Social Contagion of Motivation Between Teacher and Student: Analyzing Underlying Processes

We examined (a) whether motivational orientation can spread from teachers to students during 2 consecutive teaching learning sessions and (b) mechanisms underlying this phenomenon in a special physical education session delivered to high school students. Participants who were taught a sport activity by an allegedly paid instructor reported lower interest in learning and exhibited less persistence in a free-choice period than students taught by a supposedly volunteer instructor, despite receiving the same standardized lesson across experimental conditions. When participants taught the activity to their peers in a subsequent unconstrained learning session, lower levels of interest and behavioral persistence were also exhibited by learners who received the second lesson. A structural equation model confirmed that learners at the end of this educational chain made inferences about how intrinsically motivated their peer tutors were, on the basis of their teaching style (i.e., autonomy-supportive behaviors) and the positive affects they displayed. These inferences, in turn, affected the students' own intrinsic motivation for the activity. Results are interpreted in relation to self-determination theory, and practical implications of the findings are discussed.