Social Agents and Learning Contexts

Motivation is important in every aspect of life. It helps people to successfully pursue and deeply enjoy what they do. At bMRI, the key research question can be summarized as: "What makes children and adolescents motivated to learn new things and to engage in learning activities?" Motivational beliefs, such as self-efficacy, interest, value, and achievement goals, can influence students’ task choice or strategy use, thus, cognition, affect, and behavior. In addition, various social and cultural contexts can have a significant influence on students’ motivation. Therefore, bMRI conducts research on the impact of cultural norms and socialization processes shaped by peers, teachers, and parents on Korean children and adolescents’ self-construal and academic motivation. Particularly, we attempt to answer these questions by conducting surveys, interviews, classroom observations, as well as laboratory and field experiments.