Theories of Motivation

Motivation Motivation- an inner states that arouses, directs, and maintains a person’s behavior. It is broken down into psychological need, environmentally activated states, and a set of cognitions and beliefs. 2

Motivation as a Psychological Need Maslow proposed a hierarchy of needs. Made distinction between deficiency needs and growth needs. Deficiency needs- (physiological, safety, love and esteem) are critical to physical and psychological well being Being needs- a need to know and understand things, to appreciate beauty, or to grow and develop an appreciation of others, can never be satisfied completely. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Physiological needs Safety needs Love needs Esteem needs Need to know and understand Aesthetic Self-actualization needs: becoming everything that one is capable of becoming Maslow argues lower-level needs must be at least partially met before higher-level needs can be achieved. 3

Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivation Researchers have found that children have a need for competence, autonomy, and mastery and this serves as the foundation for intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation- internal sources such as curiosity, interest, enjoyment, and innate strivings for mastery and growth. Extrinsic motivation- arises from external contingencies such as a reward, earn a high grade, please someone, etc. Extrinsic motivation can cause reduced feelings of competence and self-determination because they see their behavior as controlled by external rather than internal causes. Examples: A student is reading a novel because he really loves to read. During a test prep activity, the teacher offers a piece of candy for every correct answer. Grades and points Volunteering at a soup kitchen Externally imposed reward systems are appropriate for students who are not interested in a subject. If a student already has a passion and desire for a subject it is best to leave them alone or you could undermine their motivation. 4

Motivation and Attribution Theory Attributional theory: examines how individuals interpret their successes and failures in achievement situations. We explain our success and failures three ways: first as internal or external; second as stable or unstable; and third if it is controllable or not. People try to maintain a positive self-image When we do well in an activity we are likely to attribute our success to our own efforts and ability (internal); but when we fail we believe it is due to factors in which we had no control. When students succeed, they want to believe that it is because they are smart, not because they are lucky or the task was easy. Students who fail, like to believe they have bad luck (external factor), which allows for the possibility of succeeding next time. Attribution is a self-preservation tool 5

Attributional Theory in the Classroom What teachers attribute their students successes to is important: When teachers attribute student failure to lack of ability they tend to not expect as much from the student; when teachers believe students have high ability they tend to have higher expectations which makes the student more motivated. Pygmalion in the Classroom (Rosenthal and Jackson) Tested students “academic ability” Gave results to teacher labeling students as high ability, average ability, or low ability. Students expected to do well by their teachers had larger gains than students expected to not do so well. This is a classic example of “self-fulfilling prophecy”- when a teacher’s expectations lead to students achievement that conforms to those expectations. 6

Behaviorists on Motivation Believe differences in motivation are explained by an individual’s desire to gain reinforcers. Believe to change a child’s motivation the appropriate rewards and incentives should be used. Example: Telling your class “If everyone quietly works and finishes their reading you will get a bonus point.” 7

Self-Regulated Learning Self-regulated learning: learning that results from students’ self-generated thoughts and behaviors that are systematically oriented toward their learning goals. Students who are highly motivated to learn something are more likely to plan their learning, carry out a learning plan, and retain the information. This motivation can come from several places: Social modeling- seeing other students use self-regulated strategies Goal-setting- students are encouraged to establish their own learning goals Feedback- shows if students are making progress towards their goals 8

Motivation as a Set of Cognitions and Beliefs Expentancy-value theory: It has been found that students’ expectations and values are strongly related to a wide range of achievement behaviors, including task choice, persistence, and performance. This theory implies that people’s motivation to achieve something depends on their perceived probability of success and the value they place on success. Motivation (M)= Perceived probability of success (Ps) x Incentive value of success (Is) An important part of this formula is that it is multiplicative, if people believe that their probability of success is zero or if they do not value success, then their motivation will be zero. 9

How Can Achievement Motivation be Enhanced?

Motivation and Goal Orientations Goal theory: emphasize students’ reasons for choosing, performing and persisting at various achievement activities. Two types of goals: Learning-oriented goals- engaging in learning activities because you want to learn something new, develop skills or master an activity 11

Motivation and Goal Orientations Performance-oriented goals- engaging in a learning activity to compete; students feel successful when they receive the best grade or do well, because it implies high ability. Students who focus on ability to perform show learned helplessness (no matter what one does, one is doomed to failure). Students who focus on intrinsic goal prefer challenging tasks so they can learn; performance-oriented students avoid these tasks because it may make them appear incompetent. Learning-oriented students will ask for help; those who are performance-oriented will cheat or have others solve problems for them. Learning-oriented students engage in active learning strategies (reviewing material, checking comprehension) while performance-oriented students use superficial learning strategies (memorization). How teachers can promote learning-oriented goals (pg 249)

Motivation and Self-Efficacy Theorists have also emphasized self-efficacy, people’s judgements of their ability to perform a task given the skills they possess and the context. Self-efficacy affects people’s choice of activities, effort and persistence. We tend to engage in tasks in which we have a high sense of self-efficacy and avoid tasks which we have low self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is task contingent- depending on the task we evaluate our skills differently. We do not necessarily want high self-efficacy but rather an accurate self-efficacy. 13

Individual Differences in Achievement Motivation Ability differences- we have different perceptions of our abilities. Entity theory of ability: ability level is fixed and cannot be improved. Incremental theory of ability: believe they can improve their ability by investing greater effort. Those who have an entity theory of ability tend to have performance-oriented goals. While those with incremental theory of ability tend to have learning-oriented goals. Those who are highly motivated probably have: an incremental theory of ability, learning-oriented goals, and an accurate self-efficacy. Having these traits allows one to take on a task, set goals, outline a course of action, persist in the face of failure, and to maintain behavior. 14

As a teacher, how can I enhance my students’ motivation?

Enhancing Intrinsic Motivation Arouse Interest- it is important to convince students of the importance and interest level of the material being taught, if possible show how the knowledge will be useful to them. Maintain Curiosity-A skillful teacher uses a variety of means to arouse or maintain curiosity. Creating an element of surprise and challenging the students’ current understanding can make them intensely curious about an issue Use a Variety of Interesting Presentation Modes- Teachers can maintain student interest by alternating use of films, guest speakers, demonstrations, and so on. However, the use of each resource must be carefully planned to be sure it focuses on the course objectives and complements the activity. Help Students Set Their Own Goals- A fundamental principle of motivation is that people work harder for goals that they themselves set than for goal set for them by others. 16

Providing Extrinsic Incentives to Learn Not every subject is intrinsically interesting to all students, below is a variety of incentives that can help motivate students to learn academic material. Express Clear Expectations- Students need to know exactly what they are supposed to do, how they will be evaluated, and what the consequences of success will be. Often, students’ failures stem from confusion about what they are being asked to do. Provide Clear Feedback- Feedback is information on the results of one’s efforts. Feedback can serve as an incentive; but to do so it must be clear and specific and must be given close in time to performance. Specific feedback is informative and motivational; it tells students what they did right so they continue to do it. Provide Immediate Feedback- In order for feedback to be effective it needs to happen as close as possible to the performance. Provide Frequent Feedback- Feedback should be delivered frequently to students to maintain their best efforts. Increase the Value and Availability of Extrinsic Motivators- Students must value incentives that are used to motivate them. According to expectancy theory, although all students must have a chance to be rewarded if they do their best, no student should have an easy time achieving the maximum reward. It is important to reward students for effort, for doing better than they have done in the past, or for making progress. 17