EPSY 275: Learning

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EPSY 275 Learning Motivation

• School
• Motivation

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Basic Motivational Concepts

• Motivation energizes and directs behavior
• Motivated behavior is goal-directed behavior
• Motivation has qualitative and quantitative
  properties
• Motivation can only be inferred from behavior

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Behavioral Indicators of Motivation

• Choice
• Intensity
• Persistence

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Choice

• Goal setting stage of motivation (first stage)
• Decision about which goal to pursue among
  available options
• Reflects consciously or unconsciously learners
  priorities
• Most informative when unrestrained
• Measure of qualitative property

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Intensity

• Goal striving stage of motivation (second stage)
• Measure of strength (a quantitative property)
• Logic the greater the strength of a motive the
  greater the amount of energy a person will expend
  to obtain that goal

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Persistence

• Also refers to goal striving stage
• Also a measure of the strength of a motive
• Related duration of effort to strength
• Logic - the greater the strength of a motive the
  greater the duration of time a person will
  attempt to obtain that goal (particular after
  experiencing failure or difficulty)

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The Expectancy-Value Principle

• Effort Expectancy X Task Value
• Expectancy refers to the strength of persons
  belief that they will achieve the goal
• Task Value refers to the relative importance of
  the goal given the other available options
• People try the hardest and longest to obtain a
  goal when they are confident they can obtain it
  AND they place great value on it

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Expectancy for Success
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Outcomes Goals

• Outcomes result from our actions
• Outcomes often confused with actions (i.e., my
  goal is to run 2 miles)
• Outcome can be intangible (maybe a psychological
  or physical state) resulting from an action
  (i.e., how I feel after running 2 miles and the
  endorphins kick in) or tangible (prize money
  won from running)

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Three classes of Outcomes (Motivators)

• Positive negative physical effects
• Positive and negative social effects
• Affective self-reactions

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Relationship between Outcome Efficacy
Expectancies
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Sources of Efficacy Expectancies

• Task accomplishments
• Vicarious experiences
• Verbal persuasion
• Physiological State
• Causal analysis

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Attribution Theory

• Concerned with causal analysis phase of
  self-evaluation
• Our beliefs about the cause of our performance in
  a situation influences our expectancy for future
  performance in that situation
• Focus on achievement situation - a situation in
  which a person's performance is compared to some
  standard

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Dimensions of Causality

• Stability
• Locus
• Controllability

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The Stability Dimension

• Causes that are expected to be consistently or
  regularly operating in the situation are said to
  be stable
• Causes that are expected to be irregularly or
  only occasionally operating in the situation are
  said to be unstable

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The Locus Dimension

• Causes that originate outside of the person are
  said to be external
• Causes that originate within the person are said
  to be internal

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The Controllability Dimension

• Causes that are under the control of the person
  are said to be controllable
• Causes that are not under the control of the
  person are said to be uncontrollable

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The Process of Causal Analysis
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Possible Outcomes According to Expectancy
Principle of Attribution Theory