Why People Respond More to Incentives Than Intentions.

[Fortify]

This topic is broad but i will make it brief and readable, you can do your own research on it. I know most of you have been wondering why people act the way they do, as in they respond more to incentives than intentions. Read this thread to the end and you will understand why, In Economics one of the most powerful ideas is simple but often misunderstood, people respond to incentives more than intentions.

What is incentive? An incentive is something that motivates or encourages a person to do something, it can be money, reward, punishment, recognition and convenience that influence behavior, and what makes incentives so important is the fact that they often provide a better explanation of behavior than intention and morality.

Well, i don't know about you guys but i believe that incentives shape decisions more than good intentions, you are free to share your own believe on this, because most of us believe that decisions are based on logic and value, but in reality, systems of incentives usually have more influence when we check and balance it.

At times you might want to be honest, but if dishonesty is rewarded and not punished behavior may shift, even a trader who knows the risk but if it is the potential reward that pushes behavior towards taking reckless positions then this is a key economic principle that behavior follows structure but not belief.  Don't be afraid to disagree with me, argue with your keyboard.

I want to also bring to our notice that Incentive falls into two categories Positive and Negative incentives.

You've given your opinion, which may happen to be true, but don't actually give any evidence to back it up. There will be plenty of studies and research out there which you could have referenced but you just automatically picked one side as true. Unfortunately there are not always positive incentives available beyond "you get to keep your job if you continue to turn up on time" because promotions or extra rewards are just not there. Negative incentives (otherwise known as punishments or disincentives) are often the default used to make sure people will follow certain behavior or at least not fall below a baseline that is expected. There are lots of people out there who are perfectly average and that is ok, they are not striving for extra in life but hit the targets assigned - there is nothing wrong with that.

[crwth]

Usually, this is more about the motivation behind why you are doing something. In terms of whether it's an intrinsic or extrinsic type of motivation. You need to know whether it's you or it's an external one.

Most of the things I do now vary because of certain motivations, like for extrinsic

• Money
• Recognition

For intrinsic

• Learning
• Mastery

I think it depends on the reason why you are doing it and for me, intrinsic is the most important one to do because if you have it, you would be more successful in what you are trying to do.

[demonica]

If I am an employee and I am going to get the same fixed salary no matter how much value I bring into the company and someone who does nothing also get the same rewards, then I don't have any reason to bring the results. Corporates know this well that is why they always incentivize the task if possible and keep getting the better results than what they could have achieved with fixed cap of salary.

Right. Why would a mere employee choose intentions rather than the incentive when these capitalists and big corporates are benefiting from their employees and earning way more than what the salary/incentives employees get? And people also need to survive. In this economy, we can't just rely on our intentions whether it's good. We also need to bring something on the table, that's why incentives becomes a great motivation for people. If corporates know how to appreciate my work, I can work even harder. But if they don't, what's the point of giving extra effort when they don't value what you're doing.

[BTC FutureKing]

Usually, this is more about the motivation behind why you are doing something. In terms of whether it's an intrinsic or extrinsic type of motivation. You need to know whether it's you or it's an external one.

Most of the things I do now vary because of certain motivations, like for extrinsic

• Money
• Recognition

For intrinsic

• Learning
• Mastery

I think it depends on the reason why you are doing it and for me, intrinsic is the most important one to do because if you have it, you would be more successful in what you are trying to do.

Most people think this is the mindset of maturity and advise others to work wholeheartedly, but the reality is that most people work to earn money and recognition. There is no doubt that if there is interest, dedication and hard work in the work, then money and recognition will also come along. But everyone's method and purpose of doing work are different, just like one person plays cricket just to learn the game, while another person plays cricket to earn money and gain fame. In my opinion, both motivations are fine for working. The condition is that the method of both the works should be correct so that the results are also great.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

Literally, in a lot of things in this life, incentives drives people, if you want to see some people bring out their best behavior and efforts to do a thing, give them incentives. In schools, at work and business when incentives is given, it boost motivation in people and they may want to do better. In the case of school, there are some optional assignment or research work that will be given and just few students might do it but when incentives is presented, more students become motivated to do the assignment. If you are running a business and decided to offer a certain percentage of discount, watch and see how customers are happy to buy from you because people likes incentives.

[Ashawowo(OS)]

Usually, this is more about the motivation behind why you are doing something. In terms of whether it's an intrinsic or extrinsic type of motivation. You need to know whether it's you or it's an external one.

Most of the things I do now vary because of certain motivations, like for extrinsic

• Money
• Recognition

For intrinsic

• Learning
• Mastery

I think it depends on the reason why you are doing it and for me, intrinsic is the most important one to do because if you have it, you would be more successful in what you are trying to do.

While you engage in doing something for intrinsic values, you are nursing extrinsic rewards on the long-run, let's be plain, people don't gain knowledge or learn some particular skills just for mastery alone, but the incentives that comes with such mastery, so there is a link between the two. I believe you learn before you earn, but remove the possibility of earning and having recognition for such specialized skills, most people would be least interested in learning and achieving mastery. Some people go ans achieve mastery in their field simply because of the incentives attached to achieving it, Incentives is still a major driving force for every intentional upgrade experienced.