learning and motivation unit three (week 11)

Self-Determination Theory: Ryan and Deci

  • self-determination theory: need for autonomy, belonging, and competence is essential for growth, integration, constructive social development and personal well-being

  • intrinsic motivation: inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges

  • extrinsic motivation: performance of an activity in order to achieve some separable outcome

  • self-determination continuum from least to most internal

    • amotivation: non-regulation, impersonal locus of control
    • the state of lacking the intention to act
    • results from
      • not valuing an activity
      • not feeling competent
      • not expecting an activity to yield a desired outcome
    • extrinsic motivation
    • external regulation: performed to satisfy an external demand or reward contingency
    • introjected regulation: taking in a regulation but not fully accepting it as one’s own
      • includes ego involvement - people are motivated to demonstrate ability / avoid failure in order to maintain feelings of worth
    • identified regulation: conscious valuing of regulation action is owned as personally important
    • integrated regulation: identified regulations are fully assimilated to the self
    • intrinsic motivation: intrinsic regulation - internal locus of control

    \n Math Anxiety: Maloney

  • math anxiety: adverse emotional reaction to math / the prospect of doing math. tied to poor math performance

    • as young as elementary school
    • hyperactivity in amygdala regions (processing neg emotions)
  • onset of math anxiety caused by

    • social influences
    • teachers who’re math anxious impart that anxiety on their students
    • falls among gender lines: demale teachers’ attritudes are more contagious to female students
    • cognitive predisposition
  • prevention: early identification of at-risk students

    • children who don’t have strong foundations in ath are more math anxious
  • reducing math anxiety

    • regulation of negativity associated with math situations
    • expressive writing
    • reappraisal / reframing techniques: reconstrue anxious symptoms as arousal, not as something negative
    • thinking positively
  • math anxiety decreases motivation and self-efficacy

    \n Expectancy Effect: Rosenthal

  • teachers’ expectancies of their students increased their IQs

  • only for younger students

    • younger children have less well-established reputations
    • more susceptible to unintentional social influence created by their teacher
    • teachers of lower grades may differ (teaching style, etc)
  • experimenter bias

  • independent variable: whether teachers were told the student had a high iq and were going to bloom

  • factors that mediated the effect of teachers’ expectations on students’ growth

    • teachers instilled more confidence in the students, increasing their self-efficacy
    • younger subjects were more malleable and more likely to be influenced by the teacher
    • expecting the students to be right and making them a model, giving more positive attention and creating more opportunities
    • more challenging tasks
    • labeled the students
    • teachers of young students have different teaching styles - more student centered, more reinforcement
    • self-fulfilling prophecy - because they were expected to grow, they did

    \n Self-determination theory

  • explains growth-oriented aspects of motivation and personality integration

  • intrinsic motivation: result of three innate psych needs

    • self-determination / autonomy
    • relatedness / belonging
    • competence
  • autonomy supportive environments

    • emphasize individuals needs / interest / goals
    • encourage choice and initiative
  • need for competence

    • feedback that increase perceived competence increases intrinsic motivation
  • need for relatedness

    • enhances student engagement and well-being
  • identified / integrated and intrinsic regulation

    • goal is to improve one’s identity-related competence
    • reflects a learning / mastery goal

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