Motivation and Affect
Motivation is at least as important as intellect in predicting success.
Motivation
• Motivation is something that energizes, directs, & sustains behavior.
• It is shown in students’ personal investment & cognitive investment
in a learning activity.
• It can be influenced by environment – situated motivation.
Motivation has many effects on learning & behavior
• Directs behavior toward specific goals
• Leads to increased effort
• Increases persistence in activities
• Enhances cognitive processing
• Determines what consequences are rewarding
• Leads to improved performance
Types of motivation
• Extrinsic- motivated by external factors to perform• good grades, acclaim, money
• Intrinsic- motivated by factors within related to the activity• pleasure, develops a desired skill, absorption
• This declines during grade school due to peer comparison,
teacher emphasis on grades.
Motivation theories
• Trait perspective
• Behaviorist perspective
• Social cognitive perspective
• Cognitive perspective
Trait perspective
• Motivation is an enduring personality trait- need for achievement.
• People with high achievement motivation rarely are satisfied with
their accomplishments- they set higher standards for themselves.
• Somewhat specific to the task & situation- other needs might
overshadow achievement:
• needs for affiliation, acceptance, gender role
Behaviorist perspective
• People behave according to past reinforcements or punishments.
• Look at the purposes for the behavior- make a functional analysis in
order to understand how to change a behavior.
• Feedback is effective when it gives students information they can’t
get themselves, identifies strengths they have, weaknesses they can
improve, & maintains self-esteem
Social cognitive perspective
• Emphasizes the goals students set for themselves
• The choices they have available
• The behaviors they display
• The expectations they hold about consequences of behaviors
• Their self-efficacy in performing the goal behavior
Cognitive perspective
• Mental processes that affect motivation
• Our disequilibrium when faced with puzzling events- need to make
sense
• Sense of competence/ self-efficacy
• Sense of self-determination- personal control over events
Basic needs- Maslow’s hierarchy
Self-worth
• People have a need to protect their sense of competence- self-worth.
• They may engage in self-handicapping to justify poor performance
or if they feel they won’t succeed.
• Setting unattainable goals
• Procrastinating
• Reducing effort
• Using alcohol/ drugs
Relatedness
• Individual differences in the need for relatedness- to feel connected
to another or secure their love/respect.
• Need for affiliation
• Need for approval- peer or adult
These needs can interfere with achievement, especially in middle school due
to peer pressure, imaginary audience.
Affect and its effects
• Emotion effects how motivated we feel in learning new tasks.
• Hot cognition- when learning is emotionally charged. These things
are better attended to, learned.
• Problem solving is easier when the task is enjoyable.
Anxiety
Symptoms include:
• sweaty palms, heart pounds, stomach is in a knot
• It interferes with recall, speech, problem solving
• State anxiety- relates to circumstances
• Trait anxiety- a pattern of response
Effects of anxiety on task performance
How anxiety affects class performance
• Facilitating anxiety
• A small amount of anxiety can improve performance by
increasing motivated behaviors.
• Debilitating anxiety
• Too much anxiety interferes with performance- it’s distracting,
shifting attention from performance to self-consciousness.
Sources of anxiety
• Debilitating anxiety is more likely if a task is considered a threat,
rather than a challenge.
• Threat comes in the form of fear of failure or embarrassment,
as well as fear of not managing a failure- crying, etc.
• Helping children shift their interpretations of activities can enable
them to be more successful.
Sources of anxiety
• Physical appearance
• A new situation- not knowing the rules
• Judgment or evaluation by others
• Excessive classroom demands, tests
• The future
• Any situation in which self-esteem is threatened
Transition from elementary to secondary school
• School is larger, students feel anonymous.
• Less individualized instruction
• Competition is more common
• More independent responsibilities
• Standards for assessment are higher
• Friendships are disrupted
• Bodily changes in response to puberty
Keep students’ anxiety at a manageable level
• Set realistic standards for performance
• Match instruction to students’ levels & capabilities
• Offer support for difficult tasks
• Teach study skills, strategies
• Assess performance individually
• Give specific, constructive feedback
Varieties of feedback available to teachers