The Four-Phase Model of Interest Development

• In Event: Part 1 – Recent Advancement in Sociocultural Influences on Motivation and Learning: Big Theories Revisited

Abstract

Purpose: In this presentation, we focus on the sociocultural influences on interest, a variable that describes both: (a) the psychological state of a person during engagement, and also (b) a person’s cognitive and affective motivation to reengage particular content (e.g. mathematics) over time (Renninger & Hidi, 2016).

Theoretical framework: Interest is important because it promotes attention and memory and has a powerful impact on motivation, meaningful engagement, and learning. In explaining interest development, we review the Four-Phase Model (Hidi & Renninger, 2006), which posits that interest develops through four phases: triggered situational, maintained situational, emerging individual, and well-developed individual interest. Although interest has a physiological basis and is universal in that all persons are hardwired to develop interest, it is also fundamentally a social process (see Bergin, 2016). That is, interest develops through the quality of the interactions that take place between people and their environment.

Modes of inquiry: Research on the Four-Phase Model has burgeoned since its publication, providing for a validation of the model and its elaboration. Phases in the development of interest have been studied as both a dependent variable and as an independent variable, using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods.

Results: The findings indicate that regardless of age or prior experience, the development of interest needs to be supported and is, as such, interdependent with a person’s environment. In any of the four phases, individuals can be supported to experience the psychological state of interest, and the frequency of actual reengagement, affects the frequency of their experiencing it. That is, as reengagement increases, so does the experiencing of the psychological state of interest. The specific topics that are of interest to individuals vary. Differences of genetic make-up, familial experience, and/or educator support may account for variations in what emerges as a developed interest for individuals (see related discussion in Ainley & Ainley, 2015; Alexander, Johnson, & Liebham, 2015; Crowley, Barron, et al., 2015; Pressick-Kilborn, 2015; Sloboda, 1989; Xu, Coates, & Davidson, 2011). Some reliable preferences for particular topics also have been observed based on gender, group membership, and life experience. For example, the topic of health and caring for humans has been shown to influence seventh grade girls’ interest in physics (e.g., Hoffmann & Haussler, 1998) and undergraduate Latino students’ abilities to make connections to introductory biology course content (e.g., Thoman, Brown, Mason, Harmsen, & Smith, 2015). Another factor that can influence interest development is age (see Renninger, 2009). For example, children over the 8 to 10 years of age may be driven more than younger children by social comparisons than their interests. Such comparisons may refocus children’s attention and has implications for how they can be supported to work with content.

Scholarly significance: Discussion will center on substantial evidence that interest is malleable and can be supported to develop by other people and the environment, resulting in significant educational gains that are not restricted to any gender, social class, ethnic, or cultural group.

Authors

• Suzanne E. Hidi, University of Toronto

• K. Ann Renninger, Swarthmore College