A carrot is better than a stick

"The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond." - Mae West, born Mary Jane - an American actress, singer, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades.

Of course, a carrot is infinitely better than a stick and more of it, is better; be it the weight of a diamond as Mae West alludes, or the edible variety that contains health giving vital minerals and vitamins. Just because of that, it does not mean that a carrot and stick approach is to take a carrot and stick it up anywhere you like up the anatomy of a person followed by the stick for better measure; and if you like, followed again by a bigger and rougher carrot. Such policies are about as useless as a 'chocolate teapot', meaning, of no practical use.

Throughout our lifetime, many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom; and wisdom in their words, but not deeds.

Yet, these can both be a source of new learning for us, and a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned.

While some carrots and sticks approach might work in a crisis-situation or as a stopgap remedy, what they mostly do is promote near-sighted thinking, mistrust, cynicism, and a diminished capacity to innovate and create. Pleasure is the carrot dangled to lead the ass to market; or the precipice; and will not apply to all human conditions, even though most humans tends to fall for it. Neither will the stick. If I kick my dog, from the front or the back, he will move. And when I want him to move again what must I do? I must kick him again. Thus, a "kick in the back" policy may occasionally produce movement, not motivation. Such are methods of men who themselves are, more of an ass than human; who thinks humans are not much different from horses. They think that by dangling a crunchier carrot or wielding a sharp stick, they can get their compatriots moving.

Cooperation

Reward and punishment, as implied in the carrot and stick approach, does not always induce cooperation. "Carrot on a stick" on the other hand, is a similar, but separate, idiom. It refers to a policy of offering a reward for making progress towards benchmarks or goals but not necessarily ever actually delivering.

If one were a donkey or a horse drawn cart driver, the traditional alternatives of driving a donkey on by either holding out a carrot or whipping it with a stick may work.

In fact, I think the original fable deals with a man trying to get a stubborn donkey to move with his donkey cart. But nothing works: pushing, pulling, threats have all no effect. That is why I suppose we say that some people are as stubborn as a donkey, though I would prefer to say they are nothing but fools.

However, the man gets the bright idea of tying a carrot onto the end of a stick, and sitting in the cart, he holds the carrot out just beyond the donkey's reach. The donkey gets up and walks towards the carrot, but the carrot always stays ahead of him, and the donkey keeps moving as long as he sees the carrot in front.

In addition, all cart-drivers used either a stick or a whip to encourage their livestock to move, even if they did not choose to do so of their own volition. That person who originally thought up the idea of using a carrot is for sure one smart cart driver; but to apply the same policy to humans, one must necessarily be a mule. The irony of it is, and it amazes me no end to note, the number of mules who have become leaders of the human kind? Further, I am not sure what the moral is when the same policy is, applied to humans.

Is it bribery, delayed gratification? The 'carrot and stick approach', also known as the "carrot or stick approach" is an idiom that refers to a policy of offering a combination of rewards and punishment to induce, behaviour and or submission.

However, I see it as a policy of the people who fail to see where people's motivation to act comes from. The mule would move towards the carrot because it wants the reward of food, while also moving away from the stick behind it, since it does not want the punishment of pain, thus drawing the cart; but humans are neither mules nor asses.

If there is anything to say on this matter, I think, it is the people who thinks so are so: mules, asses, donkeys, and buffaloes; born through a quirk of nature, as humans.

Do humans have a "Human Nature" or are our behaviours motivated by our cultural backgrounds? For instance, creative freedom may be a huge carrot in free societies, but we are aware that many creative geniuses have come from suppressed societies as well.

Motivation

Thus, as I see it, motivation is nothing but an inner drive to behave or act in a certain manner.

These inner conditions such as wishes, desires and goals, activate to move in a particular direction in behaviour.

Of course, a number of motivational theories emphasise the distinction between conscious and unconscious motivations. Freud, for instance, is associated with the idea that human beings have many unconscious motivations that cause them to make important decisions because of these unconscious forces, and I believe it is so.

However, motivation can be, divided into two types: intrinsic or internal motivation and extrinsic or external motivation.

Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that is, driven by an interest or enjoyment in the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than relying on external pressures or a desire for reward. Intrinsic motivation is a natural motivational tendency and is a critical element in cognitive, social, and physical development.

For instance, students who are intrinsically motivated are more likely to engage in the task willingly; as well as work to improve their skills, which in turn will increase their capabilities.

Competition

Students are likely to be intrinsically motivated if they: attribute their educational results to factors under their own control, also known as autonomy; believe they have the skills to be effective agents in reaching their desired goals, also known as self-efficacy beliefs; are interested in mastering a topic, not just in achieving good grades. Extrinsic motivation refers to the performance of an activity to attain an outcome, whether or not that activity is also intrinsically motivated. Extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the individual.

Common extrinsic motivations are rewards - for example money or grades in the case of students - for showing the desired behaviour, and the threat of punishment following misbehaviour.

Competition is an extrinsic motivator because it encourages the performer to win and to beat others, not simply to enjoy the intrinsic rewards of the activity. A cheering crowd and the desire to win a trophy are also extrinsic incentives. Though some rewards do not undermine intrinsic motivation, research in Social Psychology has indicated that extrinsic rewards can lead to over justification and a subsequent reduction in intrinsic motivation.

Some individuals that I have talked to brought up the point of, nature versus nurture:

The possible fact that humans need instant gratification, and are greedy and selfish may only apply to societies that allow this ideology to flourish and prosper.

Hence, it would seem that, in the final analysis, cultural values do determine motivational behaviour: intrinsic or extrinsic.

Thus, undoubtedly, there is more to motivation than carrots and sticks.

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