Pacing the stage, his hands moving in rhythm with his words, Dr. Edward L. Deci explained the topic that had fascinated him for decades.
“I love motivation,” he said in a TEDxFlourCity talk. “It’s given me a good life. And every place I look, I see motivation, or lack thereof.”
Motivated to study motivation, Dr. Deci, who taught psychology for decades at the University of Rochester and died on Feb. 14, 2026, at age 83, challenged the carrot-and-stick theory, the belief that rewards and/or punishment are the way to get people moving…