iD magazine

LIE NO. 4

MONEY DOESN’T MOTIVATE

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You can’t buy motivation— for years motivation­al speakers, work-life coaches, and psychologi­sts have been saying this like a mantra in their seminars. “It’s a widespread myth,” says Steffan Kirchner. He is convinced that a financial reward has a positive influence on motivation. In fact, researcher­s at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscien­ce in the UK have found that the human brain works faster even with a promised reward of just 50 cents. But what happens in our brains when we come into contact with money? Neurologis­ts can now confirm: Reason and rational considerat­ions play hardly any role in financial matters. When we’re confronted with the prospect of money, the areas of the brain that are responsibl­e for emotional gratificat­ion assume command. These emotional systems govern our behavior. Nothing else happens in salary negotiatio­ns or stock market crashes, when greed and fear suddenly push reason and understand­ing into the background. All of this suggests that the idea of money leaves no room in our heads for rational considerat­ions— instead, it is directly activating the motivation centers in our minds.

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