Week 9 Blog - Connecting with the Big Picture

Brophy, J. (2009). Connecting with the Big Picture. Educational Psychologist, 44(2), 147-157. doi:10.1080/00461520902832400

This article includes an overview and discussion of five articles. They are Eccles’s article on expectancy, LaGuardia’s article on self-determination theory, Renninger’s article on interest theory, Roeser and Peck’s article on contemplative education, and McCaslin’s article on co-regulation. Reviewing the five articles, the author recognizes that identity and motivation share “multiple and bidirectional relationships,” (Brophy, 2009). He also points out the elasticity in identity and how it can grow and change, go through stages, and can limit or foreclose potential exposures to other experiences.

The compilation of the articles under review leads the author to conclude that roles of identities and core values in orienting people toward or away from potential action choices. Quoting McCaslin, he states, “Who we are includes what we are and are not willing to become,” (Brophy, 2009). Identities grow and change in response to encouragement or pressure from the culture at large or from socializers and others in one’s social circle, (Brophy, 2009). The author also asks the authors to leave their comfort zones and consider the value of broadening to include global and multicultural lenses on motivational phenomena.

Overall this article captures diverse perspectives and lenses on regarding motivational and self-identity issues. It is a great example of synthesizing articles to see similarities and ways to see relationships among varied perspectives and theories. It also highlights the importance of not forgetting the global and multicultural impacts of such theories.