Principle 7: Skill building without motivation is impossible.
Motivation arguably matters more than cognition for academic success. Without it, even the most capable expert will fail.
Note: Unconstrained Kids unpacks, translates, and integrates academic research and data about constrained and unconstrained skills for people that run, fund, and assist organizations that teach and serve kids. This post is part of a series that describes 14 key principles of skill building I identified from the Science of Learning and Development. (Especially Dynamic Skill Theory.) Like everything on this Substack, this post is a work-in-progress. I will make updates as needed. Citations are included at the end. Questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome.
Last updated: June 4, 2025
Key Takeaway
Skill is the ability to think and act in an organized way in a specific context (Immordino-Yang and Fischer, 2010). It is impossible to learn anything if we are not motivated. Motivation, emotion, and cognition are deeply intertwined. Our beliefs about ourselves, the degree of control we feel, and our expectations about the likely value of our efforts significantly shape our motivation. Extrinsic rewards are likely to be less energizing for children than intrinsic motivation. Relatively small things can make a big difference to support skill building and learning (Dweck et al., 2011).
“Motivation nudges us to convert intention into action. It pushes us to start doing something new or to restart something that we have stopped. It controls our decision to persist at a specific work goal in the face of distractions and competing priorities. It leads us to invest more or less mental and physical effort to enhance both the quality and quantity of our work.” (Clark, 2006)
Motivation is a psychological process that shapes whether we begin and persist at a task. It also influences whether we invest sufficient mental resources to be successful (Cantor et al., 2019).
Motivation is described as “perhaps the indispensable element needed for school success” (Sternberg, 2017). It is said that motivation might matter more than cognition for students’ academic success (Dweck et al., 2011). “Without motivation, even the most capable expert will fail” (Clark, 2006).
Emotion, cognition, and motivation are deeply intertwined (Meyer & Turner, 2006: Hardway, 2020). Negative emotion is called “one of the biggest killers of motivation” (Clark, 2003). (See Principle 6.) Although multiple factors shape motivation, researchers heavily focus on student beliefs about themselves and their learning goals, how much control they think they have over the outcomes, and their expectations for success (Clark and Saxberg, 2018; Cantor et al., 2019).
Academic motivation is conservatively estimated to account for about 30% of learning, transfer, and application in adolescents and adults. This is roughly the same level of impact as learning strategies (Clark and Saxberg 2018; Cantor et al., 2019).
Intrinsic motivation involves pursuing knowledge and activities for their own sake. Extrinsic motivation involves engaging in an activity (including learning) for external rewards (Hardway, 2020). Intrinsically motivated behaviors are guided by ends in themselves. Intrinsic motivation is based on curiosity; it is inherently interesting or enjoyable.
The positive energy that comes with intrinsic motivation helps us to expand knowledge, skills, and competencies. Our reward is the interest or enjoyment that we experience (Harackiewicz and Knogler 2017) Children can show different levels of intrinsic motivation for learning particular topics (Hardway, 2020).
Intrinsic motivation can be thought of as a heightened state of interest. Interest in a topic or task stems from a combination of the situation (context) and the individual. Novelty can help spark interest. While the context or situation can jump start motivation, individual or personal interest is more enduring (Hardway, 2020; Wigfield and Cambria, 2010).
When engaged in interesting activities there is little distinction between what someone thinks is important and what they like to do. Positive emotional reactions and cognitive functioning are intertwined. Cognition and attention control feel relatively effortless (Harackiewicz and Knogler 2017).
“Intrinsic motivation is associated with deeper focus, creativity, confidence, and achievement” (Cantor et al., 2019). If we want to help children build skills, we have to awaken their internal motivation.
Motivation doesn’t always start from the inside. Extrinsic motivation is based upon the expectation for some gain or reward. These rewards could be financial, good grades, or praise.
Rewards could also be avoidance of negative consequences such as criticism, shame, or stress (Harackiewicz and Knogler 2017). How others think or feel about us (social emotions) can also be a source of extrinsic motivation. (See Principle 6.)
Adults are greatly motivated by financial and other tangible incentives (Clark, 2003). But children appear to operate differently. A major experimental study in three large urban districts paid students for reading books, performance on interim exams, or for classroom grades. All three approaches failed to make an impact on student achievement (Fryer, 2011).
There is some evidence that financial incentives may decrease the motivation of school-age children (Clark, 2003). Yeager (2024) suggests that young people ages 10 to 25 are heavily motivated by non-financial incentives: status and respect.
But wait, there’s more
Works Cited
Cantor, P., Osher, D., Berg, J., Steyer, L., & Rose, T. (2019). Malleability, plasticity, and individuality: How children learn and develop in context. Applied Developmental Science, 23(4), 307–337.
Clark, R. E. (2003). Fostering the work motivation of individuals and teams. Performance Improvement, 42(3), 21–29.
Clark, R. E. (2006). Motivating individuals, teams, and organizations. In J. A. Pershing (Ed.), Handbook of human performance technology: Principles, practices, and potential (Third, pp. 478–497). Pfeiffer.
Clark, R. E., & Saxberg, B. (2018). Engineering Motivation Using the Belief-Expectancy-Control Framework. Interdisciplinary Education and Psychology, 2(1).
Dweck, C. S., Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. L. (2011). Academic tenacity: Mindsets and skills that promote long-term learning. Gates Foundation.
Fryer, R. G., Jr. (2011). Financial incentives and student achievement: Evidence from randomized trials. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 126(4), 1755–1798.
Harackiewicz, J. M., & Knogler, M. (2017). Interest: Theory and application. In A. J. Elliot, C. S. Dweck, & D. S. Yeager (Eds.), Handbook of competence and motivation: Theory and application (Second). The Guilford Press.
Hardway, C. (2020). Of interest and engagement: The emotional force of learning and development. In M. F. Mascolo & T. R. Bidell (Eds.), Handbook of integrative developmental science: Essays in honor of Kurt W. Fischer (pp. 232-261). Routledge.
Immordino-Yang, M. H., & Fischer, K. W. (2010). Neuroscience bases of learning. In V. G. Aukrust (Ed.), International encyclopedia of education (3rd Edition, pp. 310–316). Elsevier.
Meyer, D. K., & Turner, J. C. (2006). Re-conceptualizing emotion and motivation to learn in classroom contexts. Educational Psychology Review, 18(4), 377–390.
Sternberg, R. J. (2017). Intelligence and competence in theory and practice. In A. J. Elliot, C. S. Dweck, & D. S. Yeager (Eds.), Handbook of competence and motivation: Theory and application (Second). The Guilford Press.
Wigfield, A., & Cambria, J. (2010). Students’ achievement values, goal orientations, and interest: Definitions, development, and relations to achievement outcomes. Developmental Review, 30(1), 1–35.
Yeager, D. S. (2024). 10 to 25: The science of motivating young people: A groundbreaking approach to leading the next generation-and making your own life easier. Avid Reader Press.