Effects of Perceived Extrinsic Versus Intrinsic Teacher Motivation on Student Reactions to Skill Acquisition

Abstract

Musically naive students were taught a piano lesson. In a paid teaching condition, the teacher was portrayed as being extrinsically motivated by a $25 payment. In a second condition, the teacher was portrayed as an intrinsically motivated volunteer The confederate teacher was blind to conditions and gave the same standardized lesson to all students. Students in the volunteer condition perceived the teacher as exhibiting greater enjoy-mast, enthusiasm, and innovation relative to those in the paid condition hey also enjoyed the lesson more, reported a more positive mood, and were more interested in further learning. During a free-play interval, students in the volunteer condition exhibited greater exploratory activity than those in the paid condition