Generality of academic self-efficacy judgments: Evidence of hierarchical relations.

The generality of academic self-efficacy judgments was examined among 588 high school students. Students rated their confidence for solving 42 problems in English, Spanish, U.S. history, algebra, geometry, and chemistry. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that students' efficacy perceptions prevailed beyond the boundaries of specific problems. The 1st-order model with a separate self-efficacy factor for each school subject displayed the best fit. Verbal and Quantitative Academic Self-Efficacy illustrated the relations among the lst-order factors better than General Academic Self-Efficacy. The generality of academic self-efficacy partly depended on the degree of perceived similarity among tasks. When asked to rate their efficacy toward 8 pairs of isomorphic algebra and physics problems, students reported more comparable strengths of self-efficacy as they perceived greater similarity between the problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of verbal and mathematics task performance on task and career self-efficacy and interest.

To test a hypothesis from self-efficacy theory, we randomly assigned 149 subjects to verbal or mathematics and success or failure conditions in which they attempted to solve easy or difficult anagram or number series tasks. Changes in task self-efficacy and task interest as a result of task success or failure were in accordance with predictions from self-efficacy theory. We also examined the generalizability of the effects of task performance. The results indicated that task performance effects generalized to self-efficacy and interest ratings on an irrelevant task and to global ratings of math and verbal ability. Task performance effects did not generalize to career self-efficacy and career interest measures but consistent gender differences in self-efficacy emerged as a result of both math and verbal task performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preference for people and tasks.

The authors investigated the preferences of Social (S) and Investigative (I) people for performing S and I tasks with either S or I people or alone. Participants, 38 upper division undergraduates in Social majors and 15 upper division undergraduates in Investigative majors, were administered a paired-comparison inventory in which the stimuli to be compared were task (S or I) and people (S, I, or alone) combinations. As expected, S participants preferred to work with S people, particularly on S tasks, although they preferred (slightly) to perform an I task with S people rather than an S task with I people. I participants most preferred to perform I tasks with I people and least preferred to perform an I task with S people, confirming the conjecture that I people avoid S environments that require emotional interactions, in spite of the tasks that might be performed in the environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anchoring, efficacy, and action: The influence of judgmental heuristics on self-efficacy judgments and behavior.

Two experiments addressed relations between judgmental processes and action by examining both the impact of the anchoring/adjustment heuristic on judgments of performance capabilities and the subsequent impact of these self-efficacy judgments on behavior. In Exp I, 62 undergraduates judged their capabilities for performance on a problem-solving task after exposure to ostensibly random anchor values representing either high or low levels of performance. Ss in a control condition received no anchor values. Anchoring biases strongly affected self-efficacy judgments. High-anchor Ss evidenced the highest judgments of their capabilities and low-anchor Ss the lowest judgments. Ss then performed the task. Differences in task persistence paralleled the differences in self-efficacy judgments, with high-anchor Ss displaying the highest level of task persistence. Exp II, with 23 high school students, replicated these results. In both studies, self-efficacy was predictive of both between-group differences and variations in performance within the anchoring conditions. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stimulus-based priming of task choice during voluntary task switching.

Two voluntary task-switching experiments probed the influence of previous exposures to stimuli and categorizations of these stimuli on task choice during subsequent exposures to the same stimuli. Subjects performed origin and size judgments under standard voluntary task-switching instructions to perform the tasks equally often in a random order. Both when subjects voluntarily selected the task on the first exposure (Experiment 1) and when the experimenter manipulated the task on the first exposure (Experiment 2), subjects chose to perform the same task on subsequent exposures significantly more often than would be expected on the basis of the instructions to perform tasks in a random order. Presentation of a previously encountered stimulus may result in the retrieval of a stimulus–task binding or event file that biases task selection as well as task readiness. The pattern of data across the 2 experiments suggests that stimulus-based priming influences task choice through both retrieval of episodes within the context of the experiment and semantic memory mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Positive transfer and negative transfer/antilearning of problem-solving skills.

In problem-solving research, insights into the relationship between monitoring and control in the transfer of complex skills remain impoverished. To address this, in 4 experiments, the authors had participants solve 2 complex control tasks that were identical in structure but that varied in presentation format. Participants learned to solve the 2nd task on the basis of their original learning phase from the 1st task or learned to solve the 2nd task on the basis of another participant's learning phase. Experiment 1 showed that, under conditions in which the participant's learning phase was experienced twice, performance deteriorated in the 2nd task. In contrast, when the learning phases in the 1st and 2nd tasks differed, performance improved in the 2nd task. Experiment 2 introduced instructional manipulations that induced the same response patterns as those in Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, further manipulations were introduced that biased the way participants evaluated the learning phase in the 2nd task. In Experiment 4, judgments of self-efficacy were shown to track control performance. The implications of these findings for theories of complex skill acquisition are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations Among the Structure of Learning Tasks, Achievement, and Changes in Self-Efficacy in Secondary Students.

Although much has been discovered about relations between self-efficacy and academic achievement, questions remain about links between achievement, the structure of learning tasks, and changes in students' self-efficacy as students engage with a single, complex authentic task. Students' self-efficacy for learning (SEL) and for performance (SEP) was tracked as they worked on well- and ill-structured tasks during their regular class. Students reported higher SEL and SEP for a well-structured task. Moderate achievers reported significantly more difficulty with the ill-structured task. SEP was higher and more stable than SEL, especially in early phases of both tasks. After accounting for overall academic achievement, self-efficacy was a negligible predictor of achievement. Students may perceive various features of each task's structure as difficult. Implications concerning relations among self-efficacy, task structure, and achievement are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social cognitive expectations and racial identity attitudes in predicting the math choice intentions of Black college students.

This study extended social cognitive career theory (R. W. Lent, S. D. Brown, & G. Hackett, 1994) and racial identity theory (J. E. Helms, 1990) to the math-related interests and academic choice intentions of Black college students. Participants were 164 Black 1st-year undergraduates who completed measures of racial identity attitudes and math-related indexes of self-efficacy, outcome expectations, perceived sources of efficacy information, interests, and academic choice intentions. A social cognitive path model of students' math-related interests and choice intentions offered good overall fit to the data. Racial identity attitudes generally yielded small relations to the social cognitive variables and the outcome criteria. Self-efficacy and outcome expectations predicted interests, and interests predicted choice intentions, across racial identity attitude levels. Implications for practice and for further research on Black students' academic and career development patterns are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting self-efficacy and performance during skill acquisition.

Ss completed 7 trials of a complex computer task that simulated the job of an air traffic controller. Performance was calculated by combining points for the number of planes landed minus penalty points. Throughout the trials, Ss completed questionnaires assessing their self-efficacy goals, expected performance, and the degree to which certain judgments required more or less cognitive processing. The results show that during skill acquisition people report reductions in their cognitive processing for working on the task and for making self-efficacy judgments. Also, on early trials, self-efficacy is a better predictor of performance than are expected score or goals, whereas the reverse is true for later trials. The discussion focuses on understanding motivational processes during skill acquisition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unities in inductive reasoning.

Three experiments determined the sources of communalities in performance on 3 inductive reasoning tasks: analogies, series completions, and classifications. In Exp I, 30 undergraduates completed an untimed pencil-and-paper test in which they were asked to solve 90 induction items with names of mammals as content. Items were equally divided among the 3 kinds of induction tasks. Ss' task was to rank order 4 response options in terms of their goodness of fit as completions for each particular item. Data sets for the 3 tasks were highly intercorrelated, and a single exponential model of response choice provided a good fit to each data set. In Exp II, 36 Ss completed a timed test in which they were asked to solve 90 mammal-name induction items. Items were again equally divided among the 3 kinds of tasks. Ss' task was to choose the better of 2 response options as a completion for each particular item. Data sets for the tasks were again highly intercorrelated, and a single linear model of response times provided a good fit to each data set. In Exp III, 18 Ss were timed while solving 1,440 induction items with schematic picture, verbal, and geometric content. Items were approximately equally divided among the 3 kinds of tasks. Both analysis of stimulus and of S variance supported the notion of highly related performance algorithms on the 3 tasks. It is concluded that a common or highly similar model of response choice and of information processing can account for at least some of the previously observed relationships in performance across induction tasks. (59 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subjective confidence in perceptual judgments: A test of the self-consistency model.

Two questions about subjective confidence in perceptual judgments are examined: the bases for these judgments and the reasons for their accuracy. Confidence in perceptual judgments has been claimed to rest on qualitatively different processes than confidence in memory tasks. However, predictions from a self-consistency model (SCM), which had been confirmed for general-information questions (Koriat, 2010) and social attitudes (Koriat & Adiv, 2010), are shown to hold true also for perceptual judgments. In SCM, confidence is modeled by the procedure for assessment of statistical level of confidence: For a 2-alternative, forced-choice item, confidence is based on the consistency with which the choice is favored across a sample of representations of the item, and acts as a monitor of the likelihood that a new sample will yield the same choice. Assuming that these representations are drawn from commonly shared populations of representations associated with each item, predictions regarding the basis of confidence were confirmed by results concerning the functions relating confidence and choice latency to interparticipant consensus and to intraparticipant consistency for majority and minority choices. With regard to the confidence-accuracy (C/A) relationship, the consensuality principle, documented for general-knowledge tasks (Koriat, 2008a), was replicated for perceptual judgments: Confidence correlated with the consensuality of the choice rather than with its correctness, suggesting that the C/A correlation is due to the relationship between confidence and self-consistency and is positive only as long as the correct choices are the consistently made choices. SCM provides a general model for the basis and accuracy of confidence judgments across different domains. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of task variety on generalized effort.

96 female undergraduates were given a training task involving easy or difficult anagrams, mathematics problems, perceptual identifications, or a combination of all 3 problems. To test for the generalization of effort across tasks, all Ss were next asked to write a short essay. The use of a single task throughout training failed to produce an effect of required effort, whereas the combination of all 3 training tasks yielded a greater subsequent essay length and quality by high- than low-effort Ss. Results support the view that increasing the variety of training tasks at high or low required effort contributes to the student's abstraction of a general rule of principle concerning the degree of effort required for successful academic performance. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of group identity on resource use in a simulated commons dilemma.

Used 172 undergraduates in 3 experiments to assess the effects of making salient either a superordinate (collective) or subordinate (differentiating) group identity in heterogeneous groups. In Exp I, 22 male and 36 female Ss were assigned to either a superordinate-group identity (small community resident behavior vs other areas) or a subordinate-group identity (behavior of young people vs elderly people) condition and were asked to perform a computer task individually; Ss were led to believe they were interacting with 5 other persons (2 real and 3 bogus Ss) in their group in accumulating as many points as possible while making the resource last as long as possible. Bogus feedback about group behavior was given. In Exp II, 29 male and 19 female Ss were told that the bogus Ss were economics majors and were asked to perform as in Exp I. In Exp III, the level of social-group identity for 40 male and 26 female Ss was manipulated by varying the common fate of the group members. Results of all 3 experiments show support for the hypothesis that individual restraint would be most likely when a superordinate group identity was made salient and under conditions in which feedback indicated that the common resource was being depleted. A sex-response difference found in Exp I was not sustained in subsequent experiments. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of self-efficacy, goals, and task strategies on task performance.

Manipulated self-efficacy and task strategies in the training of 209 undergraduates under high strategy, low strategy, and control conditions. Ss underwent 5 trials and were administered a self-efficacy scale after each trial. Results show that ability, past performance, and self-efficacy were the major predictors of goal choice. Ability, self-efficacy, goals, and task strategies were related to task performance. Self-efficacy was more strongly related to past performance than to future performance but remained a significant predictor of future performance even when past performance was controlled. Self-efficacy ratings for moderate to difficult levels of performance were the best predictors of future performance; a reanalysis of 2 previous goal-setting studies by the first author confirms this finding. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations between children's overestimation of their physical abilities and accident proneness.

Two experiments examined developmental changes in the accuracy of children's judgments about their physical abilities. Experiment 1 showed that 6- and 8-year-olds overestimated their ability to perform tasks just beyond and well beyond their ability. Adults only had difficulty making judgments about tasks just beyond their ability. Experiment 2 investigated how experience with performing activities influences judgments about physical abilities. Six-year-olds again overestimated their ability to perform tasks just beyond and well beyond their ability. Eight-year-olds were more accurate about tasks well beyond than just beyond their ability. In both experiments, overestimation of ability was associated with accidental injuries for 6- but not for 8-year-olds. The discussion focuses on children's overestimation of physical abilities and the relation between overestimation and accident proneness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of model persistence and statements of confidence on children's self-efficacy and problem solving.

The influence of an adult model's degree of persistence and statements of confidence were studied with 100 1st- and 2nd-grade Black and Hispanic children from a lower-class, urban school. A male model unsuccessfully attempted to separate the 2 rings of a wire puzzle, and the child was subsequently presented a different insolvable ring puzzle to solve. A day later, the child was tested again with an insolvable embedded word puzzle. In addition to their actual persistence on the 2 tasks, the children's self-efficacy estimates were assessed at various points during the experiment. The model's long duration of performance and his statements of confidence significantly increased the children's degree of persistence on both the wire puzzle and the embedded word transfer task. These modeling treatments significantly affected the children's self-efficacy estimates as well. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to A. Bandura's (1977) theory of self-efficacy. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors influencing the choice of nonrequired mathematics courses.

1,418 high school students comprised 3 samples of Ss currently enrolled in their last semester of required mathematics or already enrolled in nonrequired mathematics courses. Results show that a factor involving encouragement from significant others and subjective value placed on mathematics was the best predictor of taking nonrequired mathematics courses across samples and for both sexes. Ss who intended to enroll in optional mathematics and later did so were compared with Ss who intended to enroll but did not. Results show that Ss who acted inconsistently with their intentions attributed the same subjective value to mathematics but had less confidence in their mathematical ability. Factors that influence the initial decision to participate in optional mathematics were found to be similar to factors influencing later decisions to continue participation. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Solve the problem first: Constructive solution strategies can influence the accuracy of retrospective confidence judgments.

Two experiments tested whether differences in problem-solving strategies influence the ability of people to monitor their problem-solving effectiveness as measured by confidence judgments. On multiple choice problems, people tend to use either a constructive matching strategy, whereby they attempt to solve a problem before looking at the response options, or a response elimination strategy, whereby they work backward from response options trying to find one that fits as a solution. Constructive matching gives rise to different cues that may enhance confidence monitoring. Experiment 1 showed that spontaneous constructive matching in nonverbal spatial reasoning problems was associated with better confidence calibration and resolution than response elimination. We manipulated strategy in Experiment 2 by requiring constructive matching and found improved monitoring. Implications for research on monitoring, overconfidence, and the association between skill and monitoring are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The importance of gesture in children's spatial reasoning.

On average, men outperform women on mental rotation tasks. Even boys as young as 4 1/2 perform better than girls on simplified spatial transformation tasks. The goal of our study was to explore ways of improving 5-year-olds' performance on a spatial transformation task and to examine the strategies children use to solve this task. We found that boys performed better than girls before training and that both boys and girls improved with training, whether they were given explicit instruction or just practice. Regardless of training condition, the more children gestured about moving the pieces when asked to explain how they solved the spatial transformation task, the better they performed on the task, with boys gesturing about movement significantly more (and performing better) than girls. Gesture thus provides useful information about children's spatial strategies, raising the possibility that gesture training may be particularly effective in improving children's mental rotation skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)