THE RELATION BETWEEN motivation and learning has been investigated extensively in animals but less throughly in humans,because of the greatest diffculty of establishing experimental control.


STRENGTH OF MOTIVATION

MOTIVATION IS an intervening variable and hence cannot be observed directly.NOR WE have been able to arrange conditions so that we can be sure the learner is not motivated in any way.BUT EVEN witout precise control it has been possible to observe that the efficiencyof learning,as measured by both quantity and quality,usually improve as the strength of motivation increases.THERE ARE of course situations in which very strong motivation create anxiety over possible failure and thus interfere with learning.


INTENT TO LEARN

ONE OF THE most important motivational factors influencing the learning performance of human subjects is the persence of the conscious intent to learn.IN AN EARLY experiment, subjects were instructed to count the numbers of QUESTIONS,distributed among leeters printed in colour on colored papers.LATER THEY were asked what other letters were present whatcolour they were and on what colour paper they were printed.THEIR inaccurate answers shows that the had learned little if any of the material to which they had been exposed witout instruction to learn.IT WAS also found that the nature or amount of learning were clearly affected by the kind of instructions used.they found that when no specific instruction is given they attain only the general comprehension of the material,but when they given exact instruction about what to learn,their learning become specific to those instructions.


REWARD VS PUNISHMENT,

EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES have shown that the strength and nature of the rewards,or punishment administreted by the teacher influence the learner rate of learning as measured by the sub seqvent performance.THE INDIVIDUAL own evulation of his progress can be rewarding or punishing.IN AN EXPERIMENTS, the subjects,forty college students learned tweo lists of seveenteen nonsenses syallabus by the serial method first all were given fifteen trials on list A with no special instructions,these trials were used as a basis to divide them into two groups of equal learning ability.TO PRODUCE high motivation in the members of one group the experimentar told them that task was really a short intelligence test measuring ability to think in abstract terms and as wella s to memorize.THE REMAINING subject the low motivation group were told to that experimental were investigating the assoicational value of the nonsenses syallabus and was not interested in the subject performance as such.ALL SUBJECTS were given then forteen trial on list Bafter which half of the subjects in each group chosen at random were told that they had done worse than the others and had not even reached the college level on the tests.THE EXPERIMENTER told this failure group that peoples usually learned as many,syallabs as they had in half the time,he asked the questions is anything wrong?do you feel right?NONFAILURE sunbjects on the other hand merely took part in the brief conversation with the experimenter about compus activities.ALL the subjects were then given one more trial,the fifteen on list B and told tto return twenty four hours later,the next day they ewere given more trials on list B after which all failure subjects were told that their performance is excellent.so its mean high motivation subjects as the group did somewhta beeter then the others on both tests.AS AN AID to learning,punishment is more effective when used in combination with reward.WHEN undesireable response is supressed through the punishment,the subject may try some alternative response which if more desireable can then be reinforced by reward.


EXTRINIS AND INTRINIS MOTIVATION,


LABORTARY STUDIES of learning in animals usually have depended upon what is called EXTRINIC MOTIVATION,for example,hunger thurst and escape from electric shock,which acn move the subject to action but which has not inherent relationship to the task to be learned.THIS HAS BEEN necessary with the animal subjects to ensure that they would be active enough to make the response that were to be learned.IT ALSO has the positive advantage of enabling the experimenter to control the factors of motivation for all the subjects to specify what motives are acting and to what degree.WITH HUMAN learning the situation is more complex,the experimenter usually does not have the same control over the subject,his psychologhical needs,and he can never know how far the learning performance is affected by factors he cannot see.REPORTS CARDS,HONOR ROLLS,AND GOLD STAR the examples of EXTRINIC motivations used in the school rooms.IT HAS been found that such devices motivate some childrens more strongly than others,however that both learning and remembering are tend to be better when the motivation is INSTRINISE.


STRESS,

when an individual IS MOTIVATED TO ACHEIVE A CERTAIN LEVEL OF PROFICIENCY in performimg a task,failure or threat of failureproduce stress.WORKING under the pressure of time on undistracting conditions also inducess stress in the learner.THE FURSTRATION increase the length of time required for learning,partly because it increase streotype behaviour.THE DYNIMES of stress evidently involve the complex relation between strength of motivation degree of furstration and personality factors.IN SOME CASES threat of failure motivate the learner to strongly work for sucess.


TRANSFER

THE EFFICIENCY OF practice is often influenced by what we have already learned or have been learning just before.RESULTS FROM various studies indicates that positive transfer will result when the prior task and the present task have the smilliar stimuls response combinations.WHEN THE same stimuls those is used in the prior activity are to be related to different re4sponse in the present activity negative transfer is likely.WHEN TWO learning situations have nothing in common there is no transfer.ALMOST EVERYBODY has had the experience when in an new place of feeling that the place is fimiller.HOW CAN one remember the situation and place one has not been in before?THE PSYCHOLOGHIST have viewd this phenomena,as a case of transfer of a commen elements.many complex situations have something in common this common detail having been experienced before is recognized in new situation.IT IS as important for the students to avoid the conditions that produce negative transfer as to establish the ones that bring positive transfer the baseball coach is trying to stop negative transfer when he forbid his players to play golf during the baseball seasons.


LINK
PSYCHOLOGY AND LIFE

regard

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''A man is not finished if he is defeated, he is finished if he quits.''