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
steps of the free choice paradigm
- Pre-test to identify intrinsic activity
- Random assignment to control vs. reward vs. unexpected reward condition
- Performance period
- Explicit ending of required activity
- Free choice period (with observation)
who developed the free choice paradigm?
Leper et al, 1973
results of the free-choice paradigm
- Rewarded participants spent half as much time on the task
- Rewarded participants drew more, lower quality pictures
- The unexpected reward didn’t undermine intrinsic motivation
- The best kind of reward is one that you are surprised by
free-choice paradigm and age
findings are consistent across age
free-choice paradigm and culture
findings are consistent across cultures
free-choice paradigm and types of activity
findings are consistent across type of activity
free-choice paradigm and expected rewards
When the reward is expected, you’re more likely to undermine motivation
free-choice paradigm and tangible vs. symbolic rewards
The type of reward doesn’t make a difference in terms of tangible vs. symbolic
free-choice paradigm and physical vs. verbal rewards
Verbal rewards increase intrinsic motivation but physical rewards decrease it
why can rewards impact intrinsic motivation?
they tell you something about your competence and autonomy
when do we feel more intrinsic motivation?
when we feel more competent and autonomous
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
- Threats of negative consequences
- Surveillance
- Deadlines
- Evaluation
- Goal imposition
- Competition
cognitive evaluation theory
- Intrinsic motivation varies with perceived autonomy
- Intrinsic motivation varies with perceived competence
3 possible meanings of external events
- Informational
- Controlling
- Amotivating
what impacts intrinsic motivation for reading in school?
- Rewards
- Punishment
- Negative reinforcement (threats)
- Surveillance
- Deadlines
- Evaluation
- Goal imposition
- Competition
Harter’s research on the impact of school on children’s intrinsic motivation
- Surveys of children’s curiosity/interest (vs. pleasing teacher and getting grades)
- Does the child work to satisfy their interest and curiosity or to satisfy the teacher, get marks and grades?
- Found that curiosity decreases with grade
- This isn’t the case for Montessori Schools
why is there a drop in intrinsic motivation in junior high?
- More evaluative
- More competitive
- More impersonal
- More formal
refinement of Harter’s research
- Used a large, culturally diverse sample
- Examined the relations to school performance
- Found that intrinsic motivation drops by grade
- Also found that the more that a kid can maintain their intrinsic motivation, the higher their grades
most common question in response to Deci’s research
What about children who do not like to read? Wouldn’t it be okay to use a reward to get them interested?
Deci’s solution to children who don’t like to read
you should ask yourself and the kid why they aren’t interested in reading
the summer slide
low SES kids lose around 3 months of reading ability, while those who are high SES gain around 1 month
learning to read vs. reading to learn
- Up until grade 3, you learn to read
- After grade 3, you read to learn
instructional practices that promote reading motivation and comprehension
- Encouraging choice
- Providing interesting, relevant texts
- Facilitating social interaction around books
- Using hands-on activities to spark interest
- Rewards had no effect (positive or negative)
Allington et al., 2010 summer reading study method
- Addressing summer reading setback among economically disadvantaged elementary school students
- 1000 first-graders were assigned to the book fair condition
- They picked 12 books from a wide variety
- 500 in the control group got puzzle books
Allington et al., 2010 summer reading study findings
- there was a significant positive effect of books, especially for low SES
- the “quality” of books did not matter
Allington et al., 2010 summer reading study dependent variable
reading achievement 3 years later
Deci’s tips for finding intrinsic motivation again
- Look for the spark of interest
- Don’t judge your reading
- Try different formats
- Trust that intrinsic motivation will lead to challenge
- Use a progression
free choice paradigm and salient rewards
When the reward is made more salient, you’re more likely to undermine motivation
when is a reward most likely to undermine motivation?
when it’s salient, expected, physical, and puts your autonomy and competence into question
