Richard M. Ryan

It's an argument against assuming that rewards simply add motivation without changing its character.

So I can think of big meta-analyses in psychology by D.C. and Ryan, for example, as are well-known researchers in self-determination theory.

And they find that certain expected tangible rewards that are made contingent on participation or completion of a task or performance, they damage intrinsic motivation under the conditions studied.

And

But in psychology, the more important idea is that people experience themselves as agents in their own actions rather than just as objects being controlled.

And so I'm thinking of self-determination theory.

It's relevant here by Edward Deasy and Richard Ryan.

They distinguish the quality of motivation from its quantity.

This is false.

The prevailing myth of the demotivated student was tackled directly by eminent motivation researcher and co-founder of self-determination theory, Dr Richard Ryan, who pointed out that while there are students who are not interested in certain things, the idea of a demotivated student does not exist.

Dr. Richard Ryan, his quote.

Some teachers will sometimes say, well, that kid, he's not motivated.

And I think to myself, I bet he's motivated someplace.

So after this, I go on to conceptualise in the book what motivation is, how autonomy, competence and relatedness work together.

I bring in some quotes from different people and then I go into a bit more detail into what actually the research tells us about motivation and self-determination theory.

So I've quotes from Dr. Richard Ryan.

And that's probably based...

It could be purely based from interest, I'm not saying that, but it's probably based on what Richard Ryan, the leading researcher, or most scientist researcher in the world that I had on the podcast, what he calls introjected regulation.

That means that your motivation of doing something is more based on shame, fear, or inadequacy.

And that probably was something that happened to you when you were younger in terms of your peers, in terms of your parents, in terms of your life experiences where you learned it's not okay to be who you are.

And if you always step in to handle it for them, when do they ever learn? There's actually something interesting in psychology behind this.

Researchers Edward Deasy and Richard Ryan identified three fundamental psychological needs that help drive human motivation.

Autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

In other words, people want some ownership of their work.

The modern research points the same direction.

Frank Martella and Richard Ryan have run experiments where people were given a chance to have a positive impact on someone they would never meet, never see, and never receive thanks from.

Participants in that condition reported more meaningfulness than the control group, These are small studies, and I'd hold them loosely.

But they line up with a large body of work on contribution and well-being, and they suggest that the effect doesn't depend on recognition.

Dr.

Bill Van Patten and Dr. Richard Ryan, two huge voices in language acquisition and motivation who kindly wrote the foreword to the book.

And it's just incredible having a real expert in language acquisition and a real expert in human motivation to, I suppose, preface the book and bring it all together.

I really love what they wrote.

Thank you so much, Beth.

So then the book begins.

We have the foreword by Bill Van Patten, then the foreword by Richard Ryan.

And then we have the introduction, which is what I'm going to be reading from today.

As you already know, there's a big difference between getting someone to agree with you and helping them make a decision they genuinely believe in.

Psychologists Edward Deasy and Richard Ryan developed something called self-determination theory.

Their research highlights three fundamental psychological needs, autonomy, competence, and connection.

In other words, people are more motivated when they feel capable, supported, and in control of their choices.