Throwing the Baby Out With the Bath Water?

Throwing the Baby Out With the Bath Water? The Surprising Implications of Dan Pink's Drive Daniel B. Sundberg, PhD ABA Technologies, Inc.

Alyce M. Dickinson, PhD Western Michigan University

Manuel “Manny” Rodriguez ABA Technologies, Inc.

Copyright (C) 2015 ABA Technologies, Inc

What is this talk about? • Being a critical and savvy consumer of pop media • Do if-‐‑then rewards work? • Communication with a lay audience



“There is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does” -‐‑Pink (2009)


“External rewards and punishments – both carrots and sticks – can work nicely for algorithmic tasks. But they can be devastating for heuristic ones” -‐‑Pink (2009)


“Wikipedia’s triumph seems to defy the laws of behavioral physics” -‐Pink (2009)


“…open source depends on intrinsic motivation with the same ferocity that older business models rely on extrinsic motivation” -‐Pink (2009)


Motivation 1.0

Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting


Motivation 2.0 “Rewarding an activity will get you more of it. Punishing an activity will get you less of it.” -‐Pink (2009)

Image Source: www.allposters.com


“Carrots and Sticks” can… • Extinguish intrinsic motivation • Diminish performance • Crush creativity • Crowd out good behavior • Encourage cheating, shortcuts and unethical behavior • Become addictive • Foster short term thinking


Motivation 3.0


“By neglecting the ingredients of genuine motivation – autonomy, mastery, and purpose – [‘if-‐‑then’ rewards] limit what each of us can achieve.” -‐‑Pink (2009)


“…it is possible to employ operant principles in a less than optimal way. But this does not mean that the principles are incorrect. What it means is that we have yet to effectively employ what we know” Mawhinney, 1986


Research Foundation • Amabile (1996) • Ariely, Gneezy, Loewenstein, & Mazar (2009) • Csikszentmihalyi (1990) • Deci, Koestner, & Ryan (1999) • Glucksberg (1962) • Harlow, Harlow, & Meyer (1950) • Lepper, Green, & Nisbett (1973)


Ariely et al. 2009


$$ doesn’t have expected impact …therefore… $$ not great for creative behavior …therefore… If-‐‑then rewards not effective for creative Behavior Copyright (C) 2015 ABA Technologies, Inc

Fundamental difference between types of motivation

Effectiveness of “reward” can be evaluated by its form

Image Source: Google Images


What about his suggestions? • Motivation 1.0, 2.0, 3.0? • If-‐‑then rewards don’t work? • Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose?


Over task, technique team, time

Image Source: http://www.justintarte.com/2012/06/autonomy-‐ freedom-‐vs-‐directives-‐mandates.html


Mastery

“The desire to get better at something that matters”



Purpose Behavior should be tied to a larger objective



Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose “How are we going to create these?” Behavioral principles!


Conclusions • Be critical consumers (don’t let others throw the baby out!) • Extrinsic vs. intrinsic not useful, not matter how packaged • Creative behavior is still behavior

• Look at function, not form

• If-‐‑then works when done correctly

• It’s OK to take this as data on how to effectively communicate to others (don’t you throw the baby out) Copyright (C) 2015 ABA Technologies, Inc