This is the classic study that concludes that extrinsic motivation takes away joy from activities that one was initially intrinsically motivated to do. As far as I am concerned, this is why creative work as work takes away the fun of the creative. *This is ChatGPT's summary:* The classic study you’re thinking of is **Lepper, Greene & Nisbett (1973)**, titled _“Undermining Children’s Intrinsic Interest with Extrinsic Rewards: A Test of the Overjustification Hypothesis.”_ The study involved preschool children who already enjoyed drawing with magic markers. They were split into three groups: 1. **Expected reward** – children were told they'd get a nice blue ribbon for drawing. 2. **Unexpected reward** – children received the ribbon after drawing, but hadn’t been told in advance. 3. **No reward** – children weren’t given any ribbon. Following a couple of weeks, during free play, researchers observed which children continued drawing. The **expected reward group** showed a significant drop in interest—spending less time drawing—compared to the other two groups, who maintained their intrinsic interest