A COMPARISON OF BEHAVIORIST VS. HUMANIST APPROACHES TO STUDENT MOTIVATION
Pintrich and Schunk (2001) note that the motivation of students is one of the most important contributions to learning and achievement. In this regard, the authors state that motivation is especially important in terms of teaching adolescents because there is substantial research indicating that the transition from middle school into high school and again from high school out into the career world is often associated with motivational decline. The purpose of this paper is to examine two theories of motivation, the behaviorist and the humanist models, and discuss their usefulness to teachers of students ages 16 to 19 years.
Sansone and Harackiewicz (2000) define motivation for learning as a students' desire to participate in the educational process that is inclusive of the students' reasons and goals that underlie their involvement or non-involvement in the learning process. Students can be "intrinsically motivated" which is to say that they participate in learning for its own sake, enjoying the process for what it provides in terms of feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment. They can also be "extrinsically motivated" which means that they perform academically in order to obtain some sort of reward and/or avoid punishment, both of which are external to the inner learning process itself. Sansone and Harackiewicz note that motivation to learn, when strong, is characterized by long-term, quality involvement and commitment to the learning process.
The Humanist Approach and Its Usefulness to Teachers
According to Kotter and Zehm (2000), humanistic theories of motivation are focused on intrinsic sources of commitment and interest in learning and the learning process. One of the key elements of the humanistic view is that people are maximally motivated by an inherent desire to fulfill their potential, commonly called the need to self-actualize. Humanis...