Course goals:

1
Motivation and Emotion (Psychology 308)

• Course goals
• Understand theoretical perspectives within the
  field of motivation and emotion,
• Examine research that has been conducted on
  motivation,
• Develop critical thinking skills, and
• Understand how motivation theory can be applied
  to everyday settings, and how to use this
  knowledge to enrich your life

2

• Basic philosophy Move from blind acceptance to
  critiquing and creating
• Introduce theory
• Describe study
• Students make and share predictions (we provide
  feedback)
• Students examine predictions
• Students apply knowledge
• Students critique study
• Students discuss remaining questions
• Students create a new study

3

• B f (p, e)
• Behavior is a function of personality and
  environment
• As teachers,
• How do we create an environment conducive to
  motivation,
• and
• (b) How do we help students understand how their
• personalities fit the environment?

4
Intrinsic motivation

• Desire to take part in an activity for its own
  sake,
• as opposed to a desire for rewards, money,
  prestige, etc.
• (extrinsic motivation). I want to vs. I have
  to
• Marked by increased interest, enjoyment,
  persistence, and performance

• Demonstrate and discuss the activities that you
  find extrinsically and
• intrinsically motivating

• Common themes?

• Enjoyment, autonomy, challenge, competence,
  choice, low pressure

5
Intrinsic motivation theorists predict intrinsic
motivation will increase when the following
needs are met
1. Competence
2. Optimal challenge
3. Control/Autonomy/self-determined behavior
4. Relatedness
5. Competence valuation
How can this be used in the college classroom to
create a positive motivational environment?
6
Predicting success in college A longitudinal
study of achievement goals and ability measures
as predictors of interest and performance from
freshman year through graduation. Journal of
Educational Psychology, 94, 562-575
Harackiewicz, Barron, Tauer, Elliot, 2002
7
How is academic success typically defined for
college students (4)?

• Performance/Learning (I got an A!!!)

• Interest in the material (This is really
  useful!)

• Enjoyment of the class (This is really fun!)

8
Achievement goals How do I get from here to
there?
Mastery Goal - desire to develop competence
Performance Goal - desire to demonstrate
competence
Work Avoidance Goal - expend as little effort as
possible

9
Introductory psychology course Measured goals at
the beginning of the semester
10
Introductory psychology course Measured goals at
the beginning of the semester
Interest in Final Grade Enjoyment
of psychology the class
11
Example questions Not at all Very true true
of me 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 of me Beginning
of semester Mastery goal I want to learn as
much as possible in this class. (1,7,
10) Performance goal It is important for me to
do well compared to others in this class.
(2,4,9) Work avoidance goal I want to do as
little work as possible in this class. (3,
8) End of semester Interest in psychology I
think the field of psychology is very
interesting. (12,13) Enjoyment of the
class The lectures in this class really seem to
drag on forever. (11)
12
Achievement goals
Mastery Goal - desire to develop competence
Performance Goal - desire to demonstrate
competence
Work Avoidance Goal - expend as little effort as
possible
5)What do you advise the student regarding these
goals and his/her success? Why?
13
Perspective 1 Mastery goals are
helpful Performance goals are detrimental
14
Perspective 1 Mastery goals are
helpful Performance goals are detrimental
Perspective 2 Performance goals are better
than nothing
15
Perspective 1 Mastery goals are
helpful Performance goals are detrimental
Perspective 2 Performance goals are better
than nothing
Perspective 3 Mastery and performance goals can
work together to facilitate performance and
motivation
16

• Overview of study
• Examined goals and their outcomes in an
  introductory psychology
• course at UW-Madison
• - 300-400 students in a large lecture hall
• - grades are curved
• - lecture format
• - little student-instructor interaction
• - multiple choice exams

• 604 students participated (471 freshmen)

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Short-term consequences of goals
Mastery Goal
Interest
Work Avoidance Goal
Enjoyment
Performance Goal
Final Grade
18
Short-term consequences of goals on interest
Mastery Goal
Interest
Work Avoidance Goal
Performance Goal
19
Short-term consequences of goals on interest
Mastery Goal
Interest
.38
-.11
Work Avoidance Goal
Performance Goal
20
Short-term consequences of goals on enjoyment
Mastery Goal
Work Avoidance Goal
Enjoyment
Performance Goal
21
Short-term consequences of goals on enjoyment
Mastery Goal
.17
Work Avoidance Goal
Enjoyment
-.17
Performance Goal
22
Short-term consequences of goals on performance
Mastery Goal
Work Avoidance Goal
Final Grade
Performance Goal
23
Short-term consequences of goals on performance
Mastery Goal
Work Avoidance Goal
-.17
Final Grade
.19
Performance Goal
24
Short-term consequences of goals
Mastery Goal
Interest
Work Avoidance Goal
Enjoyment
Final Grade
Performance Goal
25
Short-term consequences of goals
Mastery Goal
Interest
.38
.17
-.11
Enjoyment
Work Avoidance Goal
-.17
-.17
Final Grade
.19
Performance Goal
26
Performance?
Intrinsic Motivation?
27
Short-term consequences of goals on performance
Mastery Goal
.38
Interest
.17
-.11
.29
Work Avoidance Goal
Final Grade
-.14
-.17
Enjoyment
.20
Performance Goal
28
Discussion of classroom goals research 6) Based
on these findings, what would you recommend that
a student do to promote both interest in the
material and a high level of performance?
29
Multiple Goals Perspective
Both mastery and performance goals may be
beneficial stay away from work avoidance
goals! We do not live in a unidimensional
world! Not as easy as mastery vs. performance
(they are relatively uncorrelated)
30
Discussion of classroom goals research 6) Based
on these findings, what would you recommend that
a student do to promote both interest in the
material and a high level of performance?
7) What are some of the limitations of these
correlational findings?
8) Choose one limitation described in 2 - how
would you address this in future research?
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Reverse causality Part 1 Do smarter students
merely adopt performance goals?
High school Percentile ACT/SAT
score Performance goals
Final Grade
32
All three of these variables positively
predicted final grade, indicating a unique
benefit of performance goals
High school Percentile ACT/SAT
score Performance goals
Final Grade
33
Reverse causality Part 2 Do students who are
interested in psychology adopt mastery goals
Pre-interest in psychology Mastery goals
Interest in introductory psychology
34
Both variables predicted interest, indicating
mastery goals play a unique role in the
development of interest
Pre-interest in psychology Mastery goals
Interest in introductory psychology
35
Discussion of classroom goals research 6) Based
on these findings, what would you recommend that
a student do to promote both interest in the
material and a high level of performance?
7) What are some of the limitations of these
correlational findings?
8) Choose one limitation described in 2 - how
would you address this in future research?
9) Why arent mastery oriented students
rewarded with better performance?
10) Design a study to demonstrate the
circumstances in which adopting mastery
goals may promote performance.
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Study of goals in IBL classes

• Will mastery goals prove adaptive for performance
  when material is presented in IBL classes?

37
"For a long time it seemed to me that life was
about to begin - real life. But there was
always some obstacle in the way, something to be
gotten through first, some unfinished business,
time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At
last it dawned on me that these obstacles were
my life. This perspective has helped me see
there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the
way. So treasure every moment you have and
remember that time waits for no one. Happiness
is a journey, not a destination." -- Souza
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Introductory psychology course Measured goals at
the beginning of the semester
Interest in Final Grade Enjoyment
of psychology the class
Follow-up 5 years later
39
Introductory psychology course Measured goals at
the beginning of the semester
Interest in Final Grade Enjoyment
of psychology the class
Follow-up 5 years later
Number of Psychology courses taken
All grades in those semesters
Grades in those psychology courses
40
Long-term consequences of goals
Mastery Goal
Courses Taken in Psychology
Work Avoidance Goal
Overall GPA
Performance Goal
41
Long-term consequences of goals
Mastery Goal
Courses Taken in Psychology
.16
Work Avoidance Goal
-.09
Overall GPA
Performance Goal
.16
42
Long-term consequences of goals
Mastery Goal
Courses Taken in Psychology
Interest
.38
.31
-.11
.17
Work Avoidance Goal
Enjoyment
-.17
-.15
Overall GPA
Performance Goal
Semester GPA
.17
.67
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Conclusions

• Intrinsic motivation is an important measure of
  success

• Be careful of external controls

• Goals are important predictors of both
  performance and motivation

• Approach success vs. avoid failure?

• Where your heart is, there you will find your
  treasure

• Success is a journey, not a destination

• Dynamic relationship between performance and
  intrinsic motivation

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Performance
Intrinsic motivation
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Conclusions

• Intrinsic motivation is an important measure of
  success

• Be careful of external controls

• Goals are important predictors of both
  performance and motivation

Approach success vs. avoid failure?

• Where your heart is, there you will find your
  treasure

• Success is a journey, not a destination

• Dynamic relationship between performance and
  intrinsic motivation

• Do you turn work into play???

Or play into work???

• If you find a job you love, youll never have to
  work a day in your life.

• Do you choose to bloom where youre planted?
  Dissonance theory

• Accept/understand who you are, and change what
  needs to be changed

• Thanks for a great semester!!!

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Goal-setting theory (Locke Latham, 1990)

• Goals are good

• Specific, attainable, and challenging

• Need feedback