from three datasets. Psychiatric Quarterly, 90(2), 311–331. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-019-09630-7
van Rooij, A. J., Schoenmakers, T. M., van de Eijnden, R. J., & van de Mheen, D. (2010). Compulsive Internet use: The role of online gaming and other internet applications. Journal of Adolescent Health, 47(1), 51–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.12.021
Warneken, F., & Tomasello, M. (2008). Extrinsic rewards undermine altruistic tendencies in 20-month-olds. Developmental Psychology, 44(6), 1785–1788. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013860
Wehe, H. S., Rhodes, M. G., & Seger, C. A. (2015). Evidence for the negative impact of reward on self-regulated learning. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 68(11), 2125–2130. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2015.1061566
Weibel, A., Rost, K., & Osterloh, M. (2009). Pay for performance in the public sector–benefits and (hidden) costs. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 20(2), 387–412. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/mup009
World Health Organization. (2019). International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems. https://icd.who.int/en. Accessed 26 Sept 2021
Zhang, H.-X., & Xie, Y. (2009). The motivational process model of adolescent online gamers’ playing intention [in Chinese]. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 40(12), 1275–1286. https://doi.org/10.3724/sp.j.1041.2008.01275
Zhang, J., Song, Y., & Liu, X. (2016). Undermining effect exists or not: Relationship between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in workplace [in Chinese]. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 48(1), 73–83. https://doi.org/10.3724/sp.j.1041.2016.00073
Funding
This research was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China (grant numbers 17BSH102).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflicts of interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hong, W., Jing, Y., Liu, RD. et al. Wean your child off video games: Using external rewards to undermine intrinsic motivation to play interesting video games. Curr Psychol 42, 17746–17756 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02905-6
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02905-6