Motivation

Daniel Pinker gave a powerful TED talk on The Surprising Science of Motivation. He is presenting research from the business world and yet everything that he says applies to children in schools and at home as well. I was very inspired by his talk. His suggestions for developing motivation are to encourage and invite Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose.

There is also a New York Times article on parenting about the effects of conditional love. Interestingly (and not surprisingly) the suggestions for how to encourage healthy development and motivation closely relate to Pinker’s. The article emphasizes the value of parents “explaining reasons for requests, maximizing opportunities for the child to participate in making decisions, being encouraging without manipulating, and actively imagining how things look from the child’s point of view.”

These suggestions originally appeared in a newsletter that I write that predominantly focuses on Social and Emotional Learning for children, adults, and groups. You can view the newsletter here or subscribe to receive it yourself here.

• Learning to walk
• Motivated to do the dishes
• A three year old’s ‘potty progress’
• The dangers of over parenting; A review of the Time Magazine article
• New Foods For New Babies

Tagged as: autonomy, mastery, motivation, purpose, reward