Motivational+Theories


 * __Motivational Theories 1__**

Motivation is a theoretical construct to explain the reason or reasons we engage in a particular behaviour. (Barklay 2010) Many motivational theories have been developed over the years to help explain the reasons why we behave the way we behave and what role extrinsic and intrinsic rewards play in our motivation.

__**Discretionary Effort and Motivation**__ Discreationay effort has been described as the difference between the minimum amount of effort required to complete a task and the realistic amount of sustained effort required to complete high perfromance in the same task. Motivation can be described as the catalyst that stimulates discretionary effort. Motivating students requires instructors to stimulate each students discretionary effort so they can perfrom at a high rate of sustained effort to reach their learning potetntial. How does one motivate another to work harder? A good start is to understand the basic theories of motivation.

**__Douglas McGregor's Theory "X" and Theory "y"__** Originally written as a management theory McGregor's constructed the theory "X" and theory "Y" to discribe the two types of employees, what motivates them and what management styles are required for success within a workplace. Theory "X" summarizes that an average person dislikes work and will avoid it if he or she can. Therefore most people must be forced to work with threat of punishment, and that an average person will avoid responsiblities and requires constant direction. The theory summarizes that this type of employee requires an authoritarian management style in order to meet organizational goals. Theory "Y " summizes that people often seek and accept responsibility,are self directed and do not require external control and their capacity for success requires a particpative management style in order to support them in meeting organizational goals.

__**Fredrick Herzberg's Maintenance Factors vs. Motiviation Factors**__ __**Expectancy Theory**__ Expectancy theory is based on the theory that motivation is driven by an expectant reward. For example a person will be more motivated and provide a stronger effort to complete a task if : Lower effort levels and less motivation will be experienced in persons who have expended great effort and completed a task but have not received the deisred reward. Less effort will also be extended if the skills to comlete the tasks are not available or the reward is not desired.
 * they have the skills to complete the task,and
 * a desired reward is attached to the completion of the task.

__**Attribution Theory of Motivation**__ The Attribution Theory suggests that a students success or failure is dependant upon several factors that either have an external or internal locus. Some external factors that students believe may dictate their success might be the difficulty of the exam or the characteristics of the teacher. Some internal factors that they believe may dictate their success are the amount of effort they put into studying or their academic ability. Their success may also be influenced by whether they believe they have control over some factor or not. For example, they might think they will perform better on an exam if they studied hard for an exam whereas if the teacher springs a "pop quiz" on the students that would be out of the students control and therefore that student may believe they will fail. There are major elements to this attribution theory. They are:
 * Locus -**whether the factors affecting the learners success are internal or external.
 * Stability-** whether the dependant factor is permanent or temporary.
 * Contollability-**whether the learner believes they have the power to influence their own success or failure.

__**Achievement Theory of Motivation**__ The achievement theory basically suggests that a student may have an expectation of success that eventually can influence their intrinsic motivation. For example, if a high achiever student fails on a test or two then that student's intrinsic motivation starts to diminish and the chance of future failure increases. The opposite is also true. If a low achiever has a few successful tests then their intrinsic motivation starts to increase and the chance for future successes increases. The theory also suggests that the initial motivation is mostly extrinsic such as a higher achiever is usually striving for high grades for recognition. On the other hand a low achiever may confirm their expectation and quit if they continue to be unsuccessful.

__**Cognitive Dissonance Theory of Motivation-**__

The cognitive dissonance theory of motivation is extremely interesting and is so applicable in today’s world. Most wars are fought over cognitive dissonance! **Cognition:** according to Wikipedia, is “the process of thought” or “to know, conceptualize, or recognize”. **Dissonance:** “a state of mental conflict” The Cognitive Dissonance Theory is an //intrinsic motivation theory// that suggests that a person //feels the need to act when external information clashes with strongly held beliefs//. New information about a belief or a differing interpretation can cause discomfort, which motivates the individual to learn more to minimize the differences between the old and the new belief. People feel an emotional drive to reduce dissonance because it feels uncomfortable. Cognitive dissonance can cause people to change their attitudes, beliefs, or actions in light of new evidence or on the other hand it can cause people to justify, blame and deny to protect their old beliefs. This conflict can be minimized or eliminated altogether. There are two ways to do this. One is to form an adaptive preference. That means to minimize the positive qualities of the belief by focusing on its negatives. For example, a student who believes that cheating on tests is an easy and efficient way to get through school could reduce the positive qualities of cheating by realizing that he probably will be caught and will have his future schooling and career in jeopardy. This would eventually reduce the desire to cheat and change his actions. The other way is to realize that the discomfort is not caused by the belief but by the attachment to the belief. Letting go of the attachment to the strongly held belief will eliminate the cognitive dissonance altogether. This allows the person to see things from different perspectives but not be overly attached to any of them. Brilliant minds seem to be able to see things from many different perspectives. The motivation that arises from cognitive dissonance can be harmful to learning. If there is cognitive dissonance, there is motivation. The motivation usually starts out to drive a defensive stance. The person is motivated to defend their belief at first. If the evidence challenging their belief is particularly strong then most people will eventually let go of their old belief and adopt the new one. This happens quite often in science and medicine. For example, smoking and its relationship to cancer was once a new concept. Now it is accepted as fact. Many people have changed their actions in light of the evidence supporting this relationship. Some people still deny, blame, and justify to protect their belief and their habit. Religion is somewhat of an exception to this. The more firmly held the belief, the stronger the cognitive dissonance can be and therefore, the stronger the motivation to change the belief or defend it. The motivation that arises from cognitive dissonance can be helpful to learning. We must use caution when introducing new information to our students that challenges a belief structure. We must be aware of the implications of the potential dissonance. A student may abandon learning or “turn off” if the new information conflicts with firmly held beliefs. For instance a student who comes from a family with firmly held religious beliefs attending a biology or even a history course may have a strong dissonance with the new ideas. We must be sensitive to this as instructors and do our best to present new information in a way that would not be too challenging whenever possible. Encouraging a student to reserve judgment until they have explored the topic at hand in depth will also help reduce the cognitive dissonance.

 **" TEACHERS CAN'T BURN OUT, IF THEY ARE NOT ON FIRE"-** Anita Voelker