The compulsive perfectionist is compared with "stress seekers" who pursue challenges without judging themselves as harshly. Examples of these types from the literature in terms of economic life, fiction, interpersonal relationships, and sexuality are discussed. Risk-taking and social pressure are seen as key factors in the balanced…

Ponders the very different lives of two successful businessmen who were considered school failures at age 14. Attributes their success in life to their ability to control impulsivity and substitute thoughtful planning for immediate gratification. As three experiments demonstrate, success depends on challenging oneself and exerting positive control…

Shows how heterogeneous the theoretical reconstruction of intrinsic motivation is in both empirical pedagogics and pedagogical psychology, which research questions are being posed, and to what kinds of phenomena the respective conceptual variants are applicable. A critical-comparative analysis reveals that there are differences between the…

Lesson in which students speculate about why an artist draws an image in a particular manner. Students examine expressive intent and imagery, subject, emotional content, techniques, media, and organization. Highlights four artists, providing art work, background information, activities, and assessment for each: (1) Irvin Tepper; (2) Nancy…

Argues that unethical behavior is caused by a corruption of the construal process and is driven by a desire for personal gain and results from an erroneous conclusion that an unethical action is morally acceptable. Contrasts this argument to the constructivist theory of unethical behavior as a moral judgment/behavior breakdown. (CMK)

A qualitative study investigated the role of motivation in academic achievement by gifted secondary students in five Australian schools. Results found that "personal pleasure in achievement and long-term goals" was the most significant motivational factor, positive links with a teacher was a high occurrence factor, and competitive…

Self-discrepancy (SD) theories and self-enhancement (SE) theories have focused primarily on people's motivations to seek either self-consistent or self-enhancing feedback. The two sets of theories, however, also suggest different reactions to the feedback people receive from others. SE theories suggest that people react negatively to evaluations…

A scale was developed to assess several types of motivation in elementary school children. In addition to the usually recognized internal and external motivation, a third type, termed "amotivation," has been postulated. Students are amotivated when they do not perceive a link between outcomes and their own actions. The preliminary…

The Enneagram is a model of human consciousness. It describes each of the nine strategies that people adopt to understand the world and others. This guidebook is intended to be used with the video of the same name, which describes the nine perspectives on learning. The book provides a Type-related context to the comments made by the students on…

Constructivists view thinking and learning differently from other learning theorists: they believe that learners do not acquire knowledge that is transmitted to them; rather, learners construct knowledge through intellectual activity. Sharp contrasts exist between a "transmission" model of instruction and the constructivist perspective.…

This 6-year study examined how metacognitive strategies could enhance learning achievement and whether the use of individual learning contracts could enhance an individual's ability to become a conscientious learner. The criteria included whether students would learn by planning, controlling, monitoring learning processes, and using study skills.…

The 15 chapters in this book include commentaries on 12 seminal works on self-directed learning (SDL) by Houle, Knowles, Tough, Spear and Mocker, Brookfield, Caffarella and O'Donnell, and Long et al. These works were identified by a Delphi panel of 49 experts. Chapter titles and authors are as follows: "An Introduction to the Study of…

A growing body of evidence suggests that when students are intrinsically motivated they tend to employ strategies that demand more effort and that enable them to process information more deeply. Teachers can help motivate students to learn by maintaining a caring, supportive classroom climate. Tasks should be challenging but achievable and defined…

In 1990, a study was conducted to investigate the relationship between students' locus of control and the extent to which they participated in a voluntary exercise program. First-time participants in the "Shape Up" program offered at the Porterville College Fitness Center during the summer and fall semesters of 1990 were identified through the…

Maintaining an intrinsic motivation for school work is considered to be an important element in keeping adolescents in school and out of trouble. Recent research has begun to study factors that contribute to the development of an intrinsic interest in school learning. Two such important factors are self-esteem and the stressfulness of the school…