Discuss theoretical approaches of Motivation in Educational Psychology

      

Discuss theoretical approaches of Motivation in Educational Psychology

  

Answers


Ruth
1. The Behavior approaches
The behavioristic approaches advocate the use of reinforcement. Reinforcement refers to
the use of rewards or incentives. A reward is an attractive object or event supplied as a
consequence of a particular behavior. An incentive is an object or event that encourages
or discourages behavior. For example the promise of an A+ is an incentive.
The threat to punish is also an incentive. According to the behavioral approach an
understanding of student motivation should begin with a careful analysis of incentives
and rewards present in the classroom. These could be • Affection, Money, Praise, Privileges, Grades or even stars. The teacher should also identify the behaviors that need to be reinforcement. These could
be outstanding performance, Punctuality, Neatness, Attentiveness Good conduct, Proper language use, Non-aggression, Honesty and showing respect for others.

2. Cognitive Approaches To Motivation
Cognitive approaches to motivation developed as a reaction to the behavioral views.
Cognitive theorists believe that behavior is determined by our thinking not by rewards or
the punishments we anticipate or receive. In their view, behavior is initiated and
regulated by inner plans not by external events or physical conditions like hunger.
Cognitive theorists tend to see people as Active, Curious and always searching for information to solve personally relevant problems.
In their view people work hard because they enjoy work and because they want to
understand. They emphasize intrinsic motivation, (Weiner, 1984). The teacher should
help learners to develop their curiosity and methods of searching for information.

3. Social Learning Theories Of Motivation
The social learning theories of motivation are integrations of behavioral and cognitive
approaches. These theorists see motivation as a product of two main forces: The
individual expectation of success in a task and the vicarious experience.
The person’s expectation of success in a task is determined by personal effectiveness also
called self-efficacy. Self-efficacy refers to personal competence. The vicarious experience constitutes observations of other students. A student compares his performance with that of other children. If the child discovers that his performance is poor he is likely to lose his sense of competence and efficacy altogether. In this respect the teacher should help the child to keep up with the level of performance of other children in order to keep up motivation. In many instances teachers aggravate the
problem when they torment the child who is comparing with peers unfavorably. They
make the child sink deeper in despair and apathy.
NatalieR answered the question on February 10, 2022 at 13:26


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