Discussion Journal #5

The week of September 30-October 3 we covered leisure behavior and diverse populations. I was really drawn to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, as well as core and thread identities. Intrinsic motivation is when you decide to do something for you without benefits, such as participating in a sport just because you want to. Extrinsic motivation is where there is a benefit motivating you to do the said activity. Extrinsic motivation could be "if you participate in your sport and win you will get $500." The money makes participating extrinsic motivation, because you may not enjoy your sport but there is that driving factor. A core identity is something that defines you, it is who you are everyday and it doesn't change. A thread identity is situational, your identity can change based on what you eat, who you are with, where you are etc.

For our Tuesday experience we had the chance to go to three different places; our group chose to go to 24 Hour Fitness, Starbucks and Color Me Mine. We had to engage in people watching essentially and had to focus on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of to why they were doing what they were doing. It was something I never really thought of, why I do the things I do. Why do I exercise? I don't do it because I enjoy it, I do it because I want to be in shape and look good, thus being extrinsic motivation. Watching people at the gym and watching people in Starbucks I really started wondering what their motivation was and what their core intently was as well.

I personally know I have a lot of thread identities. When I am in church I act differently than when I am out on a Saturday night with my friends. I change my identity to fit the situation, and I know I carry a lot of thread identities. This week made me question what my core identity is and if I ever really compromise it in situations I approach. In simple terms I can say my core identity is I am Kersten Merry.


Something I want to focus on doing is not calling a person out based on their thread identities. We all get into situations where we change a bit of who we are and it is always for certain reasons. I tend to have the habit of mentioning it to someone and can upset them. I now know that it is common and we change our identity based on a situation. I also want to really think about why I do the things I do. I want to focus more on doing things based on intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic motivation.