The value of intrinsic motivation in relation to primary reward

Abstract: Intrinsically motivated behaviors have been defined as behaviors that do not come with any primary external rewards. Previous studies on intrinsic motivation has often depended on self-report measures, or only tested how subjects’ motivation is impacted by punishments or no gain differences. The present study aims to test these two conditions, with the addition of a third, where selecting an information gain option results in reward. This will be tested empirically using an existing information theoretic operationalization, where subjects will choose between information gain or no information gain. Results of the study show that information gain has some degree of attraction when subjects expect no gain differences, and when comparing punishment and reward conditions.