Enhancing Motivation Change in the Classroom is an interesting book that was written in 1976 but the method of study used and the outcomes is very vital in Education, Educational Psychology, Social Psychology and Educational Administration.

1. Enhancing MOTIVATION
Change in the Classroom
Richard deCharms
In collaboration with Dennis J. Shea, Karl W. Jackson.
Franziska Plimpton, Sharon Koenigs and Agusto Blasi
Presented by
Shaibou Abdoulai Haji
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education

2. Order of Presentation
 Origin and Pawns
 Personal Causation and the Origin and Pawns Concept
 Personal Concept and Objectives Behaviour
 The Extrinsic-Intrinsic
 Achievement Theory (David McClelland 1961)
 Cognitive Views of Motivation
 Motivation Development Train with Teachers
 Motivation Development Train with Children
 What happened to the Origin-Pawn concept after the Project?
 Educational Implication of the Project
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education

3. Origin and Pawns
Two categories of individuals: (metaphor)
 Origins- perceive themselves as the origin
or source of their own intentions to act.
“A person who is not pushed around by others but goes
around seeking his own goal”
 Pawns- see themselves in a game controlled
by other and powerless to determine own
actions.
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education

4. Personal Causation and the Origin
and Pawns Concept
Personal causation is when the objective
antecedents of a person’s behaviour is external,
but to the person he is the cause of his behaviour
when he decides to act from personal
commitment.
“Man’s primary motivational propensity is to be effective in
producing changes in his environment. Man strives to be a causal
agent, to be the primary locus of causation for or the Origin of,
his behaviour; he strives for personal causation” (deCharms,
1968)
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education

5. Personal Causation and the Origin and Pawns
Concept
 Origins – those with self-determination; positively
motivated, optimistic, confident, accepting
challenges.
 Pawns – those with other-determination;
negatively motivated, defensive, irresolute,
avoidant of challenge.
 The Origin feels potent; the Pawn feels powerless
 When people feel more like Origins than pawns,
they have higher self-esteem, feel more competent
and perform at higher levels
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education

6. Personal Concept and Objectives Behaviour
In order to produce motivated behaviour one must
produce the experience of arousal, commitment and
purpose.
Basic elements that encourage feeling and acting like an Origin
1. Self-study: the person should be encouraged to consider carefully his basic motives
in a warm atmosphere of acceptance by others in the group
2. Internal goal setting: the setting should help him to translate his motives into
realistic short and long-range goals
3. Planning and goal directed behaviour: the setting should help him plan realistic and
concrete action to attain the goals
4. Personal Responsibility: the setting should help him learn to accept responsibility for
selected goals as well as for success and failure of his attempts to reach them
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education

7. The Extrinsic-Intrinsic
There are two major approaches to motivation:
 Extrinsic views (behaviorist approach)—people are
motivated by external rewards and punishments; this is also
called the carrot and stick approach.
 Intrinsic views (cognitive or humanist approach)—people
are motivated by internal capacities, such as aspirations,
perceptions, attitudes, or thoughts that can be motivating or
demotivating.
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education

8. Achievement TheoryAchievement Theory (David McClelland 1961)(David McClelland 1961)
Individuals have the need to accomplish hard tasks, to
overcome difficulties and obstructions, and to excel.
Individuals who are high in achievement…
 … assume personal responsibility for performing a task or solving a problem.
 … set moderately difficult goals
 … have a strong desire for performance feedback
Attempts to instill achievement motivation should be characterized by…
 … establishing situations in which individuals can succeed
 … accepting personal responsibility for performance
 … providing clear feedback on performance
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education

9. Cognitive Views of Motivation
 John Atkinson views motivation as driven by two
characteristics:
 The desire to achieve success (need for Achievement or n
Ach).
 The desire to avoid failure.
 In some circumstances, low n Ach individuals may
become highly competitive, i.e., those who seek to
avoid failure can be highly motivated.
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education

10. Motivation Development Train with Teachers
The major goal of the motivational training for the
teachers was to treat them as Origin and help them
develop their motivation. We tried to help them
a)Understand their own motives through self-study and hence understand others
better,
b)To choose realistic goals for themselves in dealing with students,
c)To develop concrete plans for reaching their goals in the classroom’
d)To consider how they could tell whether they were reaching the goals.
The two major aspects of training were taking personal
responsibility and planning concrete action.
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education

11. Motivation Development Train with Children
Motivation development in the classroom was
attempted in two ways. Firstly experimental children
were taught by trained teacher (Origin). Second staff
and teachers developed classroom procedures to
emphasize four fundamental concepts:
a)The self concept
b)Achievement motivation
c)Realistic goal setting and
d)The Origin-Pawn concept
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education

12. What happened to the Origin-Pawn concept
after the Project?
An often overlooked results of attempts to help people
change is the effect on the change agent.
Three major shifts in the concept upon interaction with
the teachers and students.
1.Striving within Constraints Not Complete Freedom from Constraint: To help
a person to be an Origin is not to force him do anything he wants. Rather, it is
to free him to do what he must do by structuring, even constraining the
situation so that he makes his own choices based on realistic selection of
appropriate action toward selected goal.
The Origin may not be objectively free of the external environmental forces,
but he does not allow them to determine his ultimate goals
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education

13. What happened to the Origin-Pawn concept
after the Project?
2. The Importance of Personal Responsibility: In order for an Origin to
concentrate on striving for goals, he must give up the idea of complete
freedom to do anything regardless of the consequences to others; he must
learn to take responsibility of the consequences of his actions.
The child my take his step in learning personal responsibility by being first
accountable for his action to an authority.
The Origin is looking to the future to attain his goals within the framework of
a constraining world. He seeks means by striving.
3. The Misunderstood Origin Concept: “if some are Origins then others are
Pawns”. It is our experience that this the way some people first understand the
Origin-Pawn concept. This interpretation is based on a superficial
concentration on objectives only. This misunderstanding is corrected by
defining the Origin as one who concentrates on striving for goals within
constraints.
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education

14. Educational Implication of the Project
1. Motivation training and academic Achievement
Motivation training for personal causation enhance both
motivation and academic achievement when embedded in
subject-matter material.
The evidence suggests that it is short-sighted of teachers to be so
concerned with subject-matter goals that they ignore the
motivational implications of their methods
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education

15. Educational Implication of the Project
2. An Origin Classroom Is Not a Democratic Classroom
Developing responsible Origin behaviour in children goes beyond the overly
simply Autocratic-Democratic-Laissez-faire trichotomy. The trichotomy
suggest organizational arrangements without regard for individuals, whereas
the Origin concept derives the organizational advantages of Democratic
classroom form individual propensities.
To treat children (or anyone) as Origin is to give them the structure, rules,
even dictates, that will make it possible for them to develop capacity to set
their own goals and learn to strive for them.
Treating children as Origin is not avoiding the rules and orders at all cost. To
resign from the task of structuring the situation is to give up the major
responsibility of being a teacher.
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education

16. Educational Implication of the Project
3. Beyond Accountability
Accountability is seen mostly as “ the process of establishing objectives and
assessing the degree to which those objectives have been fulfilled” (Marland,
1972). The assumption is apparently made that the objectives are externally
set and the assessment is made by external source with power to reward
successful attainment of objectives (Lessinger, 1971, Marland, 1972).
To be made accountable to an external source may be the first developmental
step to becoming personally responsible. Where personal responsibility cannot
be assumed, external accountability can be necessary. Where personal
responsibility is present already, however, external accountability may well
reduce motivation.
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education

17. Thanks for Your Kind
Attention
5/14/2015
Korea University
Department of Education