Personality and scholastic achievement

Based on the data of the "Basle Adolescents Study" 7 scales of the MMPI and the IQ according to Raven were compared with the average of grades. Teachers confirmed socially desirable personality traits with good grades and gave lower grades to pupils with a less desirable personality.     

Birth order and scholastic aptitude and achievement.

Tested the stability of findings by W. D. Altus (see 39:5) in a less selective population, and studied the relationship between birth order and academic success as measured by high school GPA and graduation from college. Results from 1st-born female freshmen at a state university failed to support the hypothesis that 1st-born females would have higher Scholastic Aptitude Test verbal and math test means, and higher high school GPAs. The hypothesis that 1st-born females would graduate more frequently than later borns was not clearly supported, but results were in the predicted direction. Findings supported those of Altus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Culture and achievement motivation.

Analyzes 3 strategies for determining when and under what conditions persistence, choice, and variation in performance occur in the study of motivation. The 1st strategy relates to the role of personality in motivation. The 2nd strategy suggests that situational variables play a major role in achievement motivation, and the 3rd strategy specifically identifies both personality and situation as simultaneously critical variables in the analysis of achievement motivation. The study of cross-cultural motivation is discussed and an ethnographic approach is suggested, particularly in work with varied cultural groups. It is concluded that achievement and achievement motivation should be understood in terms of the sociocultural context in which they are found. (73 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of experimentally aroused achievement motivation to academic achievement anxiety.

180 Ss, balanced for sex, were administered the Achievement Anxiety Test (AAT) under experimental conditions producing either minimal or high arousal of achievement motivation. Regression of scholastic aptitude and AAT scores on grade-point average (GPA) showed both AAT scales accounting for the same variance in GPA. Analyses of variance of AAT scores showed no sex differences, but highly significant main effects for experimental condition and level of scholastic aptitude. It was concluded that test anxiety is a unidimensional construct, and that the AAT is a measure of anxiety aroused by stress cues present during test taking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Varieties of achievement motivation.

Criticizes the analysis of J. G. Nicholls (see record 1984-28719-001) in which he has distinguished between 2 types of achievement-related goals, each of which is said to have different behavioral consequences. It is contended that (1) the definitions of the newly distinguished achievement motives are themselves ambiguous, (2) the behavioral consequences predicted by Nicholls do not follow from the explicit assumptions of his theory, and (3) Nicholls's account of the relation between his theory and other achievement theories is factually incorrect. An alternative conception is briefly described, according to which there are at least 4 achievement motives, each with distinctive behavioral consequences. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disparity theory and achievement motivation.

This study tested hypotheses derived from Peak's disparity theory of motivation. Achievement motivation and disparity indices were obtained from 40 VA domiciliary members. The data supported the hypothesis that achievement motivation varies directly with the life goal-present status disparity when low and moderate disparity levels are considered. The hypothesis that motivational decline ensues when the disparity exceeds a certain magnitude could not be adequately tested in this study. The finding that the variability of the achievement-motivation scores increased significantly and the informal observation that the achievement motivation tended to decrease as the disparity exceeded a certain magnitude, however, suggested the motivational decline hypothesis as a fruitful prediction to be tested in future research. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Goals: An approach to motivation and achievement.

This study tested a framework in which goals are proposed to be central determinants of achievement patterns. Learning goals, in which individuals seek to increase their competence, were predicted to promote challenge-seeking and a mastery-oriented response to failure regardless of perceived ability. Performance goals, in which individuals seek to gain favorable judgments of their competence or avoid negative judgments, were predicted to produce challenge-avoidance and learned helplessness when perceived ability was low and to promote certain forms of risk-avoidance even when perceived ability was high. Manipulations of relative goal value (learning vs. performance) and perceived ability (high vs. low) resulted in the predicted differences on measures of task choice, performance during difficulty, and spontaneous verbalizations during difficulty. Particularly striking was the way in which the performance goal-low perceived ability condition produced the same pattern of strategy deterioration, failure attribution, and negative affect found in naturally occurring learned helplessness. Implications for theories of motivation and achievement are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of parental motivational practices in children's academic intrinsic motivation and achievement.

Tested the role of parental motivational practices in children's academic intrinsic motivation and achievement in a longitudinal study of children at ages 9 and 10 yrs. Two types of motivational practices were assessed: mothers' encouragement of children's task endogeny and provision of task-extrinsic consequences. Structural equations path models for general-verbal and math academic areas supported the 2 predictions that children's academic intrinsic motivation is positively related to encouragement of task endogeny and negatively related to provision of task-extrinsic consequences. Academic intrinsic motivation at age 9 yrs predicted motivation and achievement at age 10 yrs. Moreover, through motivation at 9 yrs, the motivational practices indirectly affected motivation at 10 yrs and achievement. Findings provide ecological validity for the role of parental motivational practices in children's academic intrinsic motivation and achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The graying of achievement motivation.

The increasing preponderance of older persons in American society has prompted psychologists to consider developmental processes from a life-span perspective. While research and theory related to achievement motivation are inherently associated with earlier stages of development, the study of achievement-related motives and patterns in the later years is necessary for a more complete understanding of their place in human development. Additionally, such a study should prove profitable in stimulating new approaches to a general understanding of motivation and achievement. It is suggested that recent cross-cultural work on achievement motivation can provide an appropriate analog as well as specific procedures for cross-age studies. The study of older persons may eventuate in a redefinition of achievement motivation. Specifically considered is the possibility that more extrinsic, competitive patterns of achievement give way with age to more intrinsic, task-oriented patterns and that, with an aging population, this shift may be reflected in the culture as a whole. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation of achievement motivation to problem-solving effectiveness.

"When a problem is related to achievement goals… . Subjects with high achievement motivation were more likely to reach a solution than those with low motivation… the actual solution time for those who solved was not different for the two motivation groups… . Other findings… are discussed and tentative interpretations are offered." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of expectation of success to reported probability, task structure, and achievement related motivation.

Male students estimated their chances of success before performing an anagrams task. 3 reported probabilities of success (.20, .50, and .80) were combined with 3 lengths of the puzzle (8, 11, and 14 anagrams), and 14 Ss were randomly assigned to each of the 9 experimental conditions. Probability estimates were found to increase as reported probabilities increased (p     

Longitudinal study of individual differences in cognitive development and scholastic achievement.

Assessed the effectiveness of a battery of commonly used cognitive and psychometric tasks in predicting achievement in reading and arithmetic in Grades 1-3. Tasks were administered to 255 children (mean age, 5.4 yrs) prior to kindergarten. Teachers' ratings were obtained in kindergarten. Combinations of 4 tasks yielded optimal predictions of achievement. More effective prediction could be made from prekindergarten tasks than from teachers' ratings. After Grade 1, the most effective prediction was derived from scores on prior tests of achievement. Relations among various tests of achievement both within and across years and the relation of achievement scores to age, IQ, and parental education were determined. Predictive tasks and teachers' ratings were used to select children who later had difficulty in school. Caution is urged, however, in using prekindergarten tasks to identify children who need extra help. Because prediction is imperfect, such tasks ought not to be used to assign children to special groups. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A questionnaire measure of achievement motivation.

Conducted 3 studies with 125, 67, and 118 male undergraduates to investigate the possibility of constructing a new questionnaire to measure the achievement motive. Study I started with an initial item pool whose content ranged over 10 aspects thought to be characteristic of an individual who is highly motivated to achieve. Items embodying all except 1 aspect were included in the scale resulting from an item analysis. Study II investigated correlations between need achievement (n Ach) and performance in a neutral and an achievement-oriented condition. Only in the latter were significant correlations found. In Study III, 2 educational programs were compared with regard to their motivational implications. In an unstructured program, a high correlation was found between n Ach and performance, while there was no significant correlation in a structured program. The importance of a theoretical approach stressing relevant situational cues is discussed. (34 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cross-cultural study of achievement motivation.

The CPI has shown promise in American studies of scholastic achievement, contrasting with typical findings in predicting achievement from personality appraisals. A theoretical issue concerns choice of concepts, whether these should reflect states of distress and disturbance or differential components of interpersonal adequacy. In the latter vein, the CPI emphasizes positive variables of presumably universal relevance. A study of academic achievement in Italy was undertaken, testing 204 males and 137 females from 4 high schools in 3 cities. The achievement motive scales of the CPI (Ac and Ai) correlated +.32 and +.35 with grades for males and +.33 and +.29 for females. A multiple regression equation including Ac, Ai, and Fx gave predictive validities of +.43 and +.45. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Know thyself: Misperceptions of actual performance undermine achievement motivation, future performance, and subjective well-being.

Contrary to the popular assumption that self-enhancement improves task motivation and future performance, the authors propose that both inflated and deflated self-assessments of performance are linked to an increased likelihood of practicing self-handicapping and having relatively poor performance in future tasks. Consistent with this proposal, we found that irrespective of the level of actual performance, compared with accurate self-assessment, both inflated and deflated self-assessments of task performance are associated with a greater tendency to (a) practice self-handicapping (Study 1: prefer to work under distraction; Study 2: withhold preparatory effort), (b) perform relatively poorly in a subsequent task (Study 3), (c) have relatively low academic achievement (Study 4), and (d) report a relatively low level of subjective well-being (Study 5). The authors discuss these results in terms of their educational implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of chronic achievement motivation and achievement primes on the activation of achievement and fun goals.

This research examined the hypothesis that situational achievement cues can elicit achievement or fun goals depending on chronic differences in achievement motivation. In 4 studies, chronic differences in achievement motivation were measured, and achievement-denoting words were used to influence behavior. The effects of these variables were assessed on self-report inventories, task performance, task resumption following an interruption, and the pursuit of means relevant to achieving or having fun. Findings indicated that achievement priming (vs. control priming) activated a goal to achieve and inhibited a goal to have fun in individuals with chronically high-achievement motivation but activated a goal to have fun and inhibited a goal to achieve in individuals with chronically low-achievement motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preschool measures of self-esteem and achievement motivation as predictors of third-grade achievement.

Longitudinal data on 404 children from predominantly low-income areas in 3 regionally distinct sites were used to determine (a) the relation of preschool, kindergarten, and 1st-grade measures of self-esteem and achievement motivation (the Brown IDS Self-Concept Referents Test and Gumpgookies, respectively) to reading, mathematics, and problem-solving (Raven Colored Progressive Matrices) performance in the 3rd grade; and (b) whether such measures can improve on predictions made solely from an early achievement measure (Caldwell's Preschool Inventory). Although the early self-esteem scores had a strong negative skew, they contributed significantly to predictions of 3rd-grade performance. However, the predictive variation in the scores may have represented differences in task understanding and attentiveness rather than differences in self-esteem. Achievement motivation scores, especially in the year prior to entrance into 1st grade, contributed significantly to predictions of later achievement. Results varied somewhat by sex, socioeconomic status, and geographical site. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dimensions of achievement motivation in schoolwork and sport.

Both sport and academic work play large roles in school life, yet there is little comparative evidence on the nature or generality of achievement motivation across these domains. In this study, beliefs about the causes of success in school and sport of 207 high school students were found to be related in a logical fashion to their personal goals. The ego-involved goal of superiority was associated with the belief that success requires high ability, whereas task orientation (the goal of gaining knowledge) was associated with beliefs that success requires interest, effort, and collaboration with peers. These goal–belief dimensions, or theories about success, cut across sport and schoolwork. However, little cross-domain generality was found for perceptions of ability and intrinsic satisfaction. Intrinsic satisfaction in sport primarily related to perceived ability in that setting. Task orientation, not perceived ability, was the major predictor of satisfaction in schoolwork. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The social-cognitive model of achievement motivation and the 2 × 2 achievement goal framework.

Two studies examined hypotheses drawn from a proposed modification of the social-cognitive model of achievement motivation that centered on the 2 × 2 achievement goal framework. Implicit theories of ability were shown to be direct predictors of performance attainment and intrinsic motivation, and the goals of the 2 × 2 framework were shown to account for these direct relations. Perceived competence was shown to be a direct predictor of achievement goals, not a moderator of relations implicit theory or achievement goal effects. The results highlight the utility of attending to the approach-avoidance distinction in conceptual models of achievement motivation and are fully in line with the hierarchical model of achievement motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)