Chapter 9: Interest and Adolescence

Motivation has been defined in various ways by psychologists, educators, and laypersons. Recently, Wegge (2001) extended Kanfer’s (1994) definition of motivation as the psychological mechanism determining the direction, intensity, and persistence of individuals’ activity by suggesting that individuals’ motivation also explains predecisional processes involved in goal selection, and the persistence and intensity of pursuing a selected goal. He further argued that while cognitive processes and representations that are the focus of various motivational theories (e.g., expectancy-value theory, self-efficacy beliefs, and goal theories) undoubtedly contribute to the regulation of human behavior, motivational phenomena cannot be reduced solely to the impact of these cognitive factors. Rather, emotional processes and physiological factors that contribute to the psychological state of the organism and to the energizing of behavior need to be included in the theories of motivation (Hidi, 1990; Krapp, 1999; Sorrentino, 1996). Interest is one motivational concept that incorporates affective and cognitive factors to explain how and why individuals choose to engage in certain activities (Hidi & Berndorff, 1998; Krapp, 2000). Interest may also have strong and yet not fully explained associations with the selection and pursuit of goals (Hidi & Harackiewicz, 2000; Krapp, 2002; Sansone & Harackiewicz, 1996). In this chapter we focus on adolescents and consider the role of interest in learning.