Educational Psychology 302

1
Educational Psychology302

• Session 10
• Motivation

2
Motivation

• Definition Forces which energize, direct, and
  sustain behavior
• Situated Motivation The influence of the
  ___________ to motivate a person to behave in
  particular ways.

3
Motivation

• _________motivated by external factors
• Intrinsicfactors inherent in the task being
  performed
• Maslows Hierarchy of Needs
• Deficiency needs prior to growth need
• Almost always yields better outcomes in terms of
  learning and understanding

4
Self-Actualization Flow?

• Flow A state of optimal experience
  characterized by total concentration and
  absorption in a challenging activity that
  engenders a sense of control, interest,
  enjoyment, even exhilaration.
• Csikszentmihalyi, 1990

5
Elements of Flow

• One has clear goals every step of the way
• One gets immediate feedback for ones actions
• Balance between challenge and skills
• Action and awareness are merged
• Distractions are excluded from consciousness

6
Elements of Flow (cont.)

• One is not worried about failure
• Self-consciousness disappears
• Ones sense of time is distorted
• The activity becomes autoelic (an end in itself)

7
Teachers can Promote Flow by

• Assigning challenging task that involve novelty
  and discovery
• Emphasizing intrinsic rewards
• Minimize pressures related to competition,
  grades, rules

8
Influences on Motivation

• Self-________The extent to which a student
  believes they are capable of successfully
  completing a task.
• Self-DeterminationThe extent to which a student
  believes they can make choices regarding the
  direction of their lives and choice of activities.

9
Learning Goals vs. Performance Goals
Motivation to Learn Meaningfulness of Activities

• Students
• Process information for long-term storage
• Realize learning is a process trying hard and
  working through temporary setbacks
• Most benefit from classroom experience

• Students
• Avoid challenging tasks
• Shoot for only minimal performance outcomes

10
Encouraging Student Motivation to Learn

• Present subject matter to in ways that relates to
  the students current and future interests (hot
  cognition)
• Show personal enthusiasm for the subject
• Demonstrate to students that you believe they are
  genuinely interested in the subject and are
  motivated to learn
• Focus students attention on learning goals

11
Motivation Affiliation

• Definition The desire to like and be liked by
  others, to seek out friendly relationships
• Learning Implication Find ways to help students
  learn subject matter and meet affiliation needs
  at the same time
• Strategies Role play, debates, cooperative
  learning, competitions among two or more teams .
  . .

12
Motivation Approval

• Definition A desire to gain acceptance and
  positive judgments from other people
• Learning Implication Students may be engage in
  a task to please an authority figure
• Strategies Praise students frequently for the
  things they do well keeping in mind the balance
  of approval student desire from peers as opposed
  to teachers.

13
Motivation Anxiety

• Definition Feeling of uneasiness about an event
  because you do not know about the outcome
• State vs. Trait Anxiety
• Facilitating vs. Debilitating Anxiety
• Learning Implication Highly anxious students
  tend to achieve at lower levels that those at
  which they are capable of achieving

14
Strategies for Addressing Student Anxiety

• Set realistic expectations for performance
• Challenge students within their zone of _______
  ________ tasks within their reach
• Teach learning strategies
• Provide supplementary resources
• Provide feedback about specific behaviors

15
Attributions

• Definition explanations of success or failure
• Locus
• Stability
• Controllability
• Influencing factors on attribution past
  successes and failures, rewards and punishment,
  expectations, messages about success or failure
  (earned or unearned?)

16
Mastery LearnedOrientation
vs. Helplessness

• Attribute accomplishments to own abilities and
  efforts
• Seek challenging goals, seek challenges, persist
  in failure
• Achieve better over the long run.

• Attribute successes to to outside and
  uncontrollable factors
• Students generally underestimate their own
  ability
• Students set easy goals, avoid challenges, and
  respond to failure in counterproductive ways.