Motivation Theories
Motivation Theories
Motivation Theories
The word motivation is coined from the Latin word "movere", which means to move. Motivation is a reason or set or reasons for engaging in a particular behavior. Motivation can be defined as the processes that account for an individuals intensity, direction and persistence of effort towards attaining a goal. The motivation of people depends on the strength of their motives. Motives are defined as needs, wants, drives, or impulses within an individual. Motives are directed towards goals, which may be conscious or subconscious. Motivation can be described as the process of arousing and sustaining goaldirected behavior. A positive motivation philosophy and practice should improve help productivity, quality and service. Motivation helps people to: achieve goals gain a positive perspective create the power to change build self-esteem and capability manage their own development and help others with theirs
Types of Motivation Extrinsic Motivation (Carol Bainbridge) Extrinsic motivation refers to motivation to engage in an activity as a means to an end. Extrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from outside an individual. The motivating factors are external, or outside, rewards such as money or grades. These rewards provide satisfaction and pleasure that the task itself may not provide. An extrinsically motivated person will work on a task even when they have little interest in it because of the anticipated satisfaction they will get from some reward. The rewards can be something as minor as a smiley face to something major like fame or fortune. For example, an extrinsically motivated person who dislikes math may work hard on a math equation because want the reward for completing it. In the case of a student, the reward would be a good grade on an assignment or in the class. Intrinsic Motivation (Carol Bainbridge) Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from inside an individual rather than from any external or outside rewards, such as money or grades. The motivation comes from the pleasure one gets from the task itself or from the sense of
satisfaction in completing or even working on a task. An intrinsically motivated person will work on a math equation, for example, because it is enjoyable. Or an intrinsically motivated person will work on a solution to a problem because the challenge of finding a solution is provides a sense of pleasure. In neither case does the person work on the task because there is some reward involved, such as a prize, a payment, or in the case of students, a grade. Intrinsic
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Extrinsic
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Explain or show why learning a particular content or skill is important Allow students some opportunities to select learning goals and tasks Create and/or maintain curiosity Provide a variety of activities and sensory stimulations Provide games and simulations Set goals for learning Relate learning to student needs Help student develop plan of action
Provide clear expectations Give corrective feedback Provide valuable rewards for simple learning tasks Make rewards available Allow opportunities for students to observe more correct exemplars Allow for opportunities to engage in social learning activities Provide for scaffolding of corrective feedback
Motivational Theories include: Humanistic View of Motivation Behavioural View of Motivation Cognitive View of Motivation Social View of Motivation
Humanistic Views of Motivation Huitt, W. (2011) Humanistic views of motivation focus on the learner as a whole person and examine the relationships among physical, emotional, intellectual, and aesthetic needs. A positive classroom climate and caring studentteacher relationship are essential to the development of student motivation. Maslows hierarchy, beginning with survival and safety needs, progressing through belonging and esteem needs, and ending with intellectual and aesthetic needs, reflects the whole person that is central to humanistic views of motivation.
Carl Rogers also emphasized peoples attempts to become self-actualized and suggested that unconditional positive regard is essential in the development of it.
Theories under Humanistic Motivation a. Maslows Hiersachy of Needs b. Hertzbergs Theory of motivation
One of the most widely mentioned theories of motivation is the Hierarchy of Needs theory by psychologist Abraham Maslow. Maslow saw human needs in the form of a hierarchy, ascending from the lowest to the highest, and he concluded that when one set of needs is satisfied, this kind of need ceases to be a motivator. Needs can be categorized as: Physiological needs- These are important needs for sustaining the human life. Food, water, warmth, shelter, sleep, medicine and education are the basic physiological needs which fall in the primary list of need satisfaction. Maslow believed that until these needs were satisfied to a degree to maintain life, no other motivating factors can work. Security or Safety needs- These are the needs to be free of physical danger and of the fear of losing a job, property, food or shelter. It also includes protection against any emotional harm. Social needs - Since people are social beings, they need to belong and be accepted by others. People try to satisfy their need for affection, acceptance and friendship. Esteem needs- According to Maslow, once people begin to satisfy their need to belong, they tend to want to be held in esteem both by themselves and by others. This kind of need produces such satisfaction as power, prestige status and self-confidence. It includes both internal esteem factors like self-respect, autonomy and achievements and external esteem factors such as states, recognition and attention. Self-actualization needs- Maslow regards this as the highest need in his hierarchy. It is the drive to become what one is capable of becoming; it includes growth, achieving ones
In the late 1950's, the American psychologist Frederick Herzberg analyzed the foundations of job motivation based on a large-scale literature review and a survey amongst 200 engineers and accountants from the Pittsburgh area. He challenged the traditional view that workers are only satisfied or dissatisfied with their jobs and proposed a system with dual continuums of satisfiers and dissatisfiers to understand employee motivation and satisfaction. Thus, when workers are satisfied, they attribute their satisfaction to the work itself. When they are dissatisfied with their jobs, they are concerned about their work environment. He named this dual continuum motivation and hygiene. Hygiene Factors The factors that help prevent dissatisfaction. They do not lead to higher levels of motivation but dissatisfaction exists without them. The factors are primarily extrinsic:
company's policies and administration quality of supervision working conditions interpersonal relations salary status job security
Motivation Factors The five factors that lead to job satisfaction and higher levels of motivation. These factors are neutral if they are not activated. They are primarily intrinsic factors: achievement recognition the work itself responsibility advancement Preferably, the two approaches, hygiene and motivation, must be carried out simultaneously. Treat people so they obtain a minimum of dissatisfaction. Use people so they achieve, get recognition, grow and advance in their careers. Based on Maslow's Hierarchy, Herzberg theorized that the factors that motivate the worker or are likely to satisfy their needs, lead to positive job attitudes.
As we discuss the behavioral approach, for the most part we will assume that the mind is a "black box" that we cannot see into. The only way we know what is going on in the mind, according to most behaviorists, is to look at overt behavior. The feedback loop that connects overt behavior to stimuli that activate the senses has been studied extensively from this perspective. Incentives The incentive theory suggests that people are motivated to do things because of external rewards. For example, you might be motivated to go to work each day for the monetary reward of being paid. Behavioral learning concepts such as association and reinforcement play an important role in this theory of motivation.
context, such as learning in a noisy lounge compared to the quietude of the library. In addition, perceptions of efficacy depend on a mastery criterion of performance rather than on normative or other criteria. For example, students rate their certainty about solving a crossword puzzle of a particular difficulty level, not how well they expect to do on the puzzle in comparison to other students. Finally, self-efficacy judgments specifically refer to future functioning and are assessed before students perform the relevant activities. This antecedent property positions self-efficacy judgments to play a causal role in academic motivation.
Goal setting
Students bring a variety of goals into the classroom, including learning goals, performance goals, and social goals. Goal setting can significantly increase task value. Effective goals are moderately challenging, specific, and near term. Learning-focused goals lead to more sustained motivation and higher achievement than do performancefocused goals. Learners with an incremental view of ability are more likely to set learning-focused goals, whereas learners with an entity view of ability are more likely to set performance-focused goals.
imitating positive models acquiring effective social competence skills being a part of a dyad, group, institution, or community
this process. Finally, this theory recognizes that just because something has been learned, it does not mean that it will result in a change in behavior. Let's explore each of these concepts in greater depth. 1. People can learn through observation. Observational Learning In his famous Bobo doll experiment, Bandura demonstrated that children learn and imitate behaviors they have observed in other people. The children in Banduras studies observed an adult acting violently toward a Bobo doll. When the children were later allowed to play in a room with the Bobo doll, they began to imitate the aggressive actions they had previously observed. Bandura identified three basic models of observational learning: 1. A live model, which involves an actual individual demonstrating or acting out a behavior. 2. A verbal instructional model, which involves descriptions and explanations of a behavior. 3. A symbolic model, which involves real or fictional characters displaying behaviors in books, films, television programs, or online media.
Attention: In order to learn, you need to be paying attention. Anything that detracts your attention is going to have a negative effect on observational learning. If the model interesting or there is a novel aspect to the situation, you are far more likely to dedicate your full attention to learning. Retention: The ability to store information is also an important part of the learning process. Retention can be affected by a number of factors, but the ability to pull up information later and act on it is vital to observational learning. Reproduction: Once you have paid attention to the model and retained the information, it is time to actually perform the behavior you observed. Further practice of the learned behavior leads to improvement and skill advancement. Motivation: Finally, in order for observational learning to be successful, you have to be motivated to imitate the behavior that has been modeled. Reinforcement and punishment play an important role in motivation. While experiencing these motivators can be highly effective, so can observing other experience some type of reinforcement or punishment. For example, if you see another student rewarded with extra credit for being to class on time, you might start to show up a few minutes early each day.