Dave’s extrinsic factors: These are working for him because
he gets the satisfaction of completing assignments without effort. He does not
have the status of the smart kid, which relieves pressure on him. He is also
getting attention from teachers and classmates.
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- Reinforcements- completion of assignment without
reading, teacher redirecting him to get back to work, classmates noticing his
lack of interest- attention
- Punishments- feeling of stupidity is taken away,
pressure of being smart taken away
- Consequences- cannot develop his competencies, makes
little progress, failure, status as the “dumb kid”
Attribution Theory: I think that Dave’s behaviors can be
explained by the Attribution Theory. This theory has 3 dimensions that explain
how these attributions influence motivation in students; locus, stability, and
controllability. Locus- Dave knows that his success results from ability and
effort, but he wants to cheat his way out of this because he does not want to
put forth effort. He makes a show to act like he is putting forth the effort when
he is really just copying others papers. Stability- Dave’s success is not
stable because he does not put forth his own efforts. He does not have any
stability at all because he is using others work. Controllability- Dave knows
that success is controllable but again he does not want to put forth the
effort. He makes a show to everyone that he is in control of his own success
and that he could do well if he really wanted to. As a teacher I could start
praising Dave when he puts forth his own efforts, rather than when he gets a
good grade on an assignment or test.
Make sure you know that while these strategies are 'working' for his goals, he also is not learning much of the material.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little unclear by how you distinguish your categories. I think attention is definitely a reinforcer, but also the lack of a 'stupid' label is acting as negative reinforcement for his behavior. (it's not a punishment) The consequences you list are definitely present, but I don't think they're affecting him too much, since he does not recognize them and they are not pushign him to change his behavior.
I think I might disagree with some points you have. I think that Dave believes in 'smart kids' and 'stupid kids'--that intelligence might be something internal and stable. He's avoiding being labeled as one of those things because he doesn't want people to feel he has that internal attribute. Maybe?
For stability, the question is whether he's attributing success to something stable or unstable. I think, if he believes he's fitting the 'smart kid' label, that is something stable. I think your note on controllability is probably right--he wants to believe he COULD control it if he wanted to--but how does that present problems?
I like your suggestion. I think increasing Dave's effort is a great strategy, as well as lowering his fear of failure and anxiety in some way--by valuing mistakes and creative risk?