As técnicas de Aprendizado por Reforço permitem a solução de um problema através da escolha de ações que maximizem valores de recompensas recebidas que refletem a qualidade das ações tomadas pelo agente em um processo de tentativa e erro. Em problemas com estrutura hierárquica, a solução final depende do encadeamento de soluções para subproblemas aí presentes, sendo frequente a repetição de subproblemas nesse encadeamento. Nesses casos, a utilização de políticas parciais permite o aprendizado e armazenamento das soluções individuais para cada subproblema, que podem então ser utilizadas múltiplas vezes na composição de uma solução completa para o problema final, acelerando o aprendizado. Apesar de vantajosa, a utilização de políticas parciais necessita de definições por parte do projetista, o que representa uma sobrecarga. Para contornar esse problema, foram propostas técnicas de descoberta automática de políticas parciais, dentre as quais a utilização de motivação intrínseca se destaca por permitir ao agente aprender soluções de subproblemas úteis na solução do problema final sem a necessidade de se definir manualmente novas recompensas para esses subproblemas individualmente. Apesar de promissora, essa proposta utiliza um conjunto de componentes de aprendizado que ainda carece de investigação aprofundada acerca dos impactos individual e coletivo de cada componente, notadamente a aplicação das políticas parciais durante o aprendizado. Nesta dissertação são propostas duas abordagens para a aplicação de políticas parciais no Aprendizado por Reforço com Motivação Intrínseca: (i) armazenamento das políticas parciais em aplicação pelo agente e (ii) exploração interna à aplicação das políticas parciais. O impacto das propostas no desempenho de aprendizado é avaliado experimentalmente em um domínio com forte caracterização hierárquica. / Reinforcement Learning techniques allow an agent to learn the solution to a problem by interacting with the environment and executing actions, thus receiving rewards that reflect the value of the actions taken, on a process of trial and error. When a problem has a hierarchical structure, its final solution depends on several solutions to the subproblems it contains, and it is rather common the repetition of subproblems. On these cases, by using options it is possible to learn the solution to each subproblem individually, keeping and then using them multiple times to compose the complete solution to the problem, thus accelerating the learning process. But, despite this advantage, the use of options create the need for some definitions, what can represent a burden to the designer. To circumvent this problem, automatic option discovery techniques were proposed, among which the use of intrinsic motivation deserves special attention for allowing the agent to learn the solution of the subproblems, which are useful to compose the final solution, without the need to manually define new rewards to these subproblems individually. Despite being promising, this technique is built upon a set of several learning components that need a more deep investigation on the individual and collective impacts of each component, mostly the options application strategies during the learning process. On this work two modifications are proposed concerning the application process of options on the Intrinsically Motivated Reinforcement Learning: (i) storage of the history of the options applied by the agent and (ii) allow the agent to explore, even when following an option. These modifications were implemented on an algorithm present on the literature and evaluated on a domain with strong hierarchical characteristics.

<p>Previous research has identified creativity goals and process goals as two contextual interventions for enhancing creativity in the workplace. Whereas creativity goals direct attention and effort toward outcomes that are both novel and useful, process goals direct attention and effort toward the creative process – behaviors and cognitions intended to enhance creative outcomes. The current research draws from past research and theory on goals and intrinsic motivation to explain how creativity goals and process goals influence creative performance, and perhaps more importantly, <i>why</i>. Specifically, I suggest that creativity goals have a direct, positive relationship with creative performance; however, process goals have an indirect, positive relationship with creative performance through creative process engagement. Additionally, specificity has the ability to focus attention on relevant processes and outcomes within the creativity criterion space. While specific creativity goals are predicted to direct attention toward desirable solutions without thwarting needs for autonomy, specific (i.e., structured) process goals may thwart autonomy perceptions, resulting in lower levels of intrinsic motivation, and ultimately creative performance. The hypotheses proposed were examined in a sample of 560 undergraduate students utilizing a 3 (creativity goals: specific, general, and no goal) x 3 (process goals: structured, semi-structured, and no goals) between-subjects experimental design. Results revealed creativity goals, particularly specific creativity goals, have a direct positive influence on creative performance. Process goals have an indirect positive relationship on creative performance through creative process engagement. Moreover, process goals have a negative impact on perceptions of autonomy, which in turn negatively impacts creative performance by reducing intrinsic motivation. The specific creativity goal had the strongest effects and appears to be an effective way to enhance both creative process engagement and creative performance. Taken together, these findings suggest that goals are a tenable means of enhancing creative performance; however, care should be taken to reduce adverse consequences for autonomy perceptions. </p>

Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons à l'étude d'un modèle dédié à l'exploration et à la structuration d'espaces d'apprentissage sensorimoteur pour des systèmes artificiels. Nous appuyons notre démarche sur les notions de corps et de développement propre, auxquelles se greffe un troisième processus dit motivationnel. Cette forme de curiosité artificielle se base sur le progrès en compétence et repose ainsi sur les contraintes physiques naturelles directement issues de l'encorporation de l'agent. L'objectif de la motivation est de réguler un développement à long terme, dédié à l'apprentissage de nouvelles compétences non prévues par le concepteur. Nous inscrivons nos travaux dans la continuité de l'approche du babillage sensorimoteur dans l'espace des buts, qui consiste à déterminer un ensemble de techniques permettant à un agent de générer, selon une métrique d'intérêt, une configuration sensorielle qu'il va essayer d'atteindre par des actions motrices. Nos contributions viennent améliorer et complexifier un modèle motivationnel existant, en proposant des alternatives au processus de structuration de l'espace d'exploration. Certaines de ces propositions théoriques ont été validées expérimentalement grâce à la plateforme FIMO, que nous avons développée dans cette optique, et qui est disponible en ligne. / In this thesis, we study a motivational model for artificial systems, which aims at exploring and structuring sensorimotor learning spaces. Our approach relies on some essential notions, including the body, the development, and the motivation. This particular kind of artificial curiosity is based on the competence or learning progress, and thus depends on the physical natural constraints originating from the agent's embodiment. We follow the Goal-Babbling Exploration approach which consists in determining a set of techniques allowing an agent to self-generate goals, i.e. sensory configurations, and try to reach them using motor actions. Our contributions improve the SAGG-RIAC motivational model, by proposing alternative ways of structuring the exploration of the goal space. Some of our contributions have been experimentally validated within the FIMO framework we developed to this purpose.

Faculdade de Educação da Universidade de São Paulo. Entre os experimentos utilizados em centros e museus de Ciências sempre existem alguns que se destacam, por chamar e prender mais atenção dos visitantes que frequentam estes lugares, extremamente importantes para a promoção e o aumento dos níveis de alfabetização e de cultura científica. As características destes experimentos os transformam em vedetes dos locais destinados à educação não formal, por emitirem sons, luzes, cores ou causarem qualquer tipo de surpresa ou susto quando os visitantes interagem com os equipamentos citados. Dentro de projetos de divulgação científica itinerantes estes objetos também estão presentes, executando diversas funções nas exposições, que se dividem na maioria das vezes em mesas, montadas em locais que geralmente não têm acesso aos locais fixos de divulgação científica, localizados muitas vezes em grandes cidades. A estes equipamentos chamamos nesta pesquisa de experimentos surpreendentes por causarem sensações diversas nos visitantes. Esta pesquisa identificou estes tipos de experimentos e estudou a influência das suas características para a promoção da motivação, importante na mudança comportamental dos visitantes presentes nos centros e museus de Ciência e nas ações itinerantes de divulgação científica. Como resultados desta pesquisa pudemos observar que não apenas as características dos experimentos surpreendentes, mas também de outra categoria de experimentos, os desafiadores, teve grande influência na promoção e no aumento dos níveis de motivação intrínseca dos visitantes, mudando o comportamento perante os elementos da exposição, melhorando a qualidade da interação e estimulando o interesse e a curiosidade dos visitantes. / Among the experiments used in Science centers and Science museums always exist a few that stand out, for calling and holding more attention of visitors who frequent these places, extremely important to promote and increase the levels of scientific literacy and scientific culture. The characteristics of these experiments turn them into local starlets intended for non-formal education, to emit sounds, lights, colors or causing any kind of surprise or scare when visitors interact with the devices mentioned. Within projects itinerant of scientific communications these objects are also present, performing various functions in the exhibition, which fall mostly on tables, mounted in places that generally do not have access to fixed places of scientific communication, often located in large cities. To these equipment we call \"amazing experiments\" in this study to cause many sensations in visitors. This research identified these types of experiments and studied the influence of their characteristics to promote motivation, behavioral change important in visitors present in these centers and museums of science and in the actions of itinerant science. As a result of this research we found that not only some characteristics of the amazing experiments, but also some characteristics of another category of experiments, the challengers, had great influence in promoting and increasing levels of intrinsic motivation of visitors, changing behavior among the elements of exposure increasing the quality of interaction and stimulating interest and curiosity of visitors.

Syfte och forskningsfrågor: Studiens syfte är att identifiera och jämföra män och kvinnors yttre och inre motivationsfaktorer vid följande av varumärken på sociala nätverk utifrån incitament, social kontext, intresse, underhållning, information samt känslomässigt nära. Studien ämnar även att tillföra kunskaper för ämnesområdet inom teoretiska och praktiska implikationer. Forskningsfrågan lyder därmed:   Vilka likheter och skillnader finns det mellan män och kvinnors yttre och inre motivationsfaktorer att följa varumärken på sociala nätverk?   Metod: Studien använder sig av en hypotetisk-deduktiv metod där forskaren via befintlig teori skapat studiens hypoteser. Hypoteserna har sedan testats genom en kvantitativ metod med hjälp av en webbenkät och ett Mann Whitney test. En analys och diskussion genomfördes därefter för att generera en slutsats för studien.   Slutsats: Resultatet från studien fann att det inte finns någon signifikant skillnad mellan män och kvinnors yttre motivation inom områdena incitament och social kontext att följa varumärken på sociala nätverk. Inom inre motivation fann dock studien både likheter och skillnader. Inom aspekterna intresse och underhållning fann studien ingen signifikant skillnad mellan män och kvinnors inre motivation till att följa varumärken på sociala nätverk. Däremot inom aspekterna information och känslomässigt nära fann studien att kvinnor visade en signifikant högre inre motivationsskillnad jämfört med män. Studiens praktiska implikationer fann att varumärken bör ta hänsyn till dessa genusskillnader vid inre motivation för att kunna anpassa innehållet efter deras målgrupp. De teoretiska implikationerna fann istället att incitament numera inte har någon signifikant skillnad mellan män och kvinnor, medan tidigare forskning visar på en större motivation från kvinnor. Dessutom fann studien samma resultat som tidigare forskning gällande att kvinnor motiveras mer känslomässigt av varumärken än män. / Purpose and research questions: The purpose of the study is to identify and compare men and women’s extrinsic and intrinsic motivation when following a brand on social networks by incentive, social context, interest, entertainment, information and relatedness. The study also intends to provide knowledge to the subject area within theoretical and practical implications. The research question therefore follows: • Which similarities and differences exists between men and women’s extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to follow a brand on social networks? Method: The study uses a hypothetical-deductive method where the researcher through existing theories creates the study’s hypotheses. The hypotheses have been tested through a quantitative method with a survey online and a Mann Whitney test. An analysis and discussion was then performed to generate a conclusion for the study. Conclusion: The result from the study found that there are no significant differences between men and women’s extrinsic motivation within the areas incentives and social context to follow brands on social networks. However, within the field intrinsic motivation the study found both similarities and differences between men’s and women’s motivation to follow brands on social networks. The study found no significant difference between men and women’s intrinsic motivation connected to interest and entertainment. However, within the aspects information and relatedness the study found that women showed a significant higher difference in intrinsic motivation compared to men. The practical implications of the study found that brands should take these gender differences into account in order to adapt the content to their target audience. Instead, the theoretical implications found that incentives now have no significant difference between men and women, while previous research shows a greater motivation from women. In addition, the study found similar results to previous research that women are more emotionally motivated by brands than men.

As técnicas de Aprendizado por Reforço permitem a solução de um problema através da escolha de ações que maximizem valores de recompensas recebidas que refletem a qualidade das ações tomadas pelo agente em um processo de tentativa e erro. Em problemas com estrutura hierárquica, a solução final depende do encadeamento de soluções para subproblemas aí presentes, sendo frequente a repetição de subproblemas nesse encadeamento. Nesses casos, a utilização de políticas parciais permite o aprendizado e armazenamento das soluções individuais para cada subproblema, que podem então ser utilizadas múltiplas vezes na composição de uma solução completa para o problema final, acelerando o aprendizado. Apesar de vantajosa, a utilização de políticas parciais necessita de definições por parte do projetista, o que representa uma sobrecarga. Para contornar esse problema, foram propostas técnicas de descoberta automática de políticas parciais, dentre as quais a utilização de motivação intrínseca se destaca por permitir ao agente aprender soluções de subproblemas úteis na solução do problema final sem a necessidade de se definir manualmente novas recompensas para esses subproblemas individualmente. Apesar de promissora, essa proposta utiliza um conjunto de componentes de aprendizado que ainda carece de investigação aprofundada acerca dos impactos individual e coletivo de cada componente, notadamente a aplicação das políticas parciais durante o aprendizado. Nesta dissertação são propostas duas abordagens para a aplicação de políticas parciais no Aprendizado por Reforço com Motivação Intrínseca: (i) armazenamento das políticas parciais em aplicação pelo agente e (ii) exploração interna à aplicação das políticas parciais. O impacto das propostas no desempenho de aprendizado é avaliado experimentalmente em um domínio com forte caracterização hierárquica. / Reinforcement Learning techniques allow an agent to learn the solution to a problem by interacting with the environment and executing actions, thus receiving rewards that reflect the value of the actions taken, on a process of trial and error. When a problem has a hierarchical structure, its final solution depends on several solutions to the subproblems it contains, and it is rather common the repetition of subproblems. On these cases, by using options it is possible to learn the solution to each subproblem individually, keeping and then using them multiple times to compose the complete solution to the problem, thus accelerating the learning process. But, despite this advantage, the use of options create the need for some definitions, what can represent a burden to the designer. To circumvent this problem, automatic option discovery techniques were proposed, among which the use of intrinsic motivation deserves special attention for allowing the agent to learn the solution of the subproblems, which are useful to compose the final solution, without the need to manually define new rewards to these subproblems individually. Despite being promising, this technique is built upon a set of several learning components that need a more deep investigation on the individual and collective impacts of each component, mostly the options application strategies during the learning process. On this work two modifications are proposed concerning the application process of options on the Intrinsically Motivated Reinforcement Learning: (i) storage of the history of the options applied by the agent and (ii) allow the agent to explore, even when following an option. These modifications were implemented on an algorithm present on the literature and evaluated on a domain with strong hierarchical characteristics.

Improved standard of living has been followed by demographic changes and increased retirement age. Hence today’s organizations manage a diverse workforce of four generations, each of them with its own distinct attributes. Likewise, tomorrows organizations will consist of a generational diversity of five to six generations. Most research on generations has focused on characteristics and attitude differences. Drawing on the crucial and continual work of motivation - a journey without an end - this qualitative research study examined the most recent generation currently entering the labor force, Generation Z, and their workplace motivation. More specifically, the study explored if, and how, the generation is influenced by intrinsic motivation and its three basic needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness with regards to Self-Determination Theory and transformational leadership. Leaders role in promoting autonomy, competence and relatedness were analyzed at. The findings are based on semi-structured interviews with seven employees from Generation Z and three leaders. Our results showed that Generation Z is clearly impacted by and requesting intrinsic motivation in work life. In particular, the need for competence and a higher level of disloyalty towards the employer were portrayed. Furthermore, the strong demand for feedback among the generation was disclosed, suggesting more time-consuming measures from leaders.

The primary objective of this study is to foster career outcomes such as job satisfaction and turnover intentions in early childhood educators (ECEs). ECEs are defined as individuals teaching children from the age range of birth to 5 years old and work in child care programs. The focus on ECEs population was due to the fact they work in demanding environments with little wage incentives, and as a result, they experience high levels of job dissatisfaction, which in turn leads to turnover. Research has demonstrated that most ECEs are intrinsically motivated, but previous research has not quantitatively tested this construct in a model. A third objective is to explore the role of person-organization fit (P-O fit) and person-job fit (P-J fit) as mediators. Prior research has examined fit a mediator for the K-12 teacher population but it has not been explored in ECEs. The last objective of this study is to investigate distributive justice on career outcomes through P-O fit and P-J fit. Data for the study were collected from a community-based sample. The participants were teachers that worked in the field of early childhood education. Our findings show educators’ motivation and perceptions of organizational justice have a considerable impact on their career outcomes. Our results provide support for the mediation model that we hypothesized. This study can also assist in the selection of early childhood educators by utilizing the intrinsic motivation to work with children to identify which educators are intrinsically motivated and assess their fit as it relates to a specific organization.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between mentor characteristics (i.e., motivational tendencies, personality traits), mentoring provided, and protégé outcomes. A motivational approach was taken, in the sense that motives to mentor, as well as personality characteristics of the mentor, were considered in regard to their ability to predict the type of mentoring provided and outcomes for the protégé. Specifically, the potential relationships between personality traits (Intrinsic Motivation, Learning Goal Orientation, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Machiavellianism) and mentor motives, as well as the provision of career and psychosocial mentoring, were examined. In addition, the current study examined the ability of mentor characteristics to predict several protégé outcomes. Ninety-one mentors (i.e., college juniors and seniors) were paired with 91 protégé (i.e., college freshmen) and were asked to meet for a half hour each week for four consecutive weeks. Self-report measures were collected from both mentors and protégés before the mentoring sessions began (T1) and after (T2) they were completed to determine the effect of having a mentor on various outcomes. All mentoring sessions were videotaped so that trained raters could code the type of mentoring behaviors that occurred within a given session. Results were analyzed via correlational analyses, exploratory regression analyses, and hierarchical regression analyses. Individuals who were generally more intrinsically motivated and learning goal oriented reported being more motivated to mentor others for intrinsic satisfaction reasons. Mentors who were more extraverted and agreeable than their peers reported being more motivated to mentor in order to benefit others. In addition, having a mentor who provided career mentoring reduced school-related stress for a protégé. The key findings of the current study provide support for the view that personality and motivational characteristics of the mentor affect the type of mentoring provided, albeit indirectly in some cases. In addition, it is important to consider multiple sources of mentoring data provided (i.e., mentor, protégé,independent rater) rather than just the protégé's point of view because this will provide a more well-rounded picture of the mentoring relationship, as well as identify potential gaps in perception that may exist between mentors and protégés.

This essay aims to examine the attitudes and motivation toward literary studies in English in upper secondary school students as well as to determine which tools practicing teachers can apply to increase their students’ language learning motivation within literature teaching in the Swedish curriculum. The questions that this study set out to answer was: How do students rate their ability to succeed in different tasks relating to English literary education? How can teachers in Sweden design their lessons in English literature to motivate their students? Which are some of the best ways to teach literature to students from a motivational standpoint? The primary theories used in this study are; self-efficacy theory and theories regarding intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. This study used a qualitative method to examine the students’ attitudes towards reading English literature in schools. The research tool used is a questionnaire with both general questions regarding literature in addition to questions about how the students would rate their chance to succeed with a task relating to literary studies. This study found that one of the primary methods that teachers should apply when teaching literature to EFL students was giving the students a choice in reading material as well as using age-appropriate material. Using shorter texts such as short stories and extracts from novels was also a method that the students’ preferred. This study showed that using standardized testing is the least preferred examination method to use when assessing the students. On the other hand, the preferred examination methods were writing book reports, essays or using group discussions or answering study questions. Furthermore, it is important for the teacher to know the group and plan accordingly and listen to the students and give them a choice in what they read and how to assess them at the end of the literary module to give the students a greater chance of success.