Abstract
Curiosity is a basic propensity in human functioning. The desire to explore, discover, understand, and know is intrinsic to people’s nature and is a potentially central motivator of the educational process. Yet all too frequently, educators, parents, and policymakers have ignored intrinsic motivation and viewed education as an extrinsic process, one that must be pushed and prodded from without. Recent reviews of motivation in education (e.g., Dweck & Elliott, 1983; Harter & Connell, 1984; Ryan et al., 1985; Thomas, 1980) have increasingly recognized the importance of intrinsic motivation and have emphasized the role of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational processes in the promotion of children’s learning and achievement. With the recognition of the importance of intrinsic motivation has come a new perspective on extrinsic motivation that is more congruent with the active, growth-oriented nature of the child.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1985 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Deci, E.L., Ryan, R.M. (1985). Education. In: Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior. Perspectives in Social Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2271-7_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2271-7_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-2273-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-2271-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive