Theories and principles associated with motivation

1
Theories and principles associated with motivation
2
What is motivation?

• What choices do people make about their behavior?
• How long does it take to get started on a task?
• What is the intensity or level of involvement?
• What causes a person to persist or to give up?
• What is the individual thinking and feeling
  during the activity?

3
General ideas intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation

• Intrinsic Natural tendency to seek out and
  conquer challenges, stems from interest or
  curiosity, the activity itself is rewarding
• Extrinsic Engagement occurs in order to earn a
  reward or avoid punishment, not really interested
  in the activity for its own sake

4
Theoretical approaches to motivation

• Self-determination theory
• Humans have basic needs including the need to
• feel in control of their lives (autonomy)
• be effective in dealing with the environment
  (competence) and
• have relationships with others (relatedness)
• With your neighbor, distill three pedagogical
  principles that make sense in light of
  self-determination theory.

5
Theoretical approaches to motivation

• Self-worth theory
• We must protect our sense of competence, or, our
  self-worth
• This drives us to try to be successful
• May cause us to avoid certain activities where we
  might not be successful - this is called
  self-handicapping
• Describe a time when you or someone you knew was
  unwilling to attempt a new activity. How would a
  self-worth theorist describe this behavior?

6
Theoretical approaches to motivation

• Expectancy value theory
• Motivation is a function of two values -
• Expectancy, or the belief that one will succeed
  at a task or activity
• and
• Value, or the belief that there will be some
  reward or indirect benefit from participating in
  the task or activity
• Think carefully about your content area what
  kinds of activities or ideas would your pursue
  that have a high value to students? How then,
  would you increase expectancy?

7
Theoretical approaches to motivation

• Social cognitive theory
• Self-efficacy is the key here believing oneself
  capable of successfully performing certain tasks
  or activities
• Persistence comes from increased self-efficacy
• Increased self-efficacy can come from encouraging
  words and past successes
• Turn to your neighbor and describe two activities
  - one in which you have a high level of
  self-efficacy and another in which you have a low
  level of self-efficacy. Now imagine what a
  teacher could do to engage you in tasks
  associated with the low self-efficacy activity.
  How is this just like school for many kids?

8
Theoretical approaches to motivation

• Attribution theory
• Explore learners beliefs about why they do well
  or poorly on academic tasks. These beliefs are
  known as attributions.
• Attributions can be associated with external
  factors (luck, whim, destiny) or internal
  factors (hard work, character)
• From this we get internal vs. external locus of
  control
• What advice would you give to a student of yours
  who scored well on a test but really seemed to
  believe it must be about luck more than about
  effort?

9
Theoretical approaches to motivation

• Goal theory
• People pursue goals in several areas that may
  include academics, social relationships, career,
  financial gain, physical and psychological
  well-being.
• In school settings, goal theorists distinguish
  between mastery goals (to gain new knowledge and
  skills) and performance goals (to look competent
  in the eyes of others)
• Tell a story about a student you knew or know who
  is all about performance goals. How can you help
  students adopt mastery goals?