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As we began discussing in the last video, one of the most compelling and empirically supported accounts of what governs intrinsic motivation is known as Self-Determination Theory, affectionately known as SDT. The essence of the theory is right there in the title. Human beings have deep evolved psychological needs to determine their own lives, their own selves. The main three components of self-determination theory are autonomy, or the sense that I am in control of my life. Competence, feeling like my efforts are effective and belongingness, appreciating that I am embedded in a community of shared meaning.
So what does this look like in the classroom? A variety of research studies, meta-analyses and literature reviews indicate that learning environments that encourage intrinsic motivation are those that nudge choice and ownership, that involves activities that are appropriately challenging, frequent feedback about success and those that offer scaffolding and support. Moreover, when students value the outcome of their work which relates to autonomy and they expect to succeed which relates to competence, motivation soars. Contexts that decrease intrinsic motivation involve threats of punishment, surveillance, excessively controlled deadlines and evaluations, controlling tones of voice and something called conditional regard. In other words, my feelings about you depend on your performance. A meta analysis of 344 research studies spanning over 200,000 students found that more self-determined forms of motivation generally related to adaptive outcomes like higher GPA, higher well-being whereas less self-determined forms related to high levels of maladaptive outcomes, like higher levels of symptoms of depression and lower self-efficacy. So consider how can you support students’ autonomy in that classroom, their sense of competence, their belongingness.
One of the most compelling and empirically supported accounts of what governs intrinsic motivation is called self-determination theory (affectionately known as SDT). The essence of the theory is right there in the title —human beings have deep, evolved psychological needs to determine their own lives, their own selves. The main three components of self-determination theory are autonomy (I am in control of my life), competence (My efforts are effective), and belongingness (I am embedded in a community of shared meaning).
In the words of its founders, psychologists Richard Ryan and Edward Deci, “The science of SDT takes seriously our capacities as persons, including our abilities to be aware of ourselves, to actively learn and master our worlds, to strive to internalise cultural norms, to reflectively consider our own attitudes and values, and to make informed choices concerning them (Ryan, Deci, Vansteenkiste, and Soenens, 2021).” In highlighting the importance of belongingness (which they term relatedness), SDT also appreciates the ways that motivation is social in nature.
What are these environmental conditions that increase self-determination? Citing a variety of research studies, meta-analyses, and reviews, Ryan and Deci and colleagues highlight identify contexts that nudge choice and ownership and activities that are appropriately challenging and offer scaffolding support as ones that encourage intrinsic motivation. In addition, a rich literature indicates that when students value the outcome of their work (which relates to autonomy) and they expect to succeed (which relates to competence), motivation soars (Hulleman, Barron, Kosovich, and Lazowski, 2016).
Those contexts that decrease intrinsic motivation involve threats of punishment, surveillance, excessively controlled deadlines and evaluations, “conditional regard” (my feelings about you depend on your performance), and even controlling tones of voice.
Underscoring SDT’s arguments as applied to education, a meta-analysis of 344 research studies spanning 223,209 students reported on the relationships among aspects of motivation and aspects of outcome variables like GPA, intentions to persist at activities, well-being, goal orientation (whether focused on achieving a certain performance or mastering a skill), and self-evaluation (self-efficacy, self-esteem, etc.; Howard, Bureau, Guay, Chong, and Ryan, 2021). They found that more self-determined forms of motivation generally related to high levels of adaptive outcomes (e.g., higher GPA, higher well-being), whereas less self-determined forms related to high levels of maladaptive outcomes (e.g., lower self-efficacy, higher depression).
Intriguingly, “identified” regulation was more associated with many adaptive outcomes than was fully intrinsic motivation, suggesting that for certain academic behaviors like persistence, identifying the activity as important to one’s self-concept may be even more critical than naturally enjoying the activity. This finding makes a lot of sense when you consider how much academic work can be laborious and not intrinsically rewarding even for those subjects you might enjoy. We will discuss this more in a bit!
References:
Howard, J. L., Bureau, J., Guay, F., Chong, J. X. Y., and Ryan, R. M. (2021). Student Motivation and Associated Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis from Self-Determination Theory. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16(6), 1300–1323.
Hulleman, C. S., Barron, K. E., Kosovich, J. J., and Lazowski, R. A. (2016). Student Motivation: Current Theories, Constructs, and Interventions Within an Expectancy-Value Framework. In Lipnevich, A. A., Preckel, F. and Roberts, R. D. (Eds.), Psychosocial Skills and School Systems in the 21st Century: Theory, Research, and Practice (pp. 241–278). Springer International Publishing AG.
Ryan, Richard M., Deci, E. L., Vansteenkiste, M., and Soenens, B. (2021). Building a Science of Motivated Persons: Self-Determination Theory’s Empirical Approach to Human Experience and the Regulation of Behavior. Motivation Science 7, 2:97.
Discussions
How do you support student’s autonomy in the classroom? Their sense of competence? Their belongingness?
Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments section below.