Understanding Motivation What is Motivation?

Student Motivation in the College Classroom What factors influence it? Sociocultural Context Classroom Environmental Factors Internal Factors (Beliefs/Perceptions) Motivated Behavior

Understanding Your Own Motivation Evaluate your behaviors in three areas: – Choice of behavior – Level of activity and involvement – Persistence and management of effort

Sociocultural Context Cultural Factors can influence your motivation Attitudes, beliefs, and experiences you bring to college based on your sociocultural experiences that influence motivation and behaviors.

Internal Factors Goals you set: – Serve to Motivate Behavior – Affect Mastery and Performance Ask yourself, what are my goals? Are they defined goals in Long and Short Terms? Are they clear and well defined? Are they set goals different life areas?

5 Major Ways Goals Enhance Your Performance Effort Duration and Persistence Direction of Attention Strategic Planning Reference Point

Effects on Effort Goals setting influences what you do and how hard you maximize your performance The more difficult the goal—the harder you work towards attaining it.

Effects on Duration or Persistence Without goals, it easy to be – Distracted – Attention drifts – More easily interrupted – Stop work without task completion With goals, you have defined point of performance – Know when to quit the task

Effects on Attention Goals direct your attention toward the task Goals direct you attention away from distractions

Strategic Planning To accomplish a goal, you need – An action plan or strategic planning – Goal setting encourages strategic planning and helps determine how you proceed

Reference Point Identifies where you are headed Allows you to receive feedback from that point Determines any further actions that need taken

Two Types of Goals Mastery Goals Oriented toward learning as much as possible Performance Goals Focuses on comparison and competition

Success defined as… Improvement, progress, creativity High grades, high performance compared to others Value placed on… Effort, academic ventures Demonstrates high performance relative to effort Basis for satisfaction… Progress, challenge,mastery Doing better that others Error viewed as… Part of the learning process, informational Failure, evidence of lack of ability Ability viewed as… Developing through effort Fixed Mastery Performance

How do you value different academic courses and tasks? Values and Interest – Play an important role on academic behaviors – Affect student activities – Affect level of persistence – Affect student choices

Can You Do Well on Different Academic Tasks? Self-Efficacy plays an important role – How you evaluate your own abilities or skills to successfully complete a task Rating your self-efficacy – A rating too high or too low can be detrimental

Causes of Successes and Failures Discuss How can a “C” grade on two individual term papers be interpreted as both a success and a failure?

Why the two different responses? Goals Attribution Explains why people respond differently to outcomes. Perception about the cause of success and failure differ

How students perceive prior successes and failures is an important determiner of how they approach their next tasks.

Rate the Responses as Positive or Negative I did well because I’m smart. I studied hard for the test, but it wasn’t enough. The test was easy. I was lucky. The professor was fair. I did poorly because I’m stupid. I studied hard for the test but still did not get it. The test was hard. I was unlucky. The professor was unfair. I was tired.

Respond to these questions When I perform poorly, do I attribute my performance to uncontrollable factors? Are there alternative explanations for the causes of my academic performances?

What are some factors that can negatively affect your performance? Boredom Anxiety Worry Self-Doubt

Negative Impacts on Performance Boredom – It is not a reason—it is an excuse!!! – Often implies that the learner does not understand the material

Negative Impacts on Performance Anxiety – Can negatively impact performance 4 ways: Disruption in mental activity Psychological distress Misdirected attention Inappropriate behaviors

Negative Impacts on Performance Worrying can be a major factor – Has a strong negative impact academic performance – Negative beliefs – Troubling thoughts – Poor decisions

Negative Impacts on Performance Psychological distress – Emotionality – This seems to diminish after a test begins; whereas, worry continues

Inappropriate Behaviors Procrastination Test anxiety Lack of persistence until task completion

Covington’s Theory of Self-Worth Strategies that protect against inferences on an individual’s lack of ability Procrastination Unattainable Goals Underachievers Anxiety

In Class Exercise AttributionSuggested Responses I lack ability. I didn’t feel well. I wasn’t in the mood. I’m not interested in the task I don’t do well on tests. The material was boring. The test was unfair.

Assignment Select two (2) different courses you are currently taking—one difficult and one less challenging or one that you like and one that you don’t like. Analyze your motivation in the two classes by discussing IN DETAIL each of the following factors that determine your motivated behaviors. Use a graph like the example that follows:

Motivation and Goal Exercise Class 1Class 2 Goals Interest and Values Self-Efficacy beliefs Test Anxiety Mastery vs. performance goal