SOCIALCOGNITIVE APPROACH TO MOTIVATION Goal Orientations A goal

SOCIAL-COGNITIVE APPROACH TO MOTIVATION

Goal Orientations A goal is an outcome or attainment an individual is striving to accomplish (Lock & Latham, 1990)

Goal Orientations In pursuing goals students are generally aware of Some current condition Some ideal condition and The discrepancy between where they are and where they want to be

Goal Orientations • Goal setting improves performance why? • There are four reasons. • Goal setting … 1. Direct our attention to the task at hand. E. g. Goal of finishing some task direct one’s attention to the task even when it is deviated.

Goal Orientations Goal setting … 2. Mobilize effort. The harder the goal the greater the effort. 3. Increase persistence. Goal hinders one from gettting distracted and from giving up the task until he reaches the goal. 4. Promote the development of new strategies when old strategies fall short.

Types of Goals and Goal Orientations • Goals are specific targets. • Types of goal influences the amount of motivation required to reach the goal.

Types of Goals • Goals can be categorized based on the following dimensional characteristics • Specificity ( specific – vague) • Difficulty level ( least difficult – most difficult) • Immediacy ( short term – long term) • Specific, moderately difficult and which can be attained in near future tend to enhance motivation and persistence

Goal Orientations • Goal orientations are patterns of belief about goals related to achievement in school. • It include the reason we pursue goals and standards we use to evaluate progress towards the goal.

Goal Orientations • • There are four main goal orientations Mastery ( learning) Performance ( looking good) Work avoidance Social Murphy & Alexander 2000, Pintrich & Schunk 2002

Mastery goal • It is also called task goals or learning goals. • The point of mastery goal is to improve , to learn , no matter how awkward one appears. • Students with mastery goals have been called task involved learners. • They are considered as ‘get lost in their work’

characteristics of task involved learners. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. They seek challenges Persist when they face difficulties Seek appropriate help Use deeper cognitive processing strategies Apply better study strategies Generally approach academic tasks with confidence

Performance Goal ( looking good) • Students with Performance goals care about demonstrating their ability to others. • They may be focused on getting good test scores and grades • They may be more concerned with winning and beating other students • They may do things to look smart. • The evaluation of their performance with others is a matter for them

Performance Goal ( looking good) • Students with performance goal are called • ‘Ego-involved learners’

‘Ego-involved learners’ cahracteristic behaviours • • Cheats or copies from classmate’s paper Use short cuts to get finished Seeks attention for good performance Work hard only for graded assignments Hides papers with lower grades Compares grades with classmates Chooses tasks that get positive evaluation

Work avoidance goal • Students with work avoidance goal don’t want to learn or to look smart • They want to avoid work • They want to complete their assignments or activities as quickly as possible and without exerting much effort • These students are called • ‘ work-avoidant learners ’

Work avoidance goal • • Work avoidant learners feel successful when They don’t have to try hard The work is easy They can “goof off”(sit idle when there is work)

Social goal • It includes a variety of needs and motives with different relationships to learning. • Some of them help learning and some of them hinder learning. • Need of maintaining friendly relationship with peers in group work hinders learning. Group member don’t challenge wrong answers or misconceptions

Social goal • Goal of having fun with friends hinders learning • Being labelled as “nerd” (stupid) hinders learning

Perception of Control • Cognitive evaluation theory ( Deci & Ryan ) • It explains how events in the learning environment can influence students’ intrinsic motivation by affecting their sense of self determination and competence. • According to theory all events have two aspects • Controlling aspect • Informational aspect

Controlling aspect • If an event is highly controlling it pressures the student to act or feel a certain way and the student will experience less control and their intrinsic motivation will be dimisnished.

Informational aspect • If the event provides information and that increases the students’ sense of competence and efficacy the intrinsic motivation will increase. • If the information makes the student feel less competent the intrinsic motivation will decrease.

Educational implications • Limit controlling message to students • Ensure the information provided highlights students’ growing competence

Self- Efficacy belief • Self-efficacy refers to our beliefs about our personal competence or effectiveness in a given area. • Bandura defines self-efficacy as” beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments.

Self- Efficacy belief • It is future oriented. • It is a context-specific assessment of competence to perform a specific task.

Self-concept • Self-concept is a more global construct that contains many perceptions about the self, including self-efficacy. • It is developed as a result of external and internal comparisons considering other people and other aspects of the self as frame of reference.

Self- Efficacy belief • Self-efficacy focuses on one’s ability to accomplish a particular task with no need for comparisons. • Self efficacy beliefs are strong predictors of behaviour, but self concept has weaker predictive power. .

Self –esteem and Self- Efficacy belief • Self-efficacy is concerned with judgement of personal capabilities; • Self-esteem is concerned with judgement of self-worth. • There is no direct relationship between Self – esteem and Self- Efficacy belief.

Sources of self-efficacy • • • Bendure identified four sources of self-efficacy Mastery experiences Psychological and emotional arousal Vicarious experiences Social persuasion

Social persuasion • The potency of social persuasion depends on the credibility, trustworthiness and expertise of the persuader.