Why do you study? The Academic Motivation Scale and three kinds of reasons

Ask a class why they are studying and the answers will vary: the subject is interesting, the exam is in May, their parents expect it, they have no idea. Most students would pick more than one.

In 1992 Robert Vallerand and colleagues published the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) to measure that mix. It asks "Why do you go to college?" and offers 28 possible reasons, sorted into seven groups. Our Academic Motivation Scale test keeps the three broad groups of the original and uses 12 statements that we wrote ourselves, four for each group, so it is a self-reflection tool, not the validated scale. You rate each statement on a five-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree, where the original uses seven points.

Three kinds of reasons

The AMS is built on self-determination theory by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan.

Intrinsic motivation means studying because learning itself rewards you. Example statement: "I study because I enjoy discovering new things."

Extrinsic motivation means the reason lies outside the learning: grades, a future salary, other people's approval or the wish to avoid their disappointment. Examples: "I study in order to get good grades" and "I study to avoid criticism or disappointing others."

Amotivation means seeing no reason to study at all, as in "I feel lost and without motivation to study."

Extrinsic reasons are not all alike

The original AMS splits extrinsic motivation into three kinds, following Deci and Ryan. External regulation is studying for rewards or to avoid punishment. Introjected regulation is studying to avoid guilt or to protect your pride. Identified regulation is studying because you see its value for a goal of your own, such as a career you want. In their 2000 paper Ryan and Deci grouped identified regulation with intrinsic motivation as autonomous motivation, the kind that feels chosen rather than imposed.

Our version puts all of these into one extrinsic score. A statement about a well-paying job and a statement about avoiding criticism count the same, even though the first is much closer to a goal you chose. When you read your extrinsic score, look back at which of those statements you agreed with most.

What predicts staying in school

In 1997 Vallerand, Michelle Fortier and Frédéric Guay surveyed several thousand high school students in Quebec and checked a year later who had dropped out. Students whose motivation was less self-determined, with more amotivation and less intrinsic or identified motivation, were more likely to have left school.

For that reason amotivation is the score to take most seriously. A low intrinsic score is common and many students get through on a mix of extrinsic reasons. A high amotivation score means that, for now, none of the reasons are working.

Reading your result

High intrinsic and high extrinsic together is a common and workable mix: you like the subject and you also want the grade. High extrinsic with low intrinsic can carry you to an exam, but the reason disappears once the exam is over, so it helps to find one part of the subject you are curious about or one goal of your own it serves.

A high amotivation score can mean you are on the wrong course, that the material has become too hard to follow, or that something else in your life is draining your energy. If it comes with weeks of low mood or poor sleep, talk to someone you trust, a student counsellor or a doctor.

If exams themselves are the problem, try the test anxiety test. For the same ideas applied to work, read intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and if you keep putting off studying, read why we procrastinate and how to stop.