In this paper, we sought to understand where individual motivation and interests come from and how we can better understand them so that we could better understand how to accomplish our goals. Previous research has found that how interested someone is in a subject can be predicted by their understanding of that subject, positive feedback received, and time spent doing a task on that subject. In our first (correlational) study, we tested the strength of these relationships by examining naturalistic daily changes in their variables longitudinally over a two-week period. We recorded time spent on tasks throughout the day and after each task measured on subjective scales how interested we were in the tasks, positive feedback received on task performance, and level of interest in the tasks. Data pooled across participants showed a significant correlation of interest level with personal understanding, but not with positive feedback nor with time spent on tasks. Based on the strength of correlation found between personal understanding and interest level in our correlational study, we then conducted a second (experimental) study to test for specifically a causal relationship between these two variables. Over a two-week period, we randomly assigned participants each day to either a higher personal understanding condition or a neutral condition and measured the effect this had upon interest level each day. The results of our experimental study showed significant differences found in interest level between conditions. Possible practical applications of our current findings show that having a high personal understanding of a subject increases the likelihood you will be interested in that subject. This was found to be true during our correlational study, and during our experimental study it was found that trying to manipulate one's personal understanding does increase interest levels. In other words it was found that forcing yourself to understand a subject will make you more interested in it. All of this shows that personal understanding (that is how well you understand a subject) is (at least in part) what determines interest and motivation.
