Core Self

“Rewards can deliver a short-term boost — just as a jolt of caffeine can keep you cranking for a few more hours. But the effect wears off — and, worse, can reduce a person's longer-term motivation to continue the project.”

-Edward L. Deci

Let us start with an anecdote of kids and elders.

A group of children were playing and laughing loudly in front of an old man's house, annoying him. So, he came out and gave each child 10 cents, saying, "You've made this place lively and I feel much younger now. This is my thanks."

The next day, the children came again and played as usual. The old man came out and gave each child 5 cents. "5 cents is still nice," the children said cheerfully before leaving.

On the third day, the old man only gave each child 2 cents. The children were furious, "Just 2 cents a day? Do you know how hard we work?" They swore to the old man, "We won't play for you anymore!”

In this scenario, the old man simply achieved by turning the kids intrinsic goal for “playing” into an extrinsic goal for money. This change in incentive had make the childrens to think of the event of playing as a intrinsic burden. Through using money as an external factor, the elder manipulated the kids psychological incentive.

Another example could be the heritage of thrones. Say the king decides the pass on his throne and declares whoever does the biggest number of good things, who will be the heir. In this case, the princes’ goals would not be trying to serve and assist the citizens but rather trying to maximize a number, a KPI.

Experiments have shown that when a person engages in a pleasant activity, providing them with reward results actually reduces the intrinsic attraction of the activity to them, which is known as the Westerners effect.

Applying into the real world, if we design products that provides extrinsic motivation, one could potentially shape consumers preferences to become accustomed in using the product. E.g. Duolingo app daily strike

To born from the heart is ultimately eternal.

“The starting place for change is accepting oneself and taking interest in one’s inner world.”

From here, we also introduce the concept of self-motivation.

Human motivation is divided into intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. If we act according to intrinsic motivation, we are our own masters. If extrinsic motivation drives us, we will be influenced by extrinsic factors and become their slaves.

Intrinsic motivation : refers to the spontaneous cognition of a person towards the activity they engage in, which is directly related to the activity itself. Because doing something can stimulate people's interest and make them happy, the activity itself is the goal pursued by the actor.

Extrinsic motivation : refers to the motivation that is not caused by the activity itself, but is induced by external stimuli or reasons that are not inherently related to the activity.

Even for when you believe in you had liked, loved and been passionate about a subject, an hobby or even person, it could have just been the result of repetitive positive feedback. Say a teacher who claims to love teaching. It could have just been a mirage to the gain in self-esteem, self-confidence and hypocritic self-satisfaction, as if teaching have become an alternative pathway to prove personal value and contributions to the world, making a real world imapct. In this case, instead of saying to love teaching, why not say - in a negative way - that its actually the desire to be seen, to be the center, to gain power over others.

The true heart is not a permanent possession we can take for granted. Life constantly bombards us with temptations, fears, and selfish calculations. A person may feel that initial twinge of compassion when seeing someone in need, but then hesitate: “What if helping costs me too much?” “What will others think?” Over time, if we repeatedly ignore the voice of our true heart, it becomes obscured – like a mountain covered in thick fog. Returning to our true heart does not mean rejecting ambition or reason; rather, it means aligning our actions with our deepest, uncorrupted sense of right and wrong. To know and follow our true nature is to remember that we are not merely driven by instincts or molded by society and keep authenticity cherished in our identity.

To the one who is not shaped by upbringing, culture, the expectations of others, your fears and desires, the one who exists beneath all of this.