These chapters talk about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation refers to when a person has an internal want to complete something for a personal enjoyment of the task. Extrinsic motivation is when a person is being pressured into completing a task by outside factors like the need for a good grade or a parent's expectations
One question that I had while reading was in regards to the work-avoidance motivation that children get when they reach middle school. I know that children at that age put forth minimal effort and try to avoid doing their work as much as possible, but the way that the book explained it made me question their motives why. The book states that students avoid putting forth effort in middle school because it is supposedly a way of indicating low ability. This is a trait that they think they can not change and is stable. My question is why they think that putting forth no effort as opposed to some effort would make them feel smarter. In my opinion, it seems that students feel more unintelligent when they don't show any effort or signs of knowing the correct answers.
Thinking back on my own experiences in school, I would attribute my successes to two major factors. The first influence is the standards that my parents hold me to. I am always expected to receive good grades and be above average. This is an extrinsic form of motivation that is stable and uncontrollable. The second factor that I would attribute my success to would be my aspiration to go to college and get a job one day. This motivated me to strive for good grades through high school and even middle school. This is a stable and controllable form of motivation. It is stable because my aspirations never change. It is controllable because if I wanted to, I could change this motivation by deciding not to finish college or deciding that I didn't care about getting a job one day.
Olivia, I was thinking the same thing! But I understood it this way after thinking about it... If a student doesn't know the answers to a test and gets a really low score, (s)he will tell his/her peers that (s)he didn't study and therefore didn't get a good grade. This would not necessarily make him/her feel smarter...it would just make him/her look smarter to his/her peers to avoid the embarassment of not knowing something that most of the rest of the class seemed to know. So basically, I feel that a student would only not put forth the effort so that it doesn't look like (s)he studied hard and still got a bad grade which in turn would make the student feel stupid.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar question after reading the chapter. I feel like middle school students just fall into a habit of not doing as much work as the work gets harder. They might se that their friends have stopped doing the work so they might as well. They may be embarrassed because they don't know how to do the work so they simply don't do it at all. I feel like middle school can be a tough transition period for students and a lot changes during this time.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good question! I think it is often times rooted in laziness and/or fear that a student avoids trying. It is easier to not put effort into classwork. Also, the less you put into an assignment, the less you have to lose. The more work you put in, the more you begin to care, and if you don't perform well, it can be discouraging. This is why it's important to recognize effort and not just performance.
ReplyDeleteModules 16 and 17 were more than the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, weren't they? What are some big ideas from self and cognitive theories? (Both sort of intrinsic)?
ReplyDeleteYou have some good feedback on your question in the comments, but I'd try to imagine a scenario in order to help. Trying (effort) shows that you NEED to try (that you're not intelligent) in the minds of these students. THey both believe intelligence is something stable and internal and that any sign of trying or struggling might be an indicator that they don't have that quality. It may sound confusing, but I could imagine a student becoming trapped in that sort of pattern. If the material IS very difficult for them, even trying a little might remind themselves that they don't understand, and they may feel worried that others can tell they don't understand. (THink about adolescent egocentrism we discussed) They may also eventually stop trying if they feel that they cannot change their ability (that it's stable and uncontrollable)--even then a small amount of effort wouldn't make a difference, according to their beliefs.