Psychology of Music Learning

1. Psychology of Music Learning Miksza Motivation

2. Asmus (1994) • Motivation provides energy for seeking out and being involved in tasks • Arouse interest • Influence choice, direction, goals • Starting, sustaining, and/or stopping behavior • 11% to 17% of variance in achievement explained by motivation • Important because it can be manipulated by the teacher

3. Asmus (1994) • Extrinsic sources (tends to be behavioral) • Reinforcement • Environment • Social sources • Approval, disapproval, tokens, rewards, etc. • Disadvantages • Unlikely to choose similar activities without extrinsic rewards • Don’t pursue activities outside of class • Inhibit the development of intrinsic orientation • May lead to negative performance outcomes in the long-term

4. Asmus (1994) • Intrinsic Sources (tends to be cognitive) • Internal decisions and energy • Engaged in ‘for their own sake’ • Advantageous • Persist even when external sources aren’t available • Higher self-concept • See Weiner (1986) quote - anti-behaviorist approach • Contrast Weiner with Deci & Ryan (1985) - using extrinsic to ‘stoke’ intrinsic

5. Asmus (1994) • Maximizing extrinsic motivation • Only use rewards when necessary • Don’t reward a learner for an inherently interesting task • Limit use of rewards for behavioral control and participation • Avoid rewards with divergent tasks • Use rewards for acknowledging competence • Use rewards for memorization and convergent tasks

6. Contemporary intrinsic/extrinsic approaches • Elliot - Achievement goal orientations • Performance goals (aka - ego) • Norm-referenced achievement orientations • Mastery goals (aka - task) • Self-referential achievement orientations • Approach and Avoid ‘valence’ • Highest achievers tend to have strong mastery- AND performance-approach orientations • Learner traits… • Approach - help-seeking, organized • Avoid - disorganized, anxiety, avoidance, avoid help-seeking

7. Asmus (1994) • Self-concept/self-esteem • Achievement and success enhance self-concept • Failure may also have constructive effects on self-concept if: • The goals, conditions, assessment, and attributions are appropriate • Especially if the learner is intrinsically motivated to pursue the task in the first place • More control over the task the learner has the stronger effect on self-concept • See Vispoel (1994)

8. Vispoel (1994) • Self-concept has been poorly defined over time - especially in music • Self-concept is: • Organized, multi-faceted, hierarchical, stable, complexity changes with age, descriptive and evaluative, distinct from other constructs like achievement and intelligence • Music self-concept correlated with general artistic self-concept and verbal-academic self-concept • Music self-concept is also hierarchically structured • Music self-concept may differentiate by instrumental vs. non-instrumental

9. Self-concept in music… • Positive self-concept related to achievement in music • Music participation related to positive general self-concept • Results mixed for minority and disadvantaged students • Pre-service practice teaching experiences lead to enhanced teacher self-concept • Self-concept increased as result of participation in contest • Consistent correlation between music self-concept and magnitude of motivation

10. Asmus (1994) • Maslow - Drive Theory • Meet needs… see hierarchy from last week… • Atkinson - Achievement Theory • Approach success • Interaction of previous successes, motive to achieve, expectancy of success, and perceived value of success • Optimal level: perceived difficulty and expectancy of success is intermediate • Avoid failure • Ring toss experiment… • Protect self-perception - choose task that’s too easy or too difficult to explain away failures…

11. Asmus (1994) • Rotter - Locus of Control • Internal and external reasons for future successes and failures • Internal: ability, effort • External: luck, powerful others • Weiner - Attribution Theory • Perceived causes of past successes and failures • Internal/External, Stable/Unstable, Controllable/Uncontrollable

12. Attribution theory in music… • Effort and ability most commonly cited by younger students • Attributions tend to become more stable with age • Task difficulty more commonly cited by older students • Attributions somewhat distinct from magnitude of motivation • Those with high magnitude tend to cite effort more often • Asmus motivational factors • Effort • Background • Classroom environment • Musical ability • Affect for music

13. Asmus (1994) • Bandura - Self-efficacy • ‘a person’s beliefs in ability to produce intended outcomes on a specific task’ • Effect: choice of activity, effort, persistence • Deci & Ryan - Self-determination • Sense of control enhances intrinsic motivation • Satisfying an inherent need to be competent and self-determining

14. Asmus (1994) • Common motivational topics in music education literature • Nature of musical materials • Music as a reinforcer • Classroom environment • Competition • Teaching strategies • Teacher characteristics

15. McPherson & Zimmerman (2002) • Self-regulation • From a social-cognitive perspective… • Interaction of individual, environment, and behavior (reciprocal casuation/determinism) • Dimensions • Motive - why • Strategies - how • Time management - when • Performance behavior - what • Social elements, help - with whom

16. McPherson & Zimmerman (2002) • Motivation • Parental support, self-motivation • Strategies • Task-oriented, alone vs. with help of a teacher, mental strategies • Time management • Efficiency, avoidance, use of time • Behavior • Metacognition, problem solving, self-evaluation, adaptive mastery-oriented or maladaptive performance-oriented, physical environment • Social elements • Parents, teachers, siblings and peers

17. McPherson & Zimmerman (2002) • Stages of self-regulation • Observation • Learning from a model • Emulation • Imitation of a model, imitation with social assistance • Self-control • Independent display of model’s skills under structured conditions • Self-regulation • Adaptive use of skill across changing personal and environmental conditions