Lecture 13 - Do we lose our intrinsic motivation for reading?

Question 1

Ed Deci’s fundamental Question

Answer 1

Why do people stop pursuing activities that
formerly seemed to be highly self-rewarding?

Prof used to love reading as a kid, lost it but regained it (when started reading Harry Potter and The Hunger Games)
Nephews and musical instrument

Intrinsic motivation: The natural propensity to engage one’s
interests and exercise one’s capacities (definition established by personality psychologists)
-Evolutionarily helpful, adaptive
Prof thinks reading is one of those adaptive things
-Bought Harry Potter book for nephew trumpet player, prof ended up loving them, obsessed and savouring them (read book 7 on the mountain)
Then read The Hunger Games, loved them too
Examples of intrinsic motivation!

Things we think help with motivation but actually reduce intrinsic motivation:
-Promising rewards
-Verbal rewards (praise)
-Competitions
-Warnings

Why show clip of daughter:
2.5, deeply connected to books
Can tell you the stories and which emotions come up (even if can’t actually read)
Bedtime routine where would read every night
Professional family
1000 hours by the time 6 years old in prof. family
10 hours total in poor SES
Going to visit the places in the books (Anne of Green Gables)
Reading is a pretty intrinsic for kids (even if can’t actually read)

Question 2

Koestner’s Reading
Trajectory and others

Answer 2

Slowly went down

(idk if this was him or his daughter)..
In 4th grade, reading contest
Stupid Kermie
Instead of intrinsic and fun, just to win the prize

(i think this was his daughter? or maybe nephew? relisten)
“No popular books at school” (Harry Potter)
Given more challenging books
Kids naturally move onto more challenging material if you just leave them be

Pizza hut contest thing
Undermining natural interest in reading
Rewards kids k-6 with free pizza, praise and recognition

Effects of all these examples:
Intrinsic + extrinsic does NOT equal even more motivation
Extrinsic motivation actually reduces the intrinsic motivation
Will still read, but only if reward
And most of our life, there aren’t people to reward us

Question 3

Lepper et al experiment 1973: The Free Choice Paradigm

Answer 3

pictures drawn: no reward = 2.33 reward=2.61

 Pre-test to identify intrinsic activity
 Random assignment to Control v Reward
 Performance Period
 Explicit Ending of Required Activity
 Free Choice Period (with Observation)

Done with preschoolers
Drawing task with new drawing materials
Random assignment = Rule out other explanations
Performance period = 10 minutes of drawing
Control condition= interested in how kids like this activity
Reward condition = interested in how kids like this activity + excellent pictures given award of excellence + award put on school wall (all of them in this condition got the reward)
Free choice period (observation): see how much time spent on the drawing activity during the choice period (playing with anything period)

Results:
% time played with drawing during free choice period: no reward=17% reward=9%
Quality (1-5): no reward = 2.69 reward=2.18

So in reward condition, spent half the time as those in the no-reward condition drawing
Quantity-wise, in reward condition did more (but lower quality)
No rewards = lower quantity but higher quality

Actually, there was a 3rd condition:
Unexpected reward! Surprised by it after task
Does not undermine intrinsic motivation
-number of time about the same as the no reward condition (18%)
-number of pictures drawn a bit more than the no reward condition (2.44)
-quality a bit better than the no reward condition (2.85)
…but I think those are statistically insignificant

Over 200 studies have replicated these findings, across many ages, across cultures, varied type of activity, expectancy (reward is expected), salience, type of reward : tangible vs. symbolic doesn’t make a difference, but physical vs. verbal does make a big difference

Analysis by Koestner, Deci and Ryan
Tangible= undermines (negative corr.)
-why? Communicates control to influence how you’re doing something (undermines) (-0.34)
Verbal rewards = increase in intrinsic motivation (positive corr.) (0.33)
-why? Tell you something about your competence and autonomy (which increases intrinsic motivation)
Praise
-if unexpected, almost no effect (0.01)
Expected rewards = undermine (-0.36)
What mediates the effect of reward is how they affect feelings of autonomy and competence

Age effect:
Especially harmful to younger kids!

For reward, smiled less, interacted less, avoided challenge, crabbier

Question 4

Expanding the links

Answer 4

Other correlates of intrinsic motivation:
Enjoyment
Pursuit of challenge
Cognitive flexibility and
Creativity
Spontaneity and
Expressiveness
Positive Emotional Tone in
relating to others

Other underminers of intrinsic motivation:
Rewards
Punishment
Threats of Negative
Consequences
Surveillance
Deadlines
Evaluation
Goal Imposition
Competition

Question 5

Cognitive Evaluation
Theory

Answer 5

1. Intrinsic motivation (IM) varies with Perceived Autonomy
    2. IM Varies with Perceived Competence
    3. External events can have 1of 3 meanings:
   - informational
   - controlling
   - amotivating

Question 6

Librarian quote on the use of rewards

Answer 6

“The rate of book reading increased
astronomically…but the use of rewards
changed the pattern of book selection (short
books with large print became ideal). It also
seemed to change the way children read.
They were often unable to answer
straightforward questions about the books. It
also decreased the amount of reading kids
did outside school.” Kohn 1993

Question 7

Harter’s Research on the Impact
of School on Children’s
Intrinsic Motivation

Answer 7

 Surveys of Children’s Curiosity/Interest
(vs Pleasing Teacher and getting grades)
 Does child work to satisfy own interest and
curiosity or Does child work to satisfy
teacher, get marks and grades?

The level of curiosity/interest went down, and especially in Junior High

Why the drop at Junior High?
 more evaluative
 more competitive
 more impersonal
 more formal

Certain points where it jumps
Probably less motivation for psychology in uni than in cegep for example

Question 8

Refinement of Harter’s
research;
Lepper et al ,2005

Answer 8

 Large, culturally diverse sample;
 Examine relations to school performance.

Grades went down as motivation went down

Higher intrinsic motivation = do better in school

Question 9

Most common question: What about children who do not like to read?
Wouldn’t it be ok to use a reward to get them
interested?

Answer 9

First of all, ask yourself some questions:
Ask yourself why a kid isn’t reading. Terrible teacher? Learning disability? Pushed to read things not interested in?
Try to understand kid

Instructional Practices that
promote reading motivation
(and comprehension): Rewards didn’t have any effect
 Encouraging choice;
 Providing interesting, relevant texts (based on the kid’s interests!);
 Facilitating social interaction around books;
 Using hands-on activities to spark interest

Important to learn to read by grade 3
Learn to read before grade 3, then read in order to learn after grade 3

Question 10

Giving kids books is the key

Answer 10

 Allington et al., 2010
 Addressing summer reading setback among
economically disadvantaged elementary students.
 The Summer Slide
-Especially in lower SES
Over the summer they lose 3 months in their reading level
 1000 1st graders assigned to book fair condition;
 Pick 12 books from wide variety – Pop Culture #1*
 500 in control group get puzzle books.
 Dep. variable: Reading achievement 3 yrs later.
 Result: Sign. pos effect of books, esp. for lo SES.
 And “quality” of books did not matter!
-kids selected two books on Britney Spears as the top 2

Kids who had to choose 12 books had better reading achievement 3 years later than the kids who did puzzle books

Question 11

Is there any way for me to find my
intrinsic motivation for reading again?

Answer 11

 Look for the spark of interest. = = anything you’re interested in, even if it’s embarrassing
if you find something that sparks your interest, create some structure (like read every night or go to the library), and trust that your level of challenge will increase naturally
 Don’t judge your reading
 Try different formats
 e-books
 graphic books
 Audio books
 Trust that intrinsic motivation
will lead to challenge = rust that your level of challenge will increase naturally

Example of a progression:
A progression?
 Harry Potter Series
 Artemis Fowl Series
 Eoin Cofer
 The Golden Compass series
 Philip Pullman
 Barthemeus Trilogy
 Jonathan Stroud
 The Hunger Games Trilogy
 Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
 Susanna Clarke