The World Cup and England’s disappointing performance so far has brought up the usual criticisms of the England players. Much of it is along the lines of “they should be playing for the shirt/flag/nation/empire etc”. The idea being that footballers should be able to transcend themselves and find inspiration in the dreams of millions of their countrymen.
Which all kind of makes sense. The fabric of English culture comes from inspirational speeches. Think Henry V: “Cry ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George!”; Admiral Nelson: “England Expects that every man will do his duty.”; Winston Churchill: “never have so many owed so much to so few”. Englishmen being inspired to do their jobs by soaring nationalist rhetoric.
The trouble is that it’s not really how things work.
Psychologists and behavioural scientists have spent decades looking into what actually motivates us. And as it turns out the most powerful thing at motivating us is us.
In 1997 a bunch of sports scientists from the University of Rochester and the University of Utah decided to look at motivation and exercise to see what would help sustain frequent physical activity. (Intrinsic Motivation and Exercise Adherence. Ryan et al)
They found that people who did exercise to get fit or to be healthy were much more likely to give up after a short period of time than people who did exercise because they liked doing it.
In other words, internal motivations i.e. enjoyment are much more powerful than external motivations i.e. to look better. In the language of the psychologists, intrinsic reasons beat extrinsic reasons.
We know from our own experience that if we do things because the act of doing them is satisfying then we’re likely to keep on doing them.
Whereas things we’re less keen on doing we stop doing, even if there’s a good reason to do them.
Doing things for intrinsic reasons is enjoyable. Doing things for extrinsic reasons is a chore.
The speeches mentioned above worked because they tapped into an intrinsic reason to succeed – personal survival. I’m pretty sure Agincourt and Trafalgar would have gone the same way without the speeches.
So back to England’s footballers. Telling them that they should play well because “England expects” doesn’t help, it’s an extrinsic reason.
We need them to enjoy playing well. To win because it satisfies them. Only then can we look forward to a long World Cup campaign.
“Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.” – Mark Twain
Influence without logic 