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Atlantic Experiments

Why We Work

Nov 06, 2015 | 18 videos
Video by The Atlantic

More money will motivate you to do a good job, right? Actually, not quite. The reasons people work hard are more intrinsic than most realize. It turns out that simply feeling like you made progress on a task—progress that wasn't subsequently destroyed by your boss—can give you the boost you need to keep going.

We highlight the work of Dan Ariely, Daniel Pink, and Teresa Amabile​ to show ​what you can do when you just can't bring yourself to enter another row into the spreadsheet. Or​ build another Lego​ figurine—whatever the case may be.

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Authors: Olga Khazan, Paul Rosenfeld

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