Incentive or motivation?
Which is of more value to you: to have an incentive or to be motivated?
Incentive and motivation. Are they interchangeable? No. Here are some examples that show the subtle nuance.
Please take the examples as tongue-in-cheek.
It's a nice day and you debate whether or not to go to school today to do the mathematics test.
Incentive
You will go to school to do the test for which you have been revising all week to ensure a good grade.
Motivation
You will go and let Peter copy your answers because he's hot!
How to deal with the school bully.
Incentive
To demonstrate your bravery, you accept the money someone offers you to take on the school bully.
Motivation
You accept the money so that you can bribe the bully to let you win the fight and make you come out looking like a hero.
Do you take part in the school musical production?
Incentive
You will receive a certificate of participation by being involved in the school theatre production.
Motivation
Rehearsals for the production means you will miss classes and be able to watch others make complete fools of themselves.
To be or not to be a school monitor.
Incentive
You volunteer to be the classroom monitor because you want to be teacher's pet.
Motivation
You become a school monitor to order other students, sneak a look at the teacher's personal diary and look for answers to tests in her files.
Learn a foreign language
Incentive
You learn Russian because it will be useful to you later in life.
Motivation
You learn Russian so that you can swear at Boris, the Russian bully, in his own language.
The school annual camp.
Incentive
You go to the annual bush camp because it is a good way of learning survival skills and building character.
Motivation
Attending the camp might mean you have a chance to spy on the girls.
Part time job
Incentive
You have a part time job to pay for private tuition to improve your school grades.
Motivation
A part time job will earn you money to pay for a hot private tutor.
Be in a school band
Incentive
You learn to play the guitar at school so that you get a good music grade.
Motivation
You learn the guitar so that you can drop out of school, form a rock band, become famous and stick it to the teachers and the school nerds.
Beautify the school grounds
Incentive
You help the school’s groundskeeper because you like to see the school grounds beautiful.
Motivation
You are growing some interesting plants of your own hidden amongst the daphne bushes.