The Science of Self-Learning

Your course of study is chosen for you.

Pink described three different factors that make up intrinsic motivation.

you are able to direct it yourself. You believe learning is to sit and absorb and then demonstrate said absorption

On a handwritten sheet for note-taking (writing by hand is key), split it down the middle and into two columns. Make the column on the right about twice the size as the column on the left. Label the right column “Notes” and label the left column “Cues.” Leave a couple inches empty at the bottom of the page and label that section “Summary.”

The technique is called The SQ3R method, named for its five components:

survey

question

read

recite

review

In fact, studies conducted in the 1970s by professors Harry Harlow and Edward Deci found that extrinsic motivation actually detracts from intrinsic motivation: if you’re doing a job because you both get money and seek personal satisfaction from it, the motive for outside rewards will diminish the quality of the internal rewards you pursue

The opposite of this concept is intrinsic motivation. Rather than performing a task to gain rewards or avoid punishment from someone else, a person experiencing intrinsic motivation does an activity for how it will enrich them on an intangible level. The rewards one gets in this framework are self-generated: pride, sense of accomplishment, enjoyment, rising to a challenge. These kinds of rewards, quite simply, feel better and have more personal meaning than a paycheck or a grade

We call that reward-or-punishment framework extrinsic motivation: the compensation you get comes from an external source, such as the company you work for or the school district you study in. Somebody else is generating your payments or rewards according to guidelines that they set up—not you. This kind of motivation might have worked for a while in the past, when options for study and employment were more limited and people just wanted to survive

After our emotional centers are done processing new info, the next brain part to receive the data is the front brain, or the prefrontal cortex. This is a bit like our own personal assistant: it handles motor function, memory, language, problem-solving, impulse regulation, social behavior, and a bunch of other cognitive skills. When the front brain is exhausted or depleted, we experience a weariness that prevents us from getting anything done.

This is known as ego depletion

So motivating someone to learn by threats or reproach isn’t just ineffective—it’s impossible. If one is feeling hurt or mistrusted, or if they’re dealing with depression, stress, difficult personal issues, or fear, they don’t have any resources left to help them learn.