Interaction between epistemological beliefs and motivationIntroductionThere are reasons to think that a student's motivation to learn will influence his or her epistemological beliefs, and these beliefs will also influence said motivation. Before proceeding to examine these possible interactions we should examine contemporary theories of motivation and theories of students' beliefs about knowledge and knowing. Unfortunately there is no broad consensus on either topic yet, so we'll look at today's most important theories. We will first take a look at five theories of motivation, then we will take a look at six theories about students' epistemological beliefs, and proceed with a discussion of how motivation to learn can alter one's epistemological beliefs, concluding with some ways in which Epistemological beliefs can drive motivation. Motivation There are many aspects that are theorized to influence student motivation and many theories have been formulated attempting to capture the most important ones. Generally accepted and well-articulated theories can be grouped into five families: expectancy-value theory, attribution theory, social cognitive theory, goal orientation theory, and self-determination theory. We will review them briefly, summarizing the key constructs. Expectancy-value theory, a later development of achievement motivation theory, is concerned with the student's resulting achievement motivation (which results from the synthesis of hope for success and fear of failure). Motivation is considered to be a function of the expectation of achieving the desired outcome and the (possibly multifaceted) value attributed to the outcome or task. Attribution theory states that a student's motivation will come from attributing the causes of outcomes... center of the paper... knowledge creator and therefore (via self-determination theory) will be motivated by the desire for competence and out of desire for autonomy. While these are reasons why one would want to engage in learning activities, it is not obvious that those reasons are strong enough to compel action. What seems likely is that at lower levels of epistemological development the desire for autonomy may still exist, but it only draws the student to a superficial depth of understanding. Furthermore, not having personal responsibility for knowledge (if knowledge is seen as based on authority) can push against self-directed learning. It seems possible that when you believe in binary knowledge, you can extend such a simplistic black and white approach. whites' view towards other domains, seeing ability as binary (therefore more likely believing in an entity theory of intelligence). [Thanks Dan Greene]