Motivational Science (Pintrich, 2003)

A picture of a farmer in China methodically tending to his/her crop.  The word science tends to bring up images of test-tubes and laboratories, yet much science has gone into creating this scene, I'm sure.

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Reference: Pintrich, P.R. (2003). A motivational science perspective on the role of student motivation in learning and teaching contexts.  Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, 667-686. 

Paul Pintrich, the author of this article passed away in 2003, the same year the article was published. He was with the University of Michigan.

Pintrich highlighted three themes and seven questions for motivational research.

The three themes are as follows:

1. Motivational research should be approached from a scientific perspective. This does not mean motivation has to be studied only as random clinical trails but that the research needs to be conducted well and empirically. Studies can include experimental, correlational, field, ethnographic, and case studies (p. 668).
2. Multidisciplinary approaches are important to the process.  Many disciplines contribute to motivational science but psychology and education are particularly relevant to the motivation of learning and teaching.
3. Research should be use-inspired.  The goal should be to do research that enhances our scientific understanding as well as our applied practice. Pintrich suggests motivational science should be like that of Pasteur, or even Bohr, as opposed to Edison (p. 668-669). 

The seven questions for motivational science are as follows:

1. What do students want?
2. What motivates students in classrooms? (This section is self-declared longer than the others. Table 2 provides motivational generalizations and design principles. As Pintrich notes, like the design principles of architecture, these design principles can be adapted to create very different  learning environments. The motivational generalizations can be loosely categorized into five areas: competence, attribution and control beliefs, interest, value, and goals.  )
3. How do students get what they want?
4. Do students know what they want or what motivates them?
5. How does motivation lead to cognition and cognition to motivation?
6. How does motivation change and develop?
7. What is the role of context and culture?

 One recurring suggestion is to consider motivation and cognition simultaneously.

I think this article encourages researchers to step beyond developing activities and workshops that seem to motivate the students but to really consider using the scientific and empirical approach to understanding student motivation.

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Choice and Intrinsic Motivation (Patall et al,. 2008)

I saw this sign half way up a mountain path in China. I thought this picture was relevant because it symbolizes how providing choice is not always as straight forward as it seems.

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Reference: Patall, E. A., Cooper, H., & Robinson, J. (2008). The effects of choice on intrinsic motivation and related outcomes: A meta-analysis of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 270-300.

Take a moment to meet the author by following the link on her name.

This is another article from a learning theories course.  I find reading about motivation, well, very motivating. It gives me new ways to look at my own motivations and how they are enhanced or repressed, probably unwittingly in courses that I take.

This meta-analysis was conducted on 41 studies.

Below are brief descriptions of two theories that shed light on the effect of choices on intrinsic motivation:

1.      Self determination theory proposes that providing the context for students to satisfy their needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness will enhance their intrinsic motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000).  Providing choice may be the most obvious way to support a person's experience of autonomy (p. 271).

2.      The self-regulatory perspective (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998) proposes that "all acts of choice or self-control are effortful and draw on a limited resource that can be depleted, analogous to a source of energy or strength (p.272). If the choices are difficult (important/meaningful) or many they may result in a type of fatigue called ego-depletion, where the self-regulating resources are over-used, and a decrease "in the capacity to initiate activity, make choices, or further self-regulate" (p.272).

 

Some different ways that choice can be presented that may affect the strength and direction of the effect include the type of choice, the number of options in a choice, and the presence of an external reward.  

 

I. Type of choice

Three types of choices that support the students' autonomy include:

1.    Organizational autonomy (e.g., students help set seating arrangements and determine classroom rules)

2.    Procedural autonomy (e.g., students help decide how competence will be demonstrated)

3.    Cognitive autonomy (e.g., allow students to generate their own solutions to a problem) (p.273).

Results:

The results showed that ALL types of choice had a significant positive effect on intrinsic motivation as proposed by Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory (p. 294).

There has been question of whether meaningful choices (e.g., about method, pace and goals of the course) would have a different impact than non-meaningful choices on intrinsic motivation (IM).

  

Results:

The non-meaningful, instructionally irrelevant choices had the greatest positive impact on IM.  This may be because the students believed the instructionally relevant part of the task had a valid reason behind it so they were more willing to accept having no choice. The instructionally irrelevant choices  may still provide an opportunity for students to express their individuality (p. 295).

I think that meaningful choices actually sound like an operational definition of constructivism or student-centred learning, e.g., giving choices about method, pace and goals of the course. When considering whether constructivism is effective perhaps we should be looking at the literature on the impact of giving students choices. 

II. Number of choices

Within a given timeframe, if someone is given too many choices to make he/she becomes overwhelmed.  This is an example of ego-depletion and motivation decreases. On the other side of this argument, if you give someone too few choices then s/he may feel that s/he doesn't really have a choice and motivation does not increase as it could (p.273).  So what is the magic number of choices to achieve the best results?

Results:

“One of the most robust findings in the meta-analysis was that the total number of choices moderated the effect of choice on intrinsic motivation. Choice had the greatest effect when participants chose a single option from a list of options and did so repeatedly, as opposed to making just a single choice or multiple choices from a single list of options. Similarly, the largest positive effect of choice on intrinsic motivation was found when participants made two to four choices in a single experimental manipulation compared to when only a single choice or five or more choices were made” (p. 295).  

III. External rewards

External rewards are known to reduce intrinsic motivation to the extent they are seen as controlling (p. 273). This topic was addressed in my first posting. The results may vary depending on how the person's culture values individual choice. The results may also vary according to age of the participants as well.

Results:

“Specifically, the effect of choice was essentially zero when a reward external to the choice manipulation was provided compared to when participants chose the reward they would receive or when no reward was involved.” (p. 295)

“…as long as individuals have some control over the reward, it is not perceived as controlling, and the positive effect of choice on motivation remains” (p. 296).

Implications for the use of choice in the real world

1.    “It is important that a choice not be a laborious decision” (p.297).

2.    “Similarly, more choices, and possibly more options, may be better than fewer, but only up to a point (p.297).

3.    When it is not possible to provide a choice than it is important not to appear controlling.  Providing a choice that is not really a choice, i.e., including pressure to pick a particular option, or the alternatives are not very attractive, then the result will likely lose the benefit of having a choice.

4.    Likewise when an external reward is also provided with the choice, the positive effects may disappear. 

The article includes other discussions about how intrinsic motivation is measured, how the control condition was treated, and the limitations to generalizability of the meta-analysis due to confounding variables. It is important to remember that the results of a synthesis should not be interpreted as cause and effect statements but rather an association (p. 297).

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TED Talk video

Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz's estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6XEQIsCoM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

Motivation and First Generation Students (Prospero & Vohra-Gupta, 2007)

I took this picture when I was walking alone during my first visit to China. It reminded me of how a student might feel when approaching the college steps for the first time when neither of his/her parents had gone before...excited and yet a little apprehensive.

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Reference: Prospero, M., Vohra-Gupta, S. (2007). First generation college students: Motivation, integration, and academic achievement. Community College Journal, 31, 963-975.

This article is about how to support first-generation college students (FGS), i.e., college students whose parents have not graduated from college. The authors are looking at factors that help FSG to persist and graduate from college. The study looks at whether motivation (i.e., intrinsic, extrinsic and amotivation) and integration (i.e., academic and social) dimensions significantly contribute to academic achievement and whether they do so differently for FGS than non-FGS (NFGS).

There are two theories that help explain student achievement; the integrated model of student retention (IMSR) (Cabrera et al., 1993) and the self-determination theory of motivation (STD) (Deci & Ryan, 1985). This study explores how these theories work with FGS compared to NFGS (p. 967).

The authors found that "first-generation students who are academically integrated into the college system are more likely to have higher GPAs; those students who were extrinsically motivated and amotivated are more likely to have significantly lower GPAs" (p. 971). By comparison none of the motivation or integration factors appeared to contribute significantly to academic achievement for NFGS. According to some references in the literature review this may be because the NFGS has his or her parents and their experience to help them to manage college life, generally support their educational goals and model literacy (p. 965).

For FGS academic integration had the greatest contribution towards academic achievement. Academic integration was significantly correlated with intrinsic motivation, which means they both have important contributions to academic achievement for FGS.

So at this point, I'm sure you are wondering what you can do. Here are some suggestions provided:

1. Don't focus just on external rewards of academic achievement like getting a job but of the intrinsic rewards from the joy of learning. Academic integration is seen in improved study skills and reduced absenteeism (p. 973).
2. On the institutional level there should be ways to integrate FGS. One suggested way is "training faculty to use teaching methods that promote autonomous learning" (p. 973). Various references are included.

In the literature review, I thought it was interesting that it referenced studies that said "FSG benefit more than NFGS from classroom involvement, e.g., in-class participation, in-class discussions, and collaborative learning" (p. 965), yet this study focused on the benefits of autonomous learning.

This study was conducted on 197 community college students in the southern USA. I wonder if the results would translate to university students in Canada?

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Interesting link to Psychology Today website...

Raising children to be competent and caring

by Michael Ungar, Ph.D.

The antidote to boredom is to provide children with an environment that lets them experience
autonomy (the ability to work a little on their own), control (the right to have a say over what they do), challenge (a small push beyond their comfort zone), and intrinsic motivation (the motivation comes from inside them).

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/nurturing-resilience/201206/let-kids-be-bored-occasionally

Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation (Deci et al, 2001)

I was intrinsically motivated to take this picture of the orchid because I really enjoy looking at it.

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Reference: Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (2001). Extrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation in education: Reconsidered once again. Review of Educational Research, 71(1), 1-27. 

I read this article for the first time in a Learning Theories course at Concordia University and found the ideas quite intriguing. The article reports the findings of a meta-analysis (128 experiments analyzed in two meta-analyses: 101 and 84) on a controversial topic, i.e., whether rewards actually undermine the receiver’s intrinsic motivation (IM).  IM is referred to in terms of curiosity, interest, and persistence at learning tasks. As educators we are interested in how to motivate our students but without doing any harm in the process. This article’s abstract basically tells you “tangible rewards do indeed have a substantial undermining effect”.  

As you read you find that there are many aspects to "tangible rewards". The results depend on if the reward is expected or unexpected and if the reward was seen as a reflection of competency or is just a reward for participating, engaging or completing an activity.  Also it made a difference whether the student saw the reward as informational or controlling in nature. Also children were sometimes affected differently than college students.

With so many possible combinations it was sometimes difficult to decipher what you should and should not be doing with rewards. So here are some of the general findings listed by impact on intrinsic motivation (IM):

No Effect on IM

·       Unexpected rewards and rewards for participating (i.e., task-noncontingent), seem to have no effect on (IM) (p.10).

Undermines IM

·       Expected (non-informational) rewards.  This category had the most negative affect on children (p.11).  An example of this type of reward is a pizza party for reading so many books.

·       Tangible or verbal rewards seen as controlling (p.9).

·       Rewards as a direct function of performance undermined IM the most (p.13). Perhaps because the reward is trying to control/improve the performance it can have the undermining effect.

Enhances or Maintains IM

·       Informational rewards (verbal or tangible) (p.9).

·       "Performance-contingent rewards can maintain or enhance intrinsic motivation if the receiver of the reward interprets it informationally, as an affirmation of competence." (p.12).

To enhance intrinsic motivation the authors suggest that we stop focusing on rewards and instead develop more interesting learning activities from the students’ perspective, give them more choice, and make sure the tasks are challenging (p.15).  These approaches promote creative task engagement, cognitive flexibility and conceptual understanding of learning activities (p15). 

 I hope my reflection has spurred some interest in this topic and this article.

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Two TED Talk links...

1. The Surprising Science of Motivation

Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don't: Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think.

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html

2. The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us 

This lively RSA Animate, adapted from Dan Pink's talk at the RSA, illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc