What Motivates 21st Century Tasks?

Motivation - not what we do, but why we do it.

I tell my psychology students all the time, that while studying behavior is interesting, studying motivation is more important. Trying to understand behavior without understanding why we behave is pointless. Why we do something is more interesting than what we do.

Why do we get up and go to work or school in the morning? Why do we choose to eat one thing over another? Why to we act the way we do when certain people are around? Why do we play? Why do we study? Why do we work hard? Why do we buy one product over another? Why do we complete a puzzle? Why do we act destructively sometimes?  Why do we love? Why do we hate?  Human behavior is complex and often confusing. To truly understand human behavior we have to investigate what motivates us.  Hunger, money, sex, belongingness, power, achievement?

We must think and then we must rethink!  As Dan Pink illustrates in his book Drive, what we know to be true based on scientific inquiry is that we are doing it wrong -at least in the corporate world - and I would suggest these concept are also very relevant to the educational world.  We are holding onto outdated, unscientific, flawed assumptions as to what works as far a motivating behavior.

Do incentives work? If so, on what kinds of tasks?  Where do new innovations come from?  Where does rigor come from?  What will get kids to stay at a task that is difficult? Can we mandate creativity? Can we motivate it? Where does the joy of solving a problem come from?

I believe that EVERYONE ENJOYS LEARNING.  Just look at any young child learning something new.  You can see the joy and the fascination,  The inherent curiosity, the inherent creativity,  the internal drive to learn and discover is part of what make us human.  It is an inborn capacity hard wired into our DNA.  So how come my students seem to lack motivation?  How come they aren't chomping at the bit to learn?  I see the negative affects of grades on authentic learning. I see the negative effects of rewards on creativity and problem solving. Watch Dan Pink and let me know what you think.  Any and all comments are welcome.