Intrinsic Vs. Extrinsic Motivation

[xSilverPhinx]

The main difference between these two types of motivation is that intrinsic motivation arises from within while extrinsic motivation involves doing something for outside rewards. For instance, doing something because you find an activity enjoyable is an intrinsic motivator while doing it to get a good grade is extrinsic. These motivations are important in learning settings or to get people to alter their behaviour.

I do consider myself to be slightly lazy (), and choosy when it comes to which tasks to take on. However, I don't like to do things poorly, when I start something I like to see it through to the best of my ability. I've got to turn in a rather large report for tomorrow which I haven't even started yet. The subject isn't exactly one that gets me hopping in joy and wanting to learn more. I have many other tasks that are lined up, needing to be started and completed.

Thing is, I have a feeling, a very strong feeling, that the professor who gave us this task won't even bother reading it. He isn't even going to grade it. Why should I devote a lot of my time and finite energy to doing something on a topic I have no interest in if no one will even take the time to even scan the thing with their eyes? If I wanted to learn about the topic for the sake of learning then I could do that without having to write something about it. On the other hand, I can't simply turn up empty-handed as that would be too conspicuous. 

It's a silly dilemma, I know, but I'm feeling tired and maybe (just maybe) I'm looking for an excuse to do this poorly. 

I've toyed with the idea of writing nonsense, maybe in English even, just to see if he'll comment on it so that I know that he had read it.     

Undoubtedly you've all been faced with this situation. Do/would you bother?

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Given the circumstances you mention, the effort I put into it would be about 3-4 out of 10.  Does it require footnotes, or just a report on a subject?  If no footnotes are required, you can just start writing about the subject and give him a stream-of-consciousness report.  At least you did what he asked. I wouldn't write obvious bullshit, but I wouldn't put a lot of time into it, either.  How many pages (typewritten?)?  Allocate a certain amount of time and do it.  You can listen to music and drink wine during the process to make it more enjoyable.

[Davin]

The thing about intrinsic rewards, is that they don't work very well when you don't want them. At least for me. So if I couldn't find a way to make the assignment interesting to me, I would probably just half ass it.

[xSilverPhinx]

Given the circumstances you mention, the effort I put into it would be about 3-4 out of 10.  Does it require footnotes, or just a report on a subject?  If no footnotes are required, you can just start writing about the subject and give him a stream-of-consciousness report.  At least you did what he asked. I wouldn't write obvious bullshit, but I wouldn't put a lot of time into it, either.  How many pages (typewritten?)?  Allocate a certain amount of time and do it.  You can listen to music and drink wine during the process to make it more enjoyable.

It doesn't require footnotes thankfully and he didn't mention a minumum or maximum number of pages.

I don't usually don't drink wine but I like the music idea.

The thing about intrinsic rewards, is that they don't work very well when you want them. At least for me. So if I couldn't find a way to make the assignment interesting to me, I would probably just half ass it.

In order for intrinsic rewards to work you have to be interested. That's basically step one. I guess one fault with most teachers is that they can't fathom how someone could not be uber interested in the same subjects they are and so assume that everyone will always give their all.

[Recusant]

It's probably too late to consider this, but maybe search for some related topic that you actually are interested in and try to tie it in to the official topic. I can't fully recommend this course of action because on more than one occasion when I tried that, my work got rejected. For instance, as a very young lad (13 or 14), when asked to write an essay on a possible career I wrote one about communal living as an alternative to traditional career oriented life choices, and examining the history of utopian communes in the US. The redneck teacher was happy to give me a zero. 

[Magdalena]

It's probably too late to consider this, but maybe search for some related topic that you actually are interested in and try to tie it in to the official topic. I can't fully recommend this course of action because on more than one occasion when I tried that, my work got rejected. For instance, as a very young lad (13 or 14), when asked to write an essay on a possible career I wrote one about communal living as an alternative to traditional career oriented life choices, and examining the history of utopian communes in the US. The redneck teacher was happy to give me a zero. 

[xSilverPhinx]

It's probably too late to consider this, but maybe search for some related topic that you actually are interested in and try to tie it in to the official topic. I can't fully recommend this course of action because on more than one occasion when I tried that, my work got rejected. For instance, as a very young lad (13 or 14), when asked to write an essay on a possible career I wrote one about communal living as an alternative to traditional career oriented life choices, and examining the history of utopian communes in the US. The redneck teacher was happy to give me a zero. 

Heheh. I tried that at most a couple of times, one worked out but the other time the teacher thought that my deviation from explicit instructions was because I was retarded.   

Turns out I had completely forgotten that I had stuff to do this morning and so couldn't finish it. If the professor still remembers that he had given us this task last week I'm going to ask for an extension. Plenty of my peers have not done it as well.

[Magdalena]

It's probably too late to consider this, but maybe search for some related topic that you actually are interested in and try to tie it in to the official topic. I can't fully recommend this course of action because on more than one occasion when I tried that, my work got rejected. For instance, as a very young lad (13 or 14), when asked to write an essay on a possible career I wrote one about communal living as an alternative to traditional career oriented life choices, and examining the history of utopian communes in the US. The redneck teacher was happy to give me a zero. 

Heheh. I tried that at most a couple of times, one worked out but the other time the teacher thought that my deviation from explicit instructions was because I was retarded.   
...

This reminds me of when I was in high school (Washington State). We had a teacher who would "weight" the final report--The heavier, the higher the grade. We could glue leaves, and twigs, and grass, and other things in nature. A kid found a way to "incorporate" rocks to his report. He got an "A" for being clever. 

[xSilverPhinx]

It's probably too late to consider this, but maybe search for some related topic that you actually are interested in and try to tie it in to the official topic. I can't fully recommend this course of action because on more than one occasion when I tried that, my work got rejected. For instance, as a very young lad (13 or 14), when asked to write an essay on a possible career I wrote one about communal living as an alternative to traditional career oriented life choices, and examining the history of utopian communes in the US. The redneck teacher was happy to give me a zero. 

Heheh. I tried that at most a couple of times, one worked out but the other time the teacher thought that my deviation from explicit instructions was because I was retarded.   
...

This reminds me of when I was in high school (Washington State). We had a teacher who would "weight" the final report--The heavier, the higher the grade. We could glue leaves, and twigs, and grass, and other things in nature. A kid found a way to "incorporate" rocks to his report. He got an "A" for being clever. 

Sounds like a cool teacher who isn't power tripping.