Motivation and Expectations

How motivated are you? The answer is probably, “it depends.” You might be highly motivated to plan your summer backpacking trip to Europe, but not very highly motivated to study for your final exams. Your level of motivation depends on your expectations. It depends how much you expect to enjoy doing what you are being asked to do. It depends how hard you expect it will be to do. It depends how you the reward for completing the task measures up to your expectations of compensation. It depends what you expect your other options might be. It depends if you expect that your hard work will lead to positive results. Much of our motivation (or lack thereof) can be explained by expectancy theory develop by Victor Vroom.

To explain expectancy theory, let’s pretend there is a professor who is leading a research study over the summer. She is looking for a few students to work with her on this project.

I can’t do it

The first student the professor asks thinks that the project sounds really interesting and would love to participate, but he has tried doing research before and the last project didn’t work out very well. He put in a lot of hours to his senior year science project in high school, but the results of his study disproved his hypothesis and he got a bad grade on the project. He feels like his time and effort were wasted and that research just isn’t for him. He turns the professor down and gets a summer job cutting grass at a golf course instead.

Nobody cares if I do it

The second student she asks is also very excited about the summer research project. She has completed independent research before and enjoyed the experience. The project she did was a lot of work, but she was proud of the results of the study. When she presented her work at a conference though, the questions from the audience were difficult and she didn’t get the approval and validation she thought she deserved. Professionals in the field weren’t impressed and she didn’t get the scholarship to the school she was hoping for. She is hesitant to put out so much effort again and not be rewarded. She turns the professor down and works for her father at his garage for the summer instead.

I need a better carrot

The third student the professor asks is serious about science and research and intends to go to graduate school and then pursue a career in medical research. He has successfully completed year long research studies before and is well recognized at the school as one of the best researchers in his class. He has been rewarded with a scholarship for next year. His goal for the summer is to do research which will impress the faculty at the school he wanted to attend for graduate school. When the professor running the study for the summer tells him that the research will not be presented at the conference those faculty members are attending, he turns her down and works with another professor who will be presenting research at the conference he is interested in instead.

I am motivated!

The fourth student the professor asks has done some research in the past and has really enjoyed the scientific process. She won a few prizes at her local science fair in high school and was given a scholarship to college as a result. She is looking for a summer job which will pay her well enough to save some money for next term and will give her experience in a lab which she can put on her graduate school applications in a few years. The stipend for the project is better than what she could make as a lifeguard at her local pool and the project is high profile enough that it will look impressive on her graduate school application. She accepts the position and has a great summer working with the professor on her research project and gaining valuable experience.

Vroom posits that several conditions must be present for us to feel motivated to complete a task.

First, we need to believe that effort will lead to performance.

If I study hard enough, I can learn the content from Chapter 10 in my sociology class. If I spend enough time practicing, I will get better at free throws. If I work hard, I will meet my deadlines. If I plan my summer trip to Europe in great detail, I will see all of the best sights.

We are unlikely to work hard at a task and to give up other more enjoyable ways to spend our time if we do not believe that our hard work will improve our performance. The first student in the story above didn’t believe that his hard work at research would lead to scientific results he could be proud of, so he was not motivated to continue doing research.

The second required condition is the belief that good performance will lead to a positive outcome or that poor performance will lead to a negative outcome.

If I learn the content from Chapter 10, I will get an A on the exam which will allow me to get a scholarship. If I get better at making free throws, I will make the basketball team. If I do my job well and meet my deadlines, I will get a promotion or a raise. If I see all of the best sights in Europe, I will have great memories of my trip and stories to tell everyone when I get home.

On the other hand, if I do not learn my sociology concepts, I will fail the exam and have to drop out of school. If I do not practice my free throws, I will be cut from the team. If I don’t meet my work deadlines, I will get fired. If I get lost in Europe, I will not get to see all of the places I have dreamed of seeing.

Performing well can be a reward of its own – we can feel pride in a job well done, but performing well in pursuit of a positive outcome is even more motivating. Fear of a negative outcome is also a powerful force which can keep us moving in the right direction. The second student in the story above didn’t believe that good performance on the research project would lead to a positive outcome because she was not recognized at the conference where she presented her first project.

The last condition which must be present is the expectation that the outcome we are working toward is one which is meaningful to us.

How much do you want the A in the sociology class? How much do you want the scholarship? How much do you care if you have to drop out of school? How important is earning a spot on the basketball team? How devastating would it be to be cut from the team? How valuable is your job to you? How attached are you to the idea of a perfect trip to Europe? How upset would you be if you missed seeing the Mona Lisa?

If the outcome of the process isn’t important to you, expectancy theory would predict that you won’t be terribly motivated to work hard. It’s only when we really want the final outcome, that we are willing to put in the effort to generate a good performance to earn that outcome. The third student in the story above didn’t value the outcome of the research experience the professor was offering. He wanted to impress the faculty at a specific school and no matter how well this study went, he couldn’t accomplish that goal.

The last student – who finally accepted the professor’s offer of the research position – believed that effort led to performance because she had successfully completed research projects before. She believed that good performance would be recognized with a positive outcome because she had won prizes at her science fair and had earned a scholarship as a result. Lastly, she valued the outcome of this offer. The potential reward of payment through the stipend and an interesting experience for her graduate school applications appealed to her. All of the required elements of Vroom’s expectancy theory were present and she was motivated to accept the job offer.

Expectancy theory and you

Are there goals you feel like you should tackle, but you just can’t muster up the motivation to get started? Think through this process and see if you can pinpoint where you are getting stuck. Do you believe that your hard work toward this goal will allow you to produce a good performance? Do you believe that a good performance will lead to a positive outcome? Is that outcome meaningful enough to work toward? Which part of the process can you change to make yourself feel more motivated?