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While content theories focus on what motivates individuals, process theories focus on how individuals are motivated. What these process theories illustrate are the internal factors that energize and direct humans to act in certain ways. These theories attempt to explain how a person's needs will drive their behavior so that they can achieve a relevant goal. Common process theories are Adams's equity theory, Locke's goal-setting theory, and Vroom's expectancy theory. In Table 2.2, we share selected process theories and a summary of what the authors see as main processes involved in motivation.

Process theories of motivation, then, tend to focus on cognitive rational processes that drive behavior. Adams suggests that people need to believe they are being treated fairly. Locke suggests that they need goals in order to be prompted to action; studies by goal theorists and other motivational researchers contributed a great deal of information about the situational characteristics that predict students' tendencies to adopt different goals in achievement situations. And Vroom suggests that individuals need to believe that their effort will lead to the desired outcome.

These process theories also can inform our thinking about student motivation for learning. Equity theory suggests that students are motivated by a system with both inputs and outputs. The inputs are factors that a person has accomplished (i.e., past experience, education, work) and perceives to be worthy of some return. The outputs are the return on the individual's investment. For example, a student who has done well in high school views this work as an input when entering a college classroom for the first time. Outputs would be how the instructor treats the student as well as the grades the student receives. Goal theories suggest students are motivated, for example, by performance goals (preserving self-perception or public reputation as capable individuals), learning goals (trying to learn whatever the instructor's task is designed to teach them), and even work-avoidant goals (refusing to accept the challenges inherent in the task and instead focusing on minimizing the time and effort required to complete the task). Expectancy theory involves the notions of expectancy/effort (can the student reach the goal if the student works hard?), instrumentality/performance (will hitting the effort goal lead to rewards?), and valence/rewards (are the rewards desirable?).

TABLE 2.2. Selected Process Theories: How Are Humans Motivated?

Adams's Equity Theory (1963)	Locke's Goal-Setting Theory (1968)	Vroom's Expectancy Theory (1964)
Individuals are motivated when they perceive they are treated equitably in comparison to others within the organization.	Individuals are motivated by establishing goals; they then take action to achieve those goals.	Individuals are motivated by performance and the expected outcomes of their own behaviors.

To apply process theories to the college classroom, teachers would try to (a) establish supportive relationships and cooperative/collaborative learning arrangements that encourage students to adopt learning goals as opposed to performance goals, (b) minimize the sorts of pressures that dispose students toward performance goals or work-avoidant goals, and (c) work to ensure an equitable and inclusive classroom environment. When these conditions are created in a classroom, “students are able to focus their energies on learning without becoming distracted by fear of embarrassment or failure, or by resentment of tasks that they view as pointless or inappropriate” (Brophy, 2004, p. 9).