PSYC 444 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Motivation, Captain Underpants, Cegep
14 May 2018
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PSYC 471 – LECTURE 13
Ed Dei’s fudaetal uestio: Why do people stop pursuing activities that formerly seemed to be highly self-rewarding?
• e.g. childhood sport, musical instrument, reading for pleasure
o Intrinsic motivation to read for pleasure peaks at age 12/13 then decreases as we get older, reading only for a purpose.
• Experience of flow from another perspective
• Activities that we engaged in out of interest and for the end in itself
Intrinsic motivation: atual popesit to egage oe’s iteest ad eeise oe’s apaities
• We are evolutionarily wired to have natural curiosities and extend our interests
• Helps us engage and learn
• Done volitionally and without instrumental connections
When we are intrinsically motivated, we naturally pursue challenge
Young children are engaged in books before they even learn how to read
• Best bedtime routine is reading
• SES differences
o Educated parent: 1000 hours of reading
o Low SES parent: 10-15 hours of reading
• Identify with characters and think about who they want to be when older
o e.g. Sophie and Anne of Green Gables
Example: Kermie Award in 4th grade
Reading in the 3rd grade is a predictor of school success and other related outcomes
Children were told that they could win the Kermie toy by reading more books than anyone else in the class. What the teacher did’t ko as that this tpe of
contest can backfire.
• Children began trying to get as much reading hours as possible in order to win the contest
• They were no longer fully engaged, some not being able to recall the plot of the books they read
In the 5th gade, the teahe as agaist studets eadig eas ooks suh as Captai Udepats ad popula ooks suh as Ha Potter (as recommended by
the Professor), and recommended ones with a social message.
• Channeling the type of books of interest also can backfire
Koeste’s eadig tajeto peaked at age / ad ssteatiall delied util age
• Only began reading for work and not out of interest
You can determine whether or not there is any intrinsic motivation left by looking at what happens during free time when there is less pressure from school or work,
such as winter break. However, the general pattern for reading is less intrinsic motivation over time.
Another reading incentive program to get children who do not like to read motivated to start reading. However, this backfired for children who were already
intrinsically motivated to read.
• Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation do not combine!
THE FREE CHOICE PARADIGM
Systematic way of studying a phenomenon
1. Pre-test to identify intrinsically motivating activity for your sample
• e.g. fun drawing activity
2. Random assignment to control vs. reward
• If you draw a good pitue, ou get a etifiate of eellee that’ll e posted i the hall fo eeoe to see eogitio
3. Performance period
• Every child got a reward
4. Explicit ending of required activity
5. Free-choice period (with observation)
• Children were given the choice of doing the target activity or something else
• Coded time spent on activity as index of intrinsic motivation
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Quality was rated by coders blind to condition
The reward was predicted to increase motivation but receiving a reward for an activity that one is intrinsically motivated to go actually undermines intrinsic
motivation. Those who got a reward produced more pictures but they were of lower quality.
• There is a trade-off between extrinsic motivation (increase in quantity) and intrinsic motivation (decreasing quality)
In a third condition, some children unexpectedly received a reward. Those in this condition were unaffected, meaning their intrinsic motivation remained the same.
• Being aware of the contingency undermines intrinsic motivation
The same pattern is generalizable to other age groups, cultures and activities
• e.g. university students
• However, the younger the child, the more damaging rewards tend to be
• One exception: rewards may increase motivation for boring tasks. However, this motivation is unlikely to be intrinsic- which is of primary interest
Symbolic and tangible rewards both have the same negative effect.
Regardless of the way the reward is administered, physical or verbal, there was undermining of intrinsic motivation.
• However, praise is almost always unexpected and increases feelings of competence and autonomy.
EXPANDING THE LINKS
Blind coders noted that children engaging in activities for rewards smiled and laughed less, overall displaying lower enjoyment.
• Extrinsic and intrinsically motivated activities involve something phenomenologically different
When extrinsically motivated, the challenge pursued is of lower level and easier tasks are often chosen
• Different level of engagement
• Less willingness to continue
Unfortunately, behavior modifying techniques are introduced as early as preschool
• Imposed by authoritative people to get people to work harder
• Coercive, pressuring control
Other correlates
• Enjoyment
• Pursuit of challenge
• Cognitive flexibility and creativity
• Spontaneity and expressiveness
• Positive emotional tone in relating to others
Othe udeies
• Threat of negative consequences
• Surveillance
• Deadline and evaluation
• Goal imposition
• Competition
COGNITIVE EVALUATION THEORY
1. Intrinsic motivation varies with perceived autonomy
2. Intrinsic motivation varies with perceived competence
3. External events can have 1/3 meanings:
• Informational
• Controlling
• Amotivating
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Unfortunately, to motivate students to focus and work hard, schools use extrinsic motivation.
HARTER’S RESEARCH ON THE IMPACT OF SCHOOL ON CHILDREN’S INTRINSIC MOTIVATION
“ues of hilde’s uiosit/iteest s. pleasig teahe ad gettig good gades
• Does the child work to satisfy their own curiosity/interest or to satisfy their teacher?
There is a linear decrease in curiosity in challenge oneself and learning over time
The Montessori School is’t iteested i usig eads to otiate thei studets
• “tudets’ itisi otiatio does’t deease
Why is there a drop in junior high (transition from grade school to high school or high school to university)?
• More evaluative, competitive, impersonal and formal
• e.g. transition from CEGEP to McGill
LEPPER ET AL. (2005)
A large, culturally diverse sample was studied to determine the relation between intrinsic motivation and school performance
Grade changes in motivation
• Those who show a decrease in intrinsic motivation do worse in terms of performance
• It is harder to study when you lack intrinsic motivation
The most common question: what about children who do not like to read?
• Would’t it e oka to use eads to get the iteested?
• Most of us are exposed to school systems that highlight extrinsic motivation and destroy intrinsic motivation
• It is better to determine the reason why students lack intrinsic motivation, than to use extrinsic motivation to get them interested
The importance of 3rd grade: learning to read → reading to learn
INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES THAT PROMOTE READING MOTIVATION AND COMPREHENSION
Rewards are useless in getting children to read more and cannot cultivate intrinsic motivation
What works, however, is giving children choices.
• Allowing them to read topics they are interested in or are relevant to them
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Ed de(cid:272)i"s fu(cid:374)da(cid:373)e(cid:374)tal (cid:395)uestio(cid:374): why do people stop pursuing activities that formerly seemed to be highly self-rewarding? e. g. childhood sport, musical instrument, reading for pleasure. Intrinsic motivation to read for pleasure peaks at age 12/13 then decreases as we get older, reading only for a purpose. Activities that we engaged in out of interest and for the end in itself. Intrinsic motivation: (cid:374)atu(cid:396)al p(cid:396)ope(cid:374)sit(cid:455) to e(cid:374)gage o(cid:374)e"s i(cid:374)te(cid:396)est a(cid:374)d e(cid:454)e(cid:396)(cid:272)ise o(cid:374)e"s (cid:272)apa(cid:272)ities: we are evolutionarily wired to have natural curiosities and extend our interests. When we are intrinsically motivated, we naturally pursue challenge. Young children are engaged in books before they even learn how to read. Identify with characters and think about who they want to be when older e. g. sophie and anne of green gables. Reading in the 3rd grade is a predictor of school success and other related outcomes.
