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…

This study examined how activity and engagement qualities were related to stress. Experience sampling using e-mail pagers collected simultaneous ratings of stress and qualities of activity for 30 college women during 14 days. Surveys included narrative questions about activity types, feelings, and experience and Likert-type scales rating activity…

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…

This study examined the effects of specific motivational dimensions and self-perceptions of a group of 47 urban black fourth and fifth grade students on attendance and academic achievement. Each student's responses to a measure of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and a self-perception inventory were compared to each other and to his or her…

Limited literature exists describing the melding of philosophies aimed at increasing men's use of mental health counseling services. Members of the mental health counseling profession will benefit from collaborating with other health care professional to conceptualize alternative means to encourage men to use mental health counseling services.…

This report describes a plan for using the multiple intelligences to increase student motivation. The target population consisted of a sixth grade reading class in a rural setting, and second, fourth, and fifth grade students in a pullout ESL (English-as-a-Second-Language) program in an urban setting. The lack of motivation became evident as…

Academic delay of gratification (ADOG) refers to students' postponement of immediately available opportunities to satisfy impulses in favor of pursuing academic goals that are temporally remote but ostensibly more valuable. This important form of self-regulation was studied among college students to determine how it serves to sustain effort over…

This paper investigates the joint effects of intrinsic and extrinsic goals on college students' learning in an introductory psychology course, a biology course, and several social science courses. The study questioned whether higher levels of motivation lead to better student performance. College students were surveyed using the Intrinsic Goal…