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Motivation - What is Motivation. Motivation is the force that makes us do things: this is a result of our individual needs being satisfied (or met) so that we have inspiration to complete the task. These needs vary from person to person as everybody has their individual needs to motivate themselves. Depending on how motivated we are, it may further determine the effort we put into our work and therefore increase the standard of the output. When we suggest factors (or needs) that determine the motivation of employees in the workplace, almost everyone would immediately think of a high salary.... [tags: Motivation Leadership Management] Theories of Motivation - Theories of Motivation What is motivation. According to text, motivation is defined as a set of factors that activate, direct, and maintain behavior, usually toward a certain goal. Motivation is the energy that makes us do things: this is a result of our individual needs being satisfied so that we have inspiration to complete the mission. These
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needs vary from person to person as everybody has their individual needs to motivate themselves. Depending on how motivated we are, it may further determine the effort we put into our work and therefore increase the standard of the productivity.... [tags: Motivation] Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation - When a person plans or wants to do something, he or she has a motivation for that specific thing. In other words, when a person does something, that person has a reason why he or she should do that thing. Not always there is a reason to do something, but sometimes may be many reasons that are backing a person to take those actions to do it. This happens not only to humans, or living organisms, but also in nonliving organisms. An example is when a rock which had bounced after it hit the floor while falling down.... [tags: Motivation, ] Motivation Profile - There are three individuals Ella, Marcelo, and Masoko who are trying to gain a promotion at their place of employment. Motivated employees are needed at all workplaces. Motivated employees help their companies and place of employment survive. Managers need to know what motivates their employees. Of all of the duties of an employer motivating employees arguably is the most complex. This is due, to the part of what motivates employees which changes constantly (Bowen& Radhakrishna, 1991).Each individual is motivated to gain a job promotion using three theories of motivation.... [tags: Business Employment Motivation] The Power of Motivation - Inside an organization, people are expected to their best work. Best work is easier to achieve when theres the help of motivation. Motivation is one of the important factors to create effective management inside an Organization (Wood et al., 2006). Every person inside a company is motivated by different kind of things. According to Dawson (1986 cited in Thompson & McHugh 2002) motivation is a behavior, which can drive someone to act towards their goal. A motivated person will perform at maximum capacity in their jobs.... [tags: leadership, motivation theories] Theories of Motivation - Theories of Motivation According to Greenberg (1999) motivation is defined "as a process of arousing, directing and maintaining behaviour towards a goal." Where directing' refers to the selection of a particular behaviour; and maintenance' refers to the inclination to behave with consistency in that manner until the desired outcome is met. Motivation is therefore the force that transforms and uplifts people to be productive and perform in their jobs. Maximising an employee's motivation is necessary and vital to successfully accomplish the organisation's objectives and targets.... [tags: Management Employee Motivation] :: 3 Works Cited Work Motivation - Introduction What is motivation. Motivation is difficult to explain and even harder to "turn on" in people. Webster defines motivation as "an act or process of motivating; the condition of being motivated; a force, stimulus, or influence: incentive or drive" ("Motivation"). It is most often the job of the manager to use motivation to drive its employees to accomplish acts which they normally would not have done. The study of motivation helps managers understand what prompts people to initiate action, what influences their choice of action, and why they persist in their action over time (Daft and Marcic 444).... [tags: Employee Management Motivation]
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Motivation Is Progression - Motivation Equals Progress Self interest is a driving force; it is motivation. Motivation leads to progression and without progression early man would never have gotten past learning about fire. There is no single purpose of self-interest, it is for the individual to decide, but it is my motivation to live and I am convinced that it raises the standards of life. All things naturally progress because they adapt. According to Darwin, the strong survive; that is, the members of a species best suited to their environment.... [tags: Motivation Hobbes Progressing Essays] Motivation for Work - "Work" is a positive thing for many people. To some people, it may be described as a place to escape from the kids, or even a time consumption thing for a single or retired person, but most importantly it is what we do in order to provide for our families and ourselves. Work is something that we all will experience at one time or another during our lives. There are several reasons why a person goes to work. These reasons can be better explained as "work motivation". Work motivation can be defined as the inner forces that make us work and want to work harder to achieve personal or organizational goals (George & Jones, 2005).... [tags: Business Employee Motivation] Motivation in the Workforce - Motivation in the Workforce Works Cited Not Included Managing employees is cited as being the biggest problem to small business owners. This is because employers very often don't know how to handle employees. Effectively managing employees is a skill acquired through training and practice. Many books have been written on the subject, and courses are regularly offered through educational institutions. Motivation theories were developed or built upon the "human relations" findings. The new focus for motivation theory was on the search for satisfaction of human needs.... [tags: Employment Businesses Motivation Essays] Workplace Motivation - Organizations include many different types of people and personalities that in turn create a need for different types of motivational strategies. In our organization we have three types of employees that we work with: salespeople, production workers, and administrative staff. We will be discussing which motivational theories affect each group and why it impacts each group differently. Production Staff The production staff in our organization seems to be motivated best using "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs" theory.... [tags: Organization Motivation Leadership Employee] :: 3 Works Cited Culture and Motivation - ... Employees would feel more comfortable with structure and strict procedures. In countries with low power distance managers could benefit from empowering employees. Employees are free to voice their opinions and develop and express new ideas or plans. Empowerment would motivate employees more in a country with low power distance. Individualism versus Collectivism According to Sledge, Miles, and Coppage (2008) individualism versus collectivism is the concepts of I and Me versus We and Us (p.... [tags: Business, Employee Motivation] Employee Motivation - In this Individual Project we will discuss the issues of FMC Green River focusing on Employee Motivation, along with Job Design and Goal Setting, Performance Appraisal, Pay and Career Development. This analysis has been requested to be continued by Mr. Kenneth Dailey with FMC Green River. FMC is and has been a successful
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company for the last fifty-six years. First originated in 1948 and produced 1.3 million tons of various grades of soda ash a year. The success of the first business brought about a second refining plant in 1953, which was completed in 1970.... [tags: Job Motivation Workforce] Motivation in the Workforce - Missing Works Cited Motivation in the Workforce Motivation is nothing but an effort by the managers to help people focus their minds and capabilities on doing their work as effectively and efficiently as possible. Trust is another key to motivate people to perform at their best. Effective interpersonal communication also helps to develop an environment that motivates employees. If the employees are aware what the expectations of the managers are they can perform their jobs more effectively. A truly motivating environment is one where employees feel that their opinions are valued and where they can experience a sense of belongingness.... [tags: Motivation Workplace Employment Motivate Essays] Employee Motivation - Employee Motivation INTRODUCTION In the quest to obtain the maximum from employees and achieve organizational success, employers recognised the need to acknowledge that people have complex needs. With the growing affluence of our society, Singaporeans of today are no longer solely driven by money but also challenges inherent in their responsibility. This is supported by our Senior Minister Goh who recently commented that Singaporeans prefer the experience of working abroad than locally as the foreign employer advocate the importance of not only work, but also the employees needs.(TODAY, 15 March 07).... [tags: Work Job Employee Motivation Management] :: 7 Works Cited Motivation, Organizational Behavior and Performance - Motivation is an important concept which is critical for understanding of and improvement in organizational behaviour and performance. It is therefore important for the managers to understand motivation. It is an important tool which they can use to get more out of their employees and increase organizational performance. Motivation can be defined as the factors, both internal as well as external which arouse in individuals the desire and commitment for a job (Mele, 2005, p. 15). Organizational performance on the other hand refers to the degree to which the organizational objectives have been achieved.... [tags: organizations, business, motivation,] Insight on the Motivation of Workers - Motivation has always been a subject of much research over the last fifty years however there have been many definitions and theories describing and analysing motivation but the research is never complete. Right from Robert Owen who described human beings to be like machines that need care and maintenance to work efficiently till Drucker (1999) who described them as the knowledge workers of the 21st century with different needs and therefore on what it is required I would like to elaborate on the following articles to get a deep insight.... [tags: Motivation, management, managers,] Job Satisfaction and Employee Motivation - Job Satisfaction and Employee Motivation Abstract The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how motivation is instilled in the workplace with co-workers and oneself. In addition, objects that make the job satisfying will be discussed. Body Motivation is something that can come and go in an instant. The workplace often can be a fun and enjoyable place, but other times it can be the pit of hell. Not only do most of us cope with stress, fatigue, mental and physical
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anguish, but we must also complete the mission that is set forth for us.... [tags: Employment Management Motivation] The Importance of Motivation in an Organization - According to Greenberg (1999), motivation is defined as a process of arousing, directing and maintaining behavior towards a goal. Where directing refers to the selection of a particular behavior; and maintenance refers to the inclination to behave with consistency in that manner until the desired outcome is met. Motivation is the force that transforms and uplifts people to be productive and perform in their jobs. Maximizing employees motivation is a necessary and vital to successfully accomplish the organizations targets and objectives.... [tags: Business Employee Motivation Morale] Equity Theory of Motivation - Equity Theory of Motivation Introduction: Robbins & Judge (2007, p.186) defines Motivation as the processes that account for an individuals intensity, direction, and persistence of effort towards attaining a goal. Equity theory comes under process theory which gives the perception whether the individual is going to work hard or not depending upon the rewards and possible outcomes. This paper discusses and describes the equity theory of motivation with its implications to managers in the light of a real organizational example.... [tags: Employee Motivation Workforce] Motivation - ... The reason is because extrinsic motivation sometimes, though not always, involves competition with others and comparison to others, whether its a sport or a job promotion. I strongly believe that motivation is pre-positioned on what we believe - our convictions. Therefore, in order to know if our motives are right we have to know ourselves, examine ourselves, know what our convictions are, and have the courage to stand by them. Sometimes its easier for someone else to motivate a person than for that person to motivate themselves, but I believe the theory discussed in the book MIND OVER MOOD that a person has to change the way they think in order to change how they feel.... [tags: Human Traits] :: 5 Works Cited Motivation - Motivational Needs and Processes What is motivation. Motivation is derived from the Latin term movere that means to move. Thus, motivation is a process that starts with a physiological or psychological deficiency or need that activates a behaviour or a drive that is aimed at a goal or incentive (Luthans). Broadly speaking, motivation is willingness to exert high levels of efforts towards organizational goals, conditioned by the efforts ability to satisfy some individual needs (Robbins). Need means some internal state that make certain outcomes appear attractive.... [tags: Psychology] Motivation - ... The first factors, called hygiene factors and the second factors called motivators, "Hygiene factors include the presence or absence of job dissatisfies, and like working inters personal relationships. Psychology Today, What is motivation, Jane Smith and Jim Taylor, 2007. The second collection of factors includes achievement, recognition, responsibility, and opportunity for growth. This theory illustrates the importance of the work to be fun for workers. This theory gives workers the chance for creativity and decision-making, responsibility and achievement.... [tags: Business Management] Motivation - ... This theory further assumes that without the active
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intervention by management, people would be resistant to organisational needs and passive in their actions. On the other hand, Theory Y assumes that people are not lazy; they are capable of self direction and self control and of providing important suggestions that will improve organisational effectiveness (McGregor, 1957). Applied to my situation, I was using parts of these both theories. I assumed my friend to be lazy, immature and lacking in ambition since my friend was avoiding studying for the test.... [tags: Psychology, Maslow, Hertzberg] Motivation - ... So if you rise in the hierarchy the needs become less important. And whenever we went down to the bottom of those needs have become more important. Maslow's believed that the five requirements are workable in any environment and time. It would appear that Maslow's explanation cannot account for every case. For example, if the worker is a poor person he will not satisfy his needs but still have the respect of social. Moreover, Maslow's did not give important to the belief and I think that is more important than all the needs that mentioned in the hierarchy.... [tags: Psychology] Motivation - Missing Works Cited The focus of this paper is to discuss what motivation is and ways managers can acquire the most out of our employees. Managers must ask themselves certain questions in the work place when comes to motivation. Why do some people work hard and others coast. Why do some leaders have high-producing units and others, with employees of comparable background, have low producing ones. Why are some organizations noted for a culture in which employees are highly motivated and enjoy work, whereas others are noted for high turnover rates.... [tags: Business Management] Motivation - helpful individual, and others viewed his work as being inconsistence and spotty at times. Rios is required to submit a formal performance evaluation on all of her workers, and Barlows performance appraisal was the most challenging yet she had to face. Lack of Motivation Barlows behavior at the TA can be simply defined as lack of motivation, and this can be further explained in depth by the use of expectancy theory. The expectancy model states, People are motivated to work when they expect to achieve things they want from their jobs.... [tags: essays research papers] Motivation and Hygiene Factors in Indian IT Sector - Motivation and Hygiene Factors in Indian IT Sector SYNOPSIS 1. Descriptive title of the study This study is based on the Herzbergs Motivation Hygiene Theory. In this study we try to understand the Herzbergs theory based on changing environment of Indian IT sector. 2. Nature of the study o Problem to be examined With the changing economic and social values and status in India, we here try to find the current motivation and hygiene factors prevailing in the Indian IT sector. o Significance and need for the study As we all know that the IT sector constitutes a large portion of the Indian economic developments that we all had seen in the recent times.... [tags: Motivation Study IT] motivation - There are several Organizational Behaviors that can be attributed towards how successful a company or one in a company will be. I have decided that the two most important elements are the motivational behaviors and the stress factors. The reason I have chose these are that someone that is motivated and can deal with stress in positive ways will be a success. Also when a corporation can motivate its employees and helps
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them deal with stress they are usually successful as well. Stress is a very serious problem, and can be affiliated with many fatal conditions.... [tags: essays research papers] Motivation - Motivation is defined as, the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior. Motivation is key in personal life as well as the career world. Motivation in the work place is highly dependent on employers being able to understand the needs and wants of their employees. When employers can understand and satisfy an employees needs, the employee is more inclined to perform well in his position. The ranked order of motivating factors were: (a) interesting work, (b) good wages, (c) full appreciation of work done, (d) job security, (e) good working conditions, (f) promotions and growth in the organization, (g) feeling of being in on things, (h) personal loyalty to employees, (i) tactful discipline, and (j) sympathetic help with personal problems. (Accel-Team) In order to achieve all or some of these key motivating factors in the work place, an employee generally will want interesting work, good wages, and recognition from superiors and peers.... [tags: essays research papers] Motivation - ... This level is good to give the person many skills that are beneficial and give them experience such as, good confident and responsibility as well. Finally, if we give them opportunity, they will reach higher level or top position if they have good qua lification. Maslows theory is important to know what level employee are at and how can we motivate them accordingly. The two factor theory presented by Frederick Herzberg, the theory is divided into two factors. Firstly, hygiene and second one is motivator, Frederick has done research in the worker behaviour in his research he interviewed many worker most of them were motivated to towards and many were dissatisfied to their job.... [tags: Business Management] :: 5 Works Cited Motivation - Motivation How do you get things done in an organization. First, you must have managers who can delegate to regular employees. In order for a manager to be effective at delegating, he/she must be able to motivate employees to work for him/her. There are many forms of motivation. Yet there is not one prescribed method for all employees. So I ask are motivated employees more productive employees. Effective managers have the ability to get things done through other people. This is accomplished by motivating employees to accomplish tasks.... [tags: Employment Work Papers] :: 7 Works Cited Motivation - Motivation INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether the needs of the employees, of HRD Department of the company, I used to work for, are relevant with the Maslow's Need Hierarchy Theory or not. In order to analyze above purpose, I have concentrated on five employees, after dividing them into four groups by the level of their education, income, and responsibility. Five levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs are : Physiological, safety and security, belonging and love, esteem and the self-actualization need.... [tags: GCSE Business Marketing Coursework Essays] :: 6 Works Cited The Effect of Motivation on an Employee's Work Performance - The aim of this essay is to give an in depth explanation on the effect that motivation can have on an employees' commitment and performance at
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work. It will examine several different motivational theories and their criticisms. It will also look at how differing attitudes of an employee affect motivation. Finally it will examine how motivation is linked to commitment and performance at work. What is Motivation. Motivation can be described as a driving force within us. It makes people try and achieve certain targets in order to satisfy a particular need or expectation.... [tags: Employee Motivation] Motivation - ... This finding fit on Herzbergs two factor theory where he referred to intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors. According to McCormick and Tifflin (1979), rewards can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic rewards stem from rewards that are inherent in the job itself and which the individual enjoys because of successfully completing the task or attaining his goals. While extrinsic rewards are those that are external to the task of the job, such as pay, work condition, fringe benefits, security, promotion, contract of service, the work environment and conditions of work.... [tags: Business, Employee Satisfaction, Pay] motivation - Ones personality can be understood from the people they mingle with. With this said, I find myself most influenced and inspired by personalities similar to mine. Whether it is an innate biological factor or a result of my upbringing, I find myself to be an anthology of all the personalities within my immediate family. My familys personalities and leadership qualities are all similar and have been highly instrumental in my own personality. One would ask, what type of personalities do your family possess? My mother, the most influential personality and leader in my life is a complete replica of what I want to be, and with time, what I will be.... [tags: essays research papers] Motivation in Different Companies - Motivation in Different Companies Can your motivation recommendations for FMC Green River be effective at other companies. Why or why not. Use the text, other materials, and your own experience to support your argument. If you use other sources, cite them using APA guidelines. The motivation could be effective for a lot of other companies as well as Green River. I believe that with hard work and a set plan you can accomplish anything. The difficulty that other companies might have is to get the employees to understand and adapt to the new rules, policies or procedures of the companies.... [tags: Motivation Motivate Businesses Employment Essays] Critique of Two Journal Articles on Motivation - Critique of Two Journal Articles on Motivation Expectancy theory is one of the most widely used motivation theory. It is first proposed by Victor Vroom Yale School of Management in 1964. This theory is well supported by many evidence, and believe that the degree how people would act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome, and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.(Robbins et al. 2008) Two research-based articles which used expectancy theory to examine the factors impact target object in different circumstances are compared in this critique article.... [tags: Motivation Theory Article Analysis Compare] The Elements of Success: Self Motivation and Self Determination - Self motivation and self determination are the most important ways to succeed. In this essay I will use, Learning to Read and Write by Fredrick Douglass, The Lonely, Good Company of Books by Richard Rodriguez, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, and an interview of Patti Read to argue that self
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motivation and self determination are the most important element to becoming successful. First, I will frame my argument, and then I will incorporate my first source, followed by my second source, and then I will have a paragraph that will deal with the opposition, followed up with my final piece of evidence.... [tags: success, Self Motivation, Self Determination, ] Human Behavior: Motivation - People go to work for many different reasons: because they are board, or need to help support a family in this day in age it takes 2 incomes to support a family and keep a home in running order with the cost of everything going up. There are many different types of ways to motivate people, because different people get motivated in different ways not just one thing will work on everyone. There are two types of motivations intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic is where if you stay over at work to help out because you enjoy the work, Extrinsic is I hurry threw my work as so to get out early so I can go shopping, the reward shopping.... [tags: Research Paper Motivation Techniques] The Importance of Motivation - The Importance of Motivation Motivation is perhaps the most crucial element of a childs education. According to Michael B. Brown, Ph. D at East Carolina University, an academically motivated student is a child that wants to learn, likes learning-related activities, and believes school is important (Brown, 1998). Thus a motivated student and a smart student are not categorically equivalent. While the correlation between intelligence and achievement is higher than the correlation between achievement and any other factor, the relationship is not perfect.... [tags: essays papers] :: 27 Sources Cited Intrinsic motivation - Intrinsic motivation Young children are compelled to learn because of their natural curiosity in life. Older children seem to need a push in the direction to learn. This describes the two types of motivation. Intrinsic motivation describes the young child. It is motivation from within and the desire someone feels to complete a task, including natural curiosity. Intrinsic motivation is anything we do to motivate ourselves without rewards from an outside source. In relation to learning, one is compelled to learn by a motive to understand, originating from their own curiosity (Rehmke Ribary, 2003 p.intrinsic).... [tags: essays papers] :: 16 Sources Cited Theories of Motivation - Theories of Motivation Introduction into motivation In this essay the writer is going to explore the concept of motivation, this is hopefully going to be achieved through exploration of the complex and variable nature of needs and expectations. Formal and informal theories of motivation will be discussed, focussing on the former. Mainly but this will involve mainly the formal theories because these are the ones that content and process theories fall under. Content and process theories of motivation will be evaluated with particular emphasis on the links between motivation and leadership.... [tags: Papers Work Motivating Employees Essays] :: 1 Sources Cited Employee Motivation - ... There are a number of factors that influence motivation in the employees of the organization. The most common factors that organization considers to be a determent of the motivation is the money. This is not entirely wrong perception because indeed it is one of the ways through which the employees can be motivated. However, it is not the only way to motivate the workforce because not every individual at all the times can be motivated by money only. Motivation through money can be
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beneficial in the short term but not in the long run.... [tags: Business Management] Intrinsic Motivation - Intrinsic Motivation Sometimes a student can be fascinated in a subject and are eager to learn more without outside influence or help. This kind of a situation is when there exists a large amount of intrinsic incentive to motivate a child. It is when a student enjoys an aspect of an activity enough to be motivated within. An intrinsic incentive could arise in any subject of interest such as dinosaurs, famous people, or far off places. However, topics that are learned in schools today do not arouse children since they find the information useless in their everyday lives (Slavin, 2000).... [tags: essays papers] :: 28 Sources Cited Management - Motivation - Management - Motivation Table Of Contents II. INTRO 1 III. Define Motivation 1 IV. Hierarchy of Needs 1 - 2 V. INTRINSIC REWARDS 2 VI. EXTRINSIC REWARDS 2 - 4 VII. CONTENT MOTIVATION 4 ERG Theory 4 Two Factor Theory 4 - 5 VIII. PROCESS MOTIVATION 5 Equity Theory 5 Goal-Setting Theory 5 - 6 Expectancy Theory 6 IX. CONCLUSION 7 X. WORKS CITED 8 XI: MEMORANDUM 10 II. INTRO One of the key aspects of management is motivating. Finding the right form of motivation is a problem thats been around ever since motivation in the work place was conceived as an idea.... [tags: Business Management Motivating] :: 6 Sources Cited Employee Motivation - ... Both Bauer and Erdrogen (2009) and Sadri and Bowen (2011) state that the five basic human needs, presented in Maslows hierarchy of needs, are physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem ,and self-actualization. Udechukwu (2009) states that Maslow believed that humans aspire to self-actualized levels and believe that once a need has been satisfied substantially, it ceases to be a motivator. Then, employees move to the next level in the needs hierarchy and work on satisfying those needs (Sadri & Bowen, 2011, p.45).If an employee seem unmotivated and isnt working up to the level expected of him or her it could be an indication that said employee has needs that are not being met and need a range of motivators in order to remain engaged in their work (Sadri & Bowen, 2011, p.45).... [tags: Business Management ] :: 4 Works Cited Employee Motivation - ... Motivating employees is no doubt one of the most complex and challenging task that leaders performs; this is due to the fact that what motivates employees changes constantly according to the work force and the organization. For example assigning a creative and innovative task according to the capacity and the interest of employees ultimately leads toward the efficiency and increase working capability of the employees. In police force appreciating the followers is the main tool that enhances the passion for the work.... [tags: Business Management ] Motivation Theories - ... Audras motivation theory is the achievement theory. She enjoys her current job because it is challenging, and each day is different. One day she may be in the office typing up contracts and have appointments with clients, and other days she is managing food and beverage events like weddings. She would become bored with her job if she did the same thing every day. She needs to have a job which is a challenge to her. Her job gives her the opportunity to excel in many areas, and the chance to be competitive with other managers.... [tags: Psychology]
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:: 1 Works Cited Workplace Motivation - ... Thirdly love and Belonging work to make enjoy human life moreover person feel strong while belonging, for example mother or father love their children, also the children feel power because they belong to their family. Fourthly esteem provide life object of stricture and linking life such as children respect parents also students respect teachers. Finally self-actualization after achievement all these needs ,the person will starts in search for self realization to give the best of what he or she has and use all his powers develop to the limits of very high.... [tags: Business Management ] :: 4 Works Cited Theories on Motivation - ... Theories on Motivation: Several theories have been developed on human motivation. This section will focus on examining theories on motivation. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs: Perhaps, one of the most often cited theories of motivation is the Maslow Hierarchy of needs (Jelavic and Ogilvie, 2010). Maslow categorises human needs into five main areas shaped in a pyramid form, which are attained in a hierarchical manner. According to Maslow (1943), lower needs take precedence and must be fulfilled before higher level needs are activated.... [tags: Psychology ] Extrinsic Motivation - Extrinsic Motivation Extrinsic motivation is an encouragement from a force from outside ones self. These forces from outside are easily described as rewards. A reward is used to bribe a student into performing or completing an activity which they would not do without this reward. Certain types of rewards that are common are stars, red-light green-light, and stickers. These rewards seem to be the most common among teachers. They seem simple and harmless, but the child must not learn to only perform for a reward at all times, but for him or herself.... [tags: essays papers] :: 34 Sources Cited Motivation in the Workplace - Motivation in the Workplace There are people out there in the workforce that believe they are obligated to do their best at their job simply because that is what is expected from all of us as humans. On the other hand, there are those out there that want to only do as much as they can get away with doing. No matter which one of these employees you are or are working with companies and employer's need to understand the concept of motivation. Motivation comes in many forms such as money, benefits, or simple recognition within.... [tags: Business Management Papers] :: 4 Sources Cited Employee Motivation - Employee motivation is the level of energy, commitment, and creativity that a company's workers apply to their jobs. In the increasingly competitive business environment of recent years, finding ways to motivate employees has become a pressing concern for many managers. In fact, a number of different theories and methods of employee motivation have emerged, ranging from monetary incentives to increased involvement and empowerment. Employee motivation can sometimes be particularly problematic for small businesses, where the owner often has spent so many years building a company that he/she finds it difficult to delegate meaningful responsibilities to others.... [tags: Employment Management Workforce Labor]
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Motivation and Leadership - ... McCelland states that man is motivated by one of three things: achievement, power, or affiliation or a mixture of the three. Each of these needs can possess a negative or positive connotation or implementation, but it is argued that people motivated by affiliation make better leaders. The third theory presented is McGregors Theory X and Theory Y. McGregor asserts that Theory X people or employees are inherently lazy and must be controlled and forced to act, whereas Theory Y people are self-controlled, motivated, and ambitious.... [tags: Leadership] :: 4 Works Cited Human Motivation - Human Motivation Most of us get up in the morning, go to school, university or work, and behave in ways that are predictably our own. We respond to our environment and the people in it with little thought about why we work hard, enjoy certain classes or find some recreational activities so much fun. Yet all these types of behaviour are motivated by something. Motivation refers to the forces either within or external to a person that arouse enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a certain course of action.... [tags: Papers] Employee Motivation - ... Sense of passion for the work and automatically generated through this. All employees must be fair. It can be difficult. However, it is clearly detrimental to employee questions raise many tough situations, but the employees should be given a status because they are the key to success for the organization. Keeping the job interesting is another important factor in improving employee relations. First, it makes time go faster. It also keeps the employees challenged. If the employees get bored, they will pay less attention to their duties.... [tags: Business Management] Employee Motivation - Employee Motivation What motivates employees today. This is an increasing concern to managers today because the definition of motivation is a very complex. One cannot actually define motivation but can give theories to better explain it. In this paper, I am going to talk about some of the major theories and factors that affect motivation at the job. The first theory is the two-factor theory which was suggested by Fred Herzberg. "Herzberg was one of the first to suggest a model of the motivational properties of task design based on his two-factor theory of satisfaction." (Mowday & Steers) The study he conducted found that factors that led to satisfaction were different from those factors that led to dissatisfaction.... [tags: Workers Employees Workplace] Motivation Theory - HOW MIGHT IN-DEPTH KNOWLEDGE OF MOTIVATIONAL THEORY HELP SOMEONE BECOME A BETTER MANAGER. The word motivation comes from the Latin word "movere", which means to move. Motivation is defined as an internal drive that activates behaviours and gives it direction. The term motivation theory is concerned with the processes that describe why and how human behaviour is activated and directed. It is regarded as one of the most important areas of study in the field of organizational behaviour. The act of directing and controlling a group of people for the purposes of coordinating and balancing the group towards accomplishing a goal beyond the scope of individual effort is known as management.... [tags: Business Management Psychology] Motivation Theory - Six Recommendation on Motivation theory The Goal of this Article is to analyse the various Motivation Theories for employees in the workplace environment. It attempts not to just present yet another theory of work motivation, rather focusing on metatheory which is the
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processes through which we can build more valid, more complete and more practical theories. The authors of this article have drafted six recommendations that they believe and feel that are the best. It is in their view a combination of facts that can lead to better understanding of employee motivation factors and effective methods of management.... [tags: Psychology] Motivation Evaluation - Motivation Evaluation Martin Luther King, Jr. was an activist and a famous leader in the African-American civil rights movement. Throughout his leadership in the African-American civil rights movement, King made various choices to end racial segregation and racial discrimination. The work King conducted was performed with non-violence and civil disobedience. However, the choices King made led to his assassination. The three views of motivation, such as psychoanalytical, humanistic, and diversity each played a role in Kings assassination.... [tags: Psychology] :: 2 Works Cited What is Motivation? - ... On the other hand, there are a lot of people used some theories to help them to get the best results of motivations. The famous theory which used in m otivation is Maslows theory or hierarchy of needs. Maslow classified the peoples needs to five layers that are physiological, safety, love and belongingness, esteem and self-actualization that order from bottom to top. Daft claims that people should know the level of need for people how want motivate them to get the satisfaction (2008). In fact there are some studies that divided these needs to so many groups to make it easier to understand for people who use it.... [tags: Business Management] Employee Motivation - ... Thus shareholders can impose threats if they are not performing up to the level required. In contrast, organizational democracy can be used. Whereas incentives mechanism recognizes humans logically, democracy approaches human beings in a more sociological and psychological way. It recognizes that employees need respect, trust, power equalization, confrontation and participation. Therefore democracy within firms can sometimes help solve problems and scandals within businesses which involve regular profit and losses calculation since trust had been created and so employees have no incentives to cover up and mistakes or losses made.... [tags: Management] Motivation in Beowulf - Motivation in Beowulf The story of Beowulf displays multiple motivations for the multiple characters. For example, adventure is Beowulf's first motivation, but his drive later changes as situations change. Grendel kills for the sport, survival, and revenge for being outcast as a monster. Grendel's mother is outraged after the death of her only son, as any mother would be. Beowulf is summoned in the beginning of the story to kill Grendel who has been terrorizing king Hrothgar's village. Beowulf, eager for adventure, quickly accepts the task and brings his men to kill the great monster.... [tags: Character Analysis, Classics, Literary Analysis] Employee Motivation - Employee Motivation Motivation is an important aspect in many organizations. In our organization motivation is a key to the success. When evaluating administrative staff, sales people, and production workers, each department works well utilizing different theories. One theory could not work adequately for all three; therefore, three theories were used. Production workers utilize the Two-factor theory; sales people use Vroom's
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expectancy theory and the Equity theory works for the administrative staff.... [tags: Business Work Management Motivating Essays] :: 1 Works Cited Theories of Motivation - Theories of Motivation The contemporary literature concerned with the human motivation processes can be described as a collection of "miniature theories", each concerned with understanding and predicting behavior under a very limited set of conditions. This approach is contrasted with the global efforts of early personality theorists like Freud and Murray who attempted to develop more general theories of human motivation. The trend toward the miniature theory in this area can be understood as an attempt to develop theoretical concepts more precisely defined and testable than those provided by traditional personality theory.... [tags: Papers] Motivation in Business - Motivation is best defined as the needs, wants, and beliefs that drive an individual. It is the basis of what people work for and keeps them doing things they otherwise would never do. People act in a whole new manner when they are motivated by something, and gives them a whole new perception of the task at hand. Motivation is not always positive though, and it does not always just come from one place for example your boss. Motivation can be negative by not receiving something, and contrary to popular belief it is not always money that motivates people to do what they do.... [tags: Business Psychology] :: 7 Sources Cited Motivation Basics - ... Money is definitely something that is desired by all. However money essentially just keeps employees from getting less motivated. Fear is also not a good motivator. Fear may get you what you want temporarily but it does not drive an employee to be motivated. So what does motivate employees. I have been to many seminars on motivation, some good ones and some bad ones. Most of the good ones I attended focused on the primary key to motivation starting with the manager and their attitude. You as a manager are the key to displaying an enthusiasm along with your great job knowledge which in turns motivates employees.... [tags: Business Management] Employee Motivation - ... The maintenance work in a skillfully manner making use of the limited resources available at the park but the management rewarded them accordingly motivating them to increase their output . The whole park consists of animals of different types; the animal specialists ensure that these animals receive the necessary treatments and conserve them to keep the business running and capture more visitors. They value no other job and they are dedicated to work for long hours as compared to all the other park staff.... [tags: Business Management ] :: 6 Works Cited Types of Motivation - Types of Motivation Before we can examine different theories of achieving student motivation we must understand what it is. An article from ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) pointed out an important distinction in types of motivation (1997): Student motivation naturally has to do with students' desire to participate in the learning process. But it also concerns the reasons or goals that underlie their involvement or noninvolvement in academic activities. These two types of motivation are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.... [tags: essays papers] :: 18 Sources Cited
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Motivation of Workers - Motivation of Workers Having a motivated workforce is vital for most businesses, since it can lead to higher rates of productivity, better quality output, and low rates of absenteeism and labour turnover. The main factors which affect the motivation of workers are pay levels, job security, promotional prospects, being given responsibilities, working conditions, fringe benefits, participation in decision-making and working in a team. Motivational Theories --------------------- There are two basic theories of motivation; content theories and process theories.... [tags: Papers] Employee Motivation - ... For example, if Yvonne works much harder that Janet, we assume that Yvonne is more highly motivated than Janet to achieve some goalperhaps a bonus (http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/03/02/pink.motivation.bonuses/index.ht ml), a promotion, or the prestige associated with being the top producer in the organization. Yvonne seemingly has a stronger need to work hard. However, unless Yvonne tells us why, we can only presume what her motivation or need may be. Through studies of motivation and behavior, psychologists have generally concluded that all human behavior is goal directed toward satisfying a felt need.... [tags: Business Management ] Motivation Theories - Motivation is an incentive or a motive for a person do something. There have been a wide variety of theories about motivation developed over the years. MASLOW Maslow classified people's needs into a hierarchy of 5 levels. The lower levels would need to be fulfilled before the higher ones could be. The more of a persons needs are fulfilled the more motivated they will be to work. Level number Needs Examples 1 Physiological Buying basic necessities 2 Security Need for routine / familiarity 3 Affiliation Gaining trust and acceptance 4 Self-esteem Feeling useful - self-respect 5 Self-actualisation Realising potential McGREGOR Douglas McGregor published his work on motivation in 1960.... [tags: Business and Management Studies] Motivation in Business - Motivation in Business Thesis: Organization member can be effectively motivated by organizational leaders Motivational Styles Motivation is the ultimate goal of management in business, and the topic of multiple seminars, books, and videos. Engendering the emotional energy of frontline workers is the most difficult challenge facing organizational leaders worldwide. The is a difficult task because most frontline employees work for a regular paycheck and nothing more; they never emotionally connect with their employers, let alone care about the companys long-term performance. (Katzenbach) By following the principles employed by successful organizations, organization member can be effectively motivated by their leaders.... [tags: GCSE Business Marketing Coursework Essays] Defining Motivation - Defining Motivation In this report I will define motivation, how people are motivated and the reasons for motivation. I will also include the following six psychologists: - 1. F W Taylor 2. Elton Mayo 3. Abraham Maslow 4. Douglas McGregor 5. Frederick Herzberg 6. David McClelland 7. Belbin For these psychologists I will include, who they are, their history and what they are known for and their work. Motivation is the influence of which the business needs to improve the behavior and the quality of its products or services, keeps it costs down, make a profit and remain competitive.... [tags: Papers] Employee Motivation - Introduction There are a number of different views
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as to what motivates workers. The most commonly held views or theories have been developed over the last 100 years & were subjected to an intensive amount of research and studies. Unfortunately these theories do not all reach the same conclusions!. However, they share a group of characteristics that can be used to give an understanding of what often causes some employees to perform better than others in the workplace. Motivating employees has become a more challenging issue facing todays managers.... [tags: Business Employee Management ] Managerial Motivation - Motivation Motivation is the process of stimulating people to act in ways which serve the needs of the organization providing the stimulus. Simply put, motivation is discovering and applying whatever is needed to get the employee to carry out designated activities in specified ways. However, a clear distinction is made between attitude, which is a state of mind, and behavior, which is a state of action. A milestone in the relationship between the behavioral scientist and the manager was the "Hawthorne Experiments".... [tags: Employee Management ] Student Motivation - Motivation in Schools The topic I originally planned to look into for my Action Research Paper was the affect of reward systems on a students academic performance. My idea was that a students performance could be influenced by the presence of a reward system. I was interested in seeing if certain subject areas were more likely to use such systems than other subject areas. I strived to see if a students academic performance could mean more than just their exam scores and ability to complete assignments.... [tags: essays research papers fc] :: 2 Sources Cited Employee Motivation - ... Effective leadership demands a highly excellent and the perfect approach leader. Every organization needs a role model or the dominant and inspiring personality to be followed and pursued by others. Leader is basically the role model of the organization. A leader not only leads but also motivates, manages, controls, assists and also guides towards the right way. Leadership theories that attempt to identify the common traits possessed by successful leaders.... [tags: Business Management] Motivation in the Workplace - ... Motivator needs lead to job satisfaction and include things such as: achievement, recognition, responsibility, and advancement. Motivator needs are required in order for satisfaction. However, a lack of motivator needs will not in of itself lead to job dissatisfaction. McClellands Need Theory focused on three main needs (Ramlall 2004). The first need is achievement. McClelland described this need as a desire to succeed or excel past a certain set of standards. An excellent example of this would be General Charles Yeagers determination and eventual success to break the sound barrier.... [tags: Business Management ] :: 6 Works Cited
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Motivation
Motivation: A General Overview of Theories Shiang-Kwei Wang Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology, University of Georgia Review of Motivation
Contents
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1 Goals
o o
1.1 Definition of Goals 1.2 Formation of Goals
1.2.1 Long and short-term goals
1.3 Goal Setting
1.3.1 Goal difficulty 1.3.2 Feedback
1.4 Goal Orientation Theories
1.4.1 Performance goals vs. Mastery goals
2 Self-Efficacy
o o o
2.1 Definition 2.2 Sources of Self-Efficacy 2.3 Improving Self-Efficacy
3 Attribution Theory
3.1 Definition of Attributions
3.1.1 Motivational Dimensions of Attributions 3.1.2 The Attributional Process
4 Self-Regulation and Volition
o o o o
4.1 Definition 4.2 Possible Selves 4.3 Volition 4.4 Self-Regulated Learning Strategies
5 Intrinsic Motivation
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5.1 Definitions 5.2 Enhancing Intrinsic Motivation 5.3 Flow
o o o o
5.3.1 Flow Model
5.4 References 5.5 Bibliography 5.6 Additional Resources 5.7 Citation
Goals
Click Here for a short narrated Powerpoint. This narrated PowerPoint explains the differences between Mastery and Performance Goals, and their influence on student learning and motivation. . Click Here to download the narration as a pdf file. By Kim Hardwick, Whitney Powell, and Erika Robinson (2011).
Definition of Goals
A goal is "something that the person wants to achieve" (Locke & Latham, 1990, p.2). A teacher's goal might be " to help students understand the concept of an ellipse within one week;" A typical goal for a student could be "earning an 'A' in foreign language class."
Formation of Goals
Long and short-term goals
Long-term goals keep behavior directed toward an ultimate target, while short-term goals are the steppingstones to the long-term goals (Alderman 1999). Bandura and Schunk's research (Bandura &
Schunk, 1981) on proximal motivation indicated that this sub-dividing of accomplishable short-term goals would help students to progress at a more rapid pace. They concluded that self-motivation can best be created and sustained by attainable sub-goals that lead to the larger goals. An example of goal formations might be: Long-term goal: I want to be a good piano player.
Proximal goals and progress: Prepare for concert. Practice 2 hours every day
Goal Setting
Expressions such as "intend to" or "desire to" are often used in setting goals. For example, "I intend to run a marathon this year." Goal setting is simply defined as "a specific outcome that an individual is striving to achieve" (Alderman 1999). Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Maslow's Hierarchy of needs stresses personal growth and development. Goals are set to satisfy needs. Psychologist Abraham Maslow developed the Hierarchy of Needs to classify human needs into five general categories. Those needs that are higher in the hierarchy are considered more important, and cannot be satisfied unless the needs below them in the hierarchy are satisfied first. Understanding Maslow's Hierarchy of needs can help explain differences in behavior between individuals.
Caption: The Flash animation above depicts Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. He used it to explain human motivation. He identified 5 levels of need, physical needs, safety/security needs, belongingness/love needs, esteem needs, and self actualization. As these various needs are met an individual moves through the hierarchy. Each level is subordinate to the level above it and the needs are constantly changing. In this illustration a small human figure is depicted with a bright blue sky, white fluffy clouds, green grass and flowers that are blooming. The hierarchy, only a small portion or the first level is visible, will be represented by a triangle shaped mountain. As the human starts to climb the mountain, there is only the first level of the hierarchy, physical needs, showing. Physical needs are food, water and shelter represented by bread, butter, a droplet of water and the sun. The human climbs this level and the second level of needs, safety and security, appears. Safety and security needs are met when there is protection from physical and emotional harm. These needs are represented by the icons 'no violence' and 'peace.' As the human climbs up this level of needs, the next level, belongingness and love needs, appears. The need to feel loved and accepted by others is represented by a heart (for love) and a home where family and friends provide support. Continuing the climb, the human reaches the esteem needs level. The need to be respected and to have confidence is illustrated with a smiling face and a human with upraised arms. The smile and celebration of victory are possible because of the lower level of needs being met. The human climbs to the pinnacle of the mountain, the level of self actualization needs. Self actualization means individuals need to be true to their own nature and seek self fulfillment. These needs are represented by an icon showing the 'thumbs up' symbol, signifying that everything is OK, the human
is able to live at full potential and be creative. The human climber in this animation is depicted on top of the mountain (the hierarchy of needs) with a crown of victory. Victory at meeting the Hierarchy of Needs means the climber is poised to learn and excel. This Flash animation was design and developed by Imei Ma, Jo Albert-Hill and Kevin Powell. (2004).
Goal difficulty
A sub-goal does not imply an easier goal. Locke & Latham (1990) suggested that more difficult goals will enhance performance level, especially when the task is performed voluntarily. Setting up rigid and realistic goals based on the learner's competence, therefore, is more effective than setting easy goals.
Feedback
Feedback on learning or training progress helps learners know if their goals are being met, and if not, how to improve achievement of goals. Bandura (1993) suggested that positive feedback enhances motivation, while negative feedback that emphasizes deficiencies will lower the self-efficacy of learners.
Goal Orientation Theories

Performance goals vs. Mastery goals
According to Ames' study (1988), when performance goals are involved, there is a concern with having one's ability judged. Success is evidence of ability, shown by outperforming others, or by achieving success with little effort. With a mastery goal, importance is attached to developing new skills. The process of learning itself is valued, and the attainment of mastery is seen as dependent on effort. Here is an example comparing mastery and performance goals: Mastery goal: Understanding the class materials is more important than earning a high grade, and that's why I work hard to learn. My performance is better than it was at the beginning of the semester. Performance goal: I want to avoid mistakes so I can get a good grade. That's the reward for studying hard; my performance is better than other students. The positive cognitive effect on learners adopting mastery goals has been verified in many research studies (Pintrich, 1996, p. 241). Ames (1992) created a matrix to present the classroom structure and instructional strategies supporting a mastery goal as shown below:
Table 1. Classroom structure and instructional strategies supporting a mastery goal
Structure
Instructional Strategies
Motivation Patterns
Focus on the meaningful aspects of learning activities
Design tasks for novelty, variety, diversity, and student interest
Task
Design tasks that offer reasonable challenge to students
Help students establish short-term, selfreferenced goals Focus on effort and learning High intrinsic interest in activity Attributions to effort Attributions to effort-based strategies Use of effective learning and other self-regulatory strategies Active engagement Positive affect on high effort tasks Feelings of belongingness "Failure-tolerance"
Support the development and use of effective learning strategies
Focus on helping students participate in the decision making
Authority
Provide "real" choices where decisions are based on effort, not ability evaluations
Give opportunities to develop responsibility and independence
Support development and use of selfmanagement and monitoring skill
Focus on individual improvement, progress, and mastery
Evaluation/ Recognition
Make evaluation private, not public Recognize students' effort Provide opportunities for improvement Encourage view of mistakes as part of learning
Source: Ames, C. (1992). Classrooms: Goals, structures, and student motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology, V. 84, N.3, p. 261-271.
Self-Efficacy
Definition
Self-efficacy affects some of the factors that predict motivation. According to Bandura (1982), self-efficacy is a self-judgment of one's ability to perform a task in a specific domain. However, a high degree of self-
efficacy in one domain does not necessarily transfer to other areas of endeavor. High self-efficacy positively affects performance; this good performance will in turn enhance self-efficacy .
Sources of Self-Efficacy
Bandura (1997) identified four phenomena that affect self-efficacy: Mastery experiences
Mastery experience is one's personal experience with success or failure. For example, the positive experience of a good performance on the previous math exam, will influence the perception of one's ability in math. Vicarious experiences
Self-efficacy can be affected by observing the experiences of others. Students who observe a model successfully perform in a threatening situation are more likely to develop the expectation that they can acquire the same skill (Alderman, 1999). The learners can imitate their models' skills, or copy the strategies that the models use. Verbal persuasion
Learners can be motivated by using verbal feedback to convince or encourage them to accomplish their tasks. For example, simply telling students, "you can do it" is a commonly used strategy. However, instructors should be conscious of the messages that they use. Bandura pointed out that negative messages have an even greater effect on lowering efficacy expectations than do positive messages to increase it. Physiological state
Anxiety, nervousness, rapid heart rate, sweating; these symptoms often occur when learners face challenges that require competence to overcome. Such physical or mental states reflect learner perceptions of their self-efficacy; these in turn affect their performance.
Improving Self-Efficacy
There are various means of strengthening self-efficacy. Feedback: Encouragement and in-depth, informative feedback from teachers are important influence on self-efficacy. The teachers should also emphasize the rationale of why some strategies that the learners use are successful and why some fail.
Model: Exposing learners to an non-expert model (peer model) conquering the challenges successfully can help learners increase their motivation and self-efficacy. Another approach to enhance self-efficacy is learners observing the expert model solving problems with specific strategies or skills. Successful experience: It is the teachers' responsibility to help learners achieve academic success by providing challenging, yet attainable tasks . Successful experience is the most important source of fostering self-efficacy.
Caption: This flash animation illustrates the journey of a teacher and student as the student's self-efficacy increases. Sammy has low self-esteem, but his teacher sees a teachable moment in his desire to act and sing. She employs verbal persuasion with positive statements and peer modeling by having Sammy observe another successful classmate who had the same fears. She provides Sammy with specific feedback on his performance, and Sammy has a successful experience in his tryout as a result. By Jim Stewart, Jill Weldon, Celeste Buckhalter-Pittman, and Holly Frilot (2004).
Attribution Theory
Definition of Attributions
"Why did I successfully accomplish this task?" "Why did Jack fail math?" The answers to these questions reflect personal beliefs about the causes of results. Attribution theory is the study of how individuals explain events in their lives (Bruning, Schraw & Ronning, 1999, p.137). Knowing learners' attributional beliefs can help instructors to address the value of effort.
Motivational Dimensions of Attributions

Weiner (1979) proposed that attribution can be explained through a three-dimensional classification of causality, with each class expressed in a continuum linking extremes. These three categories of attribution are: Locus of control: internal-external
Causation for events may be placed in a continuum ranging from conditions completely within to those completely outside of the individual's influence. Locus of control refers to the degree to which results are due to factors inside (internal locus of control) or outside (external locus of control) an individual. For instance, factors such as mood and ability are internal causes; luck and teacher bias are external causes. Stability: stable-unstable
Stability refers to an unchanging cause . Consider the following statement: "I'm good at playing guitar because I've practiced for more than a year". In this case, the ability to play guitar is a stable cause for
this person. Or this: "I got an A in math this time because the test was very easy. Almost everyone made an A." Such a belief suggests that the successful performance resulted from chance; the easy test is an inconsistent or unstable cause. Controllability: controllable-uncontrollable
Controllability refers to those factors that can be controlled to influence results. Skill and competence are classified as controllable, while luck and mood are classified as uncontrollable.
The Attributional Process

From a review of attributional theories, Pintrich and Schunk (1996) generated a model to present the attributional process. This model provides the effect of attribution on motivational, affective, and behavioral consequences. The incidents can be classified as either environmental or personal factors. An individual will attribute these incidents to the perceived causes and different causal dimensions. These causes will affect an individual's psychological consequences and influence behaviors. The overview of the general attributional model can help in gaining an understanding of the attributional process. Table 2. Attributional Process
Antecedent Conditions
Perceived Causes
Causal Dimensions
Psychological Consequences
Behavioral Consequences
Environmental factors Specific information Social norms Situational Features Attributions for Ability Effort Luck Task difficulty Teacher Causal schemas Attributional bias Prior knowledge Individual differences Mood Health Fatigue, etc. Stability Locus Control Expectancy for success Persistence Self-efficacy Level of effort Affect Achievement Choice
Personal factors
Source: Pintrich, P. R., & Schunk, D. H. (1996). Attributional processes. Motivation in Education: Theory, Research, and Applications. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, p. 103-152 An Example Allen is a gifted student, and usually performs well on exams. Last week, however, he failed a physics exam. Will he still invest his time in studying physics, and enjoy doing it? In Allen's case, he studied hard but performed poorly on the physics exam; the majority of the class failed the exam as well. After Allen had learned the class average for the exam and received feedback from the teacher (specific information), he attributed his failure to task difficulty rather than of a lack of effort. Thus, the cause of his failure is unstable, external, and uncontrollable. Given this causal information, his selfefficacy in physics would not decrease. He would continue to expect success, and to study physics.
Self-Regulation and Volition

Definition
Some independent learners require little attention from their teachers. They know how to adopt learning strategies, they understand their competencies in specific domains, and will commit to their academic goals. These students have volition and can be described as "self-regulated" learners. Zimmerman (1989) pointed out that students can be described as self-regulated to the degree that they are metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviorally active participants in their own learning processes. Three assumptions are involved in the definition: self-regulated learning strategies, self-efficacy perceptions of skill performance, and a commitment to academic goals. Self-regulated learning is determined by personal, environmental, and behavioral events: Personal influences--students' knowledge and goals Behavioral influences--self-observation, selfjudgment, and self-reaction Environmental influences--verbal persuasion and modeling
Possible Selves
A vision of a possible self is the first step in developing self-regulation (Alderman, 1999). Possible selves are how one "images" the self and the future. Possible selves represent individuals' ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become (positive possible selves), and especially what they are afraid of becoming (negative possible selves) (Markus & Ruvolo, 1989). Examples of positive possible selves might be earning a master's degree, becoming a good baseball player, or getting an "A" on a math exam. Negative possible selves could include fear of becoming homeless or failing a physics exam. Developing a positive view of the future helps learners enhance their motivation and commitment to academically supportive personal goals.
In his review of the literature, Alderman (1999) indicated that the formation of possible selves is influenced by developmental factors, sociocultural factors, attributional history and self-efficacy judgments. For example: John has an interest in media. He is influenced by his music teacher and decides to become a keyboard player. John tries to enhance his keyboard playing skills; his playing continually improves with practice. Encouragement from others and the positive experience of playing the keyboard increase his self-efficacy, which helps him to develop a concrete goal for the future. John attributes his success to internal, controllable, and stable causes. He stresses the value of effort over other factors.
Volition
Click Here for a short narrated Powerpoint. This narrated PowerPoint explains how Volition, while being an aspect of Self Regulation, differs in that it requires more from the learner in terms of being able to block outside disruptions. Click Here to download the narration in a word file. By Ansley Bennett, Rob Mosteller, and Anna Reitz (2007). Volition is one of the most important factors contributing to self-regulation. According to Corno (1994, p. 229), volition is "the tendency to maintain focus and effort toward goals despite potential distractions". For some reason, some learners overcome barriers and difficulties to ensure that academic goals are reached. Corno and Zimmerman (1994) developed a volitional control activities list as below: Activities in Volitional Enhancement Curriculum 1. Teacher and students list possible distractions when studying. 2. Teacher and students make a master list of the most frequent distractions and categorize them as to where they occur or if they were distracting thoughts. 3. Teacher and students list ways that students usually handle distractions; then match the response with the distraction and evaluate how well it works. The most effective way is to refocus on the task. 4. Teacher models and demonstrates both effective and ineffective responses to a distracting situation. 5. Teacher leads students through a 20-item quiz requiring identification and classification of more effective strategies. 6. Using written scenarios, small groups of students role play more effective strategies for handling distractions. Peer audience evaluates actors' strategies.
7. Teacher reminds students that he or she will be looking for evidence of the students using strategies to handle distractions and do their work. The teacher selects key tasks to observe and records the amount of time on task by groups and individuals. Students self-evaluate; then results are discussed with students. Source:Corno, L. (1994). Student volition and education: Outcomes, influences, and practices. In B. J. Zimmerman & D. H. Schunk (Eds.), Self-regulation of learning and performance (pp. 229-254). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Self-regulation is not a fixed characteristic of learners. Employing appropriate strategies can help learners to develop self-regulation and volition to learn. Zimmerman (1998) designed a table to compare experts' methods of self-regulation across different disciplines. Familiarity with these self-regulated methods is not only useful in learning, but once mastered, the techniques can be useful throughout life to function effectively in informal contexts. Table 3. Self-regulatory Process
Area of Expertise
Self-regulatory Processes
Writers
Athletes
Musicians
Students
Goal setting
Setting specific and Setting daily word quantifiable daily goals for or page goals training
Making lists to Setting daily practice accomplish during session goals studying
Task strategies
Knowing how and what to Creating outcomes practice, for example, taking Playing a piece or generative cues periodic breaks and slow slowly and softly execution
Creating mnemonics to remember facts
Imagery
Imagining the Imagining a plot in Visualizing yourself presence of an visual detail successfully making the shot audience
Imagining the consequences of failing to study
Self-instruction
Self-verbalizing confidence Saying aloud what statements, for example, will be written "let's go!"
Verbally praising or prompting oneself
Rehearsing steps in solving a math problem
Time management
Scheduling daily writing, especially time in the morning
Setting up regular practice times, eating times, and relaxation and preparation periods
Scheduling daily practice to avoid extremes
Scheduling daily studying and homework time
Self-monitoring
Keeping a daily record of Keeping records of goal accomplishment or literary production filming matches for replay
Keeping daily records Keeping records of of performance, for completed example, stress levels assignments
Self-evaluation
Putting off text self-judgments during creation
Breaking game into components and evaluating yourself after each performance
Listening to selfrecording, setting realistic standards
Checking work before handing it to the teacher
Selfconsequences
Putting off pleasurable events Grade yourself after every until writing is match completed
Making TV or Refusing to end telephoning practice until passage contingent on is played flawlessly homework completion
Environmental structuring
Controlling writing Building practice facility setting and designed to develop weak conditions part of one's game
Performing with specific tools or instruments, i.e., a metronome
Studying in a secluded place
Help seeking
Obtaining literary Returning to teacher when advice or feedback flaws develop in one's game from colleague
Returning to teachers Using a study partner when techniques slip
Source: Zimmerman, B. J. (1998). Academic studying and the development of personal skill: a selfregulatory perspective. Educational Psychologist, 33(2/3), p.73-86.
Self-Regulated Learning Strategies

Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons (1988) isolated the effective self-regulated learning strategies shown in the table below: Table 4. Self-Regulated Learning Strategies
1. Self-evaluating
Statements indicating student-initiated evaluations of the quality or progress of their work; e.g., "I check over my work to make sure I did it right".
2. Organizing and transforming
Statements indicating student-initiated overt or covert rearrangement of instructional materials to improve learning; e.g., "I make an outline before I write my paper".
3. Goal-setting and planning
Statements indicating students' setting of educational goals or sub-goals, and planning for sequencing, timing, and completing activities related to those goals; e.g., "First, I start studying two weeks before the exams, and I pace myself."
4. Seeking information
Statements indicating student-initiated efforts to secure further task information from nonsocial sources when undertaking an assignment; e.g., "Before beginning to write the paper, I go to the library to get as much information as possible concerning the topic."
5. Keeping records and monitoring
Statements indicating student-initiated efforts to record events or results; e.g., "I took notes of the class discussions"; "I kept a list of the words I got wrong."
6. Environmental structuring
Statements indicating student-initiated efforts to select or arrange the physical setting to make learning easier, e.g., "I isolate myself from anything that distracts me"; "I turn off the radio so I can concentrate on what I am doing."
7. Self-consequating
Statements indicating student arrangement or imagination of rewards or punishment for success or failure; e.g., "If I do well on a test, I treat myself to a movie."
8. Rehearsing and memorizing
Statements indicating student-initiated efforts to memorize material by overt or covert practice; e.g., "In preparing for a math test, I keep writing the formula down until I remember it."
9-11. Seeking social Statements indicating student-initiated efforts to solicit help from peers (9), teachers (10), and assistance adults (11); e.g., "If I have problems with math assignments, I ask a friend to help."
12-14. Reviewing records
Statements indicating student-initiated efforts to reread notes (12), tests (13), or textbooks (14) to prepare for class or further testing; e.g., "When preparing for a test, I review my notes."
Source: Zimmerman, B. J. (1989). A social cognitive view of self-regulated academic learning., Journal of Educational Psychology, 81(3), p. 337.
Click Here for a short video that clarifies the different strategies. In this scenario, a student named Janice is using
self-regulated learning strategies to help motivate her to complete her assignment, a literature review. The strategies are prefaced with a brief definition of the strategies being used and followed by Janice verbalizing her thoughts. The strategies being used are: Self-evaluating, Organizing and Transforming, Goal-setting and Planning, Seeking Information, Keeping Records and Monitoring, Environmental Structuring, Self-consequating, Rehearsing and Memorizing, Seeking Social Assistance and Reviewing Records. She concludes her thought process with a statement indicating that the learning strategies have successfully motivated her. By Eun Ju Jung, Suhwa Lee, and Anita Zgambo (2007). Result: In general, self-regulated learners are aware of effective learning strategies for enhancing learning performance.
Intrinsic Motivation
Click Here for a short narrated PowerPoint on Enhancing Intrinsic Motivation. This PowerPoint explain the different ways to enhance intrinsic motivation, and lists strategies for using those in the media center. Click here to download the narration in a word file. Click Here to download the narration as a pdf file. By: Meggan Ford, Laura Tolliver, and Kimberly Zuber (2011).
Definitions
People often choose to invest considerable time in activities without apparent reward. The cause underlying such behaviors is intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is defined as engagement in actions for their own sake with the only tangible benefit being outcomes such as pleasure, learning, satisfaction, interest, or challenge. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation occurs when learners engage in activities for the purpose of attaining rewards, such as praise or high grades (Alderman, 1999). Engaging in behavior to avoid punishment is also regarded as an extrinsic motivation.
Enhancing Intrinsic Motivation

Some researchers believe that intrinsic motivation can be enhanced through the use of particular strategies, and have sought a correlation between the design of specific educational materials and an increase in learning performance. Thus far, studies have found no evidence to establish that the interest value of material is a determinant--as opposed to a consequence--of learning (Parker & Lepper, 1992). However, some useful strategies that can promote intrinsic motivation have been proposed. Lepper and Hodell (1989) suggest four methods for enhancing intrinsic motivation:
Challenge: Design challenging activities which convey the message to the learners that they have competitive skills. It is essential to find a balance between learner competence and the difficulty of the goals. Overly difficult goals are unlikely to increase learner motivation to continue the task if the learners perceive they will never reach the goal. Likewise, goals that are too easily attained do not sufficiently challenge learners to encourage skill development. Curiosity: Activities that create disequilibria for the learners can elicit curiosity. Presenting discrepant ideas--those that conflict with their prior knowledge or beliefs--can prompt students to seek information that will resolve the discrepancy. As with challenge, moderate discrepancies are most effective because they are easily incorporated into an individual's mental framework; large discrepancies may be rapidly discounted (Pintrich & Schunk, 1996, p.277). Control: A sense of responsibility will be better fostered in learners if they are allowed to make meaningful choices in the learning process. Fantasy: The design of simulations and games that involve fantasy can increase intrinsic motivation.
Flow
Csikszentmihalyi (1985) used flow theory to explain cases in which subjects describe their experiences as intrinsically rewarding. When individuals engage in activities and lose awareness of time and space, they are involved with flow experiences.
Flow Model
Activities are enjoyable when challenges and skills are matched. Csikszentmihalyi's flow model can explain the phenomenon.
Caption: The Flash animation above depicts how flow works. There are two buttons; one is to increase challenge and the other is to decrease challenge. The animation begins in a state of flow. If you click on the increase challenge button, the status changes to 'Anxiety.' If you click decrease challenge you return to a state of flow. If you click decrease challenge again, the status changes to 'Boredom.' This animation was created on November 25, 2002, but I have lost the information about who created it. I apologize to the authors, but I wanted to make sure that your work was included in the book.
Assume an individual begins to play an instructional game. If the difficulty of the game increases with time, and the player can match its progress, he will move to position C (the flow state in the middle of the ladder above), representing a more complex experience. If the game is too easily won and the player makes no progress in his competence, he will become bored with the activity and move to position B1 (the area at the bottom of the ladder). If the game is too difficult to continue, he will soon move to position B2 (the area at the top of the ladder) and give up because he expects to continue to be unsuccessful..
Want to have the flow experience? You can tell if you are in the flow experience when you are in the flow status. Try the game "Color Linez" designed by Olga Demina. This game was a present to Olga's brother on his birthday. Download Color Linez! (PC only) (save the file to your disk. Then double click the file name to play). Did you have a flow experience within 5 minutes? Why did you play this game? Do you think the challenge matches your skill?
Click here to play Motivation Jeopardy! Caption: This is a Jeopardy game that will review your knowledge of motivation. Open the file with Microsoft PowerPoint. Created by Heather Abner, Kelly Earnest, and Jennifer Harbuck (2006).
References
Alderman, M. K. (1999). Goals and goal setting. Motivation for achievement: possibilities for teaching and learning. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Ames, C., & Archer, J. (1988). Goals in the classroom: students' learning strategies and motivation processes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(3), 260-267. Ames, C. (1992). Classrooms: Goals, structures, and student motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84(3), p. 261-271 Bandura, A., & Schunk, D. H. (1981). Cultivating competence, self-efficacy, and intrinsic interest through proximal motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 586-598. Bandura, A., (1993). Perceived self-efficacy in cognitive development and functioning. Educational Psychologist, 28(2), 117-148. Bandura, A., (1982). Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. American Psychologist, 37, p. 122-147. Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman. Bruning, R. H., Schraw, G. J., & Ronning, R. R. (1999). Cognitive psychology and instruction. 3rd ed. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Corno, L. (1994). Student volition and education: Outcomes, influences, and practices. In B. J. Zimmerman & D. H. Schunk (Eds.), Self-regulation of learning and performance (pp. 229-254). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1985). Emergent motivation and the evolution of the self. In D. Kleiber and M. H. Maehr (Eds.), Motivation in Adulthood (pp. 93-119). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Lepper, M. R., & Hodell, M. (1989). Intrinsic motivation in the classroom. In C. Ames & R. Ames (Eds.), Research on motivation in education (Vol. 3, PP 73-105). San Diego: Academic Press. Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). A theory of goal setting and task performance. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Markus, H. & Ruvolo, A. (1989). Possible selves: Personalized representations of goals. In L. Pervin (Ed.)., Goal concepts in personality and social psychology. (pp. 211-241). Hillsdale,NJ: Erlbaum Motivation http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/motivation/motivate.html Parker, L. E., & Lepper, M. R. (1992). Effects of fantasy contexts on children's learning and motivation: making learning more fun., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62(4), 625-633. Pintrich, P. R., & Schunk, D. H. (1996). The role of goals and goal orientation. Motivation in Education: Theory, Research, and Applications. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Weiner, B. (1979). A theory of motivation for some classroom experiences., Journal of Educational Psychology, 71(1), 3-25. Steers, R. M., Mowday, R. T., & Shapiro, D. L. (2004). The future of work motivation theory. Academy of Management Review, 29(3). Zimmerman, B. J. (1989). A social cognitive view of self-regulated academic learning., Journal of Educational Psychology, 81(3), p. 329-339. Zimmerman, B. J. (1998). Academic studying and the development of personal skill: a self-regulatory perspective. Educational Psychologist, 33(2/3), p.73-86. Zimmerman, B. J., & Martinez-Pons, M. (1988). Construct validation of a strategy model of student selfregulated learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, p. 284-290.
Bibliography
By Lindsey Elrod, Titus Martin & Clayton Shaw (2007) Ames, C. (1992). Classrooms: Goals, Structures, and Student Motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84(3), 261-271. The publication by Carole Ames describes the learning environment in relation to the theory of motivation and achievement. Ames helps to identify classroom structures and procedures that play a role in fostering motivation in students. Carole Ames is a professor of education psychology and the dean of the College of Education at Purdue University. She does much research on both competition and students motivation to learn in the classroom. The author aims to reach teachers and philosophers with this article in an effort to provide ways to help increase motivation and motivation building strategies in the classroom. This work
is important because of its implications about students motivation and how specific strategies and procedures in the classroom truly affect students motivation to learn. By giving teachers the resources to fully understand the strategies that will help increase the motivation of their students in the classroom, motivation will increase, and furthermore, students knowledge will increase.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman. Albert Bandura, author of nine books and numerous scholarly journal articles, past-president of the American Psychological Association, and one of the leading psychologist, presents a complete explanation of selfefficacy as well as extensive applications of this theory as it relates to motivation in a variety of areas. In this his most recent work, he combines his previous research with new thought and commentary, as he explores the ability of humans to produce desired effects by their actions, through belief in their own ability. It examines the foundation of the theory, and the affects self-efficacy has on human welfare and achievements. Lastly it looks at how this theory can be applied to personally affect peo ples lives. This exhaustive handling of the theory and its applications is the decisive work in this arena, and is composed by the leading authority of self-efficacy. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum. The publication by Deci and Ryan highlights the theories of intrinsic motivation and self-determination as well as the history of both theories and the impact of both of child development. The authors also provide readers with alternative theories and then research which supports their beliefs. Both authors are professors in the Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology at the University of Rochester. The publication is aimed at those interested in the theories of motivation and determination and is recommended by readers to parents since it deals with child development. This piece of literature delves deeply into the topic of motivation and self-determination and covers both positive and negative aspects of the theories. The publication was written to explain the theory and does a superb job of helping the reader understand both the theories and the history. This work highly supports the research on motivation in the classroom because the authors discuss how helping children and adults alike to become internally motivated will help them to do things on their own instead of for an external reason. Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). A theory of goal setting and task performance. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Edwin Locke & Gary Latham, combine their efforts, expertise, and over twenty-five years of research to give a comprehensive presentation of the theory, applications, and extensions of goal setting and task performance. This is a diligent attempt to produce an accurate account of all research done in the field of this key component of motivation theory, and is evident by its thoroughness in the explanation of the
theory. There is also a substantial effort placed on the applications of this theory. The authors provide research that establishes links between goal setting, self regulation, and job satisfaction. The only limitation of this work is that it primarily focuses on the business world and motivation in the work place. Even though this work is geared toward a business setting, due to the precision of the research and presentation of the theory it is an essential work in the area of motivation and specifically to that of goal setting. Markus, H.R., Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the Self: Implications for Cognition, Emotion, and Motivation. Psychological Review, 98 (8), 224-253. Kitayama and Markus, two distinctly different college professors, offer the suggestion that different cultures offer a different means of the way we construe ourselves, others, and our interdependence. Such cultural conceptions can alter the individual perceptions of emotions, cognition, and motivation. They explain that a generality of where motivation comes fails to cross amongst various cultures. The ways in which humans are motivated are primarily based upon the various beliefs that cultures impart within us of what exactly we should be doing with our lives. Race, ethnicity, class, gender, religion, and geographic location all have an influence of thoughts and feelings. Each factor plays a key role in the nature of self and identity as well as the function of self-esteem. Such considerations challenge us to assume that culture has a tremendous impact on the way we act, accomplish things, and afford a sense of freedom and choice. Maslow, A.E. (1970). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper & Row. Abraham Maslow, often referred to as the father of humanistic psychology and contributor of the pyramid of hierarchal needs to the world of psychology gives an in depth explanation of the core needs of human beings. In this second edition, he stresses an emphasis on the theory that people move toward selfactualization. This provides the basis for his extensively proven and wide-ranging study relating to ambition, affiliation, power and drive. It also seeks to offer an understanding of the characteristics that humans take on when needs fail to be met, and how such offering affect ones personality and the perceptions that others may have of you. Overall motivation comes from ones positive perspective of growth, success, and satisfaction and it seeks to disassociate itself away from frustration and stress.
Additional Resources
These are additional resources of self-efficacy: Critical Issue: Working Toward Student Self-Direction and Personal Efficacy as Educational Goals: Collection of many resources (including video clips) on how to enhance student self-efficacy.
Information on self-efficacy: Professor Albert Bandura's web site on self-efficacy. This site collects many learning theories and models in relation to self-efficacy.
Here is a funny cartoon about motivation.
Citation
APA Citation: Wang, S. (2001). Motivation: General overview of theories. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved <insert date>, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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V T E
Educational psychology is the study of human learning. The study of learning processes, both cognitive and affective, allows researchers to understand individual differences in behavior, personality, intellect, and selfconcept. The field of educational psychology heavily relies on testing, measurement, assessment, evaluation, and training to enhance educational activities and learning processes.[1] This can involve studying instructional processes within the classroom setting. Educational psychology can in part be understood through its relationship with other disciplines. It is informed primarily by psychology, bearing a relationship to that discipline analogous to the relationship between medicine and biology. It is also informed byneuroscience. Educational psychology in turn informs a wide range of specialities within educational studies, including instructional design, educational technology, curriculum development, organizational learning, special education and classroom management. Educational psychology both draws from and contributes to cognitive science and the learning sciences. In universities, departments of
educational psychology are usually housed within faculties of education, possibly accounting for the lack of representation of educational psychology content in introductory psychology textbooks. [2] The field of educational psychology involves the study of memory, conceptual processes, and individual differences (via cognitive psychology) in conceptualizing new strategies for learning processes in humans. Educational psychology has been built upon theories of Operant conditioning, functionalism, structuralism, constructivism, humanistic psychology, Gestalt psychology, and information processing. [1] Educational Psychology has seen rapid growth and development as a profession in the last twenty years.[3] School psychology began with the concept of intelligence testing leading to provisions for special education students, whom could not follow the regular classroom curriculum in the early part of the 20th century.[3] However, "School Psychology" itself has built a fairly new profession based upon the practices and theories of several psychologists among many different fields. Educational Psychologists are working side by side with psychiatrists, social workers, teachers, speech and language therapists, and counselors in attempt to understand the questions being raised when combining behavioral, cognitive, and social psychology in the classroom setting.[3]
Contents
[hide]
1 History
1.1 Early years
1.1.1 Plato and Aristotle 1.1.2 John Locke
1.2 Before 1890
1.2.1 Juan Vives 1.2.2 Johann Pestalozzi 1.2.3 Johann Herbart
1.3 18901920
1.3.1 William James 1.3.2 Alfred Binet 1.3.3 Edward Thorndike 1.3.4 John Dewey 1.3.5 Jean Piaget
1.4 1920-present
1.4.1 Jerome Bruner
1.4.2 Benjamin Bloom 1.4.3 Nathaniel Gage
2 Perspectives of educational psychology
o o o o o
2.1 Cognitive perspective 2.2 Behavioral perspective 2.3 Social perspective 2.4 Developmental perspective 2.5 Constructivist perspective
3 Conditioning and learning
3.1 Motivation
4 Technology 5 Applications for education psychology
o o
5.1 Teaching 5.2 Educational psychology and counseling
5.2.1 Education and training 5.2.2 Employment outlook
6 Methods of research 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links
10.1 Videos
History[edit]
Early years[edit]
Educational Psychology is a fairly new and growing field of study. Though it can date back as early as the days of Plato and Aristotle, it was an undistinguished practice. It was unknown that everyday teaching and learning in which individuals had to think about individual differences, assessment, development, the nature of a subject being taught, problem solving, and transfer of learning was the beginning to the field of educational psychology. These topics are important to education and as a result it is important to understanding human cognition, learning, and social perception.[4]
Plato and Aristotle[edit]

Educational psychology dates back to the time of Aristotle and Plato. Plato and Aristotle researched individual differences in the field of education, training of the body and the cultivation of psycho-motor skills, the formation
of good character, the possibilities and limits of moral education. Some other educational topics they spoke about were the effects of music, poetry, and the other arts on the development of individual, role of teacher, and the relations between teacher and student.[4] Plato saw knowledge as an innate ability, which evolves through experience and understanding of the world. Such a statement has evolved into a continuing argument of nature vs. nurture in understanding conditioning and learning today. Aristotle observed the phenomenon of "association." His four laws of association included succession, contiguity, similarity, and contrast. His studies examined recall and facilitated learning processes [5]
John Locke[edit]
John Locke followed by contrasting Plato's theory of innate learning processes. Rather, he introduced the term "tabula rasa" meaning "blank slate." Locke explained that learning was primarily understood through experience only, and we were all born without knowledge. Locke introduced this idea as "empiricism," or the understanding that knowledge is only built on knowledge and experience.
Before 1890[edit]
Philosophers of education such as Juan Vives, Johann Pestalozzi, Friedrich Frbel, and Johann Herbart had examined, classified and judged the methods of education centuries before the beginnings of psychology in the late 1800s.
Juan Vives[edit]
Juan Vives (14931540) proposed induction as the method of study and believed in the direct observation and investigation of the study of nature. His studies focus of humanistic learning, which opposed scholasticism and was influenced by a variety of sources including philosophy, psychology, politics,religion, and history.[6] He was one of the first to emphasize that the location of the school is important to learning. [7] He suggested that the school should be located away from disturbing noises; the air quality should be good and there should be plenty of food for the students and teachers.[7] Vives emphasized the importance of understanding individual differences of the students and suggested practice as an important tool for learning. [7] Vives introduced his educational ideas in his writing, "De anima et vita" in 1538. In this publication, Vives explores moral philosophy as a setting for his educational ideals; with this, he explains that the different parts of the soul (similar to that of Aristotle's ideas) are each responsible for different operations, which function distinctively. The first book covers the different "souls": "The Vegatative Soul;" this is the soul of nutrition, growth, and reproduction, "The Sensitive Soul," which involves the five external senses; "The Cogitative soul," which includes internal senses and cognitive facilities. The second book involves functions of the rational soul: mind, will, and memory. Lastly, the third book explains the analysis of emotions. [8]
Johann Pestalozzi[edit]
Johann Pestalozzi (17461827), a German educational reformer, emphasized the child rather than the content of the school.[9]Pestalozzi fostered an educational reform backed by the idea that early education was crucial for children, and could be manageable for mothers. Eventually, this experience with early education would lead to a "wholesome person characterized by morality" [10] Pestalozzi has been acknowledged for opening institutions for education, writing books for mother's teaching home education, and elementary books for students, mostly focusing on the kindergarten level. In his later years, he published teaching manuals and methods of teaching.[10] During the time of The Enlightenment, Pestalozzi's ideals introduced "educationalisation." This created the bridge between social issues and education by introducing the idea of social issues to be solved through education. Horlacher describes the most prominent example of this during The Enlightenment to be "improving agricultural production methods." [10]
Johann Herbart[edit]
Johann Herbart (17761841) is considered the father of educational psychology.[11] He believed that learning was influenced by interest in the subject and the teacher.[11] He thought that teachers should consider the students existing mental sets, what they already know, when presenting new information or material. [11] Herbart came up with what is now known as the formal steps. They are 5 steps that teachers should use are: 1. Review material that has already been learned by the teacher[11] 2. Prepare the student for new material by giving them an overview of what they are learning next[11] 3. Present the new material.[11] 4. Relate the new material to the old material that has already been learned.[11] 5. Show how the student can apply the new material and show the material they will learn next. [11]
18901920[edit]
William James[edit]
William James
The period of 18901920 is considered the golden era of educational psychology where aspirations of the new discipline rested on the application of the scientific methods of observation and experimentation to educational problems. From 1840 to 1920 37 million people immigrated to the United States.[6] This created an expansion of elementary schools and secondary schools. The increase in immigration also provided educational psychologists the opportunity to use intelligence testing to screen immigrants at Ellis Island.[6] Darwinism influenced the beliefs of the prominent educational psychologists.[6] Even in the earliest years of the discipline, educational psychologists recognized the limitations of this new approach. The pioneering American psychologist William James commented that: Psychology is a science, and teaching is an art; and sciences never generate arts directly out of themselves. An intermediate inventive mind must make that application, by using its originality".[12] James is the father of psychology in America but he also made contributions to educational psychology. In his famous series of lectures Talks to Teachers on Psychology, published in 1899 and now regarded as the first educational psychology textbook, James defines education as "the organization of acquired habits of conduct and tendencies to behavior".[12] He states that teachers should "train the pupil to behavior"[12] so that he fits into the social and physical world. Teachers should also realize the importance of habit and instinct. They should present information that is clear and interesting and relate this new information and material to things the student already knows about.[12] He also addresses important issues such as attention, memory, and association of ideas.
Alfred Binet[edit]
Alfred Binet published Mental Fatigue in 1898, in which he attempted to apply the experimental method to educational psychology.[6] In this experimental method he advocated for two types of experiments, experiments done in the lab and experiments done in the classroom. In 1904 he was appointed the Minister of Public Education.[6] This is when he began to look for a way to distinguish children with developmental disabilities.[6] Binet strongly supported special education programs because he believed that "abnormality" could be cured.[6] The Binet-Simon test was the first intelligence test and was the first to distinguish between "normal children" and those with developmental disabilities.[6] Binet believed that it was important to study individual differences between age groups and children of the same age.[6] He also believed that it was important for teachers to take into account individual students strengths and also the needs of the classroom as a whole when teaching and creating a good learning environment.[6] He also believed that it was important to train teachers in observation so that they would be able to see individual differences among children and adjust the curriculum to the students.[6] Binet also emphasized that practice of material was important. In 1916 Lewis Terman revised the Binet-Simon so that the average score was always 100.[11] The test became known as the Stanford-Binet and was one of the most widely used tests of intelligence. Terman, unlike Binet, was interested in using intelligence test to identify gifted children who had high intelligence.[6] In his longitudinal study of gifted children, who became known as the Termites, Terman found that gifted children become gifted adults. [11]
Edward Thorndike[edit]
Edward Thorndike (18741949) supported the scientific movement in education. He based teaching practices on empirical evidence and measurement.[6] Thorndike developed the theory of instrumental conditioning or the law of effect. The law of effect states that associations are strengthened when it is followed by something pleasing and associations are weakened when followed by something not pleasing. He also found that learning is done a little at a time or in increments, learning is an automatic process and all the principles of learning apply to all mammals. Thorndike's research with Robert Woodworth on the theory of transfer found that learning one subject will only influence your ability to learn another subject if the subjects are similar.[6] This discovery led to less emphasis on learning the classics because they found that studying the classics does not contribute to overall general intelligence.[6] Thorndike was one of the first to say that individual differences in cognitive tasks were due to how many stimulus response patterns a person had rather than a general intellectual ability.[6] He contributed word dictionaries that were scientifically based to determine the words and definitions used. [6] The dictionaries were the first to take into consideration the users maturity level.[6] He also integrated pictures and easier pronunciation guide into each of the definitions.[6] Thorndike contributed arithmetic books based on learning theory. He made all the problems more realistic and relevant to what was being studied, not just to improve the general intelligence.[6] He developed test that were standardized to measure performance in school related subjects.[6]His biggest contribution to testing was the CAVD intelligence test which used a
multidimensional approach to intelligence and the first to use a ratio scale. [6] His later work was on programmed instruction, mastery learning and computer-based learning: If, by a miracle of mechanical ingenuity, a book could be so arranged that only to him who had done what was directed on page one would page two become visible, and so on, much that now requires personal instruction could be managed by print.[13]
John Dewey[edit]
John Dewey (18591952) had a major influence on the development of progressive education in the United States. He believed that the classroom should prepare children to be good citizens and facilitate creative intelligence.[6] He pushed for the creation of practical class that could be applied outside of a school setting.[6] He also thought that education should be student-oriented not subject-oriented. For Dewey education was social that helped bring together generations of people. He states that students learn by doing. He believed in an active mind that was able to be educated through observation and problem solving and inquiry. In his 1910 book How We Think he emphasizes that material should be provided in way that is stimulating and interesting to the student and it encourages original thoughts and problem solving.[14] He also stated that material should be relative to the student's own experience.[14] "The material furnished by way of information should be relevant to a question that is vital in the students own experience"[14]
Jean Piaget[edit]
Jean Piaget (18961980) developed the theory of cognitive development.[6] The theory stated that intelligence developed in four different stages. The stages are the sensorimotor stage from birth to 2 years old, the preoperational state from 2 years old to 7 years old, the concrete operational stage from 7 years old to 10 years old, and formal operational stage from 11 years old and up.[6]He also believed that learning was constrained to the child's cognitive development. Piaget influenced educational psychology because he was the first to believe that cognitive development was important and something that should be paid attention to in education. [6] Most of the research on Piagetian theory was mainly tested and done by American educational psychologists
1920-present[edit]
The amount of people receiving a high school and college education increased dramatically from 1920 to 1960.[6] Because of very little jobs available to the teens coming out of eighth grade there was an increase in high school attendance in the 1930s .[6] The progressive movement in the United State took off at this time and led to the idea of progressive education. John Flanagan, an educational psychologist, developed tests for combat trainees and instructions in combat training.[6] In 1954 the work of Kenneth Clark and his wife on the effects of segregation on black and white children was influential in the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education.[11] From the 1960s to present day educational psychology has switched from a behaviorist
perspective to a more cognitive based perspective because of the influence and development of cognitive psychology at this time.[6]
Jerome Bruner[edit]
Jerome Bruner was the first to apply the cognitive approaches in educational psychology.[6] He was the one who introduced the ideas of Jean Piaget into educational psychology. He advocated for discovery learning where teachers create a problem solving environment that allows the student to question, explore and experiment.[6] In his book The Process of Education Bruner stated that the structure of the material and the cognitive abilities of the person are important in learning.[6] He emphasized the importance of the subject matter. He also believed that how the subject was structured was important for the students understanding of the subject and it is the goal of the teacher to structure the subject in a way that was easy for the student to understand.[6] In the early 1960s Bruner went to Africa to teach math and science to schoolchildren, which influenced his view as schooling as a cultural institution. Bruner was also influential in the development of MACOS, Man a Course of Study, which was an educational program that combined anthropology and science.[6] The program explored human evolution and social behavior. He also helped with the development of the head start program. He was interested in the influence of culture on education and looked at the impact of poverty on educational development.[6]
Benjamin Bloom[edit]
Benjamin Bloom (19131999) spent over 50 years at the University of Chicago where he worked in the department of education.[6]He believed that all students can learn. He developed taxonomy of educational objectives.[6] The objectives were divided into three domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. The cognitive domain deals with how we think.[15] It is divided into categories that are on a continuum from easiest to more complex.[15] The categories are knowledge or recall, comprehension application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.[15] The affective domain deals with emotions and has 5 categories.[15] The categories are receiving phenomenon, responding to that phenomenon, valuing, organization, and internalizing values.[15] The psychomotor domain deals with the development of motor skills, movement and coordination and has 7 categories, that also goes from simplest to complex.[15] The 7 categories of the psychomotor domain are perception, set, guided response, mechanism, complex overt response, adaptation, and origination. [15] The taxonomy provided broad educational objectives that could be used to help expand the curriculum to match the ideas in the taxonomy.[6] The taxonomy is considered to have a greater influence internationally than in the United States. Internationally, the taxonomy is used in every aspect of education from training of the teachers to the development of testing material.[6] Bloom believed in communicating clear learning goals and promoting an active student. He thought that teachers should provide feedback to the students on their strengths and weaknesses.[6] Bloom also did research on college students and their problem solving processes. He found that
they differ in understanding the basis of the problem and the ideas in the problem. He also found that students differ in process of problem solving in their approach and attitude toward the problem.[6]
Nathaniel Gage[edit]
Nathaniel Gage is important in educational psychology because he did research to improve teaching and understand the processes involved in teaching.[6] In 1963 he was the editor of the Handbook of Research on Teaching, which became an influential book in educational psychology. The handbook helped set up research on teaching and made research on teaching important to educational psychology.[6] He also was influential in the founding of the Stanford Center for Research and Development in teaching, which not only contributed important research on teaching but also influenced the teaching of important educational psychologists. [6]
Perspectives of educational psychology[edit]

Cognitive perspective[edit]
An example of an item from a cognitive abilities test
Each person has an individual profile of characteristics, abilities and challenges that result from predisposition, learning and development. These manifest as individual differences in intelligence, creativity, cognitive style, motivation and the capacity to process information, communicate, and relate to others. The most prevalent disabilities found among school age children are attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),learning disability, dyslexia, and speech disorder. Less common disabilities includeintellectual disability, hearing impairment, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and blindness.[16] Although theories of intelligence have been discussed by philosophers since Plato, intelligence testing is an invention of educational psychology, and is coincident with the development of that discipline. Continuing debates about the nature of intelligence revolve on whether intelligence can be characterized by a single factor known as general intelligence,[17] multiple factors (e.g.,Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences[18]), or whether it can be measured at all. In practice, standardized instruments such as the Stanford-Binet IQ test and the WISC[19] are widely used in economically developed countries to identify children in need of individualized educational treatment. Children classified as gifted are often provided with accelerated or enriched programs. Children with identified deficits may be provided with enhanced education in specific skills such as phonological
awareness. In addition to basic abilities, the individual's personality traits are also important, with people higher in conscientiousness and hope attaining superior academic achievements, even after controlling for intelligence and past performance.[20]
Behavioral perspective[edit]
Applied behavior analysis, a research-based science utilizing behavioral principles of operant conditioning, is effective in a range of educational settings.[21] For example, teachers can alter student behavior by systematically rewarding students who follow classroom rules with praise, stars, or tokens exchangeable for sundry items.[22][23] Despite the demonstrated efficacy of awards in changing behavior, their use in education has been criticized by proponents of self-determination theory, who claim that praise and other rewards undermine intrinsic motivation. There is evidence that tangible rewards decrease intrinsic motivation in specific situations, such as when the student already has a high level of intrinsic motivation to perform the goal behavior.[24] But the results showing detrimental effects are counterbalanced by evidence that, in other situations, such as when rewards are given for attaining a gradually increasing standard of performance, rewards enhance intrinsic motivation.[25][26] Many effective therapies have been based on the principles of applied behavior analysis, including pivotal response therapy which is used to treat autism spectrum disorders.
Social perspective[edit]
Among current educational psychologists, the cognitive perspective is more widely held than the behavioral perspective, perhaps because it admits causally related mental constructs such as traits, beliefs, memories, motivations and emotions. Cognitive theories claim that memory structures determine how information is perceived, processed, stored, retrieved and forgotten. Among the memory structures theorized by cognitive psychologists are separate but linked visual and verbal systems described by Allan Paivio's dual coding theory. Educational psychologists have used dual coding theory and cognitive load theory to explain how people learn from multimedia presentations.[27]
Three experiments reported by Krug, Davis and Glover[28] demonstrated the advantage of delaying a 2nd reading of a text passage by one week (distributed) compared with no delay between readings (massed).
The spaced learning effect, a cognitive phenomenon strongly supported by psychological research, has broad applicability within education.[29] For example, students have been found to perform better on a test of knowledge about a text passage when a second reading of the passage is delayed rather than immediate (see figure).[28] Educational psychology research has confirmed the applicability to education of other findings from cognitive psychology, such as the benefits of using mnemonics for immediate and delayed retention of information.[30] Problem solving, according to prominent cognitive psychologists, is fundamental to learning. It resides as an important research topic in educational psychology. A student is thought to interpret a problem by assigning it to a schema retrieved from long-term memory. A problem students run into while reading is called "activation." This is when the student's representations of the text are present during working memory. This causes the student to read through the material without absorbing the information and being able to retain it. When working memory is absent from the readers representations of the working memory they experience something called "deactivation." When deactivation occurs, the student has an understanding of the material and is able to retain information. If deactivation occurs during the first reading, the reader does not need to undergo deactivation in the second reading. The reader will only need to reread to get a "gist" of the text to spark their memory. When the problem is assigned to the wrong schema, the student's attention is subsequently directed away from features of the problem that are inconsistent with the assigned schema.[31] The critical step of finding a mapping between the problem and a pre-existing schema is often cited as supporting the centrality of analogical thinking to problem solving.
Developmental perspective[edit]
Main article: Neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development Developmental psychology, and especially the psychology of cognitive development, opens a special perspective for educational psychology. This is so because education and the psychology of cognitive development converge on a number of crucial assumptions. First, the psychology of cognitive development defines human cognitive competence at successive phases of development. Education aims to help students acquire knowledge and develop skills which are compatible with their understanding and problem-solving capabilities at different ages. Thus, knowing the students' level on a developmental sequence provides information on the kind and level of knowledge they can assimilate, which, in turn, can be used as a frame for organizing the subject matter to be taught at different school grades. This is the reason why Piaget's theory of cognitive development was so influential for education, especially mathematics and science education. [32] In the same direction, the neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development suggest that in addition to the concerns above, sequencing of concepts and skills in teaching must take account of the processing and working memory capacities that characterize successive age levels.[33][34]
Second, the psychology of cognitive development involves understanding how cognitive change takes place and recognizing the factors and processes which enable cognitive competence to develop. Education also capitalizes on cognitive change, because the construction of knowledge presupposes effective teaching methods that would move the student from a lower to a higher level of understanding. Mechanisms such as reflection on actual or mental actions vis--vis alternative solutions to problems, tagging new concepts or solutions to symbols that help one recall and mentally manipulate them are just a few examples of how mechanisms of cognitive development may be used to facilitate learning.[34][35] Finally, the psychology of cognitive development is concerned with individual differences in the organization of cognitive processes and abilities, in their rate of change, and in their mechanisms of change. The principles underlying intra- and inter-individual differences could be educationally useful, because knowing how students differ in regard to the various dimensions of cognitive development, such as processing and representational capacity, self-understanding and self-regulation, and the various domains of understanding, such as mathematical, scientific, or verbal abilities, would enable the teacher to cater for the needs of the different students so that no one is left behind.[34][36]
Constructivist perspective[edit]
Main article: Constructivism Constructivism is a category of learning theory in which emphasis is placed on the agency and prior "knowing" and experience of the learner, and often on the social and cultural determinants of the learning process. Educational psychologists distinguish individual (or psychological) constructivism, identified with Piaget's theory of cognitive development, from social constructivism. A dominant influence on the latter type is Lev Vygotsky's work on sociocultural learning, describing how interactions with adults, more capable peers, and cognitive tools are internalized to form mental constructs. Elaborating on Vygotsky's theory, Jerome Bruner and other educational psychologists developed the important concept of instructional scaffolding, in which the social or information environment offers supports for learning that are gradually withdrawn as they become internalized.[37]
Conditioning and learning[edit]
An abacus provides concrete experiences for learning abstract concepts.
To understand the characteristics of learners in childhood, adolescence, adulthood, andold age, educational psychology develops and applies theories of human development. Often represented as stages through which people pass as they mature, developmental theories describe changes in mental abilities ( cognition), social roles, moral reasoning, and beliefs about the nature of knowledge. For example, educational psychologists have conducted research on the instructional applicability of Jean Piaget's theory of development, according to which children mature through four stages of cognitive capability. Piaget hypothesized that children are not capable of abstract logical thought until they are older than about 11 years, and therefore younger children need to be taught using concrete objects and examples. Researchers have found that transitions, such as from concrete to abstract logical thought, do not occur at the same time in all domains. A child may be able to think abstractly about mathematics, but remain limited to concrete thought when reasoning about human relationships. Perhaps Piaget's most enduring contribution is his insight that people actively construct their understanding through a self-regulatory process.[16] Piaget proposed a developmental theory of moral reasoning in which children progress from a nave understanding of morality based on behavior and outcomes to a more advanced understanding based on intentions. Piaget's views of moral development were elaborated by Kohlberg into a stage theory of moral development. There is evidence that the moral reasoning described in stage theories is not sufficient to account for moral behavior. For example, other factors such asmodeling (as described by the social cognitive theory of morality) are required to explain bullying. Rudolf Steiner's model of child development interrelates physical, emotional, cognitive, and moral development[38] in developmental stages similar to those later described by Piaget.[39]
Developmental theories are sometimes presented not as shifts between qualitatively different stages, but as gradual increments on separate dimensions. Development of epistemological beliefs (beliefs about knowledge) have been described in terms of gradual changes in people's belief in: certainty and permanence of knowledge, fixedness of ability, and credibility of authorities such as teachers and experts. People develop more sophisticated beliefs about knowledge as they gain in education and maturity.[40]
Motivation[edit]
Motivation is an internal state that activates, guides and sustains behavior. Motivation can have several impacting effects on how students learn and how they behave towards subject matter:[41]
Provide direction towards goals Enhance cognitive processing abilities and performance Direct behavior toward particular goals Lead to increased effort and energy Increase initiation of and persistence in activities
Educational psychology research on motivation is concerned with the volition or will that students bring to a task, their level of interest and intrinsic motivation, the personally held goals that guide their behavior, and their belief about the causes of their success or failure. As intrinsic motivation deals with activities that act as their own rewards, extrinsic motivation deals with motivations that are brought on by consequences or punishments. A form of attribution theory developed by Bernard Weiner[42]describes how students' beliefs about the causes of academic success or failure affect their emotions and motivations. For example, when students attribute failure to lack of ability, and ability is perceived as uncontrollable, they experience the emotions of shame and embarrassment and consequently decrease effort and show poorer performance. In contrast, when students attribute failure to lack of effort, and effort is perceived as controllable, they experience the emotion of guilt and consequently increase effort and show improved performance.[42] The self-determination theory (SDT) was developed by psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan. SDT focuses on the importance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in driving human behavior and posits inherent growth and development tendencies. It emphasizes the degree to which an individual's behavior is selfmotivated and self-determined. When applied to the realm of education, the self-determination theory is concerned primarily with promoting in students an interest in learning, a value of education, and a confidence in their own capacities and attributes.[43] Motivational theories also explain how learners' goals affect the way they engage with academic tasks.[44] Those who have mastery goals strive to increase their ability and knowledge. Those who have performance approach goals strive for high grades and seek opportunities to demonstrate their abilities. Those who have performance avoidance goals are driven by fear of failure and avoid situations where their abilities are exposed. Research
has found that mastery goals are associated with many positive outcomes such as persistence in the face of failure, preference for challenging tasks, creativity and intrinsic motivation. Performance avoidance goals are associated with negative outcomes such as poor concentration while studying, disorganized studying, less selfregulation, shallow information processing and test anxiety. Performance approach goals are associated with positive outcomes, and some negative outcomes such as an unwillingness to seek help and shallow information processing.[44] Locus of control is a salient factor in the successful academic performance of students. During the 1970s and '80s, Cassandra B. Whyte did significant educational research studying locus of control as related to the academic achievement of students pursuing higher education coursework. Much of her educational research and publications focused upon the theories of Julian B. Rotter in regard to the importance of internal control and successful academic performance.[45] Whyte reported that individuals who perceive and believe that their hard work may lead to more successful academic outcomes, instead of depending on luck or fate, persist and achieve academically at a higher level. Therefore, it is important to provide education and counseling in this regard.[46]
Technology[edit]
Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives: categories in the cognitive domain [47]
Instructional design, the systematic design of materials, activities and interactive environments for learning, is broadly informed by educational psychology theories and research. For example, in defining learning goals or objectives, instructional designers often use a taxonomy of educational objectives created by Benjamin Bloom and colleagues.[47] Bloom also researched mastery learning, an instructional strategy in which learners only advance to a new learning objective after they have mastered its prerequisite objectives. Bloom[48] discovered that a combination of mastery learning with one-to-one tutoring is highly effective, producing learning outcomes far exceeding those normally achieved in classroom instruction. Gagn, another psychologist, had earlier developed an influential method of task analysis in which a terminal learning goal is expanded into a hierarchy of
learning objectives[49] connected by prerequisite relationships. The following list of technological resources incorporate computer-aided instruction and intelligence for educational psychologists and their students:
Intelligent tutoring system Educational technology Cognitive tutor Cooperative learning Collaborative learning Problem-based learning Computer-supported collaborative learning Constructive alignment
Technology is essential to the field of educational psychology, not only for the psychologist themselves as far as testing, organization, and resources, but also for students. Educational Psychologists whom reside in the K12 setting focus the majority of their time with Special Education students. It has been found that students with disabilities learning through technology such as IPad applications and videos are more engaged and motivated to learn in the classroom setting. Liu et al. explain that learning- baed technology allows for students to be more focused, and learning is more efficient with learning technologies. The authors explain that learning technology also allows for students with social- emotional disabilities to participate in distance learning.[50]
Applications for education psychology[edit]

Teaching[edit]
A class size experiment in the United States found that attending small classes for 3 or more years in the early grades increased high school graduation of students from low income families. [51]
Research on classroom management and pedagogy is conducted to guide teaching practice and form a foundation for teacher education programs. The goals of classroom management are to create an environment conducive to learning and to develop students' self-management skills. More specifically, classroom management strives to create positive teacherstudent and peer relationships, manage student groups to sustain on-task behavior, and use counseling and other psychological methods to aid students who present persistent psychosocial problems.[52] Introductory educational psychology is a commonly required area of study in most North American teacher education programs. When taught in that context, its content varies, but it typically emphasizes learning theories (especially cognitively oriented ones), issues about motivation, assessment of students' learning, and classroom management. A developing Wikibook about educational psychology gives more detail about the educational psychology topics that are typically presented in preservice teacher education.
Special education Lesson plan
Educational psychology and counseling[edit]

Education and training[edit]
In order to become an educational psychologist, students must initially complete an undergraduate education with a psychology major. They then must go to graduate school to study education psychology, counseling psychology, and/ or school counseling. Most students today are also receiving their doctorate degrees in order to hold the "psychologist" title.Educational psychologists work in a variety of settings. Some work in university settings where they carry out research on the cognitive and social processes of human development, learning and education. Educational psychologists may also work as consultants in designing and creating educational materials, classroom programs and online courses.Educational psychologists who work in k 12 school settings (closely related are school psychologists in the US and Canada) are trained at the master's and doctoral levels. In addition to conducting assessments, school psychologists provide services such as academic and behavioral intervention, counseling, teacher consultation, and crisis intervention. However, school psychologists are generally more individual-oriented towards students.[53]
Employment outlook[edit]
Employment for psychologists in the United States is expected to grow faster than most occupations through the year 2014, with anticipated growth of 1826%. One in four psychologists are employed in educational settings. In the United States, the mediansalary for psychologists in primary and secondary schools is US$58,360 as of May 2004.[54] In recent decades the participation of women as professional researchers in North American educational psychology has risen dramatically.[55]
Methods of research[edit]
Educational psychology, as much as any other field of psychology heavily relies on a balance of pure observation and quantitative methods in psychology. The study of education generally combines the studies of history, sociology, and ethics with theoretical approaches. Smeyers and Depaepe explain that historically, the study of education and child rearing have been associated with the interests of policymakers and practitioners within the educational field, however, the recent shift to sociology and psychology has opened the door for new findings in education as a social science. Now being its own academic discipline, educational psychology has proven to be helpful for social science researchers.[56] Quantitative research is the backing to most observable phenomenon in psychology. This involves observing, creating, and understanding a distribution of data based upon the studies subject matter. Researchers use particular variables to interpret their data distributions from their research and employ statistics as a way of creating data tables and analyzing their data. Psychology has moved from the "common sense" reputations initially posed by Thomas Reid to the methodology approach comparing independent and dependent variables through natural observation, experiments, or combinations of the two. Though results are still, with statistical methods, objectively true based upon significance variables or p- values.[56]
See also[edit]
Education portal
Psychology portal
Applied psychology Classroom management Cognitive sciences Instructional theory Learning sciences Learning theory (education) List of educational psychologists List of publications in psychology Living educational theory- an educational psychology action research method Motivation theory School psychologist Special education
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Further reading[edit]
Barry, W.J. (2012). Challenging the Status Quo Meaning of Educational Quality: Introducing Transformational Quality (TQ) Theory. Educational Journal of Living Theories. 4, 129. http://ejolts.net/node/191 Among the most prominent journals in educational psychology are:
Review of Educational Research Learning and Instruction American Educational Research Journal Journal of the Learning Sciences Academy of Management Learning & Education Educational Researcher Computers & Education Educational Research Review Journal of Research in Science Teaching Reading Research Quarterly Science Education
Early Childhood Research Quarterly Review of Research in Education Advances in Health Sciences Education Internet and Higher Education Journal of Engineering Education International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Sociology of Education British Educational Research Journal Journal of Computer Assisted Learning
External links[edit]
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Subject:Educational psychology
Wikiversity has learning materials about Educational psychology
Wikisource has the text of a 1920Encyclopedia Americana article about Educational psychology.
Educational Psychology Resources by Athabasca University Division 15 of the American Psychological Association Psychology of Education Section of the British Psychological Society Explorations in Learning & Instructional Design: Theory Into Practice Database Classics in the History of Psychology The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing
Videos[edit]
The Psychology of Educational Quality-Transformational Quality (TQ) Theory
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Psychology
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Developmental disorders: Dyslexia and related specific developmental disorders (F80F83, 315)
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Topics in education
Categories:
Applied psychology Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Branches of psychology Developmental dyslexia Educational psychology Social sciences

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