Exploring the within-person contemporaneous network of motivational engagement

Abstract

Existing theoretical frameworks on motivation have identified a number of critical components in our motivational engagement process in learning. However, little empirical research has examined how these different components interact with each other to support our overall motivational engagement. This study explores such dynamics in a bottom-up manner by examining the within-person contemporaneous network structure of key components in the motivational engagement process (i.e., reasons/values, expectancy belief, goals, social relations, affective experiences, and perceived autonomy). We tracked four participants working on psychological research projects over the course of a year on a daily basis, and found that their motivational engagement mainly consisted of a large network of nodes that support autonomous forms of self-regulation. Scrutiny of the network also suggests the critical roles of curiosity and intrinsic reason in bridging affective and core motivational aspects of engagement.