How Motivation Affects Affects Learning and Behavior By J.E. Ormrod Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall
When it comes to art, Anya is highly motivated. We can reasonably draw this conclusion based on her close attention in class, her eagerness to draw whenever she can, and her career goal. Motivation is something that energies, directs, and sustains behavior! it gets students moving, "oints them in a "articular direction, and #ee"s them going. We o$ten see students% motivation investment and re&ected in personal investment and in cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement in in school
activities '(redric#s, '(redric#s, Blumen$eld, ) Paris, *++! Maehr ) Meyer, *++! -eeve, *++/. *++/. 0irtually all students are motivated in one way or another. another. One student may be b e #eenly interested in classroom sub1ect matter and see# out challenging course wor#, "artici"ate actively in class discussions, and earn high mar#s on assigned "ro1ects. Another student may be more concerned with the social side o$ school, interacting with classmates $re2uently, attending e3tracurricular activities almost every day, and "erha"s running $or a student government o4ce. 5till another may be $ocused on athletics, e3celling in "hysical education classes, "laying or watching s"orts most a$ternoons and wee#ends, and $aith$ully $ollowing a "hysical 6tness regimen. 7et 7et another student8 "erha"s because o$ an undetected learning disability, a shy tem"erament, or a seemingly uncoordinated body8may be motivated to avoid academics, social situations, or athletic activities. When Anya comes to school each day, she brings her strong interest in art with her. But motivation is not necessarily something that learners bring to school! it can also arise $rom environmental conditions at school. school. When we tal# about how the environment can enhance a learner%s motivation to learn "articular things or behave in "articular ways, we are tal#ing about situated motivation 'Paris ) 9urner, 9urner, :;;! -ueda ) Moll, :;;/.
How Motivation Afects Learning and B ehavior
Motivation has several e>ects on students% learning and behavior. behavior.
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Motivation directs behavior toward particular goals. As we discovered in ?ha"ter :+,
social cognitive theorists "ro"ose that individuals set goals $or themselves and direct their behavior accordingly. accordingly. Motivation determines the s"eci6c goals toward which learners strive 'Maehr ) Meyer, :;;@! Pintrich et al., :;;/. 9hus, it a>ects the choices students ma#e8$or instance, whether to enroll in "hysics or studio art, whether to s"end an evening com"leting a challenging homewor# assignment or "laying videogames with $riends. •
Motivation leads to increased efort and energy. Motivation increases the amount o$ e>ort
and energy that learners e3"end in activities directly related to their needs and goals
'?si#sentmihalyi ) a#amura, :;C;! Maehr, :;C! Pintrich et al., :;;/.
Motivation increases initiation o and persistence in activities.Dearners are more li#ely to
begin a tas# they actually want to do. 9hey are also more li#ely to continue wor#ing at it until they%ve com"leted it, even i$ they are occasionally interru"ted or $rustrated in the "rocess 'Darson, *+++! Maehr, :;C! Wig6eld, :;;/. ecting their learning and achievement 'Bro"hy, :;CC! Darson, *+++! Wig6eld, :;;/. •
Motivation afects cognitive processes. Motivation a>ects what learners "ay attention to
and how e>ectively they "rocess it 'Eccles ) Wig6eld, :;C! Pintrich ) 5chun#, *++*! Pugh ) Bergin, *++/. (or instance, motivated learners o$ten ma#e a concerted e>ort to truly understand classroom material8to learn it meaning$ully8and consider how they might use it in their own lives. •
Motivation determines which consequences are reinorcing and punishing. 9he more
learners are motivated to achieve academic success, the more they will be "roud o$ an A and u"set by a low grade. 9he more learners want to be acce"ted and res"ected by "eers, the more they will value membershi" in the FinG grou" and be distressed by the ridicule o$ classmates. 9o a teenage boy uninterested in athletics, ma#ing or not ma#ing the school $ootball team is no big deal, but to a teen whose li$e revolves around $ootball, ma#ing or not ma#ing the team may be a conse2uence o$ monumental im"ortance. •
Motivation oten enhances perormance. Because o$ the other e>ects 1ust identi6ed8goal=
directed behavior, e>ort and energy, initiation and "ersistence, cognitive "rocessing, and the im"act o$ conse2uences8motivation o$ten leads to im"roved "er$ormance. As you might guess, then, students who are most motivated to learn and e3cel in classroom activities tend to be our highest achievers 'A. E. ott$ried, :;;+! 5chie$ele, Ira"", ) Winteler, :;;*! Walberg ) guroglu, :;C+/. ?onversely, students who have little interest in academic achievement are at high ris# $or dro""ing out be$ore they graduate $rom high school 'HardrK ) -eeve, *++! Hymel et al., :;;! 0allerand, (ortier, ) uay, :;;@/.
Extrinsic Versus Intrinsic Motivation
ot all $orms o$ motivation have e3actly the same e>ects on human learning and "er$ormance. ?onsider these two students in an advanced high school writing classL
5heryl doesn%t en1oy writing and is ta#ing the class $or only one reasonL Earning an A or B in the class will hel" her earn a scholarshi" at 5tate niversity, where she des"erately wants to go.
5hannon has always li#ed to write. 9he class will hel" her get a scholarshi" at 5tate niversity, but in addition, 5hannon truly wants to become a better writer. 5he sees its use$ulness $or her $uture "ro$ession as a 1ournalist. Besides, she%s learning many new techni2ues $ or ma#ing what she writes more vivid and engaging.
5heryl e3hibits e3trinsic motivationL 5he is motivated by $actors e3ternal to hersel$ and u nrelated to the tas# she is "er$orming. Dearners who are e3trinsically motivated may want the good grades, money, or recognition that "articular activities and accom"lishments bring. Essentially, they are motivated to "er$orm a tas# as a means to an end, not as an end in itsel$.
Dearners are most li#ely to show the bene6cial e>ects o$ motivation when they are intrinsically motivated to engage in classroom activities. ective ways 'e.g., by engaging in meaning$ul learning/, and more li#ely to achieve at high levels. orts on earning high grade "oint averages. (urthermore, they become more cognitively able to set and strive $or long= term goals, and they begin to evaluate school sub1ects in terms o$ their relevance to such goals, rather than in terms o$ any intrinsic a""eal.
E3trinsic motivation is not necessarily a bad thing, however! o$ten learners are simultaneously motivated by both intrinsic and e3trinsic $actors '?ameron ) Pierce, :;;! ?ovington, *+++! De""er et al., *++/. (or e3am"le, although 5hannon en1oys her writing course, she also #nows that a good grade will hel" her get a scholarshi" at 5tate . (urthermore, good grades and other e3ternal rewards $or high achievement may con6rm $or 5hannon that she is mastering school sub1ect matter 'Hynd, *++/. And over the course o$ time, e3trinsic motivation may gradually move in ward, as we%ll discover in ?ha"ter :* in our discussion o$ internalized motivation.
they are studying and will increase the odds that they will continue to read and learn about writing, science, history, and other academic sub1ect matter long a$ter they have le$t their $ormal education behind.
