ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the two big theories from which the constructs of self-efficacy and future goals derive. Without a theoretical framework, schools often fall into trap of trial and error or they grasp pop psychology ideas that rarely provide positive effects or enduring changes. Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) was designed to explain how people are influenced to act or behave. Behaviorism was found to be an inadequate theory for explaining how people become so flexible in their use of language and complex decision-making. The benefit of behaviorism is that it explains how contextual cues, or information in the environment, shape how people behave. Many classroom management problems occur when students do not have internalized motivations for learning and there are not enough cues in the classroom to signal positive behavior. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) highlights three basic needs that should be satisfied within a context before learners are most liable to experience intrinsic motivation in that context: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
