1Why do some people keep working hard even without any external rewards?
2Psychologists call the answer intrinsic motivation, a drive that comes from within.
3People who are intrinsically motivated do things because the activity itself feels satisfying.
4A famous experiment showed that paying children to draw reduced their interest.
5When the payment finally stopped, many of the children simply stopped drawing altogether.
6This finding surprised many teachers who had believed that rewards always improved performance.
7Researchers now say rewards can help with boring tasks but hurt creative ones.
8Researchers say three basic needs feed intrinsic motivation: choice, skill and purpose.
9People want control over their work and a sense of steady progress.
10They also want to feel that their efforts truly matter to someone else.
11Managers who understand this can design jobs that people genuinely enjoy doing.