The Importance of Motivation:
Motivation is the vehicle which is used to travel our world.Many of us may often hear about a lack of motivation at various situations.
What is Motivation??
Motivation is an internal impulse that brings us to complete an action. Without motivation, there is no action.
Motivation is a process which begins with physiological or psychological need or deficiency which triggers behavior or a drive that is aimed at a goal or an incentive.
Motivation is important because it is what causes us to actively look for resources to guarantee our success. While some motivation requires a conscious effort, others, like looking for food, eating, and finding happiness are innate motives that we are born with and allow us to stay alive. Secondary motives keep us motivated to do activities and learn, which depend on each person’s culture.
Motivation may come from our own interest, or it may come out of necessity (having to learn something for work or survival).
Two different types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. These two ideas might not be two different ideas after all, but rather opposites of the same idea, and are rarely ever “purely intrinsic” or “purely extrinsic”.
- Intrinsic motivation: This kind of motivation occurs when you are internally motivated to do something because you believe that it is important or because you enjoy doing it. Students with this kind of motivation will be happy and excited to do their homework because they find it an exciting challenge, even though they might not receive any reward or compensation. Intrinsic motivation may wane through schooling as children are required to learn subjects that may be of little or no interest to them. In order to improve this kind of motivation, it’s possible to make abstract material more concrete and put it in context.
- Extrinsic motivation: This kind of motivation is when a student wants to study or learn because of external factors, like punishment or reward. However, it’s been shown that punishment is more harmful than helpful, and that rewards have the potential to create a type of dependency. For this reason, it’s best to give less and less rewards while building intrinsic motivation.
The Importance of Motivation in education
Motivation is the impulse that brings us to carry-out and achieves what we propose and plays a large role in learning. According to a study, motivation influences math performance more than IQ.
Researchers found that while IQ is a factor in the successful acquisition of math, it mostly applies to the basic concepts that you learn in early schooling. Motivation and study skills become more of a determining factor as you continue to develop math skills. The students that felt competent were intrinsically motivated to learn, and used skills like explaining, synthesizing, and making connections to other materials, while avoiding memorization.
- Motivation improves persistence and effort
- Motivation improves initiative
- Improves cognitive processing skills
- Motivation improves overall performance
Check for these signs to see if you are motivated.
- Preference or choice of one choice over another. If I choose to watch TV instead of doing my homework, my choice will reflect my motivation level.
- Latency. or the time it takes to create a response to a stimulation. The longer it takes you to do a task, the less motivation.
- Effort. The more physical and cognitive resources invested in the task, the more motivation there is.
- Persistence. There is usually more motivation when the takes longer to finish a task and do it well. The sooner you give up, the less motivated you are.
- Expressive indicators of emotions. Actions are usually accompanied by emotional expressions that indicate pleasure or displeasure that the action causes.
