10.1 Motivation — Why Getting Paid Kills Your Passion | Psychology 2e

What really drives human behavior — and why can adding a paycheck to something you love actually destroy your desire to do it? This lesson from Section 10.1 of Psychology 2e unpacks the science of motivation, from the overjustification effect and the dangers of extrinsic rewards, all the way through biological drive theory, arousal theory, and Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Through vivid examples like Odessa the baker, law student Hakim, and Gandhi's hunger strikes, the lesson reveals just how complex — and often counterintuitive — our motivational forces really are. In this video: • Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation: what drives behavior from within versus from outside rewards • The overjustification effect explained through Odessa, who loses her love of baking after getting paid to do it • How the type of reward (tangible vs. intangible) and expectation (anticipated vs. surprise) determine whether extrinsic rewards harm intrinsic drive • Hakim's two law courses illustrate how classroom environments can either destroy or preserve a student's intrinsic motivation • Drive theory and homeostasis: how physiological imbalances like hunger create psychological drives and shape habit formation • The Yerkes-Dodson Law: why high arousal helps simple tasks but hurts performance on complex ones • Maslow's hierarchy of needs — and his later addition of self-transcendence, illustrated by Gandhi's hunger strikes #OpenStax #Psychology #Motivation #MaslowsHierarchy #OverjustificationEffect OpenStax Content adapted from "OpenStax Psychology 2e", by OpenStax licensed under CC BY 4.0. Content based on Web Version: Apr 23, 2026. Read the textbook online https://openstax.org/details/books/ps... Music first girl talking to me. by ikkun (ex. Barradeen) |   / ikkunwastaken   Royalty Free Music by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...