What motivates us? A brief look at the Theories of Motivation.

The word “motivation” comes from the Latin motivus, meaning “a moving cause” (Ahl, 2006, p. 387). Motivation is the drive and energy we put into accomplishing something we want to do. (Merriam & Bierema, 2014 p.147). It has no form or shape but it affects our lives every day. From the moment we wake up in the morning until we lay down in bed to sleep, motivation occupies a significant part of our brain. Scientists over the century have tried to explain what motivates us as human beings and they have come up with possible theories that would give us a better understanding of how it works. There are two types of motivation: Extrinsic and Intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation includes factors that affect our image or how we would like to be perceived by outside factors, such as our peers, friends, and family. Some examples would be gaining recognition from our peers, getting an award from school, earning a promotion at work, and earning a diploma. Intrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is an internal desire for achievement. Intrinsic motivation tends to be grounded in challenge, curiosity, and mastery (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1991). An example would be discovering a new hobby and getting good at it. The desire is more focused on the self rather than the image we would like to project towards other people.

This begs the question: what is the basis for motivation? Why do we have motivation ingrained into our psychology? To explain this, scientists have introduced Motivation theories. This blog will give a brief overview on the topic of motivation theories with the support of the article “Motivation to learn: an overview of contemporary theories by Cook and Artino.” (Cook, D. A., & Artino, A. R., Jr (2016). Motivation to learn: an overview of contemporary theories. Medical education, 50(10), 997–1014. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.13074).

Expectancy‐value. This explains that Motivation is a function of the expectation of success and perceived value. A person believes that they will have a good chance of success and that there is personal importance, value or intrinsic interest in the task.

Attribution. After an event, learners create subconscious causal explanations (attributions) for the results. Attributions vary in terms of locus, stability and controllability. These influence emotions, which in turn drive motivation in future tasks. If a person tries to master a new skill or learn a new lesson, that person might attribute the success or failure of mastering this skill to his/her innate ability, personal effort or other external factors. The attributions are subconscious, but will inherently influence future attitudes towards these activities. If the person believes that failure was due to a lack of ability, this might discourage that person from future efforts, however, if failure is attributed to external factors such as poor teaching or luck, the individual might try again, especially if the teacher or luck is expected to change.

Social‐cognitive
Human learning and performance result from reciprocal interactions among personal, behavioural and environmental factors. Self‐efficacy beliefs are the primary drivers of motivated action. “Humans are thus proactive and self‐regulating rather than reactive organisms shaped only by the environment; they are ‘both products and producers of their own environments and of their own social systems.” (Pajares, Schunk, Zimmerman, 2008) “Consider, for example, a medical student in a surgery clerkship that is full of highly competitive peers and is run by a physician with little tolerance for mistakes. Such an environment will interact with the student’s personal characteristics (e.g. his confidence, emotions and prior knowledge) to shape how he behaves and whether or not he learns. At the same time, how he behaves will influence the environment and may change some of his personal factors (e.g. his thoughts and feelings). Thus, the extent to which this student is motivated to learn and perform is determined by the reciprocal interactions of his own thoughts and feelings, the nature of the learning environment and his actions.” (Cook & Artino 2016).

Goal orientation
Learners tend to engage in tasks with concerns about mastering content (mastery goal), doing better than others (performance‐approach goal) or avoiding failure (performance‐avoidance goal). Mastery goals appear to stimulate interest and deep learning, whereas performance‐approach goals are associated with better grades. Mastery goals focus on the intrinsic value of learning (i.e. gaining new knowledge or skills): ‘I want to understand the material.’ Performance goals, on the other hand, look at extrinsic motivation factors. The primary concern is to do better than others and avoid looking dumb: ‘I want to get a good grade’

Self‐determination
Intrinsic motivation leads people to act purely to satisfy their curiosity or desire for mastery. All other actions are prompted by extrinsic motivation, which is driven by social values. Extrinsically motivated actions can become self‐determined as values become integrated and internalized. Intrinsic and internalized motivations are promoted by feelings of competence, autonomy and relatedness.

Motivation is a big factor in adult learning. This maybe the reason why we see more and more an adults going back to school. To get educated either to finish what they started or because they need to fulfill an earlier dream or goal in life. I believe motivation is a tool for education and that without it we will never be able to take the first steps to achieve our goals in life.

References
Ahl, H. (2006). Motivation in adult education: A problem solver or euphemism for direction and control? International Journal of Lifelong Education, 25(4), 385–405.

Merriam, S B & Bierema, L L. (2014) Adult Learning: Linking Theory and Practice: Traditional Learning Theories. First Edition. Jossey-Bass.

Cook, D. A., & Artino, A. R., Jr (2016). Motivation to learn: an overview of contemporary theories. Medical education, 50(10), 997–1014. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.13074

Pajares F. Motivational role of self‐efficacy beliefs in self‐regulated learning In: Schunk DH, Zimmerman BJ, eds. Motivation and Self‐Regulated Learning: Theory, Research, and Application. New York, NY: Routledge; 2008;111–39. [Google Scholar]