Week 2: Motivation – The Big Theories

1. Week 2: Motivation – The Big Theories • Question of the day: What do you think motivates our new dean (or anyone else for that matter) to run marathons? • Intrinsic motivation • Expectancy value theory • Identity and In-group membership • Personal Agency • Delayed gratification • Goal and reward 9/12/13

2. Review • Develop a frame for the course that is useful for you • We are all intuitive scientists trying make sense out of the social world around us (tasks & tools) • Sometimes we do a pretty bad job of things • Should improve by borrowing from research scientists • Actual tools (e.g., field experiments) • Habits of mind • Inductive approach to a theory of motivation

3. Where we are & where we are going • Motivation • Overarching theories/Key components • Paradoxes & special issues • Person perception • Interpersonal relationships

4. Game-plan & goals for today • Recipe assignments • Motivational mapping • Motivational theories • Reading tips (Harackiewicz et al.) • Take away (at least) 2 new ideas about how to motivate: • Yourself • A population of learners you care about

5. Recipes • Goals: • Review concept of interest in the unit • Apply it to an educational setting of interest for you • Write-up = accessible to others • Explain the concept • Explain the activity • Explain why it should work • Limitations? • Final publication • Revise one • Post on http://isites.harvard.edu/k12519 • Lesson plan options • Substitute for 2 recipes • Add in video tape = substitute for 3 recipes • Due 11:59 pm on 9/26

6. Motivational mapping • Pairs • Compare our class-wide theory of motivation (or components anyway)to the theories just covered • List from last week is on the board (feel free to use your own notes if they are better) • 3 questions after each theory • Litmus test: Can you come up with an example (e.g., a motivated activity) that doesn’t fit the theory? • What does our list cover that the theory misses? • What does our list miss that the theory covers?

7. Our ingredients of motivation • —Having a goal(s)(ceasing behaviors) • —Unconditional acceptance (safety net) contributing to a belief in self and self-perceived capability (doable/healthy challenge) • —Accountability • —Relevance, perceived purpose/reason or meaning • —Value (social, survival, personal, monetary etc.) • —Personal investment (ownership, agency/control/ • autonomy) • —Desirable payoff/attainment/gain (intrinsic or extrinsic)

8. Highly motivating goals of the day • Understand major motivation theories: • Attribution theory  Expectancy-value theory • Goal theory • Self-determination theory (Self-efficacy theory) • Ford’s theory

9. Attribution Theory • Dimensions of attributions • Internal – external • Stable – unstable • Global – local • Controllable – uncontrollable • Specific attributions • luck • task difficulty • ability • effort • Apply to student work: are students making these attributions in reference to their own work and in what ways? • Relationship between ability and effort: varies by the type of attributions people make.

10. Expectancy-value theory • Eccles • Motivation as… • Expectancies for success on a task • Valuing of that task

11. Eccles: Expectancies& Value Can I do this task? • What attributions have I made about similar previous tasks in the past? Internal/external; stable/unstable; global/local • Effort – a key outcome of these attributions • mastery vs. helpless patterns • Precis of Dweck’s theory: Incremental view of intelligence (can be developed and built with practice) vs. Entity view of intelligence (you have what you have) See:

12. Eccles: Expectancies & Value • Do I want to do this task (& why)? • Intrinsic value: I just like doing it • Attainment value: summiting Everest feels like an accomplishment • Utility value: means to helping me get to some other end. • Cost: is the pain that I experience sufficiently detracting that these other factors are canceled out?

13. Motivational mapping • 3 questions after each theory • Litmus test: Can you come up with an example (e.g., a motivated activity) that doesn’t fit the theory? • What does our list cover that the theory misses? • What does our list miss that the theory covers?

14. Types of goals i.e., “orientations” • Mastery goals – trying to develop ability, improve over time, effort • Performance goals – trying to demonstrate ability, show others you are smart, avoid looking stupid

15. C. Ames • Motivational climate • Personal goals • Classroom goal structures Is it possible to be high on both mastery and performance goals**?

16. The universe of possibilities

17. While we’re talking explicitly about goals… other types of goals of note… • Approach/avoidance • Implicit/explicit • Cooperative(I do better, you do better)/competitive(I do better, you do worse)/individualistic(I do better, but itis not related to how you do)** • Social goals

18. Motivational mapping • 3 questions after each theory • Litmus test: Can you come up with an example (e.g., a motivated activity) that doesn’t fit the theory? • What does our list cover that the theory misses? • What does our list miss that the theory covers?

19. Self-determination theory • Ryan & Deci: Self-determination theory • Autonomy • Belonging/Relatedness • Competence • Key themes: • intrinsicextrinsic • Choice internalization

20. Intrinsic vs. internalized motivation

21. Undermining Intrinsic Motivation $

22. Self-efficacy: domain specific • Beliefs about ability to produce effects • Confidence/expectancies for success/personal agency beliefs/exercise of control • Basis: personal ability & environmental affordances • Albert Bandura: where does efficacy come from? • Past performances (esp. on related tasks) • Social modeling (if people like me can succeed, I can too) • Persuasion (possible, but slightly weaker mechanism) • Physiological cues (positive butterflies vs. pit in the stomach feeling)

23. Motivational mapping • 3 questions after each theory • Litmus test: Can you come up with an example (e.g., a motivated activity) that doesn’t fit the theory? • What does our list cover that the theory misses? • What does our list miss that the theory covers?

24. Ford’s theory • Martin Ford (1992) • Motivation = goals x emotions x personal agency beliefs • Ach. = (mot. x skill) x responsive env. biology

25. Ford: goalsx emotion x PAB • Goal hierarchy (dynamic, shifts over time)** • Goal alignment (or conflict)

26. Ford: goals x emotionx PAB Emotions: • provide extra information beyond cognitions (and to aid cognition) • provide an energizing function • Interest • Anger • Pleasure

27. Ford: goals x emotion x PAB • Personal capability beliefs: Can I do this task? • Context beliefs: Will the environment allow me to do this task?

28. Motivational mapping • 3 questions after each theory • Litmus test: Can you come up with an example (e.g., a motivated activity) that doesn’t fit the theory? • What does our list cover that the theory misses? • What does our list miss that the theory covers?

29. Develop a motivational tweak… on yourselves! • Groups of 3 – each person gets 10 minutes to get as far as they can • Each person proffers up a domain in which they would like to be more motivated & describes the situation • All group members think of a motivational recommendation • Each person describes intervention (the person who presents the original dilemma goes last). In describing the intervention, you must note: • Which theory of motivation your intervention leverages • Which component of motivation you leverage • Why you think it will work • Where is the weakest link i.e., if it doesn’t work it is probably because of ______ • At the end 5 minutes to think about how certain interventions could be generalized/adapted to educational settings of interest Reporting out: 1 illustration of the motivational conundrum & the resolution AND the generalization to and educational context of interest

30. Themes from the day • Familiarity with major theories of motivation • 2 new ideas about how to motivate selves • 2 new ideas about how to motivate learners

31. For next time – readings • Readings: 2 intervention studies – why do they work? Why don’t they work for all students? • Delay of gratification – is this motivation? In what way? How would we think about it in terms of big theories? • 3 recepies • Iyengar video (reading = only for overachievers!)

32. Autonomy Go back *

33. Extrinsic motivation Go back *

34. Goal Hierarchies Go back *

35. Mastery or Performance? Go Back

36. Go Back