Cognitive Evaluation Theory: CET

Louise Belcher: Cognitive Evaluation Theory

The psychological theory of “cognitive evaluation theory” (CET) stipulates that people use external events as incentives and consequences in their day-to-day life and decision making (Chapter 5). There are a few propositions associated with cognitive evaluation theory, such as that (1) it “can increase intrinsic and decrease extrinsic motivation”, (2) external events that promote greater perceived competence will enhance intrinsic motivation, while those that decrease perceived competence will decrease intrinsic motivation, (3) intrinsic motivation is undermined by perceived incompetence (Chapter 5). To better illustrate proposition three, external events are generally thought of as having either an informational or controlling aspect, and that controlling events are thought of as being harmful towards on autonomy and decreasing intrinsic motivation and promoting extrinsic motivation (Chapter 5). Inversely, informational events are generally regarded as increasing intrinsic motivation (Chapter 5). 

An example of an informational event would be a teacher or a manager effectively verbally communicating that a job was “well done!” to their pupil or employee, as these events inform the person of their competence level and make them feel good, it increases their intrinsic motivation. External events on the other hand, can be used in effort to control behavior. An example of this would be a teacher coaxing their class and saying repeatedly for a week, “if your class period averages an 80% on the unit test, we will have a pizza party next Friday!” When external events or motivators (such as food, stickers, monies, etc.) are used in effort to control the behavior of people, it is thought that their intrinsic motivation (motivation solely inside of themselves to complete a task) will decrease, and their extrinsic motivation will increase (being motivated by external motivators/rewards). Additionally, when one feels “controlled” and a loss of autonomy (such as when a parent or superior says you MUST do xyz task by OR...) it is thought that the person will experience a loss of autonomy and lose intrinsic motivation, as discussed in proposition two. This is a basic outline of cognitive evaluation theory (CET).

As Louise Belcher is a young child, despite her high intelligence level, she is highly susceptible to being swayed by extrinsic motivators and having her sense of intrinsic motivation compared to her extrinsic motivation diminished. An example of this would be one episode in which Louise goes to the dentist begrudgingly (and it is shown earlier on that she dislikes going to the dentist and seems somewhat afraid) and it is discovered that she has a cavity, so she will need further work done. Louise is so afraid of the word “filling” and getting the procedure done, that she packs her suitcase and runs away to her Aunt Gayle’s house. After a few attempts by Bob and Linda to sway her to come home (through the telephone, bribery, and sending her siblings to stay at Aunt Gayle’s house) that end up failing, Bob and Linda end up of thinking of one simple extrinsic motivator: ice cream. 

Aunt Gayle offers all the children ice cream, Gene and Tina of course are fine to enjoy their ice cream, but Louise tries and realizes that she cannot eat it due to the intense tooth pain. Linda then says, “if you want to eat your ice cream, you have to get your cavity filled!” The thought of not being able to eat ice cream is so horrifying to Louise that she uses this external event as extrinsic motivation to get the filling done (even though this is the last thing she ever wanted to do). Louise then gets her filling and is promptly able to enjoy ice cream again. This scenario can be analyzed by the viewer as a situation where Louise was extrinsically motivated to get the procedure done because she was unable to enjoy ice cream, so the thought of being able to enjoy the motivator (ice cream) motivated her to face her fears and get the filling done. In most cases where one has dental or medical work done, they experience an informational event (e.g. a doctor telling you this procedure/work will improve your health) and evaluate the information from there, and in most cases will choose to do the procedure. The ice cream scenario was used by Louise’s parents and Aunt as a last-ditch effort to get her to do the filling, after being told repeatedly by the dentist why she needed to get it done, and her parents, and she covered her ears and refused to take in the information. Louise very stubbornly refused to listen to any information about getting a filling done, the pain level, tools used, etc. because she already had a negative association in her head about getting a filling. The dentist even tried showing her what tools would be used (not an intense procedure).

As discussed in the cognitive evaluation theory (CET), external rewards are often used to control behavior. While most children would not be happy hearing that they must get a filling/dental work done, or may even feel scared, they are often reassured by their parents and dentist there is nothing to be afraid of and do the procedure without refusal. While some children may need extrinsic motivation for this (e.g. if you get your filling, we will buy you a new toy!), such as Louise. As discussed in Chapter 5, rewards are often used to control behavior and as the adults in Louise’s life believed they were out of options, they decided to use a reward to try to control her behavior: ice cream. They were successful in motivating her using the extrinsic reward. According to CET, this external event can be thought of as an effort to control her behavior, which will decrease her autonomy in decision making and decrease her intrinsic motivation, while increasing her extrinsic motivation. Before being introduced to the reward, Louise stubbornly held her position that she refused to get the filling done and was intrinsically motivated to avoid getting the filling done, as it is shown that she has a fear of going to the dentist. Internally, she is afraid of going to the dentist and thus was highly intrinsically motivated to avoid the dentist. As she was also making this choice herself and going against the advice of her parents/dentist, she would be able to feel a high sense of autonomy and control by making her own decision. When she is then introduced to the reward and foregoes her previous decision to receive the reward, her extrinsic motivation is promoted, and intrinsic motivation is decreased.