The paradoxical effect of controlling context on intrinsic motivation in another activity

Rémi Radel (1) , Luc Pelletier (2) , Dan Baxter (2) , Marion Fournier (1) , Philippe Sarrazin (3)

1 LAMHESS - Laboratoire Motricité Humaine Expertise Sport Santé
2 Laboratoire de Recherche sur la Motivation Humaine
3 SENS - Sport et Environnement Social

Controlling instructions typically undermine intrinsic motivation. However, in line with an autonomy restoration process, we hypothesized that prior exposure to a controlling context could increase intrinsic motivation displayed in a subsequent task if this second task is devoid of autonomy threats. A correlational study in educational context provided support for this effect by showing that students reported more interest in their music class when it was preceded by a class that was controlling. This effect was replicated in an experiment wherein participants who learned to play a game in a controlling context reported more interest in a second game than those who learned the first game in a neutral context. However, this effect disappears when the two tasks were done in a similar environment. Overall, this suggests that autonomy deprived students would display more intrinsic motivation in a subsequent task if this task gives a glimpse of autonomy satisfaction.

Mots clés: autonomy; self-determination theory; intrinsic motivation; interest; controlling context

Domaines: Psychologie

Rémi Radel, Luc Pelletier, Dan Baxter, Marion Fournier, Philippe Sarrazin. The paradoxical effect of controlling context on intrinsic motivation in another activity. Learning and Instruction, 2014, 29, pp.95-102. ⟨10.1016/j.learninstruc.2013.09.004⟩. ⟨hal-00947376⟩