Motivation to Behave We are motivated to behave in ways that provide us pleasure and a sense of happiness

Incentive motivation creates motivation to obtain positive reinforcement Each of the following behaviors creates a sense of pleasure via pleasure centers: 1. Eating certain foods 2. Have sex 3. Have strong, fun & supportive friendships 4. Make meaningful achievements 5. Experience excitement and novelty 6. Exert power and influence over others

When we are motivated by our brain’s pleasure centers, this is referred to as an intrinsic incentive

Our social environment also provides powerful positive reinforcements We feel good receiving social incentives like: Approval & attention from others b) Status and recognition from our peers; c)Receiving good grades, gold stars, blue ribbons, trophies, promotions & money for our achievements.

Incentives provided by our social environment are called extrinsic incentives

The Talent Code: What variables are crucial to maintain our drives? The book, The Talent Code, concludes that every child has the potential to be very talented if their environment has certain crucial elements. The author visited Hot Beds of talent all over the world to see what environmental factors they have in common.

He found that every area that produced lots of talented kids provided a source of Ignition—a person they greatly admired & wish to be like. The major ignition for Brazilian boys to play soccer during the 1990’s was the world famous soccer player, Pele

The ignition for hundreds of Russian girls to play really well was the tennis star, Maria Sharapova

So one crucial contribution to talent is a source of external ignition or inspiration What ignites children is NOT an inborn ability Instead it was a small yet powerful idea: a vision of their ideal future selves as inspired by those around them Distinct signals and inspiration from role models in their early childhood provides the spark: I want to be like them

Inspiration leads to high levels of commitment One study analyzed the musical development of 157 randomly selected children. The children who came out on top were not the ones who initially were most gifted Instead it was the children who expressed the highest commitment to developing their musical skills for years to come.

All talented people participate in what is called deep practice: Involves high level of focus and concentration during rehearsal with frequent encouraging feedback. Example: Simulation of flying for students of flying allows them to take off and land 12 times; to dive, stall, and recover without fear of danger. They will spend hours of deep practice “at the edge” of their flying skill level!

Futsal provides young boys in Brazil the opportunity to practice deep practice when learning how to play soccer. Resemble soccer but played on size of basketball-court with heavier, smaller ball. Each side only has 6 players, not 11. Touch ball 6 times more often per minute and rewards more precise handling. Compresses soccer essentials into small box, making and correcting errors in rapid succession.

Futsal Playing Field

Whisperers of Talent: Strategies used by the Best Teachers Best teachers emphasize to students that what is crucial was how much they practiced, not their inborn talent. They make learning fun and are very encouraging and enthusiastic. Most of their feedback is focused on small, targeted changes—why is this best?

Importance of type of feedback: Be able to summarize this study Two groups of children provided fairly easy puzzles to complete. Then the researcher informed both groups of children of their scores were & then: One group was told: “You must be smart at this.” The other group was told: “You must have worked very hard.”

Type of feedback had a strong influence on their future motivation Next each group was offered a choice between doing a difficult puzzle or easy puzzle. One group of children asked for the difficult puzzle while the other asked for the easy puzzle. Which group do you think wanted the more difficult puzzle and why?

Talent Depends Upon Internal Motivation & then External Support Motivation comes from inspiration from a person—whether it comes from a parent, sibling, teacher or famous person. Then there needs to be the opportunity to practice extensively under the guidance of highly skilled teacher who is encouraging while also keeping the learning!