Which Matters More for Studying: Method or Motivation?

Here’s a question for you: when studying for a test, which matters more, the method you use, or how motivated you are to learn the material?

That question is a bit vague, so let’s make it more concrete. Suppose I read out loud to you a list of words. Now imagine I gave you one of two techniques to use: hearing each word and asking whether it contained the letter “e” or asking whether the word felt pleasant or not.

Now suppose I tested you under two conditions: in one condition I told you that immediately after I read the words, I’d test how many you remembered. In the other condition, I didn’t tell you about the test at all, I merely asked you to go through the two different procedures while hearing the words.

Given the two conditions: different methods for learning or different amounts of motivation to study, which do you think made a bigger difference on test performance?

The answer may be surprising: only the method mattered, motivation didn’t matter much at all.

Why We Deceive Ourselves About What Works When Learning

Perhaps, you might be thinking, this test isn’t a fair one. After all, having lots of motivation often leads to using better studying methods. It also determines how much…