Crowding Out
The Basic Idea
Imagine that from a young age, your passion has always been writing. You start a blog for fun and volunteer to write articles for your college newsletter. The more you write, the more people start to notice, and eventually, you’re contacted by a local magazine for a job opportunity. Initially, you think that getting paid for something you already love to do will be great, but soon after starting, you find that your motivation to write lessens. You stop writing for fun and don’t enjoy writing the magazine articles either.
The reason that you find yourself less motivated to write is because of the crowding out effect, also known as the overjustification effect. Crowding out suggests that when we are promised a reward for completing an activity, we lose an intrinsic desire to perform that task. As a result, we are less likely to engage in that activity. The supply of behavior is crowded out by the external reward.
The misconception: There is nothing better in the world than getting paid to do what you love.
The truth: Getting paid for doing what you already enjoy will sometimes cause your love for the task to wane because you attribute your motivation as coming from the reward, not your internal feelings.– Podcaster David McRaney in his article “The Overjustification Effect.”1
About the Author
Emilie Rose Jones
Emilie currently works in Marketing & Communications for a non-profit organization based in Toronto, Ontario. She completed her Masters of English Literature at UBC in 2021, where she focused on Indigenous and Canadian Literature. Emilie has a passion for writing and behavioural psychology and is always looking for opportunities to make knowledge more accessible.
