Motivation Flashcards
(28 cards)
What is Motivation?
A set of processes that arouse, direct and maintain human behaviour towards attaining a goal (Greenberg & Baron, 2003)
Trait vs State Motivation
Trait: internal and largely task independent. Personality traits have an effect
State: temporary motivational response, largely task dependent
Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic: behaviour is performed for its own sake, motivation is self-applied
Extrinsic: behaviour performed due to anticipated consequences, motivation is applied by other
Deci (1997): money decreases intrinsic motivation
Deci, Koesther and Ryan (1999): meta-analysis showed that extrinsic reward undermines intrinsic motivation
Cognitive Theories of Motivation
Suggest behaviour is initiated and regulated by expectations, plans, goals, schemas and attribution
Cognitive Theory of Motivation: Expectancy Theory (Atkinson, 1964)
Motivation = perceived probability of success x incentive value of success
Expectancy: belief that working hard will result in achieving desired level of performance
Valence: value assigned to possible rewards
Implications of the Expectancy Theory (Atkinson, 1964) for Education:
- tasks should be neither too easy nor too difficult to obtain
- success must be within reach, but not easy, for all students
Cognitive Theory of Motivation: Attribution Theory (Weiner, 2000)
Focuses on how people explain the causes of their successes and failures
Explanations tend to have 3 characteristics:
- Locus: people tend to attribute success to internal causes and failure to external causes
- Stability: stable is no possibility to change e.g. genetics. Unstable is changeable e.g. effort
- Controllability: controllable means more likely to put in effort. Uncontrollable e.g. teachers mood means less likely to be motivated
Implications of the Attribution Theory (Weiner, 2000) for Education:
- teachers should praise for effort (unstable and controllable) rather than intelligence (stable and uncontrollable)
- students must understand that what happens to them is a result of what they do
Cognitive Theory of Motivation: Goal Setting Theory (Locke, 1968)
The goal is the outcome a person is trying to accomplish to satisfy emotions and desires
Locke & Lathan (2002) Goals improve performance because they:
- direct students attention
- energize effort
What Factors Make Goals Effective (SMART Goals)?
Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-bound
Implications of the Goal Setting Theory (Locke, 1968) for Education:
Teachers should:
- set specific and clear goals for students with low motivation
- set goals obtainable within a short period of time
- provide accurate and timely feedback
4 Types of Motivations and Goal-Orientations in Schools:
- Mastery/task oriented students: motivated by desire for knowledge acquisition and self-improvement
- Performance oriented students: motivated by desire to gain recognition from others and earn good grades - desire to look clever
- Work avoidance
- Social
4 Subtypes of Goal-Orientation in Schools:
- Mastery approach-oriented: motivated to master academic skill
- Mastery avoidance-oriented: motivated to seek to avoid misunderstanding the given task. Yperen, Elliot & Anseel (2009) state this is probably the worst
- Performance approach-oriented: motivated to demonstrate more ability than other. Elliot & Moller (2003) state may be good
- Performance avoidance-oriented: motivated to avoid appearing stupid to others
Brophy (2005): do performance goals actually exist?
Psychoanalytic Theory for Motivation
- focuses on the concept of drive in motivation
- suggests actions and behaviours are as a result of internal instincts
Behavioural Approach to Motivation
- based on rewards and reinforcement (Operant conditioning. Skinner, 1938)
- motivation is based on external factors
- reinforcement of specific behaviours can help children to develop specific habits
- positive reinforcement = increase behaviour
- negative reinforcement = decrease behaviour
Implications of the Behavioural Approach for Education
- reinforcement should be clear and specific for a particular behaviour
- find a good reinforcer
Humanistic Approach to Motivation
- need for fulfilment and personal growth is the key motivator for all behaviours
- looking for new ways to grow to experience psychological growth and self-actualization
- motivation: encourage peoples inner resources to achieve successful personal growth
Humanistic Approach to Motivation: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1970)
- model of basic human needs as a hierarchal structure
- lowest need: physiological needs e.g. food, sleep
- highest need: self-actualisation e.g. meaning, acceptance
- Maslow concludes that what motivates people is unmet needs, once lower need is met it is no longer a motivator
- self-actualisation is never actually met, there is need for constant improvement
Humanistic Approach to Motivation: Implications of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1970) in Education
- behaviour is not reduced to an environmental response, takes a holistic approach where a child’s physiological needs must be met before their cognitive needs can be
- highlights the importance of self-esteem in learning
Humanistic Approach to Motivation: Limitations of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1970)
- interviewed Gandhi, Mother Theresa and Einstein, makes it difficult to generalise
- individual differences: people place different values on the same need
Emotions and Learning
- research on neural function is making it increasingly obvious that there is no cognition without emotion
- emotions have an impact on learning and academic achievement (Pekrun, 2002)
Educational Implications of Motivation
- repeating the same reward reduced the reward prediction error (RPE) - higher RPE -> more dopamine released -> increased learning and motivation
- IMPLIES? introduce a range of positive reinforcements in new ways to sustain motivation
- monetary reward undermines intrinsic motivation (Murayama et al, 2010)
- IMPLIES? reward doesn’t have to be physical e.g. give positive feedback
- social (e.g. fair treatment) and physical pleasure activate the same brain area (Lieberman & Eisenberg, 2009)
- IMPLIES? social reinforcement would be an effective motivator
- social (e.g. unfair treatment, punishment) and physical pain activate the same brain area (Lieberman & Eisenberg, 2009)
- IMPLIES? discriminations, punishment etc at school and affect brain development
Importance of Emotion Regulation
- positive emotions promote learning and negative emotions inhibit learning
- highlights the importance of emotion regulation to help children be in a positive learning atmosphere
Neuroscience of Emotion Regulation: Implications for Education
PFC Amygdala (responsible for emotions) interaction increases with age
- implies older children are better at regulating emotions than younger ones
- younger children need more detailed instruction to help regulate emotion. Discussions with caregivers will help build more effective management plans to reduce the impact of negative emotions in the classroom
