The effects of affective states on the formation of performance expectancies

Positive vs. negative affective states are associated with the use of broad vs. specific knowledge structures. These findings were applied to the field of performance expectancies. It was predicted that individuals with positive mood should infer their performance expectancies concerning a specific task from their general self-concept, whereas given negative mood, performance expectancies should be inferred from the relevant specific self-concept. In an experiment, positive vs. negative mood was induced in 158 university students. General and specific self-concepts were assessed. Furthermore, we assessed task-specific performance expectancies and task performance. Specific self-concept was predictive of expectancies given negative mood, whereas with positive mood, expectancies could only be predicted on the basis of the general self-concept. Furthermore, mean expectancies were higher and less accurate with positive mood. The results are in line with the theoretical predictions. They underline that affective states also influence the formation of motivational variables like performance expectancies.     

The perceived informational value and affective consequences of choice behavior and intermediate difficulty task selection

Four experiments were conducted that examine the affective and informational determinants of risk-preference behavior. In the initial two experiments, subjects classified according to their level of achievement needs expressed a preference among tasks varying in difficulty. In two of the experimental conditions, instructions, respectively, conveyed that performance at the task chosen should either maximize satisfaction or the information gained about one's ability and effort expenditure. It was found that the majority of all subjects preferred to undertake tasks of intermediate difficulty and that both positive affect and information gain were perceived to be optimal at or near the level of intermediate difficulty. Experiments III and IV investigated at what level of task difficulty individuals most desire information about their performance. Police trainees and high school students with disparate self-concepts of respective target shooting and high-jumping ability were able to receive limited but self-selected performance feedback at a series of achievement tasks that varied in difficulty. The data revealed that the tasks selected for feedback became objectively less difficult as the self-perception of ability decreased. In addition, the tasks chosen for feedback were near the intermediate subjective certainty of success level for all subjects. It was contended that the data contradict Atkinson's model of choice but support an attributional conception. The general issue of affective versus informational models of motivation was discussed.     

How task experience influences students' performance expectancies: the role of certainty

The importance of performance expectancies for predicting behavior has long been highlighted in research on expectancy-value models. These models do not take into account that expectancies may vary in terms of their certainty. The study tested the following predictions: task experience leads to a higher certainty of expectancies; certainty and mean expectancies are empirically distinguishable; and expectancies held with high certainty are more accurate for predicting performance. 273 Grade 8 students reported their performance expectancy and the certainty of expectation with regard to a mathematics examination immediately before and after the examination. Actual grades on the examination were also assessed. The results supported the predictions: there was an increase in certainty between the two times of measurement; expectancies and certainty were unrelated at both times of measurement; and for students initially reporting higher certainty, the accuracy of the performance expectancy (i.e., the relation between expectancy and performance) was higher than for students reporting lower certainty. Given lower certainty, the accuracy increased after the students had experience with the examination. The data indicate that it may be useful to include certainty as an additional variable in expectancy-value models.     

Effects of performance expectancies created by peer comparison as related to social reinforcement,task difficulty,and age of child

Children in kindergarten-first grades and fourth-sixth grades (6 and 10 years of age, respectively) participated in one of two experiments and performed either a simple motor task or (for older children only) a two-choice simultaneous discrimination task at two difficulty levels. Children received either positive, negative, or no peer comparison statements (describing how other children their age had allegedly performed) and either praise, silence (in Experiment 2 only), or criticism on a fixed-interval 20-second schedule throughout the task. Young children were more responsive to adult evaluation of their performance than to peer comparison. Expectancies created by peer comparisons affected older children's motor performance most if they received reinforcement contrary to the expectancy. In situations requiring greater cognitive ability, older children, particularly boys, responded to the performance expectancies created by positive peer comparison. Older boys, compared with older girls, seemed to be more sensitive to peer comparison and social reinforcement.     

How need for cognition affects the formation of performance expectancies at school

Individuals with low Need for Cognition (NFC) have been found to process information using a peripheral route compared to individuals higher in NFC. These differences affect the formation of performance expectancies. Based on previous work demonstrating that the formation of performance expectancies can be understood as an information processing event and that inferring expectancies from the specific self-concept requires cognitive motivation, we tested whether students with higher NFC had performance expectancies in a specific subject that more strongly depended on specific self-concept. The participants (554 tenth grade students) reported their NFC, performance expectancies, general self-concept, and specific self-concepts in mathematics and English. Actual performance was assessed for mathematics. Multiple linear regressions supported the interaction-hypothesis concerning performance expectancies in mathematics and English. In addition, the higher the students’ NFC, the stronger actual performance in mathematics related to the specific self-concept. The results suggested that performance expectancies mediated the effect of self-concept on performance. NFC is an important variable influencing motivational processes, and should be included in models describing the relation between self-concepts and individuals beliefs or behaviors.     

Self-esteem,locus of control,and task difficulty as determinants of task performance

One hundred twenty-six high school students responded to questionnaire measures of chronic self-esteem (CSE), task-specific self-esteem (TSSE), and locus of control of reinforcements (L of C) and were given a list of anagrams to solve that varied in level of task difficulty (TD). L of C and (to a lesser extent) TSSE were each related to task performance (TP), multiple R = .51 (p < .01). CSE was not related to TP. The overall relationships of TSSE and L of C with TP were each moderated significantly by TD. The results are discussed in terms of a gradual specification of the “boundary conditions” within which cognitive consistency theory and social learning theory may be applicable.     

Overt expression of experimenter expectancies,interaction with subject expectancies,and performance on a psychomotor task

Subsequent to success or failure experience, 48 subjects attempted a psychomotor task in order to escape or avoid an aversive stimulus (tone). Their attempts at solving the task over 24 trials were made in the presence of subject-experimenters each of whom had expectancies instilled regarding the solution to the task. The job of the subject-experimenters was to “offer information” on every third trials as the subjects attempted to solve the task. It was hypothesized that the expectancies of the subject-experimenters would be communicated to the subjects via periodic comments, that these expectancies would differentially affect the subjects' performance on the task, and that prior experience on a similar task would differentially affect subjects' performances on the task. The results demonstrated that the expectancies instilled in the subject-experimenters were communicated and influenced the performances of subjects as predicted. It appears that consistency with respect to the expectancies communicated played a major role in producing significant effects. Prior experience failed to produce significant differences on task performance, a finding conflicting with that of D.S. Hiroto (Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1974, 102, 187–193). The results are discussed from the perspective of using the overt, explicit communication of expectancies as a means for exploring the illusive phenomenon of the experimenter expectancy effect.     

Private speech on an executive task: relations with task difficulty and task performance

Measures of private speech and task performance were obtained for a sample of 46 5- and 6-year-olds engaged on a mechanical version of the Tower of London (ToL) task. Two different sets of four puzzles of increasing difficulty were attempted on two occasions. In line with Vygotskian predictions, there was a quadratic relation between private speech and task difficulty, but no evidence of a shift towards self-regulatory sub-types of private speech with increasing task difficulty. Levels of self-regulatory private speech were significantly related to concurrent, but not subsequent, task performance. We discuss the significance of these findings for the Vygotskian view that private speech has an adaptive function in the self-regulation of behaviour.     

The relationship between task difficulty and motor performance complexity

Difficult tasks are commonly equated with complex tasks across many behaviors. Motor task difficulty is traditionally defined via Fitts’ law, using evaluation criteria based on spatial movement constraints. Complexity of data is typically evaluated using non-linear computational approaches. In this project, we investigate the potential to evaluate task difficulty via behavioral (motor performance) complexity in a Fitts-type task. Use of non-linear approaches allows for inclusion of many features of motor actions that are not currently included in the Fitts-type paradigm. Our results indicate that tasks defined as more difficult (using Fitts movement IDs) are not associated with complex motor behaviors; rather, an inverse relationship exists between these two concepts. Use of non-linear techniques allowed for the detection of behavioral differences in motor performance over the entire action trajectory in the presence of action errors and among neutrally co-constrained effectors not detected using traditional Fitts’-type analyses utilizing movement time measures. Our findings indicate that task difficulty may potentially be inferred using non-linear measures, particularly in ecological situations that do not obey the Fitts-type testing paradigm. While we are optimistic regarding these initial findings, further work is needed to assess the full potential of the approach.     

Attention, task difficulty, and ADHD

Comments on analysis of attention tasks in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) provided by Wilding (2005) points out that whereas many regulatory functions, including alertness or arousal, appear to be impaired in ADHD, demonstrating basic attention deficits in selection or orienting functions in the disorder has proven difficult. Yet several issues remain to be addressed in the field with regard to attentional function in ADHD. These include the need for further scrutiny of effects of perceptual load, the psychometric problem of differential task difficulty and differential deficit, relative value of complex versus simple tasks, and consideration of heterogeneity in ADHD. Heterogeneity pertains both to additional analysis of ADHD subtypes, in light of speculation that the Inattentive type may be characterized by true attention problems, and to newer analyses of potential distinct etiological groups within subtype. New analyses of attentional operations have a role to play in these future directions.     

Effects of aging and task difficulty on divided attention performance

We report two experiments that compare the performance of young and older adults on perceptual-motor tasks involving division of attention. Previous studies have shown older people to be especially penalized by divided attention situations, but the generality of this finding was recently challenged by Somberg and Salthouse (1982). The present study was conducted to investigate the possibility that age differences in dual-task performance are amplified by an increase in the difficulty of the constituent tasks, where difficulty was manipulated by varying the central, cognitive nature of the tasks (Experiment 1) or the degree of choice involved (Experiment 2). With the present tasks, strong evidence was found for an age-related decrement in divided attention performance. Contrary to our original expectations, however, it does not seem that division of attention presents some especial difficulty to older people. Rather, division of attention is one of several equivalent ways to increase overall task complexity. In turn, age differences are exaggerated as tasks are made more complex.     

Achievement goals, task performance, and interest: why perceived goal difficulty matters

In field studies, mastery goals, which focus on developing skill, often predict task interest but not actual performance. Performance-approach goals, which focus on outperforming others, instead often predict strong performance but not interest. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that these distinct goal effects trace to goal difficulty perceptions. In each study, participants assigned to a performance-approach goal perceived their goal to be harder, and therefore felt more performance pressure, than those assigned to a mastery goal. Among participants low in dispositional achievement orientation, this experience translated into lower task interest when pursuing the performance-approach goal. However, participants in both studies also performed the activity better when pursuing this goal instead of a standard mastery goal, although this was not mediated by self-reported goal difficulty perceptions. Finally, further demonstrating the role of goal difficulty, a mastery goal manipulated to appear more difficult than a standard mastery goal produced effects matching the performance-approach goal.     

Face-induced expectancies influence neural mechanisms of performance monitoring

In many daily situations, the consequences of our actions are predicted by cues that are often social in nature. For instance, seeing the face of an evaluator (e.g., a supervisor at work) may activate certain evaluative expectancies, depending on the history of prior encounters with that particular person. We investigated how such face-induced expectancies influence neurocognitive functions of performance monitoring. We recorded an electroencephalogram while participants completed a time-estimation task, during which they received performance feedback from a strict and a lenient evaluator. During each trial, participants first saw the evaluator’s face before performing the task and, finally, receiving feedback. Therefore, faces could be used as predictive cues for the upcoming evaluation. We analyzed electrocortical signatures of performance monitoring at the stages of cue processing, task performance, and feedback reception. Our results indicate that, at the cue stage, seeing the strict evaluator’s face results in an anticipatory preparation of fronto-medial monitoring mechanisms, as reflected by a sustained negative-going amplitude shift (i.e., the contingent negative variation). At the performance stage, face-induced expectancies of a strict evaluation rule led to increases of early performance monitoring signals (i.e., frontal-midline theta power). At the final stage of feedback reception, violations of outcome expectancies differentially affected the feedback-related negativity and frontal-midline theta power, pointing to a functional dissociation between these signatures. Altogether, our results indicate that evaluative expectancies induced by face-cues lead to adjustments of internal performance monitoring mechanisms at various stages of task processing.     

Irrelevant thoughts,emotional mood states,and cognitive task performance

In two experiments, we investigated the relationship shared by irrelevant thoughts, emotional mood states, and cognitive task performance. At an empirical level, irrelevant thoughts were defined as thoughts that did not facilitate successful task performance. We used the same general procedure for both experiments: three groups of college students received happy-, neutral-(control), or sad-mood inductions and performed a memory task. The procedure for obtaining thoughts varied between experiments. The subjects in Experiment 1 listed their thoughts after the memory recall task. In Experiment 2, the subjects were tape-recorded while performing a memory task and producing concurrent verbal protocols. The subjects in both experiments then judged their thoughts in terms of frequency, intensity, and irrelevance. We found a similar pattern of results in both experiments: (1) The proportions of irrelevant thoughts and recall performance were negatively related, and (2) happy and sad students produced reliably greater proportions of irrelevant thoughts than did neutral (control) students.     

The effects of music and task difficulty on performance at a visual vigilance task

Forty subjects performed a visual vigilance task in music or noise and when the task was difficult or easy. Response measures taken were: correct detections, commission errors, detection latencies and d' values. For the difficult version of the task a significant increase in detection latencies was found which music prevented. Broadly similar findings were obtained for correct detections. The results are compared with other studies of detection latency and task difficulty and are discussed in terms of arousal.     

Effects of goal difficulty, self-set goals, and monetary rewards on dual task performance

The present study tests the effects of goal difficulty, goal origin (self-set vs assigned), and monetary rewards (present vs absent) on the simultaneous performance of two tasks (dual-task paradigm). Participants were 32 students working simultaneously on a computerized task of letter typing with the right hand and digit classification with the left hand. A 2 (self-set vs assigned goals) × 2 (present vs absent contingent monetary rewards) × 3 (easy, moderate, and difficult goals) factorial design with goal difficulty as the repeated factor was employed. Each task element was performed under easy, moderate, and difficult goals, which appeared in six consecutive trials of varied order within each experimental condition. Results indicate that self-set goals without monetary rewards led to the highest performance levels, whereas the combination of self-set goals and monetary rewards was detrimental to performance. These findings occurred (except in one case) only when goals were of either moderate Or high difficulty.     

The effects of goal difficulty on physiological arousal, cognition, and task performance.

Two laboratory experiments with 117 undergraduate students were conducted to examine (a) the effect of assigned goal difficulty on arousal (self-report and heart rate), cognition (perceived norm, self-efficacy strength, and personal goal), and behavioral (task performance) measures and (b) the role of heart rate as a mediator of the goal-difficulty-performance relation. All Ss performed a task requiring cognitive and physical responses. Results of both experiments demonstrated that assigned goal difficulty affected heart rate, cognition, and task performance and that heart-rate change was positively related to the cognitive and behavioral measures. Regression analyses suggested that a cognitive-affective mechanism may mediate the goal-difficulty-performance relation. Discussion is focused on the theoretical and practical implications of integrating an arousal concept within goal-setting theory.     

On the influence of affective states on intuitive coherence judgements

Recent research has shown that coherence judgements of semantically related word triads are facilitated by a subtle positive response triggered by their increased fluency of processing. Such positive affective response serves as a cue indicating semantic coherence. However, we argue that the fluency of processing is not the only source of affective response that can influence intuitive judgements. The present study investigated differential influences of mood and affective valence of solution words on intuitive coherence judgements. We show that affective cues resulting from processing fluency can be strengthened or weakened by inducing positive or negative affective response through the activation of solutions to semantically coherent triads. Also, mood is shown to impact the breadth of activated associations therefore affecting not only judgements of semantic coherence but also solvability of word triads. We discuss the implications of our findings for how people might form intuitive judgements of semantic coherence.     

On the influence of affective states on intuitive coherence judgements

Recent research has shown that coherence judgements of semantically related word triads are facilitated by a subtle positive response triggered by their increased fluency of processing. Such positive affective response serves as a cue indicating semantic coherence. However, we argue that the fluency of processing is not the only source of affective response that can influence intuitive judgements. The present study investigated differential influences of mood and affective valence of solution words on intuitive coherence judgements. We show that affective cues resulting from processing fluency can be strengthened or weakened by inducing positive or negative affective response through the activation of solutions to semantically coherent triads. Also, mood is shown to impact the breadth of activated associations therefore affecting not only judgements of semantic coherence but also solvability of word triads. We discuss the implications of our findings for how people might form intuitive judgements of semantic coherence.