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Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation

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Few things are harder to understand than why we do what we do. In fact, most psychologists would agree that it is virtually impossible for a person to understand his or her own motivation - and consequently that it is not possible to understand the full scope of motivation of another person. Therefore it would be asking too much from this book to give an answer to the question why we do what we do.

What the book does is summarize findings in the psychology of self-determination and intrinsic motivation, the main fields of research of the author, who has published two books on this subject previously.

Deci starts from the position that individuals have something that can be called a "true self," and that people wish to act in accord with this "true self." They wish to be autonomous (authentic) rather than controlled. If they act autonomously (authentically), they are self-motivated. If they act autonomously, they also respect others because the "true self" wishes to be related to others (a point on which Aristoteles would have agreed, and Thomas Hobbes would have strongly disagreed). Deci assumes that human beings are cooperative by nature, rather than competitive.

The "true self," of course, is an artificial construct, a theory. And even if we assume that there is such a "true self," it is conceivable that there are people whose "true self" is competitive as well as people whose "true self" is cooperative. Some people may simply enjoy open confrontations whereas other people may abhor disharmony and clashes. Deci's book is mostly silent about such issues of personality, and his assumption that the "true self" is expressive of human connectedness is just that - a very general assumption.

Deci's book builds on the theories of an American school of psychology called "Humanistic Psychology." One of the most important proponents of this school was Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) who pioneered the concept of "self-actualization," a technical term for what Nietzsche once called "becoming who you are." Maslow's book "Motivation and Personality" (1954) is still well worth reading.

So, what does this book tell us if it does not tell us why we do what we do? It tells us - quite convincingly - that control is always second-best to autonomy. Deci's core thesis is that "self-motivation, rather than external motivation, is at the heart of creativity, responsibility, healthy behavior, and lasting change," (9) and that "social contexts that support and affirm people's perceived autonomy and perceived competence enhance intrinsic motivation, while social contexts that diminish people's perceived autonomy and perceived competence undermine intrinsic motivation." (81)

This is not exactly rocket science, but it gets interesting when Deci delves into the details of what "autonomy support" means - not permissiveness, but being clear, consistent and setting limits in an understanding, empathic way. He spells this out on about twenty pages in Chapter 10 titled "How to Promote Autonomy," and I would love to make these pages required reading for parents and managers.

In the nature-nurture debate, Deci's focus lies on the nurture side: "Although the social context is ENORMOUSLY important in affecting people's motivation and behavior, people's personalities ALSO affect their motivation and behavior" (184; italics are mine). In fact, Deci is largely silent about matters of personality, or defines it simply as "autonomy orientation," whereas he discusses the impact of the social context at length.

I am very much a fan of humanistic psychology, which has seen its heyday in the 1960s. It conveys important insights into the impact of "nurture" on human beings. But the assumptions of humanistic psychology about what constitutes human nature appear quite unfounded in the 21st century. To make claims about human nature without recourse to genetics, evolutionary theory, twin research, or the biochemistry of the brain is rather futile. In this respect "Why We Do What We Do" is definitely behind the curve (to make up for this I recommend Matt Ridley's "Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience and What Makes Us Human" (2003) - popular science writing at its best and quite an education).

This book will be a great addition to any teachers, managers, or parents bookshelves. It explores the psychology of intrinsic (vs. extrinsic) motivation and shows how supervisors, and other people in "one-up" positions, can be more than managers, but true leaders who foster autonomous, authentic growth and responsible decision-making in their subordinates. A must read for anyone who recognizes the lack of responsiblity and accountability in people today and would like to foster positive change in our schools, our companies, and our society.

The book's explanation about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is very detailed and interesting. I really enjoyed reading it, and I can relate the concepts explained in the book with my daily experiences. Furthermore, the author(s) explained the concepts with simple language so that the book is very easy to understand. You don't have to be a psychology major to be able to enjoy the book.

If you are a teacher, parent or manager this book has extremely valuable information that will help you make improvements in the manner you relate to your students, children or employees.

The book is well written, easy to read, with examples of case studies a layman can easily understand. It was written by a professional but specifically written for the average reader. I found that refreshing. So many professionals write to satisfy their peers that they lose the average reader.

Deci advances some ideas that are contrary to the conventional wisdom of getting the most from employees. However his ideas are very compelling and sound.

For example, our system of rewards tries to control a person's behavior. The results of one of the case studies showed that when the rewards were offered with an intent of controlling behavior it sabotaged the desired results.

The only motivation that actually works long term is intrinsic motivation. Deci points out ways that we can foster intrinsic motivation. Unfortunately most of our efforts foster extrinsic motivation using either rewards or threats. Remove the rewards or the threats and the motivation disappears.

While it is well written and contains many valuable lessons, for most readers it will be a new way of thinking and will require periodic reinforcement.

This is a very good book written by a Professor in Psychology. All the facts and conclusions in this book have a strong basis in empirical research. If you want to a good overview of human motivation from clinical psychology perspective, this is a must read.

There is, however, scant information on "how to improve" self motivation. The author goes into great depth on what can demotivate people, but provides very little suggestions on how we can improve our motivation.

Perhaps this is due to author's strict adherence to empirical psychology. I imagine he is not a person who will give psychological suggestions lightly.

The author strongly suggests that increasing self motivation involves focusing one our natural autonomous motivation while staying away from environments and thoughts which can demotivate us.

At any rate, this book is superior to the plethora of psychological books based on NLP.

Overall, this is a highly credible book which is worth a read.

I learned a lot by reading this book. It really is not an exciting read but if your interested in the subject matter it really is worth the money. By the time I got to the last few chapters I really had wished that the authors would have made it more exciting (or the book just a bit shorter). However, this book was very educational and I think anyone who has an interest in motivation and how it works would do well reading this book.

Why We Do What We Do is not a creative or orginal title; however, it is an accurate description of what this book is about. If you want to understand how motivation works, both intrinsic (internal) and extrinsic (external), as well as the power and importance of self-motivation, it's an absolute must-read.

While the author, Edward L. Deci, offers the results of years of research on the subjects of autonomy, competency, and relatedness (which he says are all human neeeds), he provides stimulating insight into control and compliance, and their effects on one's authentic (i.e. "true") self and the resulting behaviors that are inevitably influenced by them, as well as incentive and instruction for teachers, parents, and managers to be autonomy supportive.

To me the heart of this fascinating, enlightening, and highly self-educational book revolves around the results of a recent psychological study by Richard Ryan and Tim Kasser who founded the 6 types of life aspirations which are: money, fame, beauty (the extrinsic motivations), and meaningful relationships, personal growth, and contribution to community (the intrinsic motivations). They noted that when people organize their behavior in terms of intrinsic strivings (relative to extrinsic strivings) they seem more content - they feel better about who they are and display more evidence of pyschological health.

That should be all the motivation you need to purchase this book.

Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-MotivationReview by Richard L. Weaver II, PhD.

Edward Deci is a psychology professor at the University of Rochester, and Richard Flaste is a former science and health editor for The New York Times, and the book Why we do what we do: Understanding self-motivation is a book on how people can become more genuinely engaged and successful in pursuing their goals. What is it that makes people want to succeed? From his extensive studies, Deci discovered that reward/punishment motivational systems (e.g., teacher and students, manager and employees, parents and children) don't work. They alienate people, make them less productive, and leave them less fulfilled. Control, he demonstrates, is always second-best to autonomy. "Self-motivation," he writes, "rather than external motivation, is at the heart of creativity, responsibility, healthy behavior, and lasting change." The way the authors explain the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is both detailed and interesting. With simple language and well-explained concepts, this book is a must read for teachers, managers, and parents. It may require an entirely different approach if we are interested in changing the behavior of those we most want to influence.

I worked my way through the book, and I do mean "worked". It was poorly organized, redundant and cluttered, from a writer's perspective. Whoever did the editing should be fired.

This is an important body of knowledge by two esteemed collegues, who are probably great professors but not great writers. Perhaps for another edition they can hire a collaborator who can concentrate on developmental editing for them. With that suggestion taken, this body of work should be an audio book so that it can be digested slowly and savored.

This book seems a bit technical for the average lay person, but professionals in the field of psychology would benefit from reading it.