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LIT-1970: Relation of reward contingency and interpersonal context to intrinsic motivation: A review and test using cognitive evaluation theory.

1 min read

Properties5
StatusActive — read in full 2026-11-03 (NOTE-1522), from the scan on the SDT site. Worth reading as the source of the reward-contingency taxonomy and the one experiment that gives the same performance-contingent reward in an informational and a controlling style, each against a no-reward group with the same feedback: the framing changed the effect, and the reward undermined in both styles. One study, n = 16 per cell, no mediation test.
Version2
Tagsmotivation
Cited as “paper” byNOTE-1522 — Ryan, Mims & Koestner — Reward contingency and interpersonal context
Cited as “source” byTHEORY-1324 — In Ryan, Mims and Koestner's experiment, the same expected reward for doing well left less later free-choice engagement when given with controlling feedback than with informational feedback, and in both styles less than no reward with the same feedback: the interpersonal style of a performance-contingent reward changes its effect, and the reward lowers intrinsic motivation even when the information it carries is held fixed

Graph View

Ryan, R. M., Mims, V., Koestner, R. (1983). Relation of reward contingency and interpersonal context to intrinsic motivation: A review and test using cognitive evaluation theory.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45(4), 736-750. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.45.4.736.

Key takeaways

Read in full on 2026-11-03 (NOTE-1522).

  • Four contingencies; under a common terminology the studies mostly agree.
  • Performance-contingent rewards carry both information and control; their effect depends on how they are given.
  • Against a no-reward group with identical feedback, they still undermine.
  • One small experiment; felt control was not tested as mediator.
  • THEORY-1324.

Standing in the record

Cited second-hand in THEORY-049 (“Ryan et al. 1983, p. 653”) for the reward-context result; the primary paper would settle what THEORY-049’s promote_when asks.

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