| Abstract: | Examined the hypothesis that the effect of failure feedback in producing learned helplessness would depend on the motivational orientation of a child. 53 4th–6th graders completed a scale of intrinsic vs extrinsic orientation in the classroom and were randomly assigned to success, failure, or control conditions, with the restriction that an approximately equal number of Ss with different motivational orientations were assigned to the different conditions. Extrinsically motivated Ss were predicted to exhibit performance decrement following a failure experience, whereas the opposite was predicted for intrinsically motivated Ss. Success feedback was predicted to enhance subsequent performance only for the intrinsic group. Following success, failure, or no feedback on an activity reflecting spatial skills (an incomplete picture task), Ss' performance on an activity tapping different skills (i.e., anagrams) provided by a 2nd experimenter served as the primary measure of helplessness. Ss' intrinsic motivation in performing the incomplete picture task, a similar task (embedded figures) and a dissimilar task (dots-to-dots) was also examined. Results support the predictions on both performance and intrinsic motivation measures. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
