Editing Intrinsic Motivation (section)

==Overview==
Intrinsic motivation is what an individual experiences when they engage in an activity to derive intrinsically rewarding feelings from the activity itself, and not for any reward outside of the activity. People often spend long hours engaged in activities such as watching a history documentary, painting a mural, or mastering a particular tennis shot even when there is no clear reward awarded at the end of these activities. Rather, these activities incite certain internal states such as pleasure, relaxation, elimination of boredom or of [[Cognitive Dissonance Theory|cognitive dissonance]], or feeling competent that they might consider rewarding. <ref name="csiks">Csikszentmihalyi, M., Nakamura, J. (2014). The Dynamics of Intrinsic Motivation: A Study of Adolescents. In Flow and the Foundations of Positive Psychology. Springer, Dordrecht. <nowiki>https://doi-org.proxy.library.nyu.edu/10.1007/978-94-017-9088-8_12</nowiki></ref>Csikszentmihalyi & Nakamura describe such an internal state as <q>autotelic</q>, that is, having its goal within itself, or what they call the <q>[[flow]] experience.</q> In contrast to ''[[Extrinsic Motivation|extrinsic motivation]]'', an intrinsically motivated individual is considered to be a decisive entity who chooses to do specific things depending on their goals, feelings, and situation. According to <ref name="deci">Deci, E.L. (1975). Intrinsic Motivation. New York: Plenum.</ref>Deci, intrinsic motivation is behavior that people engage in to feel competent and autonomous. 

Intrinsic motivation is a valuable notion, especially in the context of education. According to <ref name="gott"> Gottfried, A. E. (1985). Academic intrinsic motivation in elementary and junior high school students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 77(6), 631–645. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.77.6.631</nowiki></ref>Gottfried (as cited in <ref name="martinez">Martinez, M.E. (2010). Complex cognition. In Learning and Cognition: The Design of the Mind, pp. 119-152. Boston: Merrill.</ref> Martinez), intrinsic motivation is positively correlated to academic achievement. It is also associated with <ref>Amabile, T. M., Hill, K. G., Hennessey, B. A., & Tighe, E. M. (1994). The Work Preference Inventory: Assessing intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66(5), 950–967. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.66.5.950</nowiki></ref> creativity and [[meaningful learning]]. As <ref name="martinez" />Martinez states, “excellence and enjoyment coexist and are mutually reinforcing.” It is instrumental in sustaining learning, in the sense that it intrinsic motivation reinforces further learning and, in turn, more motivation. For example, if you are intrinsically motivated to learn a new watercolor painting technique, the more you practice, the better you get, and in turn, the more you are motivated to paint. You may want to keep learning how to perfect this technique or diversify to other techniques. You might even combine two techniques and create a unique technique of your own.