Motivation and

Student’s
Learning
 Motivation
• Motivation is usually defined as an internal state that
arouses, directs, and maintains behavior
• Amotivation is a complete lack of any intent to act, no
engagement at all.
• Intrinsic motivation is the natural human tendency to seek
out and conquer challenges as we pursue personal
interests and exercise our capabilities.
• When we are intrinsically motivated, we do not need incentives or
punishments, because the activity itself is satisfying and
rewarding
Cont…
• Extinction Motivation: In contrast, when we do something to earn a
grade, avoid punishment, please the teacher, or for some other reason that
has very little to do with the task itself, we experience extrinsic motivation.
• We are not really interested in the activity for its own sake; we care only
about what it will gain us.
• Extrinsic motivation has been associated with negative emotions, poor
academic achievement, and maladaptive learning strategies
• However, extrinsic motivation also has benefits if it provides incentives as
students try new things, gives them an extra push to get started, or helps
them persist to complete a mundane task.
Cont…
• According to psychologists who adopt the intrinsic/extrinsic concept
of motivation, it is impossible to tell just by looking if a behavior is
intrinsically or extrinsically motivated.
• The essential difference between the two types of motivation is the
student’s reason for acting, whether the locus of causality for the
action (the location of the cause) is internal or external, inside or
outside the person.
• Two explanations of motivation: One is that our activities fall along a
continuum from fully self-determined (intrinsic motivation) to fully
determined by others (extrinsic motivation)
Cont…
• Four types of extrinsic motivation are based on level of internal
drive to engage in the activity.
• Starting with the most extrinsic, these four types are:
• External regulation (completely controlled by outside consequences),
• Introjected regulation (engaging in the task to avoid guilt or negative self-
perceptions)
• Identification (participating despite lack of interest because it serves a larger
goal that is personally motivating)
• Integrated regulation (participating in a task because it is both interesting
and has extrinsic reward value).
Cont…
• A second explanation is that intrinsic and extrinsic
motivations are not two ends of a continuum.
• Instead, intrinsic and extrinsic tendencies are two
independent possibilities, and at any given time, we can
be motivated by some aspects of each
• Teaching can create intrinsic motivation by connecting to
students’ interests and supporting growing competence.
But you know this won’t work all the time.
 Behavioral Approach to
Motivation
• According to the behavioral view, an understanding of student motivation
begins with a careful analysis of the incentives and rewards present in the
classroom.
• A reward is an attractive object or event supplied as a consequence of a
particular behavior.
• An incentive is an object or event that encourages or discourages behavior. The
promise of an A+ is an incentive to a student. Actually receiving the grade is a
reward.
• Providing grades, stars, stickers, and other reinforcers for learning or demerits
for misbehavior, is an attempt to motivate students by extrinsic means of
incentives, rewards, and punishments.
 Humanistic Approach to
Motivation
• In the 1940s, proponents of humanistic psychology such as Carl Rogers
argued that neither of the dominant schools of psychology, behavioral or
Freudian, adequately explained why people act as they do.
• Humanistic interpretations of motivation emphasize such intrinsic sources
of motivation as a person’s needs for “self-actualization” (Maslow, 1968,
1970), the inborn “actualizing tendency” (Rogers & Freiberg, 1994), or the
need for “self-determination” (Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991).
• So, from the humanistic perspective, to motivate means to encourage
people’s inner resources, their sense of competence, self-esteem, autonomy,
and self-actualization
 Cognitive Approach to
Motivation
• In cognitive theories, people are viewed as active and curious,
searching for information to solve personally relevant problems.Thus,
cognitive theorists emphasize intrinsic motivation.
• In many ways, cognitive theories of motivation also developed as a
reaction to the behavioral views.
• Cognitive theorists believe that behavior is determined by our thinking,
not simply by whether we have been rewarded or punished for the
behavior in the past.
• Behavior is initiated and regulated by plans, goals, schemas,
expectations, and attributions.
 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Abraham Maslow's theory suggests that human motivation is based on a hierarchy of
needs. These needs must be satisfied in a specific order, from the most basic
physiological needs to higher-order needs for self-actualization.
• Maslow (1968) called the four lower-level needs for survival, then safety, followed by
belonging, and then self-esteem as deficiency needs.
• When these needs are satisfied, the motivation for fulfilling them decreases.
• He labeled the three higher-level needs cognitive needs, then aesthetic needs, and
finally self-actualization as being needs.
• When they are met, a person’s motivation does not cease; instead, it increases to seek further
fulfillment. Unlike the deficiency needs, these being needs can never be completely filled.
• For example, the more successful you are in your efforts to develop as a teacher, the harder you
are likely to strive for even greater improvement.
 Self-determination Theory
• Self-determination theory is a more recent approach to motivation
that focuses on human needs
• Self-determination theory suggests that we all need to feel competent
and capable in our interactions in the world, to have some choices
and a sense of control over our lives, and to be connected to others
to belong to a social group
• Need for competence: It is the individual’s need to demonstrate
ability or mastery over the tasks at hand.
• Satisfying this need results in a sense of accomplishment, promotes self-
efficacy, and helps learners establish better learning goals for future tasks
Cont…
• Need for autonomy: It is central to self-determination because autonomy is the
desire to have our own wishes, rather than external rewards or pressures,
determine our actions
• People strive to have authority in their lives, to be in charge of their own
behavior.
• They constantly struggle against pressure from external controls such as the
rules, schedules, deadlines, orders, and limits imposed by others.
• Sometimes, even help is rejected so that the individual can remain in command
(deCharms, 1983).
• The need for relatedness: It is the desire to belong and to establish close
emotional bonds and attachments with others who care about us.
 Goal Orientations
• A goal is an outcome or attainment an individual is striving to
accomplish
• When students strive to read a chapter or make a 4.0 GPA, they are
involved in goal directed behavior.
• In pursuing goals, students are generally aware of some current
condition (I haven’t even opened my book), some ideal condition (I
have understood every page), and the discrepancy between the two.
• Goals motivate people to act in order to reduce the discrepancy
between “where they are” and “where they want to be.”
 Beliefs and Self-Perceptions
Epistemological beliefs
• What students believe about knowledge and learning (their
epistemological beliefs) will influence their motivation and the kinds
of strategies that they use.
• For example, if you believe that knowledge should be gained quickly, you are
likely to try one or two quick strategies (read the text once, spend 2 minutes
trying to solve the word problem) and then stop.
• If you believe that learning means developing integrated understandings, you
will process the material more deeply, connect to existing knowledge, create
your own examples, or draw diagrams, and generally elaborate on the
information to make it your own
Cont…
Beliefs About Ability
• Some of the most powerful beliefs affecting motivation in school are about ability.
• Adults use two basic concepts of ability
• An entity view of ability assumes that ability is a stable, uncontrollable trait, a characteristic
of the individual that cannot be changed. According to this view, some people have more
ability than others, but the amount each person has is set.
• Students who hold an entity (unchangeable) view of intelligence tend to set performance
avoidance goals to avoid looking bad in the eyes of others. They seek situations where they
can look smart and protect their self-esteem. Students with learning disabilities are more
likely to hold an entity view.
• Teachers who hold entity views are quicker to form judgments about students and slower to
modify their opinions when confronted with contradictory evidence
Cont…

• An incremental view of ability, on the other hand, suggests that ability is unstable
and controllable, “an ever-expanding repertoire of skills and knowledge”. By hard
work, study, or practice, knowledge can be increased and thus ability can be improved.
• Holding an incremental view of ability is associated with greater motivation and
learning. Believing that you can improve your ability helps you focus on the processes
of problem solving and applying good strategies, instead of on the products of test
scores and grades
• Teachers who hold incremental views, in contrast, tend to set mastery goals and seek
situations in which students can improve their skills, because improvement means
getting smarter. Failure is not devastating; it simply indicates more work is needed.
Ability is not threatened
Cont…
Beliefs about causes and Control: Attribution Theory
• One well-known explanation of motivation begins with the
assumption that we try to make sense of our own behavior and the
behavior of others by searching for explanations and causes
• Attribution theories of motivation describe how the individual’s
explanations, justifications, and excuses influence motivation
• Bernard Weiner is one of the main educational psychologists
responsible for relating attribution theory to school learning
(Weiner, 2000, 2010).
Cont…
• According to Weiner, most of the attributed causes for successes or
failures can be characterized in terms of three dimensions:
1. Locus (location of the cause—internal or external to the person). For
example, attributing a great piano performance to your musical talent or
hard work are internal attributions. Explaining that the performance is
based on coaching from a great teacher is an external attribution
2. Stability (whether the cause of the event is the same across time and in
different situations). For example, talent is stable, but effort can change.
3. Controllability (whether the person can control the cause). For example,
effort and finding a great teacher are controllable, but innate musical talent
is not.
Cont…
• People with a strong sense of self-efficacy for a given task (“I’m good at
math”) tend to attribute their failures to lack of effort (“I should have double-
checked my work”), misunderstanding directions, or just not studying enough.
• These are internal, controllable attributions.
• As a consequence, they usually focus on strategies for succeeding next time.
• This response often leads to achievement, pride, and a greater feeling of
control.
• But people with a low sense of self-efficacy (“I’m terrible at math”) tend to
attribute their failures to lack of ability (“I’m just dumb”).
Cont…
Beliefs about self worth
• Most theorists agree that a sense of efficacy, control, or self-
determination is critical if people are to feel intrinsically motivated.
• Learned Helplessness
• When people come to believe that the events and outcomes in their lives are
mostly uncontrollable, they have developed learned helplessness
• Learned helplessness appears to cause three types of deficits: motivational
(why should they try), cognitive (miss opportunities to practice and learn
skills), and affective (depression, anxiety).
Cont…
Self-worth
• What are the connections between attributions and beliefs
about ability, self-efficacy, and self-worth? Covington and
his colleagues suggest that these factors come together in
three kinds of motivational sets: mastery oriented, failure
avoiding, and failure accepting
 Motivation to Learn in School
• Teachers are concerned about developing a particular kind of motivation in their
students, the motivation to learn, defined as
“A student tendency to find academic activities meaningful and worthwhile and to
try to derive the intended academic benefits from them”
• Teachers have three major goals.
• The first is to get students productively involved with the work of the class; in other words, to
catch their interest and create a state of motivation to learn.
• The second and longer-term goal is to develop in their students enduring individual interests
and the trait of being motivated to learn so they will be able to educate themselves for the
rest of their lives.
• Teachers want their students to be cognitively engaged, to think deeply about what they
study. In other words, we want them to be thoughtful
 Strategies to Encourage
Motivation
• Until four basic conditions are met for every student and in every
classroom, no motivational strategies will succeed.
• First, the classroom must be relatively organized and free from constant interruptions
and disruptions.
• Second, the teacher must be a patient, supportive person who never embarrasses the
students because they made mistakes. Everyone in the class should view mistakes as
opportunities for learning
• Third, the work must be challenging, but reasonable. If work is too easy or too
difficult, students will have little motivation to learn. They will focus on finishing, not
on learning.
• Finally, the learning tasks must be authentic. And as we have seen, what makes a task
authentic is influenced by the students’ culture