Vansteenkiste, Simons, Lens, Sheldon, et al., 2004, Experiment 2: Teaching business communication in an autonomous or intrinsic way increased course understanding and motivation 2 weeks later among Belgian college students
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Summary:
Belgian college students studying marketing learned about business communications in class. For some the instructions used autonomy-supportive phrases like “you might decide to try to learn more about communication styles.” For others the instructions used controlling phrases like, “you should learn more about communication styles.” Students in the autonomy-supportive condition learned more, performing better on a test of conceptual understanding immediately after the course and 2 weeks later and contributing more in small group presentations 5 days later, reported more autonomous motivation, and were more likely to seek out further information about business communications, taking extra reading, completing extra problems, and going to the library for related information. Similar benefits were also found for an intervention that represented the course content as linked to students’ intrinsic goals in business.