ABSTRACT
The ‘contagion of motivation’ refers to the spreading of motivation between socially connected individuals. Students have many opportunities to engage with one another at school, and through these social circumstances, students share their motivational experiences and have the power to influence the motivations of the students with whom they are connected, and vice versa. Self-determination theory stipulates that people are naturally motivated to satisfy their need for relatedness, autonomy and perceived competence. Another theory of motivation that can be applied to the social contagion phenomenon is social learning theory. Motivation has been long established as a leading factor in students’ learning and achievement at school, impacting on all forms of academic outcomes. From a teacher’s perspective, being aware of the motivational orientation of the students in a classroom is valuable, especially if the teacher considers students’ positions within their social environments.
