Influences on Learning

How do these motivational patterns affect student learning?

Performance Avoidance Orientation

Students who have a Performance Avoidance Orientation tend to exhibit self-handicapping behaviors such as procrastination, academic "wooden legs" or creating unattainable goals. These behaviors are meant to protect the student from being perceived in a negative way by their peers. If the student doesn't try, or tries with very low effort, then their peers cannot say that the student "failed".

Procrastination:

Procrastination is the most common form of self-handicapping, and it exists to give the student excuses on why they have not started or finished a certain task. It is a way of escaping or putting it off, so that failure or just the chore of doing is delayed. An example of this with Calvin is the comic strip of him wishing he had a time machine so that he could skip to tomorrow and not have to do his homework at all. He views it as a chore and would rather do anything else than his assignment given to him, so he stalls and wishes for something that could take it away.

Unnattainable Goals:

Creating unattainable goals means striving for something so high that it is nearly impossible to achieve. This "saves" a student from being negatively perceived by their classmates because the goal is incredibly high and it has a very lo chance of actually happening. That means that the student could (and probably will) fail the task, and nobody will think less of them. Calvin's example of this is when he takes a test, and he writes his response as formally as possible to hide the fact that he doesn't know the correct answer.

Academic "Wooden Leg"

An academic "wooden leg" is another type of self-handicapping where a person will blame their failures/lack of effort on a weakness or something that they can't control. This lets the student seem like they can't do the task at all, and if it cannot be done then they cannot fail. An example from Calvin and Hobbes is the strip where Calvin tries to blame his bad grades on low self esteem and when that doesn't work, he blames it on his own victimizing.

Performance Approach Orientation

Students who have this motivational orientation want to do their work, compared to the Performance Avoidance group. They want to look knowledgeable and skillful, so they display behaviors that look like showing off. This group is extrinsically motivated.

Seeking Positive Attention/Reinforcement

This orientation causes people to want to seem the best of the group, so seeking positive feedback from teachers or peers is common. They desire to understand the material being taught or explained, and positive reinforcement of a task or knowledge confirms that the individual is succeeding.

Competitiveness

Students who align with this orientation are typically more competitive as a way to seem better than their classmates. They are motivated by what people think, so getting first place or the highest grade on a test feeds their motivational style and encourages them to be the best learner for the sake or peer approval, not for their own good.

Mastery/Learning Orientation

This orientation is considered the "best" pattern that a student could have. This group is motivated by learning new topics just to gain the knowledge, and they are typically not worried about what their peers or teachers think about them.

Skill Development

People who align with this pattern of motivation want to learn for their own benefit, and they are focused on mastering the skills that are needed to gain as much knowledge as possible.

Persistence Through Failure

This orientation also means that failure is not an obstacle or a setback. Individuals who follow a mastery orientation do not get upset or frustrated when failure happens, instead they use it as a pivot point to try and learn from their mistakes.

Footnotes:Covington, Martin V. “Self Worth and The Fear of Failure.” The Learning and Experience Blog, learningandexperienceblog.wordpress.com/.

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