Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI)

Abstract

The Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) is a widely recognized multidimensional measurement device designed primarily for use in laboratory and field experiments. Its core function is to assess participants’ subjective experiences regarding a specific target activity. Developed within the framework of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the IMI allows researchers to quantify various facets of motivation and regulatory style, making it a critical tool for studying intrinsic motivation and self-regulation.

The instrument typically assesses six primary subscales: interest/enjoyment, perceived competence, effort, value/usefulness, felt pressure and tension, and perceived choice. The interest/enjoyment subscale is the direct self-report measure of intrinsic motivation. A seventh subscale, relatedness, has been introduced recently for use in interpersonal studies, though its psychometric validity is still being established.

Keywords

Intrinsic Motivation, Self-Determination Theory, Perceived Competence, Self-Regulation, Effort, Perceived Choice, Value/Usefulness, Relatedness, Psychological Scale.

Authors

Edward L. Deci, Richard M. Ryan, and colleagues (e.g., Ryan, Mims, Koestner, Plant, Connell, Eghrari, Patrick, Leone).

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) is to provide a self-report measure of participants’ subjective psychological experience while engaging in a target activity. It is specifically tailored for experimental settings where researchers manipulate contextual factors (e.g., rewards, feedback, choice) and then assess the impact of these manipulations on motivational outcomes.

The IMI is flexible and state-oriented, meaning it measures motivation related to a particular task, rather than a global motivational trait. Its various subscales are used to test hypotheses derived from Self-Determination Theory regarding factors that positively (e.g., perceived choice and competence) or negatively (e.g., pressure/tension) predict intrinsic motivation.

Construct

The IMI measures multiple dimensions related to motivational quality, originally yielding six distinct subscale scores, with a seventh added later. The core construct assessed is Intrinsic Motivation, which is specifically captured by the Interest/Enjoyment subscale. This subscale is considered the self-report measure of intrinsic motivation (per se), often containing the highest number of items.

The seven potential subscales map onto key psychological needs and processes discussed in SDT:

• Interest/Enjoyment: The self-report measure of intrinsic motivation.
• Perceived Competence: The subjective feeling of effectiveness or mastery over the task, theorized as a positive predictor of intrinsic motivation.
• Perceived Choice (Autonomy): The feeling of having agency or volition in performing the activity, also theorized as a positive predictor.
• Pressure and Tension: The experience of being coerced, pressured, or anxious during the activity, theorized as a negative predictor.
• Effort/Importance: The degree of energy expended on the activity, considered a separate variable relevant to motivation questions.
• Value/Usefulness: The extent to which the activity is perceived as personally valuable or useful, particularly relevant in internalization studies (Deci et al., 1994).
• Relatedness: The feeling of connectedness or security with others, used in studies involving interpersonal interactions.

Validity

The items of the IMI are considered highly face-valid due to their straightforward nature. However, researchers emphasize the need for caution in interpreting results, as correlations between self-reports of dimensions like effort or interest and corresponding behavioral indices (e.g., persistence in a free-choice period) are often modest, typically around 0.4.

When interpreting IMI results, researchers must consider psychological dynamics such as ego-involvements, self-presentation styles, and reactance. For instance, research by Ryan, Koestner, and Deci (1991) found that ego-involved participants displayed pressured persistence that did not correlate with their self-reports of interest/enjoyment. Therefore, confidence in the assessment of intrinsic motivation is bolstered when free-choice behavior and the self-reports of interest/enjoyment are significantly correlated. Furthermore, McAuley, Duncan, and Tammen (1987) conducted a study that found strong support for the IMI’s validity, specifically utilizing confirmatory factor analysis in a competitive sport setting.

Reliability

The IMI demonstrates good reliability across its various subscales. The items comprising the inventory have been shown to be factor analytically coherent and stable across a variety of tasks, conditions, and experimental settings. Although there is considerable overlap among items within subscales (redundancy), randomizing item presentation mitigates this issue for participants.

Shorter versions of the IMI have been utilized successfully and found to be quite reliable, noting that the incremental R for items beyond four for any given factor is relatively small. Nonetheless, multiple-item subscales are strongly recommended over single items, as they consistently outperform single items in terms of reliability and external validity.

Factor Analysis

The IMI is structured based on robust factor-analytic criteria. The general standard for including an item on a subscale is a minimum factor loading of 0.6 on the appropriate subscale, coupled with cross-loadings no higher than 0.4 on other factors. Loadings in practice typically exceed these minimum requirements, indicating strong internal structure.

Due to the specific nature of experimental research, experimenters rarely use all 45 available items; instead, they select only the subscales relevant to their theoretical questions. Research suggests that the inclusion or exclusion of specific subscales has a negligible impact on the coherence and structure of the remaining factors, providing high flexibility for researchers. However, investigators are still recommended to perform their own factor analyses on new data sets to confirm structural integrity.

Instrument

Test Type: Multidimensional Self-Report Questionnaire

Format: 7-point Likert scale (1 = not at all true to 7 = very true). The full version consists of 45 items across 7 subscales, though highly customized and shortened versions (e.g., 9-item, 22-item, 25-item, and 29-item versions) are commonly employed.

Language Available: English (Original); widely translated due to its foundational role in Self-Determination Theory research.

Population Group: General experimental participants, including students, adults, and specific groups such as athletes.

Age Group: Typically utilized with adolescents and adults capable of abstract self-reflection.

Population Details: Used across various laboratory and field settings to assess motivational responses to specific tasks or activities. Items are often slightly modified to fit the context (e.g., puzzles, learning material, interpersonal interactions) without compromising reliability or validity.

Test Methodology: Post-experimental assessment designed to capture participants’ immediate subjective experience related to a recently completed target activity.

Keywords

Psychometrics, Motivation Assessment, Laboratory Experiment, Interest, Enjoyment, Self-Determination, Perceived Competence, Perceived Choice.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Information not provided in source)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Information not provided in source)

Correspondence Address: Refer to the official Self-Determination Theory website: http://selfdeterminationtheory.org

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Intrinsic Motivation Inventory originated in experimental studies dating back to the early 1980s, primarily associated with the work of Deci and Ryan. The scales are generally available for academic research use, often through the official Self-Determination Theory website. Researchers should consult the website for the most current information regarding permissions and usage guidelines.

Reference’s

• Deci, E. L., Eghrari, H., Patrick, B. C., & Leone, D. (1994). Facilitating internalization: The self-determination theory perspective. Journal of Personality, 62, 119-142.
• McAuley, E., Duncan, T., & Tammen, V. V. (1987). Psychometric properties of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory in a competitive sport setting: A confirmatory factor analysis. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 60, 48-58.
• Plant, R. W., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and the effects of self-consciousness, self-awareness, and ego-involvement: An investigation of internally-controlling styles. Journal of Personality, 53, 435-449.
• Ryan, R. M. (1982). Control and information in the intrapersonal sphere: An extension of cognitive evaluation theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 450-461.
• Ryan, R. M., Connell, J. P., & Plant, R. W. (1990). Emotions in non-directed text learning. Learning and Individual Differences, 2, 1-17.
• Ryan, R. M., Koestner, R., & Deci, E. L. (1991). Varied forms of persistence: When free-choice behavior is not intrinsically motivated. Motivation and Emotion, 15, 185-205.
• Ryan, R. M., Mims, V., & Koestner, R. (1983). Relation of reward contingency and interpersonal context to intrinsic motivation: A review and test using cognitive evaluation theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 736-750.

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Items of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

THE POST-EXPERIMENTAL INTRINSIC MOTIVATION INVENTORY

(Below are listed all 45 items that can be used depending on which are needed.)

For each of the following statements, please indicate how true it is for you, using the following scale:

Interest/Enjoyment

I enjoyed doing this activity very much

This activity was fun to do.

I thought this was a boring activity. (R)

This activity did not hold my attention at all. (R)

I would describe this activity as very interesting.

I thought this activity was quite enjoyable.

While I was doing this activity, I was thinking about how much I enjoyed it.

Perceived Competence

I think I am pretty good at this activity.

I think I did pretty well at this activity, compared to other students.

After working at this activity for awhile, I felt pretty competent.

I am satisfied with my performance at this task.

I was pretty skilled at this activity.

This was an activity that I couldnt do very well. (R)

Effort/Importance

I put a lot of effort into this.

I didnt try very hard to do well at this activity. (R)

I tried very hard on this activity.

It was important to me to do well at this task.

I didnt put much energy into this. (R)

Pressure/Tension

I did not feel nervous at all while doing this. (R)

I felt very tense while doing this activity.

I was very relaxed in doing these. (R)

I was anxious while working on this task.

I felt pressured while doing these.

Perceived Choice

I believe I had some choice about doing this activity.

I felt like it was not my own choice to do this task. (R)

I didnt really have a choice about doing this task. (R)

I felt like I had to do this. (R)

I did this activity because I had no choice. (R)

I did this activity because I wanted to.

I did this activity because I had to. (R)

Value/Usefulness

I believe this activity could be of some value to me.

I think that doing this activity is useful for ______________________

I think this is important to do because it can _____________________

I would be willing to do this again because it has some value to me.

I think doing this activity could help me to _____________________

I believe doing this activity could be beneficial to me.

I think this is an important activity.

Relatedness

I felt really distant to this person. (R)

I really doubt that this person and I would ever be friends. (R)

I felt like I could really trust this person.

Id like a chance to interact with this person more often.

I’d really prefer not to interact with this person in the future. (R)

I don’t feel like I could really trust this person. (R)

It is likely that this person and I could become friends if we interacted a lot.

I feel close to this person.

Constructing the IMI for your study. First, decide which of the variables (factors) you want to use, based on what theoretical questions you are addressing. Then, use the items from those factors, randomly ordered. If you use the value/usefulness items, you will need to complete the three items as appropriate. In other words, if you were studying whether the person believes an activity is useful for improving concentration, or becoming a better basketball player, or whatever, then fill in the blanks with that information. If you do not want to refer to a particular outcome, then just truncate the items with its being useful, helpful, or important.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The following is a 22 item version of the scale that has been used in some lab studies on intrinsic motivation. It has four subscales: interest/enjoyment, perceived choice, perceived competence, and pressure/tension. The interest/enjoyment subscale is considered the self-report measure of intrinsic motivation; perceived choice and perceived competence are theorized to be positive predictors of both self-report and behavioral measures of intrinsic motivation. Pressure tension is theorized to be a negative predictor of intrinsic motivation. Scoring information is presented after the questionnaire itself.

TASK EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE

For each of the following statements, please indicate how true it is for you, using the following scale:

1. While I was working on the task I was thinking about how much I enjoyed it.

2. I did not feel at all nervous about doing the task.

3. I felt that it was my choice to do the task.

4. I think I am pretty good at this task.

5. I found the task very interesting.

6. I felt tense while doing the task.

7. I think I did pretty well at this activity, compared to other students.

8. Doing the task was fun.

9. I felt relaxed while doing the task.

10. I enjoyed doing the task very much.

11. I didn’t really have a choice about doing the task.

12. I am satisfied with my performance at this task.

13. I was anxious while doing the task.

14. I thought the task was very boring.

15. I felt like I was doing what I wanted to do while I was working on the task.

16. I felt pretty skilled at this task.

17. I thought the task was very interesting.

18. I felt pressured while doing the task.

19. I felt like I had to do the task.

20. I would describe the task as very enjoyable.

21. I did the task because I had no choice.

22. After working at this task for awhile, I felt pretty competent.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

TEXT MATERIAL QUESTIONNAIRE I

For each of the following statements, please indicate how true it is for your, using the following scale as a guide:

1. While I was reading this material, I was thinking about how much I enjoyed it.

2. I did not feel at all nervous while reading.

3. This material did not hold my attention at all.

4. I think I understood this material pretty well.

5. I would describe this material as very interesting.

6. I think I understood this material very well, compared to other students.

7. I enjoyed reading this material very much.

8. I felt very tense while reading this material.

9. This material was fun to read.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The next version of the questionnaire was used for a study of internalization with an uninteresting computer task (Deci et al., 1994).

ACTIVITY PERCEPTION QUESTIONNAIRE

The following items concern your experience with the task. Please answer all items. For each item, please indicate how true the statement is for you, using the following scale as a guide:

1. I believe that doing this activity could be of some value for me.

2. I believe I had some choice about doing this activity.

3. While I was doing this activity, I was thinking about how much I enjoyed it.

4. I believe that doing this activity is useful for improved concentration.

5. This activity was fun to do.

6. I think this activity is important for my improvement.

7. I enjoyed doing this activity very much.

8. I really did not have a choice about doing this activity.

9. I did this activity because I wanted to.

10. I think this is an important activity.

11. I felt like I was enjoying the activity while I was doing it.

12. I thought this was a very boring activity.

13. It is possible that this activity could improve my studying habits.

14. I felt like I had no choice but to do this activity.

15. I thought this was a very interesting activity.

16. I am willing to do this activity again because I think it is somewhat useful.

17. I would describe this activity as very enjoyable.

18. I felt like I had to do this activity.

19. I believe doing this activity could be somewhat beneficial for me.

20. I did this activity because I had to.

21. I believe doing this activity could help me do better in school.

22. While doing this activity I felt like I had a choice.

23. I would describe this activity as very fun.

24. I felt like it was not my own choice to do this activity.

25. I would be willing to do this activity again because it has some value for me.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

SUBJECT IMPRESSIONS QUESTIONNAIRE

The following sentences describe thoughts and feelings you may have had regarding the other person who participated in the experiment with you. For each of the following statement please indicate how true it is for you, using the following scale as a guide:

1. While I was interacting with this person, I was thinking about how much I enjoyed it.

2. I felt really distant to this person.

3. I did not feel at all nervous about interacting with this person.

4. I felt like I had choice about interacting with this person.

5. I would describe interacting with this person as very enjoyable.

6. I really doubt that this person and I would ever become friends.

7. I found this person very interesting.

8. I enjoyed interacting with this person very much.

9. I felt tense while interacting with this person.

10. I really feel like I could trust this person.

11. Interacting with this person was fun.

12. I felt relaxed while interacting with this person.

13. I’d like a chance to interact more with this person.

14. I didn’t really have a choice about interacting with this person.

15. I tried hard to have a good interaction with this person.

16. I’d really prefer not to interact with this person in the future.

17. I was anxious while interacting with this person.

18. I thought this person was very boring.

19. I felt like I was doing what I wanted to do while I was interacting with this person.

20. I tried very hard while interacting with this person.

21. I don’t feel like I could really trust this person.

22. I thought interacting with this person was very interesting.

23. I felt pressured while interacting with this person.

24. I think it’s likely that this person and I could become friends.

25. I felt like I had to interact with this person.

26. I feel really close to this person.

27. I didn’t put much energy into interacting with this person.

28. I interacted with this person because I had no choice.

29. I put some effort into interacting with this person.