Motivation in Education

Dr Ben Hayes

11:00-11:50
20th January 2023
G03 Bedford Way

Psychology and Education

Motivation
Aim
To develop your understanding of motivation and how educational
psychologists use their knowledge of motivation theories to support
young people in educational settings.

Objectives
• Consider an everyday classroom
• Consider what motivation is
• Consider how we ‘measure’ motivation
• Present some theories of motivation to develop an understanding of
the types and differences in student motivation
• Consider ways in which motivational theory can be applied to enhance
student learning
Motivation
You are in a secondary school history lesson:
• David is intelligent but he is not motivated in history. He would rather
be playing his drum kit or hanging out with his friends. He practises his
drums a lot.

• Sarah is an intelligent student. She enjoys learning. She likes learning

new things. She is motivated by the challenge. She sets goals for
herself.

• Pete likes to do better than everybody else. This motivates him. He

doesn’t like to be second best. He compares his work with others to
see how well he’s doing.

• Donna just wants to make sure that she isn’t at the bottom of the
class. She just doesn’t want the teacher to think she’s the most stupid
student.
Motivation
• Paula is interested in her work but is not very confident. She has a
very successful older brother and she doesn’t think she’s any good
compared with him. She appears blasé when undertaking challenging
tasks. She gives up easily when she doesn’t understand.

• Rob works really, really hard. He doesn’t give up. Unfortunately he

will sometimes work so hard without asking for help that he spends a
lot of time getting it wrong.

• Carol works hard and does well. However, she can’t take credit for
her success. She’ll say she was lucky. She doesn’t think that she will
be rewarded for hard work.
Motivation
Motivation is ‘one of the three traditional spheres
of mental activity (along with affect and cognition)
that concerns both basic urges such as hunger,
thirst, and more complex goal-directed activities
such as pursuit of friendship, achievement, or
power’.
(Salovey and Sluyter, 1997,
p.23)
Motivation
Motivationisisusually
usuallydefined
definedas
as
an
aninternal
internalstate
statethat
thatarouses,
arouses,
directs
directsand
andmaintains
maintains
behaviour.
behaviour.

(Woolfolk,
(Woolfolk,1998)
1998)(p.372)
(p.372)
Motivation

It is helpful to regard motivation as a process

rather than a product. We cannot see it. We
can only infer it from behaviours that we can
observe. This might be in terms of choices
made, effort applied, how long something is
carried out for, and what we say about it.
Universal human needs drive us to act.

• Physiological needs.
• Safety.
• Belongingness.
• Esteem.
• Self actualisation.

• Abraham Maslow 1970.

Four approaches to thinking about
Motivation
SOURCE OF IMPORTANCE KEY
APPROACH MOTIVATION INFLUENCE THEORIST

Extrinsic Reinforces, rewards,

BEHAVIOURAL Skinner
reinforcement incentives & punishers

Extrinsic & Value of goals,

SOCIAL
intrinsic expectation of reaching Bandura
LEARNING
reinforcement goals
Beliefs, attributions for Weiner
Intrinsic
COGNITIVE success and failure,
reinforcement Covington
expectations
Need for self-esteem, Maslow
Intrinsic
HUMANISTIC self-fulfilment and self-
reinforcement Deci
determination
 Assessing Motivation
Indexes:
•Scale of Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Orientation in the Classroom
(Harter, 1981)
•Multidimensional Measure of Children's Perceptions of Control (MMCPC)

(Connell,1985)
•Pupils’ Feelings about School Work Inventory (PFSSW)
(Entwistle, Kozeki & Tait, 1989)
•Motivation to Reading Questionnaire (MRQ)
(Wigfield & Guthrie, 1997)
•Questionnaire for identifying behavioural problems associated with maladaptive
motivational style
(Leo & Galloway, 1994)

Methods of assessment: direct observation; ratings by self and others

Theories of Motivation

1. Attribution theory and motivation

2. Goal orientation theory

3. Self-determination theory
 1. Attribution Theory
The cause of an event may be attributed to:
• The Person
• The Stimulus or Situation
• The Occasion

Using information about:

• Consensus
• Distinctiveness
• Consistency
(Lipe, 1991)
Attribution Theory and Motivation

In summary:

This is a cognitive model of motivation. It is based on the metaphor of

the naïve scientist and assumes that the individual will use a number
of sources of information to make inferences, or attributions, about the
causal determinants of behaviour. This information can come from the
environment and from within the individual. The theory suggests that
the individual will attempt to detect ‘covariation between causes and
effects’ (Heider, 1958).
 Attribution Theory
(Weiner, 1985, 1993)
1. Locus:
Internal vs. External.

2. Stability:
Stable vs. Unstable.

3. Controllability:
Controllable vs. Uncontrollable.
 A 3-Dimensional Classification of
Attributions for Success and Failure
Developed from Weiner, 1995

DIMENSIONS

ATTRIBUTION Internal/External Un/stable Un/controllable

Ability (>9 years) internal stable uncontrollable

Effort internal unstable controllable

Task difficulty external stable uncontrollable

Luck external unstable uncontrollable

Poor teaching external unstable uncontrollable

Strategy used internal unstable controllable

How attributions influence affect

Emotional reactions to success and failure

Success + Internal attribution = Pride and Satisfaction
Success + External attribution = Gratitude
Failure + Internal attribution = Guilt and shame
Failure + External attribution = Anger

(Weiner, 1986)
 How Attributions Influence
Cognition and Behaviour
• Expectations for future success or failure
Attributions to internal stable factors lead to expectations of
continuity. Highest expectations will be held by those who
‘attribute success internally and failure externally.’
Trend for boys to adopt this pattern and girls the reverse.
• Expenditure of effort
Attributing failure to lack of ability can lead to ‘giving up’ and
adoption of a ‘learned helplessness’ approach.
• Help seeking behaviour
Pupils who attribute success to controllable factors are more
likely to engage in behaviour that facilitates future learning, such
as seeking appropriate help from the teacher.
• Classroom Performance
Pupils who expect to succeed consistently get better grades
than pupils of equal ability who expect to fail.
(Lohbeck, Grube & Moschner, 2017; Zhou & Urhahne, 2013)
Implications for Teaching and Learning

Knowledge of this model will help teachers to understand how

pupils’ perception of their success or failure can influence whether
or not they expect to succeed in future tasks, how they feel about
themselves as learners and how they subsequently go about
learning.

Teachers can avoid making biased attributions themselves. For

example, teachers may tend to attribute pupils’ poor behaviour to
fixed traits which makes it less likely that they will play a part in
trying to support the young person to improve that behaviour.
 Promoting productive attributions
in the classroom
• Communicate high expectations for student performance.
• Attribute students’ successes to a combination of high ability
and controllable factors such as effort and learning strategies.
• Attribute students’ successes specifically to effort only when
they have actually exerted that effort.
• Attribute students’ failures to factors that are controllable and
easily changed.
• When students fail despite obvious effort, attribute failures to
lack of effective strategies and then help them acquire such
strategies.
(Ormrod, 1998).
• Consider use of ability or effort praise according to child’s
characteristics (Amemiya & Wang, 2018; Xing et al.,2018).
2. Goal Orientation Theory

• Developed specifically by developmental and educational

psychologists to explain children’s learning and performance on
academic tasks.

• A number of different theories but the underlying construct is

goal orientation – the reasons for engaging in achievement
behaviour – an integrated pattern of beliefs leads to ‘different
ways of approaching, engaging in, and responding to
achievement situations’ (Ames, 1991).

• Goal orientation gives an indication of the way an individual

judges failure or success. This can impact on the attributions
they make and the emotions they feel as well as their
performance.
 Achievement motivation
In the area of achievement motivation, the work on goal-theory has
differentiated three separate types of goals:

•mastery goals (also called learning goals) which focus on gaining

competence or mastering a new set of knowledge or skills

•performance goals (also called ego-involvement goals) which focus on

achieving normative-based standards, doing better than others, or doing
well without a lot of effort

•social goals which focus on relationships among people

(Dweck, 1986).

In school learning students with mastery goals outperform students

with either performance or social goals. However, in life, it seems critical
that individuals have all three types of goals in order to be successful.
 Goal Orientation Theory
Dweck Ames

Learning Goal Mastery Goal

‘I like tasks that I’ll learn something ‘I work hard so that I learn’.
from. It doesn’t matter if they’re Making errors is ok. It helps me lear
difficult and I get them wrong’. n’.

Performance Goal
‘I like tasks that aren't too difficult. I Performance Goal
don’t want to get too many wrong.’ ‘I work hard so that I get a high
mark’.
‘But I do like problems that are ‘I hate making mistakes’.
hard enough to show how clever I
am’.
Dweck (2000)
Goal orientation is a function of an individual’s view of the nature of
intelligence:

• an entity theorist (intelligence is fixed) will adopt a performance

goal orientation. If they are confident in their intelligence they will
be mastery oriented – seek challenges and keep persisting. If they
are not confident they will be helpless and will avoid challenge and
will not persist. Attributions will be maladaptive and helpless.

• an incremental theorist (intelligence is changeable) will adopt a

learning goal orientation. If they are high or low in confidence
they will be mastery oriented. They will seek challenges and they
will persist. They are likely to learn. Attributions will be positive and
adaptive.
Implications for Teaching and
Learning
• Task and learning activities

• Evaluation practices and the use of rewards and

feedback.

• Balance of authority and responsibility

(Ames, 1991)
3. Self-Determination Theory

• Self-determination is ‘the process of utilising one’s will’

(Deci and Ryan, 1985). Will is the ability to satisfy one’s
needs.
• Intrinsic motivation is the ‘need to be competent and
self-determining in relation to the environment’ (Deci and
Ryan, 1985).
• Intrinsic motivation encourages people to seek out
challenges and to master them. These challenges must be
achievable for the individual to feel competent.
• Individuals want to feel ‘self-determined’ – responsible for
their actions and their choices.
 Self Regulatory Styles
Ryan & Deci (2000)
External
Child or adult behaves to obtain rewards or avoid sanctions
administered by others, e.g. a child who works only when the threat
of detention is made.
Introjection
Child or adult responds to self administered approval or disapproval,
a feeling that our conscience is forcing us to do something, e.g. a
child who only works in order not to feel that they are disappointing
the teacher.
Identification
Child or adult identifies with the outcome of the behaviour, e.g. a
child who works in order to learn more.
Intrinsic
Child or adult choose to engage in the behaviour for its own sake,
e.g. a child asks to do more maths as s/he enjoys it.
 The self-determination continuum

Intrinsic
Amotivation Extrinsic motivation
motivation

External (compliance)
Non-regulation Intrinsic
Introjected (self-control)
(non-intentional, (enjoyment and
Identified (personal importance) satisfaction)
lack of control)
Integrated (congruence)

Not self
Self determined
determined

Reference source: Ryan & Deci (2000)

Self-Determination Theory –
Intrinsic Motivation

‘The more an activity helps us feel competent the more we

are motivated to do that activity: the more an activity
helps us to feel we are autonomous and we have choice,
the more we are motivated from within to do that activity’.

(Deci & Ryan, 2000)

Strategies for enhancing intrinsic motivation
- Promoting self-efficacy in learning
• Provide competence – promoting feedback
• Positive feedback that says what was done well and why.
• Negative feedback that says how to improve and communicates confidence
that this can happen.
• Promote self-comparison rather than comparison with others
• Minimise information on performance levels of classmates, give feedback in
private and on improvements made.
• Assess each individual’s performance independently.
• Make sure that errors occur within a context of success
• So that they are not demoralising, balance challenging tasks with some that
are relatively easy.
• Help students see occasional failures as temporary set backs that can be
overcome and may give useful information about improvement.
(Deci & Ryan, 1991; Ormrod,
1998)
 Strategies for enhancing intrinsic motivation -
Promoting self-determination & self-discipline

• Provide opportunities for students to make choices

• e.g. selecting from a range of options.
• Evaluate student performance in a non-controlling manner
• Avoid judgmental statements about how they should perform.
• Offer information that can help them improve their knowledge and
skills.
• Give students criteria by which they can evaluate themselves.
• Minimise reliance on extrinsic reinforcers
• Use reinforcers such as praise to communicate information, rather
than control behaviour.
• Encourage self-reinforcement, so building up an intrinsic component.
• (Deci & Ryan, 1991; Ormrod, 1998)
Summary

We have considered…..
•what motivation is
•how we ‘measure’ motivation
•some theories of motivation to develop an
understanding of the types and differences in
student motivation.
•ways in which motivational theory can be applied
to enhance student learning.

Thought about ourselves and the everyday classroom.

References
• Ames, C. (1991). Classrooms: Goals. Structures and Student Motivation. APA
Centennial Feature.
• Deci, E., & Ryan, R. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human
behaviour. New York: Plenum.
• Heider, F. (1958). The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations. New York, NY: John Wiley
& Sons.
• Lepper, M. R., & Hoddell, M. (1989). Intrinsic motivation in the classroom. In C. Ames &
R. Ames (Eds.), Research on motivation in education (Vol. 3, pp 73-105). SanDiego:
Academic Press. (not available in library)
• Lipe, M. G. (1991). Counterfactual reasoning as a framework for attribution theories.
Psychological Bulletin, 109(3), 456-471.
• Pintrich, P. & Schunk, D. (1996). Motivation in Education: Theory, Research &
Applications, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
• Rattan, A, Good, S, & Dweck, C. (2012). ‘It’s ok – Not everyone can be good at math’ –
Instructors with an entity theory comfort (and demotivate) students. Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology. Vol.48(3), pp731-737.
• Salovey, P. & Sluyter, D.J. (eds.) (1997). Emotional development and emotional
intelligence: educational implications. Basic Books.
• Wentzel, K. R., & Wigfield, A. (2007). Motivational interventions that work. Special Issue,
Educational Psychologist, 42, No. 4.
Recommended Reading

 Ames, C. (1991). Classrooms: Goals. Structures and Student Motivation. APA

Centennial Feature
 Rattan, A, Good, S, & Dweck, C. (2012). ‘It’s ok – Not everyone can be good
at math’ – Instructors with an entity theory comfort (and demotivate) students.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Vol.48(3), pp731-737.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2011.12.012
 Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2020). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-
determination theory perspective: Definitions, theory, practices, and future
directions. Contemporary educational psychology, 61, 101860.

Book chapter:

Wigfield, A., Faust, L. T., Cambria, J., & Eccles, J. S. (2019). Motivation in
education. In R. M. Ryan (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of human motivation
(pp. 443–461). Oxford University Press