It’s no secret that motivation is one of the most misunderstood concepts in teaching. As teachers, we often think that if we could just “motivate” students they would enjoy school, learn more, and behave better in our classes. But “motivation” cannot overcome a lack of ability or experience. And we have to think about what students are focused on (and motivated by) at any point in their lives. So...
What motivates students?
Intrinsic Motivation – this idea is that on might be internally motivated – not needing any reinforcement or “bribe”. Sometimes we talk about having an “Internal Locus of Control”, meaning that the student feels like she or he is responsible for her or his own behavior and learning. Locus of Control (a term coined by Julian Rotter in 1966, is a theory sort of like “executive functioning”. (Let me know if you don’t know I mean by executive function). Locus of control has been described as a “perceived understanding of why things happen”. Anyway, a student with an Internal Locus of Control would say, “I did well in class because I studied, or because I am very smart”. This student might also say “Its my responsibility that I am doing poorly in class” (even if it isn’t really their fault -- because they go home to a place that they don’t get enough sleep – whatever).
Extrinsic Motivation is the motivators provided to us by outside forces. You might only go to work because you will be paid (money being your external motivator). Remember our conversation about “reinforcers”? Well, if you are externally motivated, you do things because you believe you will be rewarded or reinforced for that behavior. Token or natural reinforcers, you are doing something because you believe you will get something for your work. We can talk about an External Locus of Control here too. The student who has an external locus of control believe that things happen by fate – that whatever happens to them they are not responsible for directly. This student might say, “I did well in class because the teacher likes me” or “Because I am lucky”. They might say, “I did poorly because they were all trick questions”. Think lack of responsibility here.
So what are the motivators in our lives? Some motivators are really instincts, that is, they are the things all animals do to stay alive. We jump out of the way of the speeding car not because of any external motivator, but because of the basic inherited, unlearned desire to stay alive.
We are also motivated by something known as drives. The behavioralists, particular through Hull’s Drive Reduction Theory, believe that we learn through fulfilling our drives. There are two kinds of drives: primary drives (thirst, hunger, comfort) can be associated with other things known as acquired drives (grades, money, degrees). Think again back to our conversation about natural and token reinforcers.
Another way to think about how students are thinking is focusing on their needs. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs outlines a continuum of needs from basic to self-actualization. Maslow’s theory is known as a Deficiency/Growth needs theory – meaning that the student who is deficient in any need will not be able to focus on other issues before those needs are met. There a multiple ways of illustrating these needs, in chapter 11 of your textbook you’ll see a “pyramid” with the basic needs at the bottom, and highest needs at the top. I’ve shown them here as a bar chart of sorts. The most important thing to keep in mind is that, according to this theory you have to achieve the lower levels before you can move on. You have to have your safety needs met (comfort, order) before you can accept others; you have to feel like you belong before you can take on a leadership role. As teachers, we have to have all four of the first needs met (kids have to have food in their tummies, feel safe in the school, feel like they belong to a community and have some sense of their selves) before they can learn. We have to stop and think about what needs are deficient before we think that kids are just not “motivated”.
Another way to think about motivation theories is whether they are grounded behaviorist or cognitive theory about learning. Drives are obviously behavioralist; locus of control is more of a cognitive theory. Maslow’s theory walks the line between behaviorist and cognitive (and he’s sometimes thought of as a “humanistic researcher). One popular cognitive theory is known as Self-efficacy Theory. This theory explains that we make judgments based on four things: past experiences (you know you can because you did before), encouragement (the teachers tells you are good at this), cues (you can do this so you should be able to do that) and modeling (I’m like her and she can do this). You believe you are effective based on these four factors.
Another similar theory is self-determination theory, described by Deci in 1991. This theory says that an attitude of self-determination allows you to accomplish goals. Deci believe that we have needs, but they are not developmental in nature. We have Competence needs (the need to feel competent), Relationship needs (the need to have relationships), and Autonomy needs (the need to feel self reliant).
Self-efficacy and self-determination are different from two other ideas that may impact motivation, self-concept and self-esteem. People often use these terms interchangable – but they are not. Self-concepts are non-evaluative ideas you have about yourself – you are a teacher; you are 20something years old. Self-esteem is a value judgement – you might think, “I’m a good teacher”; I’m still young enough to not know what I’m going to do with my live and that’s ok”. Your self-esteem is how you feel about your identity (or self-concept).