Financial motivation undermines potential enjoyment in an intensive diet and activity intervention

The use of material incentives in healthy lifestyle interventions is becoming widespread. However, self-determination theory (SDT) posits that when material incentives are perceived as controlling, they undermine intrinsic motivation. We analyzed data from the Make Better Choices trial—a trial testi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of behavioral medicine Vol. 37; no. 5; pp. 819 - 827
Main Authors Moller, Arlen C., Buscemi, Joanna, McFadden, H. Gene, Hedeker, Donald, Spring, Bonnie
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Boston Springer US 01.10.2014
Springer
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Adult
Analysis
Exercise
Family Medicine
Feeding Behavior - psychology
Female
Fruit
General Practice
Health aspects
Health behavior
Health care
Health Promotion - methods
Health Psychology
Humans
Intervention
Intrinsic motivation
Lifestyles
Male
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Monetary incentives
Motivation
Motor Activity
Personal Autonomy
Personal Satisfaction
Reward
Risk Reduction Behavior
Systematic review
Vegetables
Weight control
United States
United States > US
Chicago Illinois
Intrinsic motivation
Undermining
Financial incentives
Diet
Physical activity
Affect
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Summary:The use of material incentives in healthy lifestyle interventions is becoming widespread. However, self-determination theory (SDT) posits that when material incentives are perceived as controlling, they undermine intrinsic motivation. We analyzed data from the Make Better Choices trial—a trial testing strategies for improving four risk behaviors: low fruit–vegetable intake, high saturated fat intake, low physical activity, and high sedentary activity. At baseline, participants reported the degree to which financial incentives were an important motivator ( financial motivation ); self-reported enjoyment of each behavior was assessed before and after the 3-week incentivization phase. Consistent with SDT, after controlling for general motivation and group assignment, lower financial motivation predicted more adaptive changes in enjoyment. Whereas participants low in financial motivation experienced adaptive changes, adaptive changes were suppressed among those high in financial motivation.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-News-1
ObjectType-Feature-3
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ISSN:0160-7715
1573-3521
DOI:10.1007/s10865-013-9542-5