Motivational Patterns in Calvin
Summary of Calvin's Motivational Patterns:
-Imagination and Creativity: Calvin's primary motivational pattern revolves around his vivid imagination and creative play. He is driven by his desire for adventure, excitement, and escape from the mundane aspects of everyday life. This is how Calvin does his learning the most, he has fun and the learning comes along. Self-efficacy is great when it comes to creativity but not great when it comes to school and learning.
-Hatred for "Useless" information: Calvin sees school academics as useless information which is why he puts no effort into school assignments.
-Calvin has learned helplessness
-motivated by his interests
-Calvin's fixed mindset
-Personal Attributions: When he succeeds in his imaginative adventures or when his plans go well, he may attribute this success to his intelligence, creativity, or resourcefulness. On the other hand, when things go wrong, he may blame himself, feeling that he's not good enough or smart enough (mostly seen at school).
Learned Helplessness With Calvin
Calvin exhibits behaviors and attitudes that can be associated with learned helplessness. Here are some ways in which this theme is subtly portrayed with school experiences.
Calvin often expresses frustration and boredom with school. He may feel overwhelmed by the demands of homework, tests, and the classroom environment. In some strips, he exhibits a defeatist attitude, suggesting that he believes he has no control over his academic performance or the educational system. This sense of helplessness in the face of academic challenges is a common aspect of learned helplessness.
For example, in this comic strip, Calvin is exhibiting learned helplessness in a group project. He is demonstrating learned helplessness through a lack of contribution, in the past Calvin's efforts have not been recognized in school events. So he believes his contributions won't make a difference or be acknowledged by the group and refuses to help out. Another way through this comic strip Calvin is demonstrating learned helplessness is because of avoidance of responsibility due to negative comments from his peers and never being acknowledged for his previous efforts. In Group work, he actively avoids taking responsibility or leadership roles within the group to help the group this also correlates with his low self-efficiency because he has high doubts that he will not make a meaningful contribution to the project to group's project. The last way Calvin demonstrates learned helplessness is through his reduced motivation over the group project he is being chastised by one of his peers for not caring and for focusing on other tasks like drawing because he is not showing any motivation to get this project done because he does not see a clear connection between his contribution and to the success of his group.
Expectancy: In the case of Calvin, he often engages in imaginative and creative activities, such as building snowmen or constructing elaborate treehouses. He expects his efforts to lead to the desired outcomes, like fun and excitement. He puts no effort into school learning meaning his performance is not great in school. As soon as he puts in effort to have fun, he seems to learn things.
Instrumentality: Calvin has different performances when it comes to different things. When he puts in effort to things like having fun his performance in learning actually goes up. In the comic strip about writing, Calvin puts effort into writing and his performance is great. His writing sounds proficient. When he puts no effort into school, he does not perform well, like on tests.
Valence: In Calvin's case, the valence can vary depending on his mood and perspective. Sometimes, he finds great joy and satisfaction in his imaginative adventures with his stuffed tiger, Hobbes. Other times, he is disappointed and frustrated when his expectations are not met.
Calvin's Fixed Mindset:
Calvin shows the expectancy theory because he has a growth mindset, he believes he is not naturally good at taking a test meaning he put no effort into his exam. This works in a feedback loop of:
no effort ------- bad performance-------belief he is bad at testing