Le motivazioni interne si contrappongono alla logica del denaro-felicità. Il premio-denaro, per l’impegno e lo sforzo, potrebbe far nascere l’infelicità. Il condizionamento che premia e rafforza il comportamento non ha lo stesso effetto di un feedback che soddisfa la propria competenza o passione. Ora vorrei capire cos’è questo “sentimento interiore” che mi dovrebbe rendere felice.

I risultati della ricerca di Daniel Kahneman e Angus Deaton, pubblicata tra gli atti  della National Academy of Sciences, dimostrano che il condizionamento della risposta non basta per determinare una completa soddisfazione. Può persino diventare motivo di infelicità. Per esempio il pensare che sia il denaro a rendere felici, quando viene usato per premiare l’impegno e lo sforzo del singolo. Questa ricerca mette in discussione le teorie di Skinner utilizzando il suo stesso metodo.

The Overjustification Effect (articolo)

“The Misconception: There is nothing better in the world than getting paid to do what you love.
The Truth: Getting paid for doing what you already enjoy will sometimes cause your love for the task to wane because you attribute your motivation as coming from the reward, not your internal feelings.”

Il denaro rende felici.

“The researchers discovered money is indeed a major factor in day-to-day happiness. No surprise there. You need to make a certain amount, on average, to be able to afford food, shelter, clothing, entertainment and the occasional Apple product, but what spun top hats around the country was their finding that beyond a certain point your happiness levels off. The happiness money offers doesn’t keep getting more and more potent – it plateaus.” (The Overjustification Effect)

Il denaro non fa la felicità

“The research showed that a lack of money brings unhappiness, but an overabundance does not have the opposite effect. According to the research, in modern America the average income required to be happy day-to-day, to experience “emotional well being” is about $75,000 a year. According to the researchers, past that point adding more to your income “does nothing for happiness, enjoyment, sadness, or stress.” A person who makes, on average, $250,000 a year has no greater emotional well-being, no extra day-to-day happiness, than a person making $75,000 a year.”

Il denaro non compra la felicità

“Overall, the study suggested rewards don’t have motivational power unless they make you feel competent. Money alone doesn’t do that. With money, when you explain to yourself why you worked so hard, all you can come up with is, “to get paid” .”

Il denaro non serve.

“If you pay people to complete puzzles instead of paying them for being smart, they lose interest in the game. If you pay children to draw, fun becomes work. Payment on top of compliments and other praise and feeling good about personal achievement are powerful motivators, but only if they are unexpected.”

Il denaro rende infelici.

“The overjustification effect threatens your fragile narratives, especially if you haven’t figured out what to do with your life. You run the risk of seeing your behavior as motivated by profit instead of interest if you agree to get paid for something you would probably do for free. Conditioning will not only fail, it will pollute you. You run the risk of believing the reward, not your passion, was responsible for your effort, and in the future it will be a challenge to generate enthusiasm. It becomes more and more difficult to look back on your actions and describe them in terms of internal motivations. The thing you love can become drudgery if that which can’t be measured is transmuted into something you can plug into TurboTax.”

Dal denaro che rende felici si arriva al denaro che rende infelici.

Dopo aver letto l’articolo ho avuto l’impressione che mi volesse convincere di qualcosa di evidente e indefinibile nello stesso tempo. Poi, mi sono ricordato dei ragionamenti lapalissiani di Massimo Catalano in Quelli della notte. È molto meglio fare un lavoro che ti soddisfa, appassiona e ripaga, anziché fare un lavoro noioso, ripetitivo e pagato poco.