Saturday, August 2, 2008
7:54 PM
“Singapore is a fine country”, a common joke known to Singaporeans; this about sums up the source of motivation in Singapore, which is extrinsic motivation.
Extrinsic motivation seems to be predominantly used in Singapore. The most common form of extrinsic motivation to be seen in Singapore is the use of fines to discourage people from engaging in activities such as littering, smoking in public places, jaywalking, vandalising, not flushing the toilet, fishing in reservoirs and breeding mosquitoes at home, just to name a few. Then there are the incentives, such as the baby bonus to counter the falling birth rate, and also letting married couples have priority over their single counterparts in purchasing public housing. Most recently, the heated debate in parliament over legalising the organ transplant market has shown that the government believes that extrinsic motivation has a greater impact on Singaporeans, well known for being pragmatic people.
Organ trading, as mentioned in the article, “may very well crowd out altruistic donations - what one person chooses to do for another for no other reward than the gift itself”. The very real possibility of a market for organs in Singapore proves that in many cases, intrinsic motivation is not enough driving force. It would seem that Singaporeans are selfish and calculating, never engaging in activities unless there is some form of motivation at in end, in the form of cold, hard cash. Especially in the case of human organs, where the donor may suffer from post-operation implications, only large sums of money would push Singaporeans to donate an organ to needy people. Of course, there are some who would willingly donate their organs to needy people, but as proven by the people who opt out of the Human Organ Transplant Act, where organs from dead humans are transplanted into live humans, intrinsic motivation, which would in this case be helping a fellowman with their donations, even saving the life of someone, with the organs they would no longer need, is not enough. Extrinsic motivation, once again, proves to be a greater form of motivation than intrinsic motivation.
It cannot be denied that extrinsic motivation is an effective way of making Singaporeans more likely to comply. However, as pointed out in the article, excessive use of extrinsic motivation, even crowding out the use of intrinsic motivation altogether, would cause our society to be purely motivation by money, losing our moral values, where “the only reason to either perform or refrain from an activity is the price tag attached to such behaviour”. Singapore would then become a calculative society devoid of human compassion and kindness. This is certainly not to be encouraged.
Intrinsic motivation should be emphasized in Singapore too, although it may not be as effective in many cases, “money is not always the best way to get people to do what is right”. Isn’t it better to do what is right solely because it is right, rather than doing it because of monetary benefits?
In response to Jessie's entry:i agree that intrinsic motivation is the more important motivation, and that "by using intrinsic motivation, Singaporeans will be less motivated solely by a desire for selfish gain". However, i do not feel that intrinsic motivation is more predominantly used in Singapore. the example she has used,which is of sports in Singapore being a form of intrinsic motivation, is not enough as she did not mention that in sports, there are monetary forms of motivation in incentives as a form of reward to sportsmen who win medals in sporting events such as the SEA games. So, sports in Singapore may not truly be due to intrinsic motivation. kiawoon peace, jessie! =X
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