motivation: thinking about motivation

7/28/2019 Motivation: Thinking about motivation

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Motivation

Thinking About Motivation


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Motivation

Motivation: DEFINITION: From the Latin

verb movere(to move). Motivat ion is the pro cess whereby goal-di rected

act iv i ty is inst igated and sus tained.

Why do students set and sustain goals?


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One Part of the Answer:

The Ideal Self

Goals are about where we want to be.

which goals we set

which goals we value and which goals we keep working at.

Goals are related to who we WANT TO BE.


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The other part: The Actual Self

Who students think they are affects what they

want.

Self-Efficacy (whether or not they are capable

of achieving a goal) Things that effect self-efficacy:

Mastery experiences

Vicarious experience (models)

Verbal persuasion

Albert Bandura


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Moving From the Actual to the

Ideal

For many students there is a discrepancy between

who they are and who they want to become

it can be motivating

if students think they can change.

if they can make connections between the

present and the future.

or devastating if students dont think they can change

if they are too focused on the present.


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Connecting Present to Future

Future time perspective (FTP) is the degreeto which and the way in which thechronological future is integrated into the

present life-space of an individual throughmotivational goal-setting processes.

Perceived instrumentalityis an individuals

understanding of the instrumental value of apresent behavior for future goals (VanCalster, Lens, & Nuttin, 1987).


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Why do students think they can

or cant change?

Beliefs about Ability!

Incremental = Your ability changes over time

Entity = Your ability is set at birth

Beliefs about Ability lead to goal

orientations.

Incremental = Mastery

Entity = Performance


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Mastery vs. Performance

Mastery goal orientation (Good)

Students are mostly concerned with mastering thetask at hand

Failure suggests areas for improvement can bemotivating.

Performance goal orientation (Bad)

Students are mostly concerned with doing better

than others Student fears that failure indicates something

about their ABILITY to do the task.


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Why would someone want to

master the task?

Mastery is INTRINSICALLY motivating

Intrinsic motivation: wanting to dosomething just because it isin and of

itselfenjoyable! Why are things enjoyable? Interest

Competence

Curiosity Relatedness

Autonomy


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What Hurts Intrinsic Motivation?

Controlling rewards

Threats and deadlines

Evaluation and surveillance

Rule of thumb: If someone else

made youits not intrinsicmotivationits EXTRINSIC

motivation.


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Whats wrong with Extrinsic

Motivation?

Its EXTRINSIC


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How do I support student

motivation through writing?

Application Essay Students need to make connections to their own lives.

Students need to make those connections themselves.

Group Essays Tuesday lecture (1.5 hrs): Students write essay questions

concerning the weeks set of readings.

ThursdayGroupwork (1.5 hrs):

Students assigned to 4-5 person groups, work together eachweek.

I take students questions from Tuesday and construct 5questions for Thursday group assignment.

Each group completes an essay (of their choice), in collaboration.

The essay AND collaborations are evaluated.

motivation: thinking about motivation

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