After reading the chapter and the Dweck article, discuss one question or confusion that you had about the material.
o I don’t have any questions or confusions, but I found it interesting that “girls may benefit less from praise than boys, because they tend to precieve praise as controlling.” I can see this to be true from my own personal experiences, but I would of thought girls tried to achieve praise more than boys, and I think this because from my experience girls are always the teacher’s pets and want the teacher’s approval, not boys.
o Also I found interesting that the Dweck article is written by Carol Dweck, herself, for my G203 Communication in the Classroom class, we read an article about Dweck’s studies but written by somebody else, so it was nice to fully read her perspective.
· When are extrinsic forms of motivation most beneficial or appropriate, compared to other forms? What do they offer?
o Extrinsic forms of motivation are most beneficial when students are in middle and high school, when intrinsic motivation lowers. Students may be motivated by the grade they will achieve, which is extrinsic, and may also be motivated by receiving money from their parents if they are on the honor roll or such. There is often very few options for teacher to get students to have intrinsic motivation in middle and high school. Extrinsic motivation offers something for the student to work for, aand they know they are responsible for the “reward” through grades.
· When do you think that extrinsic forms MIGHT be the wrong choice? (Look to the Dweck article where she discusses how praise can be dangerous) Discuss some form of extrinsic motivation and why IT might also be 'dangerous'.
o From personal experience, I think the Pizza Hut Book-It Program could be the wrong choice for extrinsic motivation. I did the Book-It program through elementary and middle school, but I’ll be honest, I didn’t read all the books, a lot of them I had read in the past and still remembered, therefore the program itself did not motivate me to read, it motivated me to get free pizza through saying I had read a lot of books.
o Also from reading the Dweck article, I would say that extrinsic forms of motivation are bad when rewards are given because of intelligence. Dweck’s studies focused on students being told they were either intelligent or had put a lot of effort into an activity, and the students praised about effort had better attitudes and outcomes. Therefore I think extrinsic motivation would be the wrong choice for a student that shows their intelligence on an assignment, and should only be used for when students show a lot of effort, concentration, etc. Rewards for completing assignments in a fast time period would be dangerous because it would be teaching students to do assignments quickly and to not put as much thought into it. I know all through school, I had teachers who would give prizes out to students who would get something done first.
Some developmental gender issues can be very interesting, and I think may shed light on that issue. In general (of course, this isn't always true, and I think I defy a lot of these trends) girls tend to internalize everything, while boys externalize. Researchers say this is the reason why teen girls are more likely to develop depression while boys are more likely to develop aggression or addiction.... SO, in relation to your comment, it might be that girls enjoy praise if it's making them feel internally good, but if it's seen as an external controller, they don't like it?
ReplyDeleteIt's true that extrinsic motivation should be used if intrinsic fails, and vice versa, but what does extrinsic offer for all situations that intrinsic can't? There isn't one response,.... doing something 'for the grade' can be seen as bad, but if those grades actually represent success and understanding in the field, then doing something for that external reward might be useful. So, in college, most people are there because they WANT to be, and they want to gain skills in a particular field, so doing it 'for the degree' might be useful in some sense.
Yes, pizza doesn't really have anything to do with reading. It always confused me too. Maybe an educational magazine subscription would be a better reward?
Rather than saying anything is good or bad, just think of the outcome that would come afterward. With that, you're definitely right. Rewarding a child 'because they are intelligent' does NOTHING. From a behaviorist standpoint, there's nothing to reward, nothing that you're reinforcing. THe response might be 'ok, great.... so I'll keep being me'. If you reward based on effort, that increases effort and motivation (and a lot of research has shown this to be true).
When we talk about intrinsic motivation, this will come up again. If you reward something that's controllable, then motivation can increase, but if you reward something that you can control or change (like intelligence, according to some people), then it does nothing.