And, I’m also with David & Chuck when it comes to simulation usages. My husband is a pilot - so he’s regularly on the computer doing landings & approaches. That industry has been taking advantage of the safety & efficiency of training via ’sim rides’ for years. I agree, we haven’t done nearly enough to explore the options in that respect.

@ JT- I’ll have to look into the book recommendation - thank you! I think you are right that we are still addicted to extrinsic motivators- but short term. Instant gratification, or pop behaviorism is good to gain attention, but not to keep it. I certainly get excited when people praise me, but that’s not the reason I do anything long term. Long term I engage in activities because of an intrinsic motivation, and I think many from Gen X and Gen Y are similar. So, in the video game example, in the short term, I like to hear the hurrah! when I reach the next level, but ultimately, I play to accomplish something, to accomplish the end goal, to prove to myself that I can do it. Does that fit in well with the theory out there?

It’s great to see dialog about intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation with respect to Gen Y. There was a book written quite a while ago on this subject by Alfie Kohn called, “Punished by Rewards: The Problems with A’s, Praise and other Bribes” that I highly recommend.

I would have to go against Richard Florida’s comment that Gen Y is internally motivated. Statistical evidence indicates the contrary with respect to Gen Y. Evidence supports that Gen Y longs to be internally motivated, but that many are still addicted to external rewards. Pop-behaviorism is the term coined to describe how our society has over-embraced B.F. Skinner’s behaviorsm theory that says if you want a human to do something, simply give them an incentive. Parenting, education and now corporate America have utilized pop-behaviorism so much (the ‘do this and you’ll get that’ reward system) and for so long that it is literally backfiring - just as Kohn predicted. In short, many Gen Y (please know you are excluded from this generality!) are now young adults who are having serious trouble breaking free from external motivatiors like praise, raises, rewards and other forms of incentives to do work. Hence, why I believe Gen Y is being called the ‘entitled’ generation. They expect an incentive (external motivator) to do everything.

To me, the true definition of being internally motivated is doing something for the pure satisfaction you get - no validation from other sources required. So, here’s my challenge to the video game concept: I don’t think video games are a pure example of internal motivation - i.e. in video games, you are getting constant feedback and validation from acheiving new levels of status, and eventually, you grow tired of doing nothing more than reaching a higher level and opt to quit the game.

I’d love to hear your thoughts…