What Motivates Us?

Motivation is one of my favorite things to study concerning human personality and characteristics. I think about how motivation has played a large part in my life and how it has gotten me where I am now. We are actually in the process of discussing motivation in EIPT 5183 right now, and in that class, we are defining motivation as the process whereby goal-directed activity is instigated or sustained. Motivation helps explain why people choose what they decide to do in a given situation. Every age level of human life has different drives toward motivation; whether out of sheer pleasure and joy, or for the ability to avoid punishment or receive a reward, there are all kinds of motivations that can play a factor in how someone learns and performs. These can be explored by understanding the Self-Determination Theory. Before I dive deeper into how I interpret each type of motivation from the readings, watch this short little video about the two types, and see if there is anything you agree or disagree with.

Intrinsic Motivation

Seeming to be the favorite topic of discussion between the two types of motivation, Richard Ryan and Edward Deci focus a lot of their thoughts and discussion about intrinsic motivation. According to the two authors, intrinsic motivation refers to when a task can be completed due to the fact of the task being fun or enjoyable; no incentive or reward is necessary to have the task be completed. “Perhaps no single phenomenon reflects the positive potential in human nature as much as intrinsic motivation, the inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, and extend and exercise one’s capacities, to explore, and to learn” (Ryan & Deci, 2000, pp. 70).

One personal example I have of intrinsic motivation in my life relates to my past-time of painting pictures. I LOVE getting to paint for all kinds of occasions. I have painted pictures for my classrooms, for friends, for family members, and have never expected any kind of praise or payment for them. I just love getting to be creative and make something that might bring smiles to peoples’ faces. One specific example I have is when I painted 25 mini canvases for students that I did my P.I.P. semester (which is the semester before student teaching) with because I got very close with them all. I wanted to do something special for them by making them little canvases with their favorite animals on them with a background of their favorite color. I didn’t have to do it. I wasn’t expecting any kind of praise from them for doing it. I spent a whole night working on each little canvas because I just loved getting to paint and do something special for those kids. They were the first group students that made me truly feel like I was in the right profession. Here is a picture of all the little canvases I made for each individual student.

Teaching is something I am intrinsically motivated by in that I thoroughly love doing it. It is a position that I wouldn’t have to be paid to do; honestly, I don’t think about being paid on a regular basis. Now, yes, there are rough days where I question my choice in career, but in the long run, when I see those smiling faces of my students and see how much they love to learn or want to do well, it reminds me of why I am doing this job. Students are not always intrinsically motivated by school. I am sure there are a rare few students out there who LOVE going to school and could do it without any kind of reward, but they are a rare bunch from my experiences and stories I have been told. A lot of the students I have come across experience what is known as extrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic Motivation

If I see any type of motivation in education more, it is through extrinsic motivation. I have a lot of students in my class that are extrinsically motivated by all kinds of things, such as earning ClassDojo points for behavior, good grades on their report cards, praise from their teacher(s) and family, etc. It is the opposite of intrinsic motivation in that students have a separable goal that motivates them to complete a task versus having fun or enjoying the task at hand. One prompt that I appreciated from the reading concerning extrinsic motivation is that even Ryan and Deci recognize that school is not always an intrinsic motivational environment. “Given that many educational activities prescribed in schools are not designed to be intrinsically interesting, a central question concerns how to motivate students to value and self-regulate such activities, and without external pressure, to carry them out on their own” (Ryan & Deci, 2000, pp. 60). Third grade is a great example of this quote because it is the year that students begin to realize that they have to start becoming individual, responsible, and self-regulating students; they are beginning to realize that they are the ones responsible for their academic and behavioral actions.

Within extrinsic motivation, we have multiple types. In this list, we move down from least autonomous to greatest autonomous within extrinsic motivation:

1. External Regulation – Behaviors within this type of extrinsic motivation are performed to satisfy an external command.
2. Introjected Regulation – Behaviors within this type of extrinsic motivation are performed out of guilt, feeling pressured, or to gain an ego boost.
3. Identification – Behaviors are performed due to the fact that a learner recognized the importance in a task, and will perform the task to self-regulate themselves.
4. Integration – This “occurs when identified regulations have been fully assimilated to the self” (Ryan and Deci, 2000, pp. 62).

From what I read in the readings this week, and also from my own personal experiences, I would say that Identification and/or Integration would be the ideal extrinsic motivation to have as a desired outcome. One point that I enjoyed reading from Ryan and Deci was about Introjected in that it “was positively related to expanding effort, but was also related to more anxiety and to poorer coping with failures” (Ryan and Deci, 2000, pp. 63). They claimed that Identification led to more of an enjoyable school experience, and I can definitely agree with this. It is the one I especially see in my classroom in that my students are becoming their own independent academic selves by going through responsible experiences in which they have to self-regulate and pace themselves in their tasks. While they may not always enjoy the task, they still understand and realize that the task needs to be done, so they do it because it is the right/responsible thing to do.

One specific example I have from my own childhood of extrinsic motivation, especially introjected regulation (I believe based on what I read about it), is that I would try to get good grades in order to earn spending money for a shopping spree at Toys R Us. My parents told me for every A I would receive on my report card, I would receive $5, $4 for every B, $3 for every C, but nothing for a D or F. Due to this motivation of getting to get the next latest and greatest Barbie, I strived to do well and get A’s and/or B’s on my report card.

Amotivation

While not discussed in depth in the readings this week, it is also important to acknowledge that there is a type of motivation in which there is a lack in motivation. This is known as amotivation. Ryan and Deci discussed this concept by describing it as “the state of lacking an intention to act. When amotivated, a person’s behavior lacks intentionality and a sense of personal causation” (Ryan & Deci, 2000, pp. 61). Someone within this category of motivation does not feel like they are capable of completing a task, they don’t have much value or see value in activities they participate in, and they may not see what is so important about completing it. I, personally, have not come across a student like this in my experiences, but I do wonder if those who are clinically depressed might experience moments of amotivation? The closest to this I have experienced in my own life is that I occasionally have a student who has no motivation to do their homework, and it doesn’t bother them that they have a consequence for not bringing it. A lot of that amotivation towards doing their work is due to family involvement (at least in the experiences I have had). When a student has a family that doesn’t do a lot to help with their homework or classwork, students adopt the feeling that they need to worry about their work. It is still an important type of motivation to acknowledge because we may come across people who act in such a way to show that nothing motivates them properly to get a task done.

Motivation Within a Community

When I think of motivation within a community, I think about the reasons why people join communities in the first place. For example, I am on the virtual community of Tumblr because I love getting to share thoughts and opinions with others who might share the same opinions as me; it gives me that sense of belonging. Going off of this sense of belonging, Abraham Maslow came up with a hierarchy of needs in terms of motivations and goals we set for ourselves. When we are motivated, we usually have a specific need in mind that sets goals for that motivation. Considering that I was looking for a sense of belonging, it makes a lot of sense for me as a person because, if you are an Enneagram fan like myself, I am a Type 2 where we tend to be people-pleasers and seek belonging with others.

Each level of this hierarchy represents different types of goals behind motivation. Physiological needs refer to needs that take care of us health-wise, such as making a goal to get more sleep or watch what we eat; we can be motivated to take better care of ourselves through these types of “needs.” Safety refers to goals/motivations that make us feel safe in multiple aspects, such as financially, personally, etc. Love and belonging pretty much speaks for itself in that we hope that whatever we do makes us feel loved by others, and we have that sense of belonging within the community. Esteem refers to the idea of receiving acknowledgment and praise for things we completed. Self-actualization refers to goals we set for ourselves that help us reach our full potential; we can become motivated to be our best selves. I think there are multiple communities that can help a person achieve and receive each of these needs; the members of the community must be motivated by these needs to help them achieve their goals. These needs may also encourage participation because that participation might help them receive their “need.” This can be done through face-to-face communities, virtual communities, hybrid, etc.

The thing to also remember when concerning a community and how it builds up motivation is through the Self-Determination Theory’s three basic human needs; the need for competence, the need for relatedness, and the need for autonomy. By competence, we refer to a human’s desire to be effective when dealing with a given environment. For example, as a teacher, I desire to be competent in being able to handle my own classroom environment; deal with it in the way that I see as most effective. Concerning autonomy, a human has the need to be able to control and make their own decisions concerning their own lives; having that independency and individuality makes them feel more like a unique human being. Even so, we also have that basic human desire to have friendships and relationships with others around us. Each of these basic needs can be met within a community by a motivated member if they are able to have each of these three things. Having those relationships within the community can help them feel like they belong. Having the ability to have control over their contribution/participation within the community will make them feel secure and safe, while also giving them that sense of self-esteem and confidence. Lastly, if a member of a community can feel like they are able to maneuver and manage the community environment (be it face-to-face, virtual, or hybrid), that will make them feel competent enough to be part of the community. If one of these basic needs is not met, it could drastically change the community’s overall environment vibes.

Resources:

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 54-67.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68-78.