A person named Odessa loves baking as a hobby, pursuing it in her free time purely for enjoyment. When she accepts a job in a bakery, she starts getting paid for this activity. After a few months, she loses her desire to bake for fun outside of her job. Her hobby has transformed into work, and the introduction of an extrinsic reward (payment) has diminished her original intrinsic motivation.

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The overjustification effect describes a phenomenon where providing an external reward, such as payment, for an activity that was previously enjoyed for its own sake can diminish the original intrinsic motivation. This occurs because the individual may reclassify the enjoyable activity as 'work,' which reduces their desire to engage in it without extrinsic reinforcement. This effect can potentially extinguish the intrinsic drive entirely, creating a dependency on external rewards for continued performance.

Overjustification Effect

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

Example of the Overjustification Effect

Contrary to the overjustification effect, not all external rewards diminish intrinsic motivation. Research indicates that certain reinforcements, particularly verbal praise, can actually enhance a person's inherent interest in an activity. For instance, if a baker like Odessa, who started to lose her passion for baking after it became her job, regularly received compliments from customers on her skills, her intrinsic motivation to bake for enjoyment might be sustained or even increased.

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