Transcript What motives do we have? - University of South Australia

MOTIVATION 1 and 2
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See webpage for listing of readings
associated with this topic).
This PPT is in two parts: Initial part
focusses on theories and data from
psychology. Second part is classroom
considerations (see themes A and B,
next slide)
TWO RELATED THEMES
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A. What can teachers do to assist
student motivation to learn?
B. What are the major theories of
motivation than apply to student
learning?
Lectures will focus moreso upon B. But in
pracs, you can cover A, especially in the
second prac session. We expect the two pracs
to overlap, which is a good aspect.
WHY ARE COMPUTER
GAMES SO MOTIVATING?
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CHALLENGE- adjustment of difficulty level to prior
performance.
CURIOSITY- "what happens when I do this?"
SENSE OF CONTROL- "what I do controls something".
FANTASY- wonderful imagery, things to look at,
noises, multi-media, etc
EXPLICIT RECOGNITION OF SUCCESS- immediate
feedback principles.
CHANCE TO COMPETE OR COOPERATE
GOAL SETTING-personal best expressed via numbers
or levels.
http://sheep-reaction.freeonlinegames.com/
What motives do we have?
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Those that stem from our basic animal
tendencies.
Those that stem from social and cultural
needs.
Baumeister, R. F. (2005). The cultural animal: Human nature, meaning
and social life. New York: Oxford University Press.
Our animal needs include:
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Pleasure/ pain
Food
Self-preservation (avoid injury)
Understanding and control of
environment
Money
Power, possessions, territory
Our social and cultural needs include:
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Belongingness (identity, control of sex
and aggression).
Nurturance, generativity, and helping.
Self-esteem maintenance.
Morality.
Success (as defined by the individual).
Meaningful life.
The self-esteem industry
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http://www.self-esteem-nase.org/
The National Association for Self-esteem represents
the traditional humanistic approach. Also see
http://blog.nathanielbranden.com/ for a blog wherein
you can get free ‘psychological’ advice on enhancing
your self-esteem.
Contrast to view from social psychology. Represented
by Roy Baumeister, recent papers in journals such as
Scientific American, and Psychological Science in the
Public Interest.
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(note: quite good coverage in Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selfesteem#_note-5
Link to Baumeister paper
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http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=000CB565-F33011BE-AD0683414B7F0000
(He and his team have published in Scienfic American twice:
Unfortunately it was ‘free’, but no longer, and the UNISA Library gets
you there, but minus the graphs and pictures)
Baumeister, R. F., Campbell, J. D., Krueger,J. I., & Vohs, K. D. (2003).
Does high self esteem cause better performance, interpersonal
success, happiness, or healthier lifestyles? Psychological Science in the
Public Interest, 4, 1–44.
A Classic Self-esteem Scale
(Rosenberg; uses Likert 5-pts)
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At times I think I am no good at all.
I take a positive view of myself.
All in all, I am inclined to feel I am a failure.
I wish I could have more respect for myself.
I am able to do things as well as most other people.
I feel that I am a person of worth, at least on an
equal plane with others.
On the whole, I am satisfied with myself.
I feel I do not have much to be proud of.
I feel that I have a number of good qualities.
I certainly feel useless at times.
Findings from research: 1
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(a) The majority of people do in fact have
reasonably high levels of self-esteem, even those
we may arbitrarily label people “low self-esteem”
in experiments.
(b) Self-esteem correlates with many measures of
achievement, motivation, exam success,
adjustment, happiness, mental health and
absence of social pathology, low anxiety, and
general social success.
HOWEVER,,,,,,,
Findings from research: 2
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(c) Correlations between esteem and other factors
are statistically low. Hence, many people are highly
successful without showing high on self-esteem
measures.
(d) There is no solid evidence showing self-esteem as
an antecedent factor in achieving (ie predicting)
favourable outcomes. In statistical terms, changes in
self-esteem tend to follow rather than precede
changes within other dimensions.
FURTHER,…..
Findings from research: 3
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(e) Large body of research has documented a
‘dark side’ to high levels of self-esteem (E.g.
crime, i n c o n s i d e r a t e and anti-social
behaviour, bullying, narcissism, and sexual
experimentation, and in-group bias effects).
(E.g. Baumeister’s work on violent pride.
People are aggressive when feedback fails to
match up to a person’s self-rated worth. In this
regard, high self-esteem becomes a personality
liability to be protected at all costs).
Diverging views on selfesteem: A and B.
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A: It represents an essential component
of well-being that has to be nurtured,
protected, built-up, and respected. It
mediates our entire functioning.
B: it is simply a meter, just like a petrol
gauge, and no more. The only impact it
has directly is upon your happiness.
Bandura’s approach:
Three levels of confidence
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A. Global self-esteem
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B. Perceived Competencies
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General, holistic feelings
Applies within significant life domains (Are
you good at music? Or cricket? School?)
C. Self-efficacy
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Situation-specific judgements made in
response to tasks
WHAT IS SELF-EFFICACY?
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The belief that the NEXT TASK within your life
is one you can succeed or achieve upon.
It’s a judgement, takes place in REAL TIME.
(maybe a second or longer?)
It is not what you are, not what you have,
not what you want to be, not what your think
of yourself.
It is a judgement where you match your
capabilities, as you can recall them, to this
task that life has thrown in front of you.
CONSEQUENCES OF SELFEFFICACY JUDGEMENTS
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Willingness to select difficult tasks
Level of effort expenditure
Response to setbacks
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(ie adjustments in effort)
Emotional thought reactions
(whether adaptive or maladaptive
cognition is activated)
WHERE DOES SELFEFFICACY COME FROM?
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Past experience and knowledge: ie
the remembered history of success in
relevant situations.
Vicarious experience: ie the impact
of salient models of action, strategy,
and perceived consequences.
Verbal information or persuasion
Physical state
Bandura’s theory of goals
LESS EFFECTIVE
MORE EFFECTIVE
Targets vague
Long term focus
Targets specific
Series of linked short
term goals
Moderate difficulty
Set by self
Personal pride
To learn new skills
(task orientation)
Too easy, or hard
Set by external
External rewards
To impress others
(ego orientation)
So, what theories do we have?
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That all our motives relate to high self-esteem
(dubious validity).
That we set goals, albeit unconsciously
(Bandura).
That the type of goal we set is critical especially
in contexts where we might fail (e.g. Dweck’
mindset theory, entity vs incremental views).
That we need to protect our feeling of self-worth
(Covington).
That we need to feel in control (Selfdetermination, Deci).
Findings from research
with goal theories
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(A) Although both can be very strong motivational sources,
task-involvement is a much "safer" source of motivation, as
ego-orientation makes us emotionally vulnerable.
(B) Younger children naturally tend toward taskinvolvement, with a "conflict" coming in perhaps by 9 to 10
years. (But many young children still cannot cope with failure).
(C) Although the two dispositions are not primarily
correlated with ability, it is apparent that many high
achievers have BOTH dispositions together.
(D) Some classrooms may have unacceptably high levels of
ego-threat operating, which drives students into egoorientation.
Ego orientation is
promoted when
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(A) there is a period of “trying” but without
success.
(B) task demands exceed current skill
capacities.
(C) performance is public.
(D) others are seen to be doing better.
(E) competition is emphasised.
(F) almost perversely, when others (eg
teachers) express sympathy for your failures.
Task involvement (learning
goals) occurs when
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(A) person already has requisite knowledge and
strategies for the task, and so can shift attention
away from self-focus.
(B) teacher is using directive cues to scaffold new
learning, and actively endorses the “can do”
approach.
(C) learner has adequate time, and opportunity to
practice under guided conditions. (Ie feedback is
fairly immediate, corrective, and friendly).
(D) evaluation and competition are not salient at
the time of learning.
DWECK'S RESEARCH: HOW HELPLESS
CHILDREN RESPOND TO FAILURE
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HELPLESS CHILDREN:
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Activate BOTH helpful and poor strategies
at same time.
Blame failure on ability (a fixed trait:
known as entity perceptions).
Generate negative emotions
Often daydream (sing, doodle, etc)
DWECK'S RESEARCH: HOW HELPLESS
CHILDREN RESPOND TO FAILURE
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In contrast: The mastery children
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Increase use of adaptive strategies
Do not acknowledge "failing”: A lack of
success is result of task structures, or lack
of effort and opportunity. (Incremental).
Generate positive emotions
Refocus upon task
MARTIN COVINGTON’S RESEARCH:
MOTIVATED EFFORT REDUCTION
-When one feels under ego threat
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1. Try to avoid the threat by opting out.
2. If this is not possible, then increase effort to
maximum but hide this from others.
3. If this still does not bring success then redefine
the meaning of success. (Eg participation itself is the
goal).
4. If this is not possible, then reduce level of effort.
Some strategies could be misbehaviour, responding
to distractions, getting drunk before the exam, or
even “virtuous” actions.
5. Failure occurs, but the person has available
attributions which enable ego to be maintained. That
is, one’s ability status remains uncertain.
MER THEORY
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Question: does this theory actually
suggest that as adults we learn to
never, never, try our absolute hardest
at anything?
Self-determination theory
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This invokes the human need to take pride in
intrinsic motivation, as defined by the individual’s
perception of elective choice: The “I did it my way”
factor. (vs perception of being ‘forced’ by others).
Many of our interactions involve information and
control. Individuals need both. But as the children
gain skills, then less external control is needed. And
too much external control invites low motivation.
However, it is untrue that reducing external control
automatically will produces self-control. However,
healthy environments provide autonomy support.
An example of our UNISA research: From Karen
Annear’s honours project (2007): Relation of
family variables to child’s attitude to school.
MOTIVATING THE CLASSROOM
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BASIC CONDITIONS FOUND IN
SUCCESSFUL CLASSROOMS (Research)
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(A) GENERAL CLIMATE FACTOR
(B) GOAL DIRECTION
(C) BASIC MANAGEMENT
(D) INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDANCE
General climate factors
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The teachers maintains calmness, but models
positive emotions intermittently (every few
minutes?).
Teacher models attitudes such as a general
love of learning and thinking.
Down-playing of any public criticism or
ridicule. Competition is generally discouraged.
Students rights are respected (ie on
questionnaires they say the teacher is "fair").
Goals are explicit
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These teachers tend to set definite
objectives which are communicated via
"can do" statements.
High expectations for all are
communicated, along with the
incremental theory of learning (as
distinct from the entity view).
Fair management
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These teachers have very clear
procedures and rules of conduct, ie a
system of control is in place which is
run via body language cues (often quite
unconsciously).
Misbehaviour is dealt with via clear and
fair procedures.
Available instructional support
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Teacher uses language to great effect. Clear
brief expositions embedded within wellstructured lessons. But there are plenty of
opportunities for students to respond and get
feedback (i.e. guided practice).
Teacher monitors to ensure high levels of
task engagement, and takes steps to ensure
all students have tasks adjusted to their level.
Youtube
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP5XKLEELxk&feature=user This
is a bit ‘American’, but sensible information given on goal setting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YIwlajUpfY This is a great clip,
showing Dr Rosenthal describing the original Pygmalion study.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-wD3M59Uiw&NR=1 Snippets
from an interview with Dr Carol Dweck. Very good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS-oZLHRK1Y&feature=related
Conversations about parenting, but very good use of research
findings here. About Dweck’s mindset theory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cB5yUPFLKI Same as previous,
also see others in this series. Talking heads, but very sensible.