Motivation Principles

Theories of Motivation

In its simplest form, motivation, as defined by Webster, is “to provide with a motive”, that is “a need or desire that causes a person to act.”

Intrinsic Motivation: causes us to participate in an activity for our own enjoyment, rather than for any tangible reward that it will bring us

Extrinsic Motivation: causes us to do something for a tangible reward

Motivational Approach	Description	Possible Results of Using the Approach
Behavioral Motivation	motivation by use of a reward or incentive extrinsic in nature	students can become reliant on the rewards and not move on to self-regulation can undermine other intrinsic motivators students may also begin to resent being manipulated or bribed
Cognitive Motivation	students respond not to external events or physical conditions, but rather to their interpretations of these events followers of this theory of motivation believe that people are naturally curious and eager to learn new information. the idea of self-motivation follows the concept of Cognitive Motivation, which is intrinsic in nature.	students can be actively involved in the learning process may not be the easiest way to provide motivation, but can be one of the most effective
Humanistic Motivation	hinges on the idea that people are continually motivated by an inborn need to fulfill their potential intrinsic in nature emphasizes an individual’s need for self-determination or self-actualization	students may come to realize that their success can be attributed to their own personal effort and abilities can help in developing self-esteem, and allow students to go on to higher levels of learning
Attribution Theory	focuses on how people explain the causes of their own successes and failures revolves around the locus of control, controllability, and stability	can help students move from external to internal locus of control by working on goal setting
Achievement Motivation	the desire to experience success and to participate in activities in which success is dependent on personal effort and abilities it is necessary to reduce an individual’s fear of failure provide role models and discuss what it takes to reach the level that they have achieved	shows students that mistakes are not failures help students realize that by hard work we succeed
Social Learning Theory	a combination of Cognitive and Behavioral Motivation approaches both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as a product of two main forces, expectancy and value	if student expectancy and value is high, the individual will be motivated

**Failure of Extrinsic Motivation

One alternative to forcing children to memorize facts is to bribe them to do it with prizes, candy, grades, and so on. Educational psychologists call this "extrinsic motivation." Extrinsic motivation has been used in some schools for years, although there is evidence to show that far from encouraging learning, it actually undermines it. Extrinsic motivation addresses the first stage of the natural learning waterfall: it gives students goals. Students want to get the prize, so they are willing to play by the rules of the game the teacher sets up. But unfortunately, it fails on the second stage. Students learn to see the knowledge the teacher wishes to convey as a way to win the prize rather than something interesting to know on its own. They do not see it as something useful in its own right. So they do not generate questions about it. And once the prize has been achieved, students no longer have any motivation to retain what they have learned.
Students who are naturally curious when faced with an extrinsic reward do generate questions, but those questions have little to do with the content the teacher wishes to convey. Instead the questions are of the nature of: "How can I bend the rules to win the game?" or "What's the least amount of effort I can put in and still satisfy the teacher?"
A better way to motivate students to learn dull material is to give them the opportunity to achieve some goal that satisfies two conditions: One, that students have had a real interest in the goal, and two, that the uninteresting information is "intrinsically" related to the goal; in order to achieve the goal, one sometimes must use the uninteresting information. Having the goal and the facts occupy the same turf helps a great deal. Not only does it make the facts seem less trivial, it allows students to properly index those facts. They learn them in a context in which they can later use.

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