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Achievement Motivation (achievement + motivation)
Selected AbstractsAchievement motivation across cultures: Some puzzles and their implications for future researchNEW DIRECTIONS FOR CHILD & ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT, Issue 96 2002Neil Hufton Cross-cultural study of motivation to learn in school suggests that many constructs may not generalize across cultures. Culturally sensitive, multimethod approaches that can research meaning making may increase understanding of motivation in context. [source] Conscientiousness and achievement motivation predict performanceEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 7 2009Michelle Richardson Abstract A prospective survey was conducted to identify predictors of university students' grade point average (GPA) using separate samples of female (N,=,472) and male (N,=,142) students over 9 months. Big five personality traits and achievement motivation were measured. Correlations show that conscientiousness (C) and achievement motivation explained variation in GPA. Latent variable structural equation modelling showed that the effect of C on GPA is fully mediated by achievement motivation for both female and male students. Invariant factor and structural mediation models across the female and male groups are also reported. Finally, the mediation model is shown to remain significant after scholastic achievement is controlled. The findings are interpreted within the framework of Neo-Socioanalytic theory. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Sex differences in school achievement: what are the roles of personality and achievement motivation?EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 3 2008Ricarda Steinmayr Abstract It is consistently reported that despite equal cognitive ability, girls outperform boys in school. In several methodological steps, the present study examined sex differences in school achievement and some of the most important personality and motivational constructs in a sample of 204 females and 138 adolescent males (mean age M,=,16.94 years; SD,=,0.71). Grades in Math and German as well as grade point average (GPA) served as achievement criteria. Intelligence, the Big Five of personality and motivational variables (achievement motives, goal orientation, task values and ability self-concepts) served as predictors. After controlling for intelligence, girls' grades were significantly better than boys'. Mean sex differences were found for most variables. There were no gender-specific associations between predictors and grades. Agreeableness, work avoidance, ability self-concepts and values ascribed to German mediated the association between sex and grades in German. Controlling for ability self-concepts and values ascribed to Math enhanced the association between sex and math grades. We concluded that personality and motivation play important roles in explaining sex differences in school attainment. Results are discussed against the background of practical and methodological implications. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Achievement orientations from subjective histories of success: Promotion pride versus prevention prideEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2001E. Tory Higgins A new task goal elicits a feeling of pride in individuals with a subjective history of success, and this achievment pride produces anticipatory goal reactions that energize and direct behavior to approach the task goal. By distinguishing between promotion pride and prevention pride, the present paper extends this classic model of achievement motivation. Regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997) distinguishes between a promotion focus on hopes and accomplishments (gains) and a prevention focus on safety and responsibilities (non-losses). We propose that a subjective history of success with promotion-related eagerness (promotion pride) orients individuals toward using eagerness means to approach a new task goal, whereas a subjective history of success with prevention-related vigilance (prevention pride) orients individuals toward using vigilance means to approach a new task goal. Studies 1,3 tested this proposal by examining the relations between a new measure of participants' subjective histories of promotion success and prevention success (the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire (RFQ)) and their achievement strategies in different tasks. Study 4 examined the relation between participants' RFQ responses and their reported frequency of feeling eager or vigilant in past task engagements. Study 5 used an experimental priming technique to make participants temporarily experience either a subjective history of promotion success or a subjective history of prevention success. For both chronic and situationally induced achievement pride, these studies found that when approaching task goals individuals with promotion pride use eagerness means whereas individuals with prevention pride use vigilance means. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Subjective Overachievement: Individual Differences in Self-Doubt and Concern With PerformanceJOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 3 2000Kathryn C. Oleson We discuss the construct of doubt about one's competence and suggest that doubt can have myriad consequences (e.g., self-handicapping, defensive pessimism). We focus on the effect of self-doubt when it is combined with a concern with performance and assert that this combination leads to the phenomenon of subjective overachievement. In two studies, we present a new 17-item Subjective Overachievement Scale (SOS), which includes two independent subscales measuring individual differences in self-doubt and concern with performance. The first study, consisting of two large samples (Ns = 2,311 and 1,703), provides evidence that the scale has high internal consistency and a clear two-factor structure. Additionally, the subscales have adequate test-retest reliability (Ns = 67 and 115). A second study reveals that the SOS has good convergent and discriminant validity. Both subscales are unrelated to social desirability but exhibit the predicted patterns of associations with other related constructs. The Concern with Performance Subscale is correlated with achievement motivation, whereas the Self-Doubt Subscale is correlated with scales assessing negative affectivity (e.g., self-esteem, social anxiety) and other self-related strategies associated with concerns about one's competence (e.g., self-handicapping, defensive pessimism, impostor phenomenon). The SOS, which combines the two subscales, appears to tap a unique strategy that individuals may use to deal with doubts about their own competence. [source] The relationship of freshmen's physics achievement and their related affective characteristicsJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 8 2007Almer (Abak) Gungor Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the best-fitting structural equation model between the freshmen's physics achievement and selected affective characteristics related to physics. These characteristics are students' situational interest in physics, personal interest in physics, aspiring extra activities related to physics, importance of physics, importance of electricity, physics course anxiety, physics test anxiety, physics achievement motivation, student motivation in physics, self-efficacy in physics, self-concept in physics, and locus of control. The researchers developed the affective characteristics questionnaire that consisted of 12 subdimensions, and has 53 items related to these subdimensions. The questionnaire was applied to 890 freshmen physics students at the universities in Ankara. Two models were tested: a unidimensional model and a multidimensional model. However, a third model, which is more similar to the multidimensional model, exhibited the best fit for the freshmen. Moreover, the results revealed that achievement motivation was the most influential affective characteristic on physics achievement. On the other hand, motivation in physics had a negative influence on physics achievement in the model, and the influence of the students' attitudes towards physics was not statistically significant. Thus, one should especially pay attention to the students' achievement motivation in physics if the aim is to increase students' physics achievement. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 1036,1056, 2007 [source] Entrepreneurial Dispositions and Goal Orientations: A Comparative Exploration of United States and Russian EntrepreneursJOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2003Wayne H. Stewart Jr. We refine and extend the study of entrepreneurial dispositions by linking three classic hallmarks of the entrepreneur,achievement motivation, risk,taking propensity, and preference for innovation,to the goal orientations of United States and Russian entrepreneurs. The results suggest that entrepreneurial dispositions vary according to culture and the entrepreneur's primary goal for the venture. The results have important implications for theoretical development linking dispositions and entrepreneurial behavior in different settings and for entrepreneurial education and government policy. [source] |