Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic/extrinsic motivation refers to whether the motivation is more inside a person or
outside of him/her. Intrinsic motivation refers to the motivation which is originated inside
a person. There is no reward except the activity itself. It means that the essence of
motivated action that is, sense of autonomy and the desire is self-initiating and selfregulating
while in extrinsic motivation there is an anticipation of reward from outside
and a person is motivated from an outside source rather than the self.
Intrinsic/extrinsic motivation is related to the term locus of control which was first
introduced by Rotter (1966). If a person places responsibility for her/his life within self,
s/he has internal locus of control and is self-motivated character and if s/he places the