Competence and the overjustification effect

Abstract

The “overjustification effect” is manifested in decreased interest in an activity as a result of having been rewarded for participation in the activity. According to attribution theory's “discounting principle,” decreased interest occurs because the subject discounts the role of intrinsic motivation when a salient extrinsic reward is present. An alternative analysis based on the “competence principle” suggests that only rewards that convey no message of competence foster the overjustification effect, while manipulations that do convey competence information do not. A study crossing Reward (no reward-monetary reward) and Task Difficulty (hard-easy) supported the competence analysis. Subjects who succeeded on the hard task and thus felt competent manifested higher subsequent interest in the task. Consistent with the competence analysis, presence or absence of reward did not influence subsequent interest in the task.