Knowing Yourself: A Focus on Your Strengths and Motivation Chapter 2 Knowing Yourself: A Focus on Your Strengths and Motivation

Questions to Consider Is personality related to college success? If so, how? Are there different types of intelligence? What are your strengths? How do you learn best? Do rewards increase your motivation? Why or why not?

Questions to Consider How can thinking positively and productively contribute to your success? What “needs” must be met before you can reach your potential? How can others help you get and stay motivated?

Conand (2006) Research Question: Do personality and behavior impact student success in college? Yuri Arcurs/Shutterstock.com

The Study Semester Grades 300 Students Personality inventory Self-report GPA and SAT Attendance Semester Grades

Personality Factors Openness- tries new things, enjoys variety Conscientiousness- responsible, organized, careful, self-disciplined Extraversion- enjoys being around others, social Agreeableness- cooperative, trusting of others Neuroticism- worries a lot, anxious, high strung

The Results! Conscientiousness was the only personality variable connected to grades Attendance and SAT scores were also connected to grades

The So What Factor While we can’t easily change our personality, we can change our behaviors Engage in behaviors that are consistent with someone who is conscientious- such as attending class!

What’s Your Personality Type? Take the Big Five Personality Inventory (Goldberg, 1992) *See Figure 2.1 in Chapter 2 of Student Success in College: Doing What Works!

What is Intelligence? One’s ability or potential; Lightspring/Shutterstock.com One’s ability or potential; It’s innate and fairly stable over time

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Verbal/linguistic Logical/mathematical Visual-spatial Bodily/kinesthetic Musical Intrapersonal Interpersonal Naturalistic Take the Multiple Intelligence Personal Preference Inventory (Martin, 2003)- Time for Action 2.6

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence Analytical Practical Creative

Gardner and Sternberg Both theories encourage us to look at intelligence from a broad perspective Focus is on your strengths

Learning Styles: How you prefer to use your abilities to take in information Visual Kinesthetic Auditory

Learning Style Strategies Visual Auditory Kinesthetic Focus on pictures, images, graphs and charts Focus on lectures, record them for review later Seeks out “hands on” tasks Use concept or mind mapping note-taking format Read aloud or listen to others explain concepts Interactive or practice quizzes

Learning and Teaching Styles You can learn regardless of whether teaching style matches your learning style What matters most is that the teaching style matches the content What learning style would work best for: Recent historical events Geography Calculus Learning concepts in psychology Sociological theories Economics

Waschull (2005) Predicting success in online psychology courses: Self-discipline and motivation Paul Matthew Photography/Shutterstock.com

What student characteristics predict success in an on-line class? The Research Question What student characteristics predict success in an on-line class? angelo sarnacchiaro/Shutterstock.com

The Study 57 College Students Questionnaire Personal traits, lifestyle factors, motivation, study skills, text-based learning, technology access, technology experience Assignment Grades Test and Exam Scores Final Grade

The Results! Self-discipline and motivation predicted success Other questionnaire variables did not predict success (including technology experience!)

The So What Factor! Self-discipline and motivation are important whether it’s an on-line or in person class!

MOTIVATION! Lobke Peers/Shutterstock.com

Why are you in college? Jezper/Shutterstock.com

Behavioral Motivators Our behaviors are motivated by consequences. We’ll keep doing behaviors if rewarded. Gina Sanders/Shutterstock.com

Reward Strategies Use tangible (paychecks, grades) and social (praise, smiles) rewards Make the reward personally meaningful “Match” the reward to the task Small rewards for small tasks Large rewards for large tasks

Cognitive Theory and Motivation Our thoughts and interpretations of events impact our mood, behavior, and level of motivation. Carlos Caetano/Shutterstock.com

Cognitive Strategies See Figure 2.1 in Chapter 2 of Student Success in College: Doing What Works!

Your belief in your ability to complete tasks successfully. Self-Efficacy Your belief in your ability to complete tasks successfully. To increase self-efficacy: Have courage to try new tasks Identify realistic goals and plan to achieve them Ask for help when needed Realize everyone makes mistakes

Humanistic Theory and Motivation Everyone wants to succeed and can do so if their basic needs are met. Marilyn Volan/Shutterstock.com

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs See Figure 2.3 in Chapter 2 of Student Success in College: Doing What Works!

Social Theory and Motivation We are social creatures and our relationships with others significantly impact our motivation. See Figure 2.4 in Chapter 2 of Student Success in College: Doing What Works! Surround yourself with a positive support system!