Lecture 13: Why we Have Lost our Innate Interest in Reading Flashcards
Deci’s fundamental question
Why do people stop pursuing activities that formerly seemed to be highly self-rewarding?
examples of self-rewarding activities
childhood sport, musical instrument, reading for pleasure
Koestner’s reading trajectory
Koestner used to enjoy reading Hardy Boys books for pleasure as a kid but read less and less as he grew older
why are interests undermined?
because well-meaning adults try to motivate us using a toolkit
what does adults’ toolkit consist of?
- Promising rewards (ex. grades)
- Praise
- Starting competitions (comparing kids)
how does Deci’s self-determination theory begin?
with intrinsic motivation
intrinsic motivation
the natural propensity to engage one’s interests and exercise one’s capacities
evolutionary benefit of intrinsic motivation
- Humans are naturally inclined to show interest and try to develop their skills
- This is very adaptive
Koestner and children’s books story
- Koestner bought his nephew Harry Potter books. He read them and loved them
- Koestner’s daughter wanted to read the Hunger Games and his wife asked him to read it with her. He also really enjoyed these books
Koestner and reading to his daughter story
Koestner and his wife (high SES family) would read to his daughter before bed
SES and reading
- High SES families will read their kids 1000 hours by the time they’re 6 or 7
- Low SES families will read their kids 10 hours by the time they’re 6 or 7
Koestner’s daughter’s 4th-grade teacher story (Kermie award)
Koestner’s daughter’s 4th-grade teacher had kids track the books that they read over the school year and the boy and girl who read the most books by the end of the year would get a Kermie award (stuffed Kermit the frog)
Kermie award implications
- His daughter won the Kermie but ended up flying through the books and not paying attention to what she was reading
- Instead of being intrinsically motivated, she became motivated by the prize
Koester’s daughter’s 5th-grade teacher story
- Koestner’s daughter’s 5th-grade teacher wouldn’t let her read Harry Potter and made her read more challenging books instead
- This constraints kids and challenges their natural inclination to read
- Kids will naturally move onto more challenging material if you just leave them be
impact of extrinsic motivation on intrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation works against natural intrinsic motivation
Pizza Hut program
Eighteen years ago, Pizza Hut created a reading motivation program for children in grades K-6 called the BOOK IT!® National Reading Incentive Program. More than 20 million students participate in the program every year, which rewards them for their reading accomplishments with free pizza, praise and recognition.
impact of the Pizza Hut Program
This program undermines kids’ natural interest in reading
librarian on the Pizza Hut Program
“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.”
paradigm
a systematic way of studying a phenomenon