TED Blog 3

The effectiveness of different types of motivations are discussed by Dan Pink in his RSA talk “Drive.”  Pink begins his talk by stating two principles of motivation.  He says if you reward an activity you will get more of it and if you punish an activity you will get less of it, however, a study at M.I.T. proved his principles inaccurate in a way.  They are true when it comes down to physical tasks but when the same people were tested on comprehension and memorization tasks the results were inversed.  As the reward increased, the performance significantly decreased.  Although the extrinsic motivation of money is not as effective when it comes to mental tasks, intrinsic motivations can make a significant difference.  The desire to direct oneself, the aspiration to become better, and the feeling of what they do has a meaningful purpose are the main intrinsic motivators that Pink calls attention to.  He concludes with the idea that those three motivators are the strongest source of motivation there are.  

RSA chose to set Dan Pink’s talk “Drive” that talks about methods of motivation and where they work best to animation.  The animation is put together in a way that provides illustrations to better explain the exact point Pink is trying to make and words stand out more to give them a greater measure of impact on the audience.  Unlike the past talks that we have watched, Pink did not use humor as often.  I think it would have distracted from the main idea too much and it would have not have had as much impact on a serious level.  He does speak informally to his audience which makes his ideas seem more realistic, conversational, and comfortable to hear as it is a topic that is on the difficult side to grasp. Pink speaks a small portion on his theory of “carrots and sticks” as motivational tools in the talk and further explains that portion more in depth in “Seven Reasons Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work.”  He examines intrinsic motivators like autonomy are surrendered when “if - then” rewards are offered because it can turn fun into work and drains enjoyment out of it.  It also can easily be a solid motivator for the short term but in the long run they will lose interest.  Dan Pink’s talk on the truth about motivation sheds light on the subject allowing it to be more widely understood by the audience and then the world.