The aim of this essay is to give an overview of the topic of intrinsic motivation based on psychological an neuroimaging research. More specifically, the objective is to give an overview of the various benefits of intrinsic motivation, discuss its relationship to extrinsic rewards, and review the existing neuroimaging research that has explicitly explored intrinsic motivatoin. A positive relationship betweeen intrinsic motivation and persistence, conceptual learning, creativity, and both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being has been demonstrated. A wealth of studies has shown that extrinsic rewards undermine intrinsic motivation, while the validity of these findings has been debated. Initial neuroimaging studies concerning the neural basis of intrinsic motivation have been conducted, showing unique activations in the intrinsic motivation conditions in e.g. the anterior precuneus and the right insular cortex. Conceptual and methodological problems have been discussed, and it is suggested that the neuroscientific findings mentioned above can be interpreted in terms of the neural distinction between wanting and liking, rather than in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and that psychological research can draw on neuroscientific findings in order to make its research more precise.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilken grad av intern motivation och extern reglering till fysisk aktivitet som motionärer har, samt vilka barriärer de upplever till fysisk aktivitet och vilka strategier de använder sig av för att övervinna barriärerna. Bakgrunds variabler var kön och aktivitetsstadie. Försökspersonerna (n=199) i studien var män (n=96) och kvinnor (n=103) och samtliga medlemmar på träningsanläggningar i Halland. Högaktiva (n=165) och lågaktiva (n=34). Datainsamling skedde via ett testbatteri bestående av mätinstrumenten The Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-2, Physical Activity Stages of change och Motivation Till Upprätthållande Av Motionsvanor vilka delades ut på träningsanläggningarna. Resultatet visade att både högaktiva (n=165) och lågaktiva (n=34) har en högre grad av intern motivation än extern reglering. De mest frekventa barriärerna till fysisk aktivitet var stress/tidsbrist samt brist på motivation och de mest använda strategierna var tanken på känslan efteråt och tanken på förväntade resultat. Interventioner för att främja långsiktiga motionsbeteenden bör fokusera på att skapa glädje, välbefinnande och självbestämmande hos individen som leder till högre grad intern motivation som visat sig vara eftersträvansvärt för en fysiskt aktiv livsstil. Framtida studier skulle kunna fördjupa sig mer om hur motivation, barriärer och strategier skiljer sig åt beroende på aktivitetsstadie, genom att utföra ett träningsprojekt med en grupp lågaktiva individer för att kunna jämföra om inställningen skiljer sig åt ju mer fysiskt aktiva de blir. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree of internal motivation and external regulation for physical activity that athletes have, and what barriers they perceive to physical activity and what strategies they use to overcome barriers. Background variables were gender and activity stage. The subjects (n=199) in the study were men (n=96) and women (n=103) and all members of fitness centers in Halland. Highly active (n=165) and low-level (n=34). Data collection was done through a test battery consisting of measuring instruments The Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-2, Physical Activity Stages of Change and Exercise Adherence Questionnaire which were handed out at training facilities. The results showed that both high-level (n=165) and low-level (n=34) has a higher degree of internal motivation than external regulation. The most frequent barriers to physical activity were stress / time constraints, lack of motivation and the most frequently used strategies were the idea of feeling afterwards and the idea of expected results. Interventions to promote long-term exercise behaviour should focus on creating happiness, well being and autonomy of the individual that lead to greater internal motivation that proved to be desirable for a physically active lifestyle. Future studies could deepen more in how motivation, barriers and strategies differ depending on activity stage, by performing a training project with a group low-level to compare if the attitudes differ when they get more physical active.

The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent university students are regularly physically active, what motives and barriers they perceive towards exercise and the relationship between motivational profile, self-efficacy and exercise behaviors. A questionnaire including the instruments Physical Activity Stages of Change, BARSE, BREQ-2 and Exercise Adherence Questionnaire was distributed at a university in southern Sweden. The respondents (n = 251) were Men (n = 104) and Women (n = 147). For analysis and processing of the gathered data SPSS was used with One-Way ANOVA, Pearson's r and Regression Analysis. The study showed that 70 percent of the students were regularly physically active. The most common motives for exercise were to improve health and increase physical strength whilst the most frequent barriers were lack of motivation and lack of energy/fatigue. The results also revealed positive correlations between identified regulation, intrinsic regulation, barrier self-efficacy and physical activity.

Background: Knatteskutt is one of the largest organizations in children's sports. Operations are located in approximately 150 cities / areas and have both sports and dance focus. The children are aged 3-7 years and may try several sports activities or dance styles during the semester, focusing on play and motor skills. All who are leaders at Knatteskutt has undergone Swedish Sports Promotion of Child Leaders Training. There are also regional managers around Sweden is as a sounding board for leaders and as an extended arm between the office and the leaders. Everybody who works as regional manager has been every leader Knatteskutt. Earlier research on the Knatteskutt, according to a search I did on uppsatser.se. Through the study, I wanted to even find out what it is that motivates the leaders of Knatteskutt why it continues to lead the children's sports / dance. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the leaders' experiences of leadership. To find out the used self-determination theory. Method: A qualitative approach was used to explore the feelings and experiences of the individual. All six interviews stage through Skype where the calls were recorded. Results: The results of the study show that leaders motivated by the children, which means that leaders are driven by internal motivation. Most of the participants agreed that cooperation between the office and the regional manager worked well. But almost all the leaders made comments on how customers improve cooperation. According to my results, it is important to consider when leading sports / dance for children will keep all the leaders agree that you will see all the children, to be clear, flexible, that moment of Knatteskutt should be fun.

The purpose of this study is to explore the coaches' perceptions, motives and constructed identities by participating in a regional physical activity-based positive youth development program. There is growing evidence that suggests the success of positive youth development (PYD) programs depend on the environment that is created by caring adult mentors. These coaches are the delivery vehicles for these programs and play an essential role in the development of participating youth. As a result, the characteristics these coaches possess are critical to the success of the PYD implementation. Based on the application of anthropological methods and theory, this study seeks to create a profile of the coaches and propose strategies for recruitment and retention for a regional council of Girls on the Run. The main findings from this study indicate that the coaches' network is strong within this community and contributes the success of the program and its sustainability. These women are driven by altruistic factors to become involved in this program and most were previous volunteers in some capacity (n=12). However, there seems to be an even distribution along the self-determination continuum that motivates them to participate. Intrinsic motivation (n=5), intrinsic motivation driven by external factors (n=5), and extrinsic motivation (n=3). Additionally, these findings can be translated into recommendations for other councils.

A current national priority is improving secondary school mathematics performance. Middle school students’ trust in their mathematics teachers can lead to better relationships and increased feelings of competence, or mathematics self-efficacy, which is consistently linked to achievement. Student trust is based on perceptions of a teacher’s competence, benevolence, openness, reliability, and honesty. To determine the effect of trust in a teacher on student mathematics self-efficacy while accounting for the non-independence due to shared classroom experiences, hierarchical linear modeling will be utilized. Controlling for prior achievement, mathematics self-efficacy is expected to be higher for students who perceive their mathematics teacher meets more of the criteria for trust, with a stronger effect for low-achieving students. The implications of the outcomes of the proposed study suggest the creation of a training program to facilitate trust building between students and teachers. This report also includes an evaluation plan which details the components of the trust building program, a model for the program, and the proposed method to measure the reported outcomes. / text

Given extensive research highlighting the benefits of need-supportive practices and need satisfaction, it seems likely that academic advisors who use practices found to be need-supportive in classroom, work, and other contexts, will foster students’ perceived autonomy and competence toward the academic major decision-making process and facilitate longer-term goals of enhancing motivation and satisfaction with their academic coursework. A longitudinal study was conducted in order to examine the stability in perceptions of college students' academic major decision-making experience over time as a function of need-supportive advising. The study also examined the stability in satisfaction and motivation outcomes as a function of need-supportive advising over time. Participants included undecided students who completed an online survey at three time points during either the 2012-2013 or 2013-2014 academic year. The online survey included measures assessing perceptions of advisors' needs-supportive practices, students' autonomous and competent decision-making, satisfaction with and motivation for coursework, and subjective well-being, as well as demographic characteristics. Analyses on several models were performed using Mplus version 6.12. Results suggest need-supportive advising at the beginning of the academic year predicts improved academic satisfaction, academic efficacy, subjective well-being, and value toward coursework toward the end of the academic year particularly when advising sessions satisfy students need for competence throughout the year which, in turn, provides students with increased competence about choosing an academic major. Implications and future directions are discussed. / text

Postsecondary curricula are often the first opportunity where students can and are compelled to make choices regarding their adult professional life and the first opportunity students have to engage in serious and focused exploration of the various career options that might be available to them. While the general impact of a postsecondary education on career experience, including job satisfaction and success, is well documented, the factors influencing postsecondary students' career choice and how those factors impact college outcomes, including motivation towards, satisfaction with, and achievement in their chosen major field, appear to be more obscure and uneven. Self-determination theory (SDT) is a well-established motivational construct in the educational psychology field and the goal of this study is to explore the role that SDT may play in the relationship between determinants influencing a student's choice of major and their satisfaction and achievement outcomes. Using self-reported survey data from students across five disciplines at a large public four-year university, a cluster analysis was performed to determine if students could be grouped meaningfully based on their self-determination and the determinants that influenced their choice of major. Meaningfulness was assessed based primarily on the differences across the clusters on the satisfaction and achievement measures. Students were found to be too similar across the clusters on the achievement measure for meaningful interpretation on that outcome, but there did appear to be an important relationship between the influence of future outcomes and personal experiences in choosing a major and the students' satisfaction with their major. Multiple regression analysis was also employed to assess the degree to which achievement could be predicted by students' satisfaction, self-determined motivation, and determinants influencing choice of major. Self-determined autonomy was an important mediator and moderator of the effects that the determinants influencing choice of major had on satisfaction and achievement. Future directions in the research program, as well as the practical implications of the results, are discussed. / text

Students' engagement tends to decline as they progress through school (Anderman, Maehr, & Midgley, 1999; Eccles et al., 1993; Harter, Whitesell, & Kowalski, 1992; National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine, 2004; Yazzie-Mintz, 2010) and disengagement is linked with negative school outcomes such as dropping out of school, retention, failing to earn a diploma, lower grades, and decreased learning (Christenson et al., 2012; DiPerna, Volpe, & Elliot, 2002; Skinner et al., 2009). Youth with ADHD are an at-risk group for lower levels of emotional and behavioral engagement (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). This study investigated whether teacher instructional style (i.e., autonomy support and structure) predicts student engagement and disengagement utilizing an existing dataset collected from 52 students, and their parents and teachers from Dunedin, New Zealand. Student participants met DSM-IV criteria for ADHD, and ranged from 5 to 11 years of age. Class-wide, teacher-provided structure was measured by the Classroom Environment Scale Rule Clarity, and Order and Organization subscales. Class-wide, teacher-provided autonomy support was measured by the Classroom Environment Scale Innovation, Teacher Support, and Teacher Control subscales. Students' emotional engagement in school was measured by Teacher Report Form Working Hard, Happy, Withdrawn, and Anxious/Depressed T-scores. Correlational and multiple regression analysis were used to answer the study's research questions. Results from this study include findings that increased teacher control and lower ADHD severity significantly predicted greater student work effort (engagement). Student age and ADHD severity, and teacher-provided order and organization (structure) were found to significantly predict increased happiness (engagement). Higher teacher-provided structure in the form of rule clarity, order, and organization were found to significantly predict decreased student withdrawn and depressed behaviors (disengagement). In addition, lower teacher-provided order and organization (structure) and higher ADHD severity together were found to significantly predict increased anxious and depressed student behavior (disengagement). If replicated, findings from the current study could inform future intervention research by indicating the components of teachers' instructional styles that may be most influential in engaging students with ADHD in school.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka vad som motiverar arbetslösa deltagare i AMA Arbetsmarknads verksamhet Jobbcentrum att söka ett arbete. Ett annat syfte var också att undersöka om AMA hjälper dessa deltagare att motiveras och kunna återvända till den ordinarie arbetsmarknaden. Tidigare forskning inom området har ofta fokuserat på samband mellan arbetssökarbeteende och de arbetslösas förväntningar på och värderingar av arbete. Motivation sägs vara påverkad utifrån såväl inre som yttre faktorer. Våra teoretiska utgångspunkter har varit Becks teori om risksamhället samt två motivationsteorier, dels en teori om förväntningar och dels en teori om självbestämmande. Studien är kvalitativ och den metodologiska ansats som använts är hermeneutik. Intervjuer genomfördes med 10 deltagare från Jobbcentrum som valdes ut genom ett ändamålsenligt urval. Resultatet visar att vad som värderas med ett arbete i första hand är den trygghet det ger, inte enbart pga. lönen utan även pga de sociala kontakterna och rutinerna. Att ha en meningsfull sysselsättning var motiverande för att söka arbete. Att vara aktiverad – både fysiskt och psykiskt – visades i studien vara viktigt för motivationen. Deltagarnas förväntningar på vad Jobbcentrum kunde göra för dem var låga, istället betonades det personliga ansvaret för att få ett arbete.