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Cognitive Theories

Outline Learning Goals

ﬁne expectancies and values, and explain how they inﬂuence students’ motivation.

Compare and contrast the two types of mastery and performance goals.

Identify attributions that enhance motivation and those that lower motivation.

Developmental and Cultural Differences in Motivation

Developmental Changes in Motivation

Cultural Differences in Motivation

Explain the major developmental changes in motivation, and identify gender and ethnic differences in motivation.

Serious Motivational Problems

Learned Helplessness

Anxiety

Applications: Enhancing Students

’ Motivation

Student-Level Techniques

Classroom-Level Techniques

Identify student-level and classroom-level strategies for enhancing motivation.

Explain how learned helplessness and anxiety affect students

’ motivation to learn.

Summary Key Concepts Case Studies: Re

ﬂect and Evaluate

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COGNITIVE THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

What do you think thinking has to do with motivation? According to
cognitive theories of motivation, changing students’ motivation to
learn requires changing their cognitions:

expectations for success,

valuing of learning tasks,

goals,

beliefs about ability, and

explanations of successes and failures.

That’s a pretty tall order. But before we discuss how to motivate
student learning, let’s review what motivation is. When students
―cram‖ for a test in order to get a good grade, they are exhibiting
extrinsic motivation, which focuses on external rewards for their
behavior. When students study out of interest or enjoyment, they
show intrinsic motivation, in which learning is itself the reward.
And some learning may be prompted by both, as when a student
wants a good grade (extrinsic motivation) and enjoys the subject
matter (intrinsic motivation).

Our goal as teachers is to foster academic intrinsic motivation, in

which students exhibit curiosity and persistence and focus on mastery
of knowledge and skills (Gottfried, Fleming, & Gottfried, 1994;
Gottfried & Gottfried, 1996). From elementary school through high
school, students with high academic intrinsic motivation have
positive views of their ability and show greater achievement and
lower anxiety than students with lower academic intrinsic motivation
(Gottfried, 1990; Gottfried, Fleming, & Gottfried, 2001). To
encourage academic intrinsic motivation in all students, we ﬁrst need
to understand the thinking that underlies students’ motivation.

Expectancy-Value Theory

What motivates students to participate in class, study, or complete
homework assignments and projects? According to the
expectancy-value model, the answer involves two components
(Eccles et al., 1983; Wigﬁeld, 1994):
1. Expectancy: students’ expectation for success (Can I do this task?).
2. Value: reasons for undertaking a task (Do I want to do this task?).
Expectancies and values affect students’ motivation for school tasks,
as well as their performance, effort, and persistence (Wigﬁeld &
Eccles, 2000).

Expectancies: Students have different expectancies for success.

Some children and adolescents with positive expectancies believe that
they can succeed on a task when they are presented with a new
challenge, while others with negative expectancies believe that they
are likely to fail. Expectancy depends on the student’s competency
belief, the belief that one has the ability to perform a task or succeed
at an activity (Eccles et al., 1983). Competency beliefs are determined
by past experiences, our interpretations of those experiences, and

social and cultural factors such as parental beliefs and gender-role
stereotypes (e.g., males are better at math; females should be nurses
and teachers) (Eccles, 2005; Hyde & Durik, 2005). Competency
beliefs inﬂuence elementary school students’ interest in and
performance on academic tasks (Wigﬁeld & Eccles, 2000, 2002).

Values: Why do students choose to complete academic tasks?

A middle school student might be motivated to complete a science
project because of intrinsic value—satisfying interest, curiosity, or
enjoyment. An elementary school student might study vocabulary
words because of attainment value, the intrinsic importance of being
good at a task. A high school student might choose to take calculus to
better prepare for college;

Cognitive

Theories

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Gender-role Stereotypes. Gender-role stereotypes, such as the idea that
girls can be nurses but not doctors, in

ﬂuence our beliefs about our ability.

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this activity has utility value, extrinsic usefulness for meeting
short-term and long-term goals. Students also might choose to engage
in tasks or to avoid tasks because of their cost, or the expense of
engaging in the activity. Cost can include:

energy exerted (amount of effort needed to complete a task),

time away from other activities (e.g., going to the mall), and

psychological risks (anxiety, fear of failure, social consequences of success).

Many factors inﬂuence how we value a task (Wigﬁeld, Eccles,

Schiefele, Roeser, & Davis-Kean, 2006). For example, a high school
girl may decide to take calculus because she likes math (intrinsic
value), is good at it (attainment value), and needs it for college (utility
value). She has developed these values based on her view of herself
(self-schema), long- and short-term goals, competency beliefs about
math, and positive past experiences. Her parents’ beliefs about math
and their expectations for her success, as well as gender roles and
cultural stereotypes, are external factors that also affect task values.

The values students have for academic tasks or subjects inﬂuence

their achievement-related choices. For example, the value elementary
school students place on reading is predictive of the number of
English courses they will choose as high school students (Durik,

Vida, & Eccles, 2006). Values are also related to adolescents’
achievement-related choices, such as course selection decisions,
involvement in sports, occupational choices, and anticipated college
major (Eccles, Wigﬁeld, & Schiefele, 1998).

Think about your past experiences in school. Describe your
expectancies and values. Do they differ for different subjects?

Goal Theory

Individuals form goals for a variety of academic and nonacademic
pursuits. An achievement goal includes both the reason for choosing
to do a task and the standard that individuals construct to evaluate
their performance (Ames, 1992; Pintrich, 2000). For example, an
adolescent may want to earn better grades to gain admission into
college and decide that successful perfor mance means earning a

B in history. Achievement goals orient individuals toward
competence and help organize their behavior (Hyde & Durik, 2005).
Goal-oriented behavior can be described by two types of mastery
goals and two types of performance goals, as shown in Table 16.1.

Students with mastery-approach goals, referred to as

mastery-oriented students, focus on improving intellectually and
acquiring new skills and knowledge even if they experience failure
(Ames, 1990; Dweck, 1986). Students who hold
performance-approach goals are also intrinsically motivated
(Middleton & Midgley, 1997; Pintrich, 2000).
However, the goal of these students is to demonstrate their ability to
others and outperform others (Ames, 1992; Dweck & Leggett,
1988).

Rather than showing a motivation to approach

achievement situations (as with mastery- or performance-approach
goals), students with mastery-avoidance goals and
performance-avoidance goals want to avoid situations in which
they might fail to achieve mastery or might look incompetent.
Mastery-avoidant students judge their competence by
personally-created, absolute standards, such as avoiding a strikeout
when coming up to bat or avoiding the possibility of answering a
question incorrectly. Perfectionists are considered mastery-avoidant
because they never want to be wrong or incorrect (Pintrich, 2000). In
contrast, performance-avoidant students are concerned with judging
their competence relative to others, such as failing a test they believe
others will succeed on (Elliot & Church, 1997; Elliot & McGregor,
2001).

Mastery and performance goals can work together to

enhance students’ motivation. Mastery goals are important
during the process of skill acquisition, while performance goals
tend to promote interest once skills have been developed
(Zimmerman & Kitsantas, 1997). For example, mastery goals may
be necessary for learning to calculate fractions in fourth grade and
learning to write term papers in high school, but once students have
acquired proﬁciency at these skills, they may need to adopt
performance in goals in order to maintain their interest. Students also
may adopt both types of goals when learning. For ex-

Performance-approach Goals. Some students are motivated to show others
their ability, like the girl showing off her spelling ability.

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TA B L E 1 6 .1

Comparing Mastery and Performance Orientations Mastery Performance

Avoidance State

Approach State

Focus: mastering task, learning, understanding
Standards: self-improvement, progress, deep understanding of task
Outcomes:

intrinsic motivation, interest

deep-level learning strategies to enhance understanding and recall

preference for challenging tasks and moderate risk taking

Focus: being superior, being the smartest, besting others
Standards: getting best or highest grades, being best performer in class (comparing to the norm)
Outcomes:

intrinsic motivation

effective, but often super

ﬁcial, learning strategies

low anxiety and positive self-ef

ﬁcacy

Focus: avoiding inferiority, not looking stupid or dumb in comparison to others
Standards: not getting the worst grades, not being lowest performer in class
(comparing to the norm)
Outcomes:

surface-level learning strategies (e.g., memorizing, studying only what is likely to

be on the test)

self-handicapping strategies (e.g., not trying, procrastination, minimizing

participation, making excuses for incomplete work, possibly cheating)

anxiety and negative feelings about failure

Sources: Ames, 1990, 1992; Anderman, Griesinger, & Wester

ﬁeld, 1998; Church, Elliot, & Gable, 2001; Elliot & Church, 1997; Elliot

& McGregor, 2001; Fuchs et al., 1997; Harackiewicz, Barron, Pintrich, Elliot, & Thrash, 2002; Harackiewicz, Barron, Tauer, Carter, &
Elliot, 2000; Middleton & Midgley, 1997; Pintrich, 2000; Pintrich & Garcia, 1991; Stipek & Gralinksi, 1996; Turner, Thorpe, & Meyer,
1998; Urdan, Midgley, & Anderman, 1998.

Self-ef

ﬁcacy and self-regulation: See page 297.

Cognitive

Theories

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Focus: avoiding misunderstanding, avoiding not learning or not mastering task
Standards: not being wrong, not performing incorrectly relative to task
Outcomes:

disorganized studying

increased test anxiety

negative feelings about failure

ample, students who are interested in a topic (mastery-approach) may be motivated to perform well
(performance-approach). Conversely, students who initially approach learning with performance goals might
develop interests as a result of their engagement in the activity (Hidi, Weiss, Berndorff, & Nolan, 1998). High
school students consider both grades and interest to be their major motivators (Hynd, Holschuh, & Nist, 2000).
Students who pursue both mastery and performance goals have greater interest and intrinsic motivation, higher
self-regulation and self-efﬁcacy, and better grades than students who adopt only one or neither type of goal (Barron
& Harackiewicz, 2000; Midgley, Anderman, & Hicks, 1995).

Describe your own goal orientation in school. Does your goal orientation differ depending on the subject?

Attribution Theory

Think about a time when you studied for a test and were surprised to ﬁnd out that you received a lower grade than
expected. What caused this outcome? Did you not study enough, or not understand the questions? Did you think the
test was unfair? According to attribution theory, humans naturally seek to understand why events have occurred,
especially when the outcome is important or unexpected (Moeller & Koeller, 1999; Weiner, 1992). We all try to
explain our performance through causal attributions, interpretations of events based on past performance and social
norms (Weiner, 2000).

To better understand how attributions inﬂuence students’ motivation, consider the three dimensions of

attributions.
1. Locus: where we place the cause of the outcome. Do we believe our success or failure results from internal

causes such as ability and effort? Or do we believe our success or failure is due to external causes such as asking
the teacher for help? Compared to external attributions, ability and effort

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attributions for success lead to higher levels of pride, conﬁdence,
satisfaction, and self-esteem (Graham & Weiner, 1996).

2. Stability: whether we perceive the cause as being stable or

unstable over time. We expect future success when we attribute
success to a stable cause (the typical effort you make every time you
study). However, our expectation decreases when we attribute
failure to a stable cause, such as our belief that the teacher makes her
tests too difﬁcult (Weiner, 1982). Our expectations for future success
are not hampered when we attribute failure to an unstable
cause—say, missing several classes because of illness.

3. Controllability: our

personal responsibility for the cause of the success or failure. Was
success or failure controllable (the amount you studied) or
uncontrollable (unfairness of the test)? Attributing success or failure
to the amount of effort generally leads to positive expectations for
future perfor mance, because we believe that effort is under our
control (Weiner, 1994). Our future motivation is not likely to be
affected by attributing success to uncontrollable causes such as luck.
However, when we attribute failure to uncontrollable causes, such as
believing we have low ability that cannot improve, we might
experience shame and avoid situations that may lead to failure
(Covington & Omelich, 1984a; Graham & Weiner, 1996).

Table 16.2 shows common attributions students make and

characterizes them according to locus, stability, and controllability.
For example, two students who get the same grade on the same test
might make completely different attributions for their performance.
The attributions we make are affected not only by our own beliefs
about our ability, but also by the evaluations others make about our
academic performance. Let’s examine these two factors next.

BELIEFS ABOUT ABILITY

Attributing success and failure to ability has different effects on
motivation, depending on our belief about ability.

Individuals with an incremental view of ability perceive ability as

unstable and controllable; they consider it to be ever-changing
(Dweck & Leggett, 1988). When students with an incremental view
attribute success to their ability, they will be motivated to continue to
improve their knowledge and skills. When they attribute failure to low
ability, they will become motivated to ﬁnd alternative strategies for
succeeding next time.

Students with an entity view of ability believe that ability is stable

and uncontrollable; they see it as ﬁxed and unchangeable (Dweck,
2000; Molden & Dweck, 2000). When such students experience
success, they want to continue to demonstrate their competence if
they believe that competence is valued by others, such as teachers and
peers (Stipek, 2002). When they attribute failure to lack of ability,
their expectations for future success diminish, negatively affecting
their motivation to learn (Dweck & Sorich, 1999; Hong, Chiu,
Dweck, Lin, & Wan, 1999).

Think of a recent academic success and a recent failure. What attributions
did you make for each?

TEACHER REACTIONS AND EVALUATIONS

Teachers’ reactions when evaluating students’ performance affect the
attributions students make (Reyna & Weiner, 2001; Weiner, 2000).
Because sympathetic responses foster a belief in students that their
performance is due to uncontrollable causes, students tend to make

low entity attributions when teachers praise or reward them for easy
tasks, offer unsolicited help, express pity for failures, or fail to blame
students for poor performance (Dweck, 1999; Graham & Barker,
1990; Graham & Weiner, 1993). When teachers tell students to work
harder after poor performance, students also make entity attributions
if they believe they are already trying as hard as they can (Ames,
1990). In contrast, high

Attributions. Do you attribute your academic successes to controllable
causes, such as studying, or uncontrollable causes, such as luck?

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TA B L E 1 6 . 2

Controllable

“I always study hard, no matter what the subject.” (typical effort)

“I asked for help from the teacher this time.” (unusual help from others)

“I always ask for help when I don’t understand.” (typical help from others)

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Theories

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Locus, Stability, and Controllability Dimensions of Attributions

Internal External

Stable Unstable Stable Unstable
“I studied a lot for this exam.” (effort on a particular task)
“My math skills have been steadily improving.” (incremental view of ability)

Uncontrollable

“I am just not good at math, and it doesn’t matter how hard I study.” (entity view of ability)

“I was sick during the exam and couldn’t concentrate.” (illness or mood)

“The teacher doesn’t like me.”
(teacher bias)
“The tests are always very hard.”
(task dif

ﬁculty)

“I had good luck guessing on the multiple-choice items that I didn’t know.” (luck)
“I couldn’t concentrate because the room was noisy.”
(testing environment)

school students—but not elementary school students—tend to make high-ability attributions when teachers react to
successes with neutral feedback or more demanding criteria (Brophy, 1981; Meyer et al., 1979).

Teachers’ own beliefs about ability may also inﬂuence students’ attributions. Many teachers tend to have an

entity belief about ability, believing it to be ﬁxed and unchangeable (Oakes & Guiton, 1995; Reyna, 2000). Teachers
with this belief tend to pass judgment more quickly on the basis of initial performance and to resist changing their
judgments when students’ performance contradicts their initial assumptions (Butler, 2000; Plaks, Stroessner, Dweck,
& Sherman, 2001). If teachers with an entity view of ability hold low expectations for students, their initial
perceptions may lead students to attribute failure to low entity ability or teacher bias (stable and uncontrollable
attributions), with serious motivational consequences. Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and
minority students are more susceptible to low-ability messages from teacher expectations and behaviors (Banks &
Banks, 1995; Graham, 1990; McLoyd, 1998).

Teachers also should be careful not to praise students for being smart. This can lower students’ motivation

because it implies that learning is about looking smart and not making mistakes (Dweck, 1999). Children praised for
their intelligence on performing a cognitive task believed intelligence to be innate and disliked it when tasks became
more challenging (Mueller & Dweck, 1998). Middle school students of all ability levels who believed that
intelligence is ﬁxed thought that poor performance in school implied low intelligence and that making an effort
meant they lacked intelligence. They also reported that they would consider cheating if they did poorly on a test
(Dweck & Sorich, 1999; Henderson & Dweck, 1990).

DEVELOPMENTAL AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN
MOTIVATION

As you may already have noticed, expectancy-value, goal, and attribution theories overlap. As Table 16.3 illustrates,
the theories are complementary—they work together to give us a more complete understanding of students’
motivation. To change students’ motivation, we also need to understand

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Attributions due to:

Feelings:

TA B L E 1 6 . 3

Integrating Cognitive Theories of Motivation Students With an Incremental View of Ability

Students With an Entity View of Ability

Unstable factors (luck)
External factors (help from others)
Lack of pride, lack of personal responsibility

Stable causes (low entity ability)

Shame

Attribution theory

Success
Attributions due to:

Feelings:

Failure

Effort (unstable, controllable)

Pride and satisfaction

Lack of effort (unstable, controllable) or low incremental ability (unstable, controllable)
Guilt
Expectancy-value theory Competency beliefs: Perceive ability to be high Perceive ability to be low
Goal theory Goal orientation:

Types of strategies:

Mastery-approach goals (try to improve their skills)

Not asking for help (because it would publicize low ability)

Selecting very dif

ﬁcult tasks (failure would be due to task difﬁculty, not low ability)

Performance-approach (try to look smart); or

Performance-avoidance goals (try to avoid looking inferior)

Increasing effort

Trying new learning strategies

Selecting very easy tasks (to ensure success); or

Using self-handicapping strategies

Cheating as a last resort

Sources: Ames, 1992; Arbreton, 1998; Burhans & Dweck, 1995; Butler, 1998, 1999; Covington & Omelich, 1979; Dweck & Leggett,
1988; Jagacinski & Nicholls, 1984, 1987; Rhodewalt, 1994; Roedel & Schraw, 1995; Ryan, Gheen, & Midgley, 1998; Stipek, 2002;
Tollefson, 2000; Weiner, 1982; Wentzel, 1991.

the developmental changes in motivation and individual differences among students based on their cultural
backgrounds. Let’s consider these factors next.

Developmental Changes in Motivation

Most children are intrinsically motivated when they begin school. Students develop competency beliefs and
expectations (expectancy-value theory) based partly on the attributions they make for successes and failures. They
also adopt goal orientations (mastery or performance) based on their beliefs about ability (Pintrich, 2000). As
students progress from elementary through secondary education, their competency beliefs and their values, goals,
and attributions gradually change.

CHANGES IN EXPECTANCIES AND VALUES

Children as early as ﬁrst grade have competency beliefs—beliefs about what they are good at—and are able to make
judgments about their competencies in school subjects, music, and sports (Wigﬁeld & Eccles, 2000; Wigﬁeld et al.,
1997). Young children’s expectations for success often are unrealistically high until about second or third grade
(Stipek, 1984).

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Children in the early elementary grades value a task primarily

according to the amount of pleasure they get from it (Wigﬁeld &
Eccles, 1992). Elementary school boys in the United States, Taiwan,
and Japan more highly value sports, while girls in these countries
more highly value reading and music (Debacker & Nelson, 2000;
Lummis & Stevenson, 1990). As children grow older, other
components of a task’s value become important in their
achievement-related choices (Wigﬁeld & Eccles, 2000). The skill at
performing a task (attainment value) and the difﬁculty level of the
task (cost) become more salient reasons for choosing an activity. For
example, a boy might decide to play baseball out of enjoyment, but as
he grows older and the game becomes more competitive, requiring
greater skill, he might choose not to play.

Both competency beliefs and academic values decline from

elementary school through high school, with the greatest changes
occurring after the transition to middle school (Eccles, Wigﬁeld,
Harold, & Blumenfeld, 1993; Wigﬁeld & Eccles, 1994). Students’
beliefs about the usefulness and importance (utility value) of reading,
math, music, and sports decline over the elementary school period, as
does their interest (intrinsic value) in reading and music. However,
their interest in math and sports does not decline (Wigﬁeld et al.,
1997).

CHANGES IN GOAL ORIENTATIONS

Many children come to school with mastery goals but may become
socialized to adopt perfor mance goals (Ames, 1990). Classroom
practices can affect students’ goal orientations. Students tend to adopt
performance goals in classrooms with a competitive focus, in which
students are grouped by ability and teachers emphasize evaluation of
performance (grades and tests) and unevenly recognize student
achievements (displaying only the best projects) (Ames & Archer,
1988). In classrooms in which teachers emphasize mastery over
performance, students attribute success to effort and effective
learning strategies and deal with failures positively by ﬁnding new
strategies (Ames & Archer, 1988; Kaplan & Midgley, 2000).

As students move from elementary to middle school, and later

high school, many adopt a work-avoidance goal orientation—a
motivation to avoid academic work (Nicholls, Cobb, Wood, Yackel,
& Patashnick, 1990). Adolescents use strategies such as these
(Dowson & McInerney, 2001):

pretending they don’t understand something,

complaining about assignments,

engaging in off-task behavior,

taking the easiest path when given choices, and

not contributing their fair share in group activities.

Students do this because they believe that effort indicates low ability,
a trait they consider to be stable and unchanging. Therefore, they
value performance goals and try to avoid exerting effort on academic
tasks (Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Dweck & Sorich, 1999).

CHANGES IN ATTRIBUTIONS

Children in preschool and early elementary school think of ability
broadly, as comprising social behavior, conduct, work habits, and
effort (Stipek & Daniels, 1990; Stipek & Tannatt, 1984). They have
an optimistic view of ability, believing that individuals who try hard
are smart (Dweck, 2002; Eccles, Roeser, Wig -ﬁeld, &
Freedman-Doan, 1999). As a result, they have high expectations for
success and are resilient after failure (Stipek, 1984).

As children progress through elementary school, their beliefs

about effort and ability change, as Table 16.4 shows. At age
seven or eight, children begin to compare themselves to others more,
to understand normative comparisons, and to pay increasing attention
to grades and teachers’ evaluations (Blumenfeld, Pintrich, &
Hamilton, 1986; Dweck, 2002). As a result, their perceptions of
ability become more consistent with teachers’ evaluations of their
ability (Eccles et al., 1999; Harter, 1999). They also consider effort
and mastery to be less important than grades (Blumenfeld et al., 1986;
Nicholls, 1979).

Grouping practices:

See page 372.

Goal Orientations.
Competitive classroom practices, such as earning a star for each new book
read, can lead students to adopt performance goals.

Cognitive

Theories

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In middle school, students begin to use normative criteria to judge

their ability and tend to view ability more as a stable trait and less a
result of effort than they did earlier (Dweck, 2002; Feldlaufer,
Midgley, & Eccles, 1988). They also believe that differences in
ability will lead to different amounts of effort and different outcomes
(Tollefson, 2000). In general, middle school students think that
putting in a lot of effort compared to others who complete a task with
less effort implies lower ability (Anderman & Maehr, 1994;
Covington & Omelich, 1979).

Think about how your own competency beliefs, values, goals,
and attributions have changed throughout your schooling.

DEVELOPMENTAL FACTORS AFFECTING MOTIVATIONAL CHANGE

What are the reasons for students’ gradual shift toward more negative
attributions, their declining competency beliefs and academic values,
and their shift toward performance goals? A student’s cognitive
development and changes in the learning environment may account
for this evolution.

Young children’s incremental belief about ability and their

optimistic expectancies for success may be due to two factors:

1. An emphasis in early childhood education on positive feedback
and improving skills. Preschool and early elementary teachers
provide positive feedback through praise, happy faces, and stickers
and rarely criticize children’s achievement efforts (Blumenfeld,
Pintrich, Meece, & Wessels, 1982). Teachers in the early elementary
grades also emphasize effort and work habits (Blumenfeld,
Hamilton, Bossert, Wessels, & Meece, 1983; Brophy & Evertson,
1978). These practices boost children’s conﬁdence in their abilities.
2. Children’s level of cognitive development. Young children have a
limited ability to compare their performance to that of their peers

and to reﬂect on and evaluate behaviors of others. Therefore, they
tend to interpret praise as an indicator that they are pleasing
authority ﬁgures rather than as an indicator of ability (Stipek, 1984).

As students progress from elementary to high school, their

competency beliefs and achievement values decline, and students
shift toward an entity view of ability. These changes may be the result
of these two factors (Wigﬁeld & Eccles, 2002):

1. Improved ability to interpret evaluative feedback and to compare
their performance to that of their peers. Older children’s
self-assessments become more realistic, leading to more negative
beliefs relative to those of younger children.
2. Changes in the school environment that may make evaluation
more salient and increase competition among peers. The middle
school environment is characterized by a performance-oriented
approach in which students experience ability grouping, harsher
grading practices, and competitive recognition practices such as
honor rolls and class rankings (Anderman & Maehr, 1994). A school
climate that emphasizes grades and competition may interfere with
the mastery-oriented practices of individual teachers (Maehr &
Midgley, 1991).

Less optimistic
More accurately re

ﬂects teachers’

evaluations

TA B L E 1 6 . 4

Developmental Changes in Effort

and Ability Attributions Age View of Ability View of Effort
Preschool and early elementary

Optimistic
Incremental belief

More pessimistic entity belief

Equated with ability
(

“smart = tries hard”)

Less important for success than ability

Implies lack of ability

Elementary school (age seven or eight)

Middle school through high school
Less optimistic
More accurately re

ﬂects teachers’

evaluations

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Cultural Differences in Motivation

GENDER DIFFERENCES

Boys and girls, both in Eastern and Western cultures, generally have
similar beliefs about their overall academic competence (Stetsenko,
Little, Gordeeva, Granshof, & Oettingen, 2000). However, gender
differences have been found in students’ attributions, beliefs about
ability, expectancies, and values.

Elementary school boys and girls differ in their competency

beliefs and values with respect to different school subjects.
Elementary school boys have more positive competency beliefs about
math, science, and sports while girls have more positive beliefs about
music, reading, and language arts (Baker & Wigﬁeld, 1999; Eccles,
Barber, Jozefowicz, Malenchuk, & Vida, 2000; Freedman-Doan et
al., 2000). As students transition to middle school, girls more highly
value English, and boys more highly value sports (Jacobs, Lanza,
Osgood, Eccles, & Wigﬁeld, 2002; Wigﬁeld, Eccles, MacIver, &
Reuman, 1991).

In elementary school, girls also begin to develop an entity belief

about their ability in general. Despite equal achievement of boys and
girls, girls attribute failure to lack of ability more often than do boys
and rate their ability lower than do boys, especially in math and
science (Eccles et al., 2000; Stipek & Gralinski, 1991). Even girls
who are gifted and high-achieving hold an entity view of ability more
often than do boys (Eccles et al., 2000; Freedman-Doan et al., 2000).
Girls’ negative perceptions may be due to lower conﬁdence levels or
a greater sensitivity to adult evaluations of ability (Meece, Glienke, &
Burg, 2006; Oakes, 1990b). By adolescence, boys more often make
internal attributions for success, leading to higher self-esteem and
more subsequent effort, while girls tend to be more discouraged after
failure, which reduces their conﬁdence (Dweck, Goetz, & Strauss,
1980; Oakes, 1990a).

Sex-role stereotypes and cultural expectations may contribute to

gender differences in competency beliefs and values (Meece et al.,
2006). Boys may value math and sports because they have been
socialized to believe these are male achievement domains. Parents
tend to believe that boys are more competent than girls in math and
science (Eccles, 1993; Jacobs & Eccles, 1992). Teacher-student
interactions also convey different expectations for boys and girls
(Brophy & Good, 1974). Teachers tend to praise boys only for
successful performance while praising girls for success as well as
easy or unimportant achievements, such as neatness or following
instructions, leading to a perception of low ability among girls
(Dweck, Davidson, Nelson, & Enna, 1978).

Nevertheless, we should interpret these gender differences in

motivation with caution. No clear gender differences in students’
achievement goal orientations have been found, and gender
differences in causal attributions are small (Meece et al., 2006).
Gender differences in actual achievement domains also are very
small (Hyde & Durik, 2005).

Gender Differences in
Motivation. Gender differences in competence beliefs are more pronounced
in gender-stereotyped domains for boys and girls, (e.g., sports for boys and
reading for girls).

Giftedness:

See page 413.

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ETHNIC DIFFERENCES

Students from Asian cultures tend to have a more positive
motivational outlook than do most U.S. students. Japanese and
Chinese students attribute outcomes more to effort and less to ability
than do American students (Chen & Stevenson, 1995; Tuss, Zimmer,
& Ho, 1995). This attitude is consistent with the Asian philosophy
emphasizing the importance of striving for improvement and the
belief that ability is malleable (Stipek, 2002).

Within American culture, African-American and Hispanic

adolescent boys may be most at risk motivationally.
African-American elementary school students believe in personal
responsibility for their achievements and failures and have high
expectations for success (Graham, 1984, 1994). During
adolescence, however, African-American and Hispanic boys are
more likely than other groups to reject achievement-related values
(Graham, Taylor, & Hudley, 1998). The tendency of minority
students to devalue academic achievement may result from:

an increasing tendency to make external attributions for academic

success—believing that school success is determined by external
forces beyond their control (van Laar, 2000); or

their belief that education has limited usefulness for long-term

social and economic success because discrimination will narrow
their opportunities (Mickelson, 1990; Ogbu, 1994, 2003).

Researchers are unsure why this shift in motivational orientation

on the part of minority students occurs at adolescence. The changes
students experience in their transition from elementary school to
more advanced grades may affect students’ values about education,
regardless of their ethnicity. Some Caucasian adolescents from
middle- and upper-socioeconomic backgrounds also have expressed
doubt in the utility of school despite their average school
performance. These anti-academic values appear to be rooted in a
sense that teachers were not supportive, curricula were not
meaningful, and the school environment was competitive and stiﬂed
autonomy (Roeser, Eccles, & Sameroff, 1998, 2000).

As with gender differences, we should interpret ethnic differences

in motivation with caution. Even though research cites average
differences in motivational orientations among ethnic groups, we
should be careful not to make stereotypical assumptions about a
student’s motivation based on ethnicity. Students’ motivation is more
likely due to their achievement experiences, the beliefs and values of
their family, and the classroom climate than to their ethnic or racial
identiﬁcation. Much more research needs to be conducted in order for
us to understand ethnic differences in motivation.

APPLICATIONS:
ENHANCING
STUDENTS

’

MOTIVATION

The cognitive theories we’ve examined provide many useful strategies for
improving students’ motivation. Teachers can use certain techniques to stimulate
the motivation of individual students and can structure their classroom and tasks
to encourage motivation in all students.

Student-Level Techniques

Change students’ attributions for success and failure. Training students to

attribute failure to lack of effort rather than to low ability leads to increases in
persistence and improved performance (Forsterling, 1985 ;
Robertson, 2000). The ﬁrst step is to identify whether students have low
perceptions of ability by asking questions such as ―How good are you at

Ethnic Differences in Motivation. In some cultures, students attribute school success to
effort more than to ability.

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4. Look at your math work for today. How hard do you think this work will be for you? (Circle one number.)

2. Do you feel confident that you could do harder problems, or do you need practice and help on these kinds of problems? (Circle

one response.)

Cognitive

Theories

Module 16 :

1. Are you better now than you were when you started doing this kind of work?
(Circle one response.)

not much better

a little bit better

quite a bit better

a lot better

’ll never be able to do this

I still need help on these

I need a little more practice on these

3. Do you think you will be able to do this assignment well? (Circle one number.)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 really easy medium hard really hard

I definitely won

’t do it well

’ll do OK

I definitely will do it well I can do harder problems now

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Figure 16.1: Sample Questions to Assess Student Attributions. Using student responses to questions such as these can help teachers determine
student attributions.

D. Stipek (2002). Motivation to Learn: Integrating Theory and Practice, Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Reprinted with permission from the publisher.

math?‖ (Stipek, 2002). Teachers can also ask students about their expectancies and their views about skill
improvement and difﬁculty level of tasks, as shown in Figure 16.1.

Emphasize values that promote intrinsic motivation. Deﬁne success as improvement in knowledge or skills, and

teach students to value challenge, effort, and mastery over performance goals (Dweck, 1999; Tollefson, 2000).
Emphasizing improvement conveys the message that effort is important in the evaluation of students’ performance
and that their performance is not due solely to ﬁxed ability (Covington & Omelich, 1984b). Some students are not
aware that effort can affect task success (Urdan, Midgley, & Anderman, 1998). Teaching them that increased effort
leads to greater achievement increases their actual achievement (Craske, 1985; Van Overwalle & De Metsenaere,
1990).

Classroom-Level Techniques

Provide short-term goals and strategies for making progress toward goals (Ames, 1990). When teachers help

students set short-term, mastery goals, students are more willing to put in effort because they learn that both effort
and ability contribute to success (Schunk, 1989; Tollefson, 2000). This technique will prepare elementary school
students to accept that students with different levels of ability need different amounts of effort to obtain the same
level of achievement. In middle school and high school, encouraging mastery may prevent adolescents from viewing
academic tasks as a measure of their ability (Tollefson, 2000).

Reduce the competitive atmosphere of the classroom. Stu-dents at all levels of K–12 education, regardless of their

motivational orientation, consider school to be competitive (Maehr & Midgley, 1991; Thorkildsen &
Nicholls, 1998). When the structure of the classroom is evaluative and competitive, students become focused on
the hierarchy of abilities in the class (Ames, 1992). Teachers can reduce competition and enhance students’
motivation by using:

a variety of academic tasks, which tend to foster a mastery orientation because students have less opportunity or

Short-term Goals. Helping students set short-term goals

—for example, by breaking down assignments—can increase their

motivation.

English class term paper assignments
Tues. Nov. 3 Find four sources Tues. Nov. 10 Turn in twenty note cards Tues. Nov. 17 Outline completed Mon. Nov.
30 First draft due

ess

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Cooperative learning: See page 377.

Praise: See page 271.

need to engage in social comparisons of performance (Marshall &
Weinstein, 1984; Rosenholtz & Simpson, 1984); and

cooperative learning, an approach in which students of varying

ability levels work together to achieve a single goal on a task or
project.

Use appropriate methods of evaluation and recognition. Consider

these methods when evaluating students’ learning:

Praise students only when they learn or do something well, not for

being smart or perfect at a task (Dweck, 1999). Saying something
positive just to praise a student backﬁres because usually it’s about
something that is unimportant or irrelevant to the task requirements,
implying that the student has low ability (Ames, 1990). Such praise
will undermine intrinsic motivation.

Take developmental level into account when using praise. In

young children, praise for effort enhances self-conﬁdence and is
considered an indicator of high ability because young children do
not differentiate between ability and effort (Dweck, 2002). However,
in middle and high school students, who have differentiated concepts
of ability and effort, praising effort and praising for success on easy
tasks can be interpreted as signs of low ability (Ames, 1990; Barker
& Graham, 1987).

Offer opportunities for improvement so students know that effort

is important and that performance is not due solely to ﬁxed ability
(Covington & Omelich, 1984b).

Be wary of motivational strategies that emphasize social

comparisons, such as announcing highest and lowest scores, posting
grades, displaying students’ work, and charting progress. These
practices heighten ability comparisons, decrease intrinsic motivation,
and lead high achievers to experience anxiety about keeping up their
success and low achievers to give up when they fail (Rose, 1989;
Weinstein, 1993).

Think of some speci

ﬁc ways you can implement these guidelines in the

grade you intend to teach.

SERIOUS MOTIVATIONAL PROBLEMS

Learned Helplessness

Learned helplessness occurs when students who have experienced
repeated failures attribute their failures to causes beyond their control
(Seligman & Maier, 1967). They might attribute failure to external,
stable, and uncontrollable causes such as teacher bias (the teacher
doesn’t like me) or task difﬁculty (math is too hard for me). Or they
might attribute failure to lack of ability (entity), which they believe is
stable and uncontrollable (Dweck, 2000; Dweck & Goetz, 1978).

Figure 16.2 lists characteristics teachers can use to identify learned

helplessness in students. Learned helplessness can be
domain-speciﬁc, occurring in one subject but not another (Sedek &
McIntosh, 1998). Even high-achieving students can experience
learned helplessness (Dweck, 2000). Because learned helplessness
results from experiences of failure, it is less common in preschool
chil-

Figure 16.2: Behaviors

Indicating Learned

Helplessness. Students showing these behaviors may have learned helplessness.

D. Stipek (2002). Motivation to Learn: Integrating Theory and Practice, Boston: Allyn &

Bacon. Reprinted with permission from the publisher.

The student:

says

“I can’t,”

doesn

’t pay attention to the teacher’s instructions,

doesn

’t ask for help, even when it is needed, does

nothing (e.g., stares out the window), guesses or
answers randomly without really trying, doesn

’t

show pride in successes, appears bored,

uninterested, is unresponsive to the teacher

’s

exhortations to try, is easily discouraged, doesn

’t

volunteer answers to the teacher

’s questions, or

maneuvers to get out of or to avoid work (e.g., has to go to the nurse

’s office).

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Cognitive

Theories

Module 16 :

dren, who typically receive reinforcement and encouragement of their
efforts and products (Rholes, Blackwell, Jordan, & Walters, 1980).

Teachers should be aware that simply providing opportunities for

success will not alleviate learned helplessness (Dweck, 1985). It is
difﬁcult to convince students with learned helplessness that they can
succeed in the future, because they (Ames, 1990; Diener & Dweck,
1978):

believe others performed better than they did,

do not take responsibility for their successes (i.e., believe successes are uncontrollable),

underestimate their performance when they do succeed, and

interpret a new failure as further evidence of their lack of ability.

To reduce learned helplessness, teachers can use a combination of

the motivational techniques discussed earlier. In general, learned
helplessness is less common in classrooms where teachers emphasize
understanding (rather than memorizing), stimulate creative thinking,
and value students’ opinions (Sedek & McIntosh, 1998).

Anxiety

All students occasionally experience anxiety in achievement
situations in which their abilities are being evaluated. For most
students, a small amount of anxiety does not impair performance and
may even facilitate it, especially if the task is not too difﬁcult (Ball,
1995; Sieber, O’Neil, & Tobias, 1977). However, for other students
anxiety can signiﬁcantly impair motivation and academic
performance.

Anxiety has a cognitive and an emotional component (Sapp, 1999;

Zeidner, 1998). Students with anxiety experience mental worry,
which most directly interferes with learning and task performance

(Tobias, 1992; Zeidner & Nevo, 1992). They also experience
negative emotions such as nervousness or tension, which are
indicated physically by increased heart rate, sweaty palms, and so on.

Anxiety is more common in school-age children and adolescents

than in preschool children (Stipek, 1984). Parents and early childhood
educators frequently reinforce children’s efforts and rarely criticize
failures. Young children also do not reﬂect on their performance due
to their level of cognitive development. Therefore, their anxiety may
at ﬁrst result from emotional responses to failure (e.g., becoming
upset at repeated failures) and later may involve cognitive responses
(Harter, 1983; Wigﬁeld & Eccles, 1989).

Anxiety can interfere with the performance of school-age children

at three points during the instructional process (Tobias, 1992):

1. Preprocessing stage: Anxiety can cause interference when
students are forming representations of material initially being
presented to them. This anxiety may impair students’ ability to pay
attention or take notes.
2. Processing stage: Anxiety can impair students’ ability to learn
material after it is presented to them. These students possess less
effective study skills than lower-anxiety students and perform
more poorly even when they study more (Naveh-Benjamin,
McKeachie, & Lin, 1987; Topman, Kleijn, van der Ploeg, &
Masset, 1992).

3. Output stage: Anxiety can impair students’ ability to retrieve information in evaluative situations.

Students with text anxiety at this stage have good study habits and
learning strategies but perform poorly because they divide their
attention between the task and thoughts about their performance
(Naveh-Benjamin et al., 1987). They don’t attend to important
information during testing, show more off-task behavior than
low-anxiety students, and have poorer test-taking strategies such
as not accurately interpreting instructions, pacing themselves, nor
completing easy questions ﬁrst (Bruch, Juster, & Kaﬂowitz, 1983;
Nottlemann & Hill, 1977).

Girls typically show higher anxiety than boys (Eccles et al., 2000;

Randhawa, 1994). However, boys may be more reluctant to admit
anxiety. Also, girls and boys may become anxious for different
reasons. Girls may be more sensitive to social approval from adults
(worrying about making parents or teachers proud of them), while
boys may be more concerned with peer evaluation (Dweck & Bush,
1976; Maehr & Nicholls, 1980). During adolescence, girls may
become more anxious about certain school subjects, such as math and
English, because of the stereotypes these subjects elicit (Meece,
1981).

Anxiety has several possible sources. Parents may promote anxiety

when they blame and punish children for failures or setbacks rather
than reinforce their successes and also when they control and

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TA B L E 1 6 .5

Techniques for Reducing Student Anxiety

Technique Effect
Improve students

’ perceptions of their ability. Reduces anxiety about performance situations.

Modify the presentation of material:

clear, unambiguous instructions,

well-organized lessons, and

allowing students to reinspect material (e.g., having access to a

ﬁlm

shown in class).

Reduces anxiety that can interfere with the learning and
organizing of new information.

Teach study skills. Reduces anxiety and improves performance
in students who do not store or organize information well due to
anxiety at initial stages of learning.
Teach test-taking strategies and coping skills. Reduces anxiety,
especially in students who have no dif

ﬁculty learning the

material but experience anxiety when attempting to retrieve
information.
Use relaxation techniques prior to testing situations. Reduces
anxiety and improves performance in students who have no
dif

ﬁculty learning the material but experience anxiety when

attempting to retrieve information.

Relax time limits, describe tests in a way that deemphasizes their focus on ability, and
provide instructions that reduce students

’ worries about being evaluated.

Reduces test anxiety.

Sources: Algaze, 1995; Dendato & Diener, 1986; Dweck, 1975; Fletcher & Spielberger, 1995;
Hill & Wig

ﬁeld, 1984; Linn & Gronlund, 2000; Naveh-Benjamin, 1991; Plass & Hill, 1986; Sapp,

1999; Stipek, 2002; Vagg & Spielberger, 1995; Wig

ﬁeld & Eccles, 1989.

restrict children’s behaviors (Krohne, 1992; Stipek, 2002). Students
with an entity view of ability (the view that ability is stable and
uncontrollable) may develop anxiety about evaluation of their ability
if they have experienced repeated failures (Covington, 1986). Even
high-achieving students may become anxious because of unrealistic

parental, peer, or self-imposed expectations (Wigﬁeld & Eccles,
1989). Factors in the school environment also can affect anxiety,
including:

harsh criticism of students’ efforts or extremely high standards (Zatz &

Chassin, 1985),

introduction of timed tests (Plass & Hill, 1986),

changes in grade reporting from nonletter grades in early

elementary school to letter grades in upper elementary through high
school (Wigﬁeld & Eccles, 1989), and

school transitions (elementary to middle school or middle to high school)

(Eccles, Midgley, &

Adler, 1984).

What methods can teachers use to reduce students’ anxiety? As

Table 16.5 shows, students with anxiety at different points in the
learning process require different approaches to reducing their anxiety
(Naveh-Benjamin, 1991). Developmental level is also an important
consideration in choosing methods to reduce anxiety in students.

Because younger children are more responsive to praise and

feedback from adults than are older children, teachers can alleviate
anxiety by providing additional support and encouragement and by
ensuring that academic tasks are at an appropriate level of difﬁculty
so students do not experience multiple failures (Wigﬁeld & Eccles,
1989).

Older students may beneﬁt more from techniques that focus on

changing their negative views of ability, attributions for failure, and
worries, in addition to study skills training (Wigﬁeld & Eccles,
1989).

Can you remember a time when you have felt anxiety or
helplessness? Think about what may have caused these feelings
and what you did to overcome them.

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Summary

key concepts

293

ﬁne expectancies and values, and explain how they inﬂuence students’ motivation.

Expectancies are an individual

’s expectations for success on a task, which are based partly on one’s

competency beliefs. Values are the reasons for choosing to do a task (attainment value, intrinsic value,
utility value, and cost). Expectancies and values, in combination, determine an individual

’s motivation to

engage in a particular task.
Compare and contrast the two types of mastery and performance goals. Mastery-approach goals
(improving knowledge) and performance-approach goals (besting others) both lead students to be
intrinsically motivated and are associated with many bene

ﬁcial outcomes. Mastery-avoidance and

performance-avoidance goals both involve avoiding situations that show one

’s incompetence, but the

standard for incompetence is absolute (e.g., the best, the worst) for mastery avoidance and normative
(comparing to others) for performance-avoidance. Performance-avoidance goals are related to poor
intrinsic motivation.
Identify    attributions    that    enhance    motivation    and those that lower motivation. Attributing
success and failure to amount of effort leads to subsequent motivation    to    learn.    Attributing    success
to    controllable causes leads to further motivation, while attributing failure    to    stable    and
uncontrollable    causes,    as    with an entity view of ability, hinders motivation. Teachers who give praise
for easy tasks, express sympathy or pity for failures, or offer unsolicited help may inadvertently convey a
sense of low ability in students. Praising intelligence also leads to an entity view of ability, which could
lower motivation when students encounter failure or dif

ﬁcult tasks.

Explain    the    major    developmental    changes    in    motivation,    and    identify    gender    and
ethnic    differences in    motivation. Young    children    begin    school    with    a mastery    orientation.
They    have    an    incremental    belief about ability, have high expectancies, and choose tasks    based
primarily    on    intrinsic    value.    As    children progress from elementary through high school, they shift
toward a performance orientation. Adolescents place less emphasis on mastery and effort and believe
that ability is

ﬁxed. As a result, they have lower competency beliefs, expectancies, and intrinsic values for

academic tasks. Compared to boys, girls tend to hold an entity view of ability and to rate their ability
lower, especially in math and science. While research suggests that African-American and
Hispanic adolescents may be most at risk motivationally compared to other ethnic groups, motivation is
the result of many cultural and environmental factors rather than simply the product of a person

’s

ethnicity.
Identify student-level and classroom-level strategies for enhancing motivation. Teachers can
improve the motivation of students by:

changing students

’ attributions for success and failure,

emphasizing values that promote intrinsic motivation,

providing short-term goals and strategies for making progress toward goals,

reducing the competitive atmosphere of the classroom, and

using appropriate methods of evaluation and recognition.

Explain how learned helplessness and anxiety affect students

’ motivation to learn. Students with

learned helplessness believe that they have no control over learning outcomes and therefore
expect to do poorly, lowering motivation. Anxiety may affect an individual

’s performance while learning,

studying, or retrieving material. The expectation of performing poorly as a result of anxiety lowers
motivation to learn.

Key Concepts

academic intrinsic motivation achievement goal anxiety attainment value causal attributions competency belief

controllability cost entity view of ability

mastery-avoidance goals mastery-oriented performance-approach goals performance-avoidance goals stability utility

value value work-avoidance goal

expectancy extrinsic motivation incremental view of ability intrinsic motivation intrinsic value learned helplessness

locus mastery-approach goals

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case studies: re

ﬂect and evaluate

Case Studies:

Refl ect and Evaluate

Early Childhood:

“The Worksheets”

These questions refer to the case study on page 258.
1. According to expectancy-value theory, what is Melissa

’s expectancy for

completing her schoolwork?

Based on evidence from the case study and the module, what
attribution do you think Melissa might make for her math ability?
2. Kristina, like Emanuel and Martin, appears to like math and to be
good at math. Based on the research evidence in the module, predict
how her competency beliefs in math and the value she places on
math might change as she progresses through the upper elementary
grades and middle school. How might her attributions change?
3. Imagine that you are having a parent-teacher conference with
Martin

’s mother. Explain to her why she should not praise him for

being smart. What effect might this have on Martin

’s subsequent

motivation?
4. Which student(s) might be most dif

ﬁcult to motivate based on

goal theory? Based on attribution theory? Cite evidence from the
case study to support your position.

5. Based on research evidence regarding the effects of praise, explain why
Elizabeth

’s encouraging

Melissa to try harder would be appropriate for a kindergartner but not
for a student in middle school or high school.
6. Elizabeth realizes that Martin, Melissa, and Claire have different

motivational needs. Help Elizabeth create a motivational plan for
each student. Think about modi

ﬁcations to the following: her

expectations for each student, goals, feedback about successes and
failures, offering help on tasks, and types of tasks and assignments.
Create a plan for each student and explain how the modi

ﬁcations

would affect each student

’s expectancies, values, goals, and

attributions.

Elementary School:

“Writer’s Block”

These questions refer to the case study on page 260.

1. According to expectancy-value theory, what is Carter

’s

expectancy for completing his writing assignment? Which type of
value

—intrinsic value, attainment value, or utility value—does Carter

have for writing?

2. Based on the information in the case study regarding goal orientations, which
student

—Shanti,

Zara, or Carter

—would be most difﬁcult to motivate? Why? Which

student would be easiest to motivate?Why?
3. Reread Yuiko

’s interactions with James and Mason. Based on

these interactions, what attribution might James and Mason make for
their writing performance? Are they likely to have motivation for free
writing in the future?
4. What information do students at this developmental level use in
making attributions for their performance?
5. Based on the research evidence regarding teacher-student
interactions, evaluate Yuiko

’s use of feedback.

6. Carter appears to have anxiety about writing when he starts his
assignments. What can Yuiko do to help reduce his anxiety about
writing?

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295

Middle School:

“The Math Review”

These questions refer to the case study on page 262.

1. In your own words, de

ﬁne expectancy and value. What is

Aaron

’s expectancy for and value of the math game activity? Which

type of value

—intrinsic value, attainment value, or utility value—do

Jeremy and Rachel have for the math activity?
2. According to goal theory, which student

—Sam, Jeremy, or

Rachel

—would be most difﬁcult to motivate? Why? Which student

would be easiest to motivate? Why?
3. What attribution does Jack likely make for Aaron

’s performance

in his class? Does Jack view math performance to be due to an
entity view of ability or an incremental view of ability?
4. What attribution does Sam make for her math performance?
Cite research evidence related to gender differences in attributions
that might help explain Sam

’s attributional pattern.

5. What error did Jack make in his feedback to Sam?

6. At what point in the instructional process does Sam

’s anxiety

affect her performance? What speci

ﬁc strategies can Jack use to

help reduce Sam

’s anxiety?

7. Identify speci

ﬁc techniques Jack might use to intrinsically

motivate Aaron, Sam, and Jeremy. Explain how each suggestion
would improve intrinsic motivation using expectancy-value, goal, or
attribution theory.

High School:

“Exam Grades”

These questions refer to the case study on page 264.

1. What is Chelsea

’s expectancy for success in physics?

Speculate on the social, cultural, and individual factors that might
contribute to this expectancy.

  2. Explain how physics holds intrinsic value, attainment value, and
utility value for Chelsea. If Chelsea decides not to drop AP physics,
what are the costs resulting from this decision?
  3. Explain why students in AP physics are likely to adopt
performance goals. What factors in their environment might
contribute to this orientation?
  4. What type of goal orientation do students in general science
have? Be sure to support your answer with details from the case.
Explain how this goal orientation is typical of adolescents.
  5. Assume that Reggie is an African American student. Based on
details in the case and on research on ethnic differences in
motivation, why would you be concerned about Reggie

’s

motivation? What could you do to intrinsically motivate him?
6. What attribution do Nicholas and Chelsea make for their C+
grades in physics? Based on the research on gender differences in
attributions, why is Chelsea

’s attribution not surprising?

7. What speci

ﬁc suggestions would you give Curtis for intrinsically

motivating students in general science? Would your suggestions
differ for students in AP physics? If so, why and how? If not, why
not?