Intrinsic motivation and behaviourism in my opinion go well together.

 

 “The American Psychological Association formulated a set of learner-centered psychological principles (American Psychological Association Work Group of the Board of Educational Affairs, 1997; Table 6.8) that reflect a constructivist learning approach. The principles are grouped into four major categories: cognitive and metacognitive factors, motivational and affective factors, developmental and social factors, and individual differences.” (Schunk, 2012, p263)

1

"Intrinsic motivation occurs when we act without any obvious external rewards. We simply enjoy an activity or see it as an opportunity to explore, learn, and actualize our potentials." (Cherry, Kendra. 2019)

Intrinsic motivation and cognitive aspect may look oxymoronic but I do not think so. No matter how much motivation comes from external factors, at some point we need to use our own means to push ourselves. We set our own goals. “Learners presumably engage their cognitive processes to support attainment of their goals.” (Schunk, 2012, p 226). We cannot possibly move to attain goals without cognitive processing. Constant process of ‘attention and perception’ (Schunk, 2012, 224) go hand in hand to achieving the goals.

Intrinsic motivation and behaviourism in my opinion go well together. I cannot sustain the motivation for a certain behaviour unless there is reinforcement. I may create an internal reinforcement system or have an external system. However, some system is needed. A system of reinforcement contingencies as “Skinner believed that teaching required properly arranging reinforcement contingencies.” (Schunk, 2012, p103)

For example, I want to do this course. My motivation is intrinsic. However, at some point the motivation is bound to drop. I need to be ready for the same and process it backwards. So I keep my assignment work very fast and take a day’s break to chill. That works as a positive reinforcer for me to work on the assignment. I would not be able to sustain the energy if I wasn’t very attentive to my mental chatter and choosing my goals with the perception.

2

Social influences on learning means that “Learning is influenced by social interactions, interpersonal relations, and communication with others.” (Schunk, 2012, p 264)

 To me it looks quite obvious that social influences would have aspects of both social learning and constructivism. For example, when I went to Bhutan, I wanted to go for white water rafting. On my own I would not have been able to do it but the presence of 10 other women, all scared yet ready, gave me the impetus. We all cheered each other and rafted across, with our instructors of course, a river with rapids to level 4. We influenced each other. This was a case where “By observing others, people acquire knowledge, rules, skills, strategies, beliefs, and attitudes.” (Schunk, 2012, p118).

 However, we did it only because of the zone of proximal development where “a teacher (our instructors) and learner (us) work(ed) together on a task that the learner(us) could not perform independently because of the difficulty level.” (Schunk, 2012, p244). This was a case of ‘situated cognition’. (Schunk, 2012, p233)

 3

 A student and I started playing badminton years ago at school after the school hours. There were 2 groups that came to the court at different times. Group 1 was loud, aggressive and played to win. Group 2 was a set of professionals and played to excel and never downplayed anyone. Our game was very high with group 2 while with group 1 we only protected our nose to be broken by the aggressive crowd. This describes for me clearly context of learning which indicates that “Learning is influenced by environmental factors, including culture, technology, and instructional practices.” (Schunk, 2012, p264)

The social group affected our game. The negative reinforcement we received from group 1 brought our motivation down and we were terrible at our game. The positive reinforcement we received from group 2 shot us high. Looking back, we should have dropped group 2 knowing that this is not a healthy space for our learning.

 Henceforth I am going to be quite attentive to the group dynamics. For example, for a project I am a reviewer. Obviously the group working on it will not take my presence very kindly. Hence this is not a social situation where I can stick my neck out. The reinforcement from them would be negative, except by the coordinator (hopefully). Also, I would be coming home mostly with a feeling of negatively reinforced and must have some tools of the trade to gently push myself back to the track of learning or growth. I understand now why I come back from their office unhappy and am going to be prepared for the same. The context is not positive.

 4

 Any teacher worth his/her salt knows that “Learners have different strategies, approaches, and capabilities for learning that are a function of prior experience and heredity. (Schunk, 2012, p264)”. They differ individually.

This related very well to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development where “He disagreed with the idea that intelligence was a fixed trait, and regarded cognitive development as a process which occurs due to biological maturation and interaction with the environment.” (McLeod, Saul, 2018)

If intelligence is not a fixed trait and grows in us at the same rate, we cannot possibly expect all students of the same classroom to be at the same level. Hence various approaches to teaching would be required to be used.

And since everyone is different, everyone would not respond to the same way to a certain stimulus. For example, if a teacher asks for attention from the students by way of clapping, some may clap with her/him and some others may just continue talking.

Individual differences align very well to both cognitive and behaviourist aspects.

Overall, what I have learnt is that everything has every other aspect in it. So, as I have understood, there is no point in holding on to a theory of learning. Each is a tool to be used in a certain context and not to be universalized.

 

References

1.      Cherry, Kendra. Intrinsic motivation. Retrieved from: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-intrinsic-motivation-2795385

2.      McLeod, Saul. Jean Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development; 2018. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html.

3.      Schunk, D. H. (2012). Learning theories: An educational perspective (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.