Motivation and Self-Control

This morning I read an article about motivation and learning in the New York Times that synthesized two articles that I posted on our blog last year, so I am reposting below.  The article outlines research about intrinsic motivation and promoting self-regulation in students, with applicable teaching strategies to promote both a "growth mindset" and self-control.  Very interesting!

Post from October 2010:

In relationship to Core Virtues "Wisdom" and "Self-Control", I am reminded of interesting articles I've read that explore developmental psychology and implications with motivation and learning. I wanted to share!

The first article was published in New York magazine while I was teaching in New York and covers studies done by Carol Dweck (psychologist then at Columbia, now at Stanford) about growth and fixed mindsets and the effect on motivation in children. It was published while I was teaching in New York and instantly went viral at our school, and since then I've shared it with other teachers and parents- it's one of my favorites. Dweck also lead a workshop at Columbia that I attended, so I had the chance to hear more about her tools for teachers. She stressed the importance of using language that applauds effort as opposed to simply outcomes to help motivate students, as well as the power of metacognition and talking explicitly about using the brain as a muscle to help it grow.  She has an online tool called Brainology for middle school students.

The latter was published in the New Yorker a couple years ago and also follows the work done by another psychologist, Walter Mischel (coincidentally, formerly at Stanford, now at Columbia). Mischel studied "deferred gratification" through his famous marshmallow study. He argues that intelligence is at the mercy of self-control, which can be improved by metacognition and cognitive training. In longitudinal studies outlined in this article, he found strong correlations with the ability to delay gratification (self-control) and academic achievement.

While it may sound dry, both articles are full of colorful anecdotes and written as digestable features. Hopefully you find these articles interesting and relevant as well!

The Power (and Peril) of Praise (Carol Dweck, New York magazine)

Don't! The Secret of Self-Control (Walter Mischel, New Yorker)