Extrinsic motivation is when outside factors motivate behavior.
Intrinsic motivation is motivation occurs without external incentives. People perceive
the world with a locus of control. Things that are inside the locus, are things
that you believe you can control. Things outside the locus are the things you don’t
think your efforts will change. Teachers can motivate behavior through rewards
if they use them effectively. Teachers can also praise in different ways. Some
types of praise are more effective, such as praise for effort rather than
praise for intelligence.
Which type of motivation is usually the most effective,
external or internal?
You might unintentionally cause learned helplessness for you
students by praising their intelligence. This can happen because if you praise solely
based on intelligence, then the student may be afraid of failing and would not
want to take on any challenges.
In my opinion, internal motivation is the most important. When a child is motivated solely by an activity and not by an outside force, he/she is more likely to want to do the activity again. If motivated externally, the only reason to complete the activity would be for the reward at the end, for example. Once that reward is removed, there is no reason to do the activity, which is not what we want for our students in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Zahra that intrinsic motivation is the most effective. I know that I am more likely to do something if it is for myself and if it is something I care about than if its an external reward.
ReplyDeleteIn the book it mentioned that intrinsic motivation decreases in students as they move from elementary to middle and high school. Even with this information, I still think intrinsic motivation is the most effective. I know many times in middle and high school, and even college, I have worked on assignments only for the purpose of getting a good grade. I did not enjoy the assignment and many times, as soon as I turned in the homework or test I almost immediately forgot most of the information.
ReplyDeleteTasks that are intrinsically motivating are much more rewarding, even though there is no physical award. I feel good about myself and take pride in work that motivates me intrinsically, because the activity itself is enjoyable.
I think that intrinsic motivation is more important for students to have. If they are intrinsically motivated then they actually want to learn about the material. If they are rewarded for learning the material, they might just be learning to gain a reward.
ReplyDeleteWhy else might praising intelligence caused learned helplessness? You discuss the locus of control. If someone praises intelligence, is intelligence controllable? Can the child respond to the praise or are they 'helpless' to change that factor? I think most people would perceive intelligence as something uncontrollable, and so it gives the child no where to go in order to change that. (This point is visited again in attribution theory).
ReplyDelete