Affective Components of Motivation

How we feel about a topic or an activity has a strong influence on our willingness to study that topic or to engage in that activity. There are many ways to describe the relationship between feelings and motivation. All of the following statements describe this relationship:

• People will engage more often and more eagerly in behaviors related to topics, people, and events toward which they have approach tendencies.
  
  
• People will engage more often and more eagerly in behaviors related to topics. people, and events that have high positive valence.
  
  
• People will engage more often and more eagerly in behaviors related to topics. people, and events regarding which they have positive attitudes.

   

We can help students develop positive feelings toward topics, people, and events by applying the affective strategies described in chapter 8 and the strategies of modeling described in chapter 12.

Helping students develop positive feelings toward the topics, people, and events involved in a unit of instruction does not guarantee that students will be motivated to engage in a unit of instruction; but negative feelings are very likely to hinder motivation. Therefore, the strategies described in chapter 8 are often important to the motivation of learners.

Click on a topic from the following list, or use your web browser to go where you want to go:

Introduction
Motivation
Intrinsic Motivation
Challenge
Curiosity
Control
Fantasy
Interpersonal Motivation
Summary of Intrinsic Motivation
Motivating Through Curriculum
Reinforcement and Punishment
Affective Aspects of Motivation <<You are here>>
Physiological Aspects of Motivation
Cognitive Aspects of Motivation
Needs and Motivation
Self-Efficacy
Attribution Theory
Development and Motivation
Motivation as a Personality Characteristic
Teacher Expectancy
Social Aspects of Motivation: Classroom Structure
What Teachers Can Do About Motivation
What Parents Can Do About Motivation
What Students Can Do About Motivation
Chapter Summary
Annotated Bibliography
Footnotes
Answers to Quizzes