Motivating the Unmotivated Student: Where’s the Locus of

Control?Karen Sullivan-Vance

Director, Academic Advising and Learning CenterWestern Oregon University

sullivak@wou.edu

Is your locus of control intrinsic or extrinsic? Do you ever struggle to find ways to motivate your students? What 

motivates you? For students this is an important question. Too often students struggle with finding motivation for their academic studies. If students lack motivation, then advisors face a difficult task of trying to get students to see the value of their education. This presentation will look at motivation 

through different prisms including intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, content theory, cognitive theory, operant conditioning, push and pull motivations and temporal motivation, achievement motivation and self‐efficacy. 

Abstract

“Motivation is the force that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It is what causes us to take

action, whether to grab a snack to reduce hunger or enroll in college to earn a degree. The forces that lie beneath

motivation can be biological, social, emotional or cognitive in nature.”Kendra Cherry, 2015

What is Motivation?

Survey says…

What do you lack motivation for?

InstinctAchievementExtrinsicIntrinsic

Types of Motivation

“Intrinsic motivation occurs when we act without any obvious external rewards. We simply enjoy an activity or see it as an opportunity to explore, learn and actualize our

potentials.”Coon & Mitterer, 2010

Intrinsic

Challenge Curiosity Control Cooperation and Competition RecognitionMalone and Lepper (1987)

Factors that Increase Intrinsic Motivation

Motivated by reward or avoid punishment. Study to get good grades Participating in sports to win awards Competing in scholarship contests to win money Doing chores to avoid being reprimanded

Extrinsic Motivation

Researchers have found:1. Unexpected external rewards typically do not decrease

intrinsic motivation.2. Praise can help increase internal motivation.3. Intrinsic motivation will decrease, however, when

external rewards are given for only doing minimal work.

Extrinsic Rewards on Intrinsic Motivation

The earliest theories about motivation: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory X and Theory Y ERB Theory McClelland's Needs for Achievement,

Affiliation and Power

Content Theory

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Theory X- People dislike work and will avoid it Most people need to be directed, cajoled or threatened

with punishment to get them to work People prefer to be directed, do not want to be

accountable responsibility, they lack ambition and only want security.

Theory X and Theory Y

Theory Y- Work is normal, just as play and rest are normal. People use self-direction and self-control when they are

committed to the goals. Rewards help people to commit to and achieve goals.

People learn to accept responsibility and also seek it out. The ability to seek and develop innovative problem

solving approaches is widely, not narrowly distributed across the whole population.

Most organizations underutilize the abilities of their employees.

Theory X and Theory Y

Existence NeedsRelatedness Needs Growth Needs

ERB Theory

All people have these three needs: Achievement Affiliation Power

McClelland’s Need for Achievement, Affiliation and Power

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development How humans come to acquire and use knowledge Children construct meaning from what they know and change meaning through their experiences

Cognitive Theory

Modify behavior by using positive and negative responses. • Neutral Operants• Reinforcers• Punishers

Operant Conditioning

People push themselves towards their goals or to achieve something.

Pull motivation is much stronger. The desire to achieve the goal is so strong we are pulled towards it.

Push and Pull Motivations

Temporal Motivation Theory looks at the impact of time and deadlines with regards to the allocation of attention to task. Perceived usefulness/benefit of an activity increases as the

deadline for completion nears. Motivation = (Expectancy x Value)/{1 + (Impulsiveness x

Delay)} Greater the individual’s self-efficacy for completing the task,

and the higher the value of the outcome, the greater the motivation to complete it.

Motivation is reduced by impulsivity and large amount of time before a deadline.

Temporal Motivation

Break up into groups and talk about the information you just received. How do you think you could use it (or not) in

working with students?

Activity Break

Understand that each student is different. What motivates one will not motivate another.

Take time to get to know your students and what they value, what they want to do with their lives and what their goals are.

Expand your knowledge in advising.

How to Motivate?

Appreciative Advising

Motivational interviewing is a collaborative conversation style for strengthening a

person’s own motivation and commitment to change.

Miller and Rollnick, 2013

Motivational Interviewing

Four key processes in MI are: Engaging Focusing Evoking Planning

Motivational Interviewing

Five key communication skills used in MI:Asking open questionsAffirmingReflecting Summarizing Providing information and advice

Motivational Interviewing

Motivation for Advisors

“fundamentally recognize that people will learn best and most deeply when they have a strong sense of control over their own education rather than feeling manipulated by someone else’s demands.

Bain, 2004

Get in small groups and let’s work together to see how you can utilize what you have learned today.

Case Studies

Bloom, J. (2016) http://www.appreciativeadvising.net/Boundless. “Temporal Motivation Theory.” Boundless Psychology. Boundless, 20 Aug. 2015. Retrieved 16 Feb. 2016 from https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless‐psychology‐textbook/motivation‐12/theories‐of‐motivation‐65/temporal‐motivation‐theory‐255‐12790/Fields, J. (2011). The Truth about Motivation: Push, pull and death. Psychology Today.  Retrieved 16 Feb 2016. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/awake‐the‐wheel/201109/the‐truth‐about‐motivation‐push‐pull‐and‐deathHeil, G., Bennis, W., Stephens, D.C. (2000). Douglas McGregor Revisited:  Managing the human side of the enterprise. Wiley, New York, NY.Herzberg, F. (1987), “One more time: how do you motivate employees?”,Harvard Business Review, Vol. 65 No. 5, pp. 109‐20, including a retrospective commentary (originally published in 1968).Herzberg, F., Mausner, B. and Snyderman, B. (1959),The Motivation to Work, Wiley, New York, NY.McGregor, D. (1960). Original XY‐Theory model.

Resources

Miller, W.R. & Rollnick, S. (2013). Motivational Interviewing:  Helping people change.  The Guilford Press, New York: NYMaslow, A. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370‐396. Retrieved February 2016, from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm.Maslow, A. (1954). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper.McLeod, S. A. (2015). Skinner ‐ Operant Conditioning. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/operant‐conditioning.htmlPiaget, J., Gruber, H. (Ed.) & Voneche, J.J. (Ed.). (1995). The Essential Piaget:  An interpretive reference and guide.  Jason Aronson, Inc.Wadsworth, Barry J. (1996). Piaget's theory of cognitive and affective development: Foundations of constructivism (5th ed.). White Plains, NY, England: Longman Publishing

Resources