I guess an apology is in order for the “vibe” of last week’s
class? I thought we were engaged in some lively academic debate about the strengths
and weaknesses of self-efficacy and expectancy-value theory, but apparently
that’s not how it was interpreted. And I guess my point got lost in the debate,
but anyone who interpreted my argument as “Value is all that matters and
self-efficacy doesn’t” clearly wasn’t paying attention, especially to the part
where I wrote in my original blog that started all of this, “I lean towards motivational theories like
Expectancy-Value theory, which take all
the good parts about self-efficacy and add in that value piece as an
explainer of human motivation and behavior” [emphasis added]. Obviously self-efficacy matters, I’d have to be an
idiot to enroll in an elective about a topic that I don’t believe in.
Further, I’m
confused by exactly who is “living under a rock.” Would it be the person who adamantly
says one construct explains everything about human motivation, or the person
who is saying “hey, maybe other stuff is important too.” And as far as the “little
box” that I seemingly find myself in, I would say that my opinions are based on
3+ years of doctoral studies, after being exposed to multiple classes on student learning and
education; I’m pretty happy where I currently sit in terms of beliefs about the
strengths and weaknesses of the vast number of theories floating around in the educational
psychology literature.
But I digress, I no
longer value trying to explain the merits of a theory that has been extensively-studied
and whose findings have been replicated in some of the most prestigious
journals, not just in educational psychology, or even psychology, but in all of
science, Science (http://curry.virginia.edu/uploads/resourceLibrary/Hulleman.Harackiewicz.Science.2009.promoting.relevance.pdf).
And I definitely don’t still find it necessary to demonstrate the “absurd”
scenario Michael presented last class is actually based in reality and has been
explained in terms of how males and females have differential self-efficacy and task-values (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3843492/pdf/nihms518068.pdf).
Either way, I don’t blame you all though, you’ll probably never figure out the
power of value until you do a class on Motivation.
Hey Ryan, I don't think I should mince words with you guys anymore as I believe I've caused enough damage. But I don't recall saying that you are inexperienced or that you don't know what you are saying. However, if you go back to last class, in which I was paying attention pretty intently, your argument didn't seem to really verge on what you are saying or claim to have said. Again, just like Robin said, I might be perceiving it wrongly, just as you'll might perceive some things about my comment about living under a rock a little more intensely than I meant it. I have done a class on Motivation, and I do understand the importance of value, but we're studying Bandura here. Also if you're concerned that you're lowering other people's efficacy by having your posts read out, this is pretty trivial for someone with your experience to be insinuating.
ReplyDeleteI'll clarify this head on in class tomorrow as I really didn't mean to hurt you or Robin, but clearly, I have struck a point of tension without having the intention of doing so. This is the point of this class though :) so I'm happy that we're at least trying to present our arguments openly.
Also, I understand that you know a lot of theory, which I maybe have yet to learn! However, it's about much more than merely Educational Psychology theory, and I hope you get that the reasons that I am frustrated lie much beyond that. Anyway, I hope you'll find it in your heart to talk to me openly about this in person.
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