Experimental Studies of Motivation in Education

1. Experimental Studies of Motivation in Education Judith M. Harackiewicz Department of Psychology

2. Goals are mental representations of things we hope to accomplish Why are goals important? • Guide and regulate • behavior • Provide standards • Achievement

3. Contextual Factors (e.g., experimental manipulation) Individual Factors (e.g., achievement orientation, initial interest) Perceived Goal Motivational Processes competence valuation task involvement perceived competence Intrinsic Motivation

4. ACHIEVEMENT GOALS Situationally specific orientations that represent the desire to develop, attain, or demonstrate competence Mastery or Learning Goals - Define competence self-referentially - Focus on the development of skills Performance Goals - Define competence normatively - Focus on the demonstration of ability

6. ACHIEVEMENT GOAL MANIPULATION Neutral Control . . . students' reactions to games and leisure activities . . . and collecting data on what they think of our pinball machines. Performance . . . how well some students play pinball compared to others . . . and collecting data on how well they play compared to others. Mastery . . . how students develop their pinball skills on our pinball machines . . . and collecting data on how they learn to play and improve on our Jungle King machine.

7. Henry Murray, 1938 NEED TO ACHIEVE: “the desire or tendency to do things as rapidly and/or as well as possible.. to accomplish something difficult. To master or manipulate and organize physical objects, human beings or ideas.. To overcome obstacles and attain a high standard. To excel one’s self. To rival and surpass others..”

8. Jackson, 1974; Personality Research Form Self-report measure of achievement orientation, based on Murray’s definition HAMs - high achievement orientation LAMs - low achievement orientation

9. Free time spent playing pinball Harackiewicz & Elliot, 1993, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

10. He says that he really enjoyed his first semester at college. I know I should be pleased by this, but I'm not convinced that enjoyment is what it's all about. (Whenever a student tells me he or she "enjoyed" my course, I want to ask "Yes, but did you learn anything?") I suppose my attitude is antediluvian, and in principle I guess there's nothing wrong with learning being enjoyable. Still, I can think of a good many courses I took that I didn't enjoy, but that I'm glad I took.

11. How should we define success in college education? • - learning and performance typically indexed with • GRADES • students’ experiences and continuing motivation may be reflected in • INTEREST

12. Mastery Goals In a class like this, I prefer course material that really challenges me so I can learn new things. My goal in this class is to learn as much as I can about this topic. • Performance Goals • It is important for me to do well compared to others in this class. • My goal in this class is to get a better grade than most of the • other students.

13. Contextual Factors (e.g., implicit situational cues) Personality Factors (e.g., achievement orientation) Perceived Goal Intrinsic Motivation Performance

14. Interest ? .35 Mastery Goals Interest in Psychology .16 Enjoyment of Class Performance Goals .16 Final Grade

15. Further studies of interest • Examine the development of interest over time • Consider the role of individual and situational factors • Consider the reciprocal relations between mastery goals and interest • Consider the possibility that we can influence interest with experimental interventions • Examine the role of perceived value in the interest process

16. Interest can develop or deepen • during a college class.. • Interest can be triggered or “caught” – • emotional reactions, attention, stimulation • Interest can be maintained or “held” – • personal importance, meaning, values And, we need to consider the interest that students bring to the class at the outset…

17. Hidi & Renninger (2006) Four-phase model of interest • Interest is the outcome of an interaction between a person and particular content – the potential for interest is in the person, but content and environment determine direction and development of interest • Interest develops and deepens over time through four phases

18. Externally prompted Arousal Attention Affect Triggered situational interest Maintained situational interest Emerging individual interest Well-developed individual interest Focused attention Persistence Meaningfulness Personal Relevance Personal value Knowledge Re-engagement Enduring predisposition Curiosity questions Self-generated

19. Study Design - Consider the role of initial interest in goal adoption and promoting situational interest - Examinethe development of interest over time, and the role of goals in that process • First day of Introductory Psychology course: Initial Interest • Second week: Achievement Goals and Enjoyment of Lecture (Catch-1) • Last weeks: Interest (Catch-2 and Hold) • End of course: Final Grade • Four year follow-up: Continued Interest (behavioral measure) N=858 Harackiewicz, Durik, Barron, Linnenbrink-Garcia, & Tauer, Journal of Educational Psychology, 2007

20. Performance-Approach Goal +.24 Final Grade -.13 Performance-Avoid Goal +.11 Catch-2 Catch-1 +.53 +.20 +.29 +.49 Initial Interest Hold +.20 Mastery Goal +.19 +.40 Courses Taken +.14 7 Semesters..

21. Can we promote catch and hold in education? Laboratory studies using an experimental learning paradigm Teach students about a new topic or teach them a new mathematical technique

22. Overview • Study 1: • Test task properties theorized to catch interest • Study 2: • Replicate study 1 • Test task properties theorized to hold interest Durik & Harackiewicz, 2007, Journal of Educational Psychology

24. Step 1 Step 2 Step 4 3 2 3 2 3 2 x 4 2 x 4 2 x 4 2 Step 3 3 2 x 4 2 1200 1280 1340 1344 Experimental Task • Four-step, mental math technique for solving two-digit multiplication problems

25. Design

26. Design

27. Non-catch vs. Catch • Non-catch: visually un-stimulating instructional materials • plain text • Catch: visually stimulating instructional materials • Colorful and varied text • Vivid pictures

28. Non-catch Catch

29. Process Variables(Harackiewicz & Sansone, 1991) • Task involvement • Absorption • Focused attention • Competence valuation • Caring about doing well • Perceived competence • Self-evaluation of skill

30. Math Interest x Catch on Task involvement

31. Math Interest x Catch on Competence Valuation

32. Math Interest x Catch on Task Interest

33. Conclusions from Study 1 • Catch promoted task interest for people with low math interest • Catch undermined task interest for people with high math interest • These effects were mediated by competence valuation and task involvement

34. Design Personal interest in math also included as factor

35. Non-catch vs. Catch • Non-catch: similar to Study 1 • Catch: slightly different • Fewer line pictures (more photographs) • Toned down colors

36. Non-catch  Catch 

37. Save 35% Non-hold vs. Hold • No mention of personal utility • Hold: Personal utility • monitoring grocery totals • personal banking • calculating tips at restaurants • determining discounts at retail stores • In catch conditions, accompanied by pictures

38. Math Interest x Catch on Task Involvement

39. Math Interest x Catch on Competence Valuation

40. Math Interest x Hold on Perceived Competence

41. Math Interest x Catch Math Interest x Hold Effects on Interest in Technique

42. Study 2: Summary of Results • Catch promoted interest via task involvement among individuals with low math interest • Hold promoted interest via perceived competence among individuals with high math interest

43. Conclusions: Studies 1 and 2 • The effects of situational enhancements can work differently for different people • Situational factors relate to interest via different processes (competence valuation, involvement, perceived competence)

44. How do mastery goals facilitate the development of interest? • Interest may deepen when individuals perceive value in a task • Two kinds of task value (Eccles, 2005; Wigfield & Eccles, 2002) particularly important: • Intrinsic value: “This class is important to me because I enjoy coming to lecture” • Utility value :“What I am learning in this class is relevant to my life” Back to the classroom……………….

45. Psychology Classroom .13 Mastery Intrinsic value .14 .61 .16 .32 Initial Interest .36 Final Interest .25 .30 Utility Value .11 .19 Performance .18 Final Grade Hulleman, Durik, Schweigert, & Harackiewicz, Journal of Educational Psychology, in press

46. Study 3: Experimental Paradigm • Mental Math • 15-minute Learning session • Manipulate value through writing Hulleman, Godes, Hendricks & Harackiewicz, in prep Hulleman, Godes, Hendricks, & Harackiewicz (2007)

47. Study 3: Writing Manipulations Control: Type a short essay describing the objects that you see in the picture. Simply describe in detail the objects that you see. Utility Value: Type a short essay briefly describing the potential relevance of this technique to your own life, or to the lives of college students in general. . . Please focus on how this technique could be useful to you or to other college students. . . Hulleman, Godes, Hendricks, & Harackiewicz (2007)

48. Study 3 Results d = .42, p = .03 (β = .21) d = .49, p = .01 (β = .25) Hulleman, Godes, Hendricks, & Harackiewicz (2007)

49. Study 3 Results Final Utility Value Final Interest Interaction β = .26, p = .01 Interaction β = .15, p < .15 Hulleman, Godes, Hendricks, & Harackiewicz (2007)

50. Summary: Studies 3 & 4 • Perceived utility value predicts interest and performance (Studies 3 & 4) • Manipulated utility value predicts perceived utility value and interest, particularly for low achievers (Study 4) Can we extend these causal findings to an actual classroom?