Conceptualizations of Intrinsic Motivation

Abstract

If one were to spend a short while observing a child, he would undoubtedly be delighted by the child’s inquisitiveness. Children keep picking things up, smelling them, tasting them, feeling them, and asking, “What’s this?” They seem to have an insatiable curiosity. Aristotle (980) recognized this when he stated, “All men by nature desire to know.” He was, in essence, postulating an intrinsic motivation to learn.