Calvin's Motivational Patterns
In school:
One of the most prominent adversities that Calvin faces is his complete lack of perceived autonomy. As seen in Figure 1, Calvin explicitly mocks his lack of autonomy by saying "I have no will of my own" repeatedly in a robotic voice. That being said, Calvin is being solely extrinsically motivated; his only driving force is being told to complete tasks. In this figure, it is also evident that Calvin is accustom to punishment. According to SDT, more rewards/punishments lead to an exponential decrease in motivation, which holds true in Calvin's case.
In Figure 2, Calvin can be seen (semi-sarcastically) attempting to change is attitude towards homework. However, is motivations are so intensely extrinsic, and furthermore, are hindering his intrinsic desires (going outside.) Therefore, Calvin cannot possibly have any internal drive to complete his homework because Calvin feels no internal connection to the task at hand. STD supports this pattern by arguing that if a person lacks a sense of relatedness, they will lack intrinsic motivation.
Finally, in Figure 3, Calvin is asked to complete a task which he presumably does not believe that he can complete, and thus, he resorts to daydreaming. STD states that if a person lacks a sense of competence, they not be motivated to complete a task because they fear potentially feeling even less competent. While analyzing Ms. Wormwood and Calvin's classroom dynamic, it is apparent that Ms. Wormwood does not foster Calvin's sense of competence, and therefore, Calvin's readiness to participate in class activities is diminished.
Outside of school:
Figures 5 and 6 are two examples of many which illustrate Calvin's motivational patterns outside of school. When Calvin is not in a punitive classroom setting, Calvin is naturally inquisitive, bright, and articulate. If he is given an opportunity to relate intellectual thought to his interests he gains a sound sense of relatedness, competence, and autonomy. That being said, it is apparent that when Calvin is more internally motivated, he is more likely to flourish.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Why Calvin Has These Patterns
Self-determination theory effects Calvin in different ways through intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Calvin is the typical young boy who gets bored and down when it comes to school. He acts out when his psychological needs are not met in the classroom because he has no choice in his academic learning. For example in figure 1, his need to be autonomous is not meet, when Ms. Wormwood ask Calvin to demonstrate the next problem on the board, he pretends to be a robot who has no decision making. His competence as a student is that he is dumb, so he acts out as a class clown. Extrinsic motivation doesn't work for him because the reward system just undermines his willingness to achieve greatness. For example in figure 4, Calvin ask his dad to pay him for his final grades in his classes. Calvin creates a scale for how much a grade letter should be worth and pitches it to his dad. His dad says no to him because the reward system would cause Calvin to do the bare minimum and not give 100% on his school work (Cameron, 2001). Both of these examples shows why Calvin's motivation is low because the old school style of teaching doesn't work for his learning style.