THEORIES ON

FACTORS AFFECTING
MOTIVATION
 ATTRIBUTION THEORY
• This theory explains that we attribute our
successes or failures or other events to several
factors.

Attribution differ from one another in

three ways:
1. Locus (place): Internal versus external
2. Stability: Stable versus unstable
3. Controllability: Controllable versus
uncontrollable
Locus (place): Internal versus
external
• If your students traces his good grades to his
ability and to his hard work, he attributes his
good grade to internal factors. If your student
however, claims that his good grade is due to
the effective teaching of his teacher or to the
adequate library facilities, he attributes his
good grades to factors external to himself
Stability: Stable versus
unstable
• If you attribute your poor performance to what
you have inherited from your parents, then you
are attributing the cause of your performance to
something stable, something that cannot be
change because it is in your genes. If you
attribute it to excessive watching of tv, then you
are claiming that poor eye sight is caused by an
unstable factor, something that can change.
Controllability: Controllable
versus uncontrollable
• If your student claims his poor academic
performance is due to his teacher’s ineffective
teaching strategy, he attributes his poor
performance to a factor beyond his control. If,
however, your student admits that his poor class
performance is due to his poor study habits and
low motivation, he attributes the event to factors
which are very much within his control.
How does attribution affect
motivation?
▫ Motivation tends to increase when
students attributes failure to lack of
effort because effort can be
controlled. It tends to decrease
when students attribute failure to
uncontrollable causes.
Table 1: Relationships Among the Dimensions
of Attributions
ATTRIBUTION LOCUS (location STABILITY (of CONTROL (of
of cause) cause) learning
situation)

Ability Inside the learner Stable (cannot Learner out of

change) control

Effort Inside the learner Unstable (can Learner in control

change)

Luck Outside the learner Unstable ( can Learner out of

change) control

Task difficulty Outside the learner Stable (cannot Learner out of

change) control
 SELF-EFFICACY THEORY
• Self efficacy is the belief that one has the
necessary capabilities to perform a task,
fulfil role expectations, or meet a
challenging situation successfully.

• When your student believe that they have

the ability to perform learning activities
successfully, they are more likely to be
intrinsically motivated to do such learning
activities.
SELF-EFFICACY-ENHANCING
STRATEGIES:
• Make sure students master basic skills
• Help them make noticeable progress on
difficult tasks
• Communicate confidence in students’
abilities through words and actions
• Expose them to successful peers
Other recommendations from
motivations theorist are:
•Provide competence-promoting feedback
•Promote mastery on challenging tasks
• Promote self-comparison rather than
comparison with others
•Be sure errors occur within an overall
context of success
 Table 2: The Influence of Self-efficacy on
Motivation
High Self-Efficacy Learners Low Self-Efficacy learners

Task orientation Accept challenging tasks Avoid challenging tasks

Effort Expend high effort when faced with Expand low effort when faced
challenging task with challenging tasks
Persistence Persist when goals aren’t initially Give up when goals aren’t initially
reached reached
Beliefs Believe they will succeed Focus on feelings of incompetence
Control stress and anxiety when Experience anxiety and
goals aren’t met depression when goals aren’t met
Believe they’re in control of their Believe they’re not in control of
environment their environment
Strategy use Discard unproductive strategies Persist with unproductive
strategies
Performance Perform higher than low-efficacy Perform lower than high-efficacy
students of equal ability students of equal ability
SELF-DETERMINATION AND SELF-
REGULATION THEORIES
• SELF DETERMINATION- when they believe
that they have some choice and control
regarding the things they do and the directions
their lives take. A student’s dense of self-
determination is demonstrated in his capacity
for self-regulation
• SELF-REGULATION- refers to a person’s
ability to master himself. He is the “I am the
captain of my soul” type of person. He is not a
victim of circumstances. He is capable of
directing himself
What are indicators of self-
regulation?
They are the abilities to:
• set standards for oneself
• monitor and evaluate one’s own behavior
against such standards, and
• impose consequences on oneself for one’s
successes or failures. (ormrod,2004)
How does self-regulation relate to
motivation?
▫ A student who is capable of self-regulation is most
likely to be more intrinsically motivated because
he set his goals and standards, he monitors his
progress, and evaluated his own performance.

▫ A student who is capable of self-regulation, is not

only capable of regulating his behavior but he is
also capable of regulating his own learning.
Omrod (2004) cites the following
process involved in self-regulated
learning:
• Goal setting
• Planning
• Attention control
• Application of learning strategies
• Self-monitoring
• Self-evaluation
Suggestions from motivation theorist to enhance
students’ sense of self-determination about school
activities and assignments.
• Present rules and instructions in an
informational manner rather than controlling
manner.

• Provide opportunities for students to make

choices

• Evaluate student performance in a non-

controlling fashion
 CHOICE THEORY
The choice theory is a biological theory that
suggests that we are born with specific needs
that we are genetically instructed to satisfy. All
of our behavior represent our best attempt at
any moment to satisfy our basic needs or genetic
instructions.
4 basic psychological needs that
must be satisfied to be emotionally
healthy:

• Belonging or connecting
• Power or competence
• Freedom
• fun
 MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

HIGHER-ORDER
NEEDS

LOWER-ORDER
NEEDS
 Based on Maslow’s theory, a satisfied
need is not a strong motivator but an
unsatisfied need is. Research proves that
“unless the two lower-order needs
(physiological and security) are basically
satisfied, employees (in our teaching-
learning context) or our students will not be
greatly concerned with higher-order needs.
(Newstrom, 1997)
 GOAL THEORY
• Learning goals versus performance goals

▫ Learning goal is a “desire to acquire

additional knowledge or master new skills”

▫ Performance goal is a “desire to look good

and receive favorable judgments from others
or else look bad and receive unfavorable
judgments”
Table 3: Comparison of Mastery-Focused and Performance-Focused
Classrooms
Success defined as...
Value placed on...
Reasons for satisfaction...
Teacher oriented towards...
View of errors...
Reasons for effort...
Ability viewed as...
Reasons for assessment...
Mastery-Focused Performance-Focused
Mastery, improvement High grades, doing better
than others
Effort, improvement High grades, demonstration
of high ability
Meeting challenges, hard Doing better than others,
work success with minimum effort
Student learning Student performance
A normal part of learning A basis for concern and
anxiety
Increased understanding High grades, doing better
than others
Incremental. alterable An entity, fixed
Measure progress toward Determine grades, compare
preset criteria, provide students to one another
feedback
• Self – determined goals

• Goal setting
Goal setting is effective when the following major
elements are present:
1.Goal acceptance
2.Specificity
3.Challenge
4.Performance monitoring
5.Performance feedback
 SMART
S-specific
M- measurable
A- attainable
R- result-oriented
T- time-bound