Motivation and Its Influence on Cognition

Joyce G. Heath

Florida Gulf Coast University

Abstract

Articles reporting primary research on motivation and its relationship to cognition were reviewed. The more common elements of motivation in the classroom are self-confidence, self-efficacy, self-esteem, task mastery, goal orientation, pride, empowerment, cooperative learning, and personal goals. A direct correlation has been found between motivation and the use of learning strategies. Learning strategies include self-regulation, self-confidence, persistence, and self-monitoring. Motivated students employ learning strategies. Learning strategies are directly connected to successful learning. Successful learning reinforces the elements of motivation. Knowing this it becomes obvious that one way to increase learning in the classroom is to increase motivation. Once motivated, the student must learn to access learning strategies automatically. The two factors combined should lead to successful learning or cognition.

Motivation and Its Influence on Cognition

Self-efficacy, self-esteem, and goal orientation/task mastery influence motivation. Motivation, in turn, leads to the use of learning strategies. Learning strategies lead to successful learning. Successful learning influences and reinforces self-efficacy, self-esteem, and goal orientation. This becomes a non-ending process, a Mobius strip. When a student is motivated, the student will use learning strategies, self-regulation, self-monitoring, and persistence, to master learning. The student becomes a successful learner and this success then reinforces the elements that motivated learning, which reinforce motivation and the use of the learning strategies, which result in successful learning.

Many authors have shown that a student’s motivational state influences both how well that a student learns and the student’s ability to learn at deeper levels of processing.

Self-efficacy defined as an individual’s personal evaluation or confidence in his performance capabilities on a specific task (Cain, 1995) is a contributing factor to motivation. Students’ self-perceptions of ability are positively related to achievement and motivation (Nichols, 1998) (p.2). And Cain found that for first, third, and fifth graders, individual differences in children’s cognition about ability and achievement is related to their motivational responses. Persons with low self-efficacy will tend to avoid activities they believe are beyond their capabilities, so they selectively choose easier tasks where their chances for success are greater and their effort and persistence are lower. Students’ who believe more in the efficacy of effort, work harder, and experience more positive outcomes (Graham & Golan, 1991). Also, learning focused methods and activities resulted in increased self-confidence in ability. Conversely, learning by ability focused practices produced low-level motivation, poor self-esteem, and lack of confidence in ability. In the work force, Stajkovich’s (1998) research showed that self-efficacy appears to have a strong connection and significant implications for improving employee performance. Although not original research, Higbee (1996) found that self esteem and self-concept, both part of self-efficacy, affect motivation in college age students

There is a high degree of consistency in students’ motivation and strategy-use patterns. And there are important links between motivational goals, achievement effort, and the use of cognitive strategies. Task mastery oriented students were likely to be more positive and they were the most likely to value and use effort based cognitive strategies. The most common strategies are those related to attention deployment, cognitive monitoring, problem solving, and the deep processing of information (Miller & Meece, 1997) (p. 12).

Stipek & Salmon & Givven (1998) confirm that students who are more learning oriented are more attentive, select more challenging tasks, persist longer in the face of adversity, use more effective problem-solving strategies and learn better, especially at the conceptual level. Learning oriented is defined as a focus on developing skills, increasing understanding, and achieving mastery. Students who were mastery oriented enjoyed learning and learned more.

There were many studies done investigating motivation and learning strategies. Learning strategies include both cognitive strategy and the metacognitive strategy. Cognitive strategy is the learner’s awareness of the processes or procedures which may need to be initiated to permit more effective learning or thinking. Metacognitive strategy is the evaluation and monitoring of how well the selected cognitive strategy is working (Alexander & Schallert & Hare, 1991). (p.332)

Students who learn for the sake of learning process information differently and learn better than students who learn because they feel their competence is being judged through tests or observations. Students who used a task focused context emphasized personal accomplishment, showed more interest in the subject matter, performed better, and had more pride in the successes resulting from their efforts (Graham & Golan, 1991). They used learning goal orientations to increase their competency, obtain knowledge and improve skills (Nichols, 1998). Cheung & Kwok (1998), Anderman & Young (1994), and Irvin (1997) all found connections between motivation and strategy use. A motivated student wants to learn.

Nolen (1988), as referenced by Graham & Golan (1991), studied junior high school students and found that the task oriented students were more likely to report valuing and using strategies that required deep processing of information.

A study of fifth, sixth, and seventh graders showed that the fifth graders math lessons had significantly more elements of higher order thinking and the fifth grade students had more motivation to learn and recalled what they learned (DiCintio & Stevens, 1997).

Self-monitoring, defined as the deliberate attention to an aspect of one’s behavior, is considered to be an important self-regulatory learning strategy process (Lan, 1996). (p. 2) Self-monitoring students used self regulated learning strategies more frequently, took more interest in seeking mastery in learning, solved more complex problems in less time, demonstrated more accurate self judgment ability, and developed a better knowledge representation of the course content (Lan, 1996).

Mizelle (Mizelle & Carr, 1997) found that performance and mastery orientation predicted the use of cognitive learning strategies. Self-regulating strategy use mediated between cognitive strategy use and achievement. Self-efficacy predicted achievement.

It was also shown that evaluation procedures that emphasize competition for grades and rewards, ego-orientation, can undermine task-mastery focus and deep processing (Miller et al. 1997). Ego orientation could be defined as a focus on looking smart or avoiding looking incompetent (Stipek et al. 1998).

Shallow processing requires little cognitive effort; there are relatively few demands on one’s limited processing capacities when attending to surface features of incoming stimuli. Deep processing entails greater elaboration and thus greater cognitive effort. It has been documented that individuals remember verbal material better when they are required to analyze it for meaning, deep processing. Recall is less when they focus only on its superficial characteristics, memorization, shallow processing.

Ego involvement might well interfere with the cognitive effort needed for deeper levels of information processing. Ego-orientation and work-avoidant goal orientations were linked to the use of effort-minimizing cognitive strategies and surface level information-processing strategies (Miller et al.). Highly structured classrooms, which emphasize rote learning, can elicit a work-avoidance orientation (Miller et al.). Students perceive that there is little need to exert effort or use the higher order cognitive strategies of planning, goal setting, and monitoring progress. This has been called a "maladaptive motivational state" (Graham et al.). (p. 191 & 191) Ego-oriented goals were found to be negatively associated with positive ability perceptions, intrinsic motivation, and positive attitudes.

With its emphasis on competition and grades, much school learning becomes synonymous with an ego-oriented goals, the very motivational state that has been found to have detrimental consequences for performance (Graham et al., 1991). Student anxiety over grades consistently caused poor performance. For the classroom, these findings imply that educators need to minimize students concerns over their performance relative to others and maximize students’ attention and efforts toward task mastery. All students can expect to succeed if success is defined in terms of developing mastery (Stipek et al., p.3.).

These studies suggest that more learning would happen if teachers emphasized learning and not grades. Students need support, encouragement to stay focused on learning goals, and incentives to complete difficult assignments. They need constant feedback about the appropriateness of their responses, enough time to complete their assignments, and opportunities to correct errors. Learning structures that enable students to develop an increased sense of competence and to assume increased responsibility are likely to promote a task-mastery goal orientation.

When a learner is involved in a difficult task where self-regulation is most needed and could be the most helpful, self-regulation is least likely to happen because the learner must devote most or all information-processing capacity to the learning activities. Therefore it is important for self-monitoring and self-regulatory processes to become increasingly automatic through repetition and practice. Educators need to create opportunities and provide systematic help for students to learn, practice, and use these processes. Teachers should focus on process and seeking alternative solutions. They should treat mistakes, errors, and partial solutions as part of the learning process, and foster more substantive feedback that focuses on improvement and mastery.

Emphasis should be placed on developing and maintaining students’ self-confidence as this has important implications in motivation and achievement behavior including a willingness to approach tasks, exert effort, and take risks which, in turn, are rewarded by positive emotions and pride in success (Stipek et al.). So we are back to the Mobius strip, the student becomes a successful learner and this success then reinforces the elements that motivated learning, which reinforce motivation and the use of the learning strategies, which result in successful learning.

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