The linkage of work achievement to self-esteem,career maturity,and college achievement

This study tested whether self-esteem and mature career attitudes related to one another and complemented one another in predicting academic and work achievement for 174 college students. Analysis showed both constructs related to achievement and supported the thesis that self-esteem facilitates development of mature career attitudes, which in turn promote academic and work achievement. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for theory and practice.     

Concepts of present self,expected self,and ideal self in vocational preferences and expectations

This study investigated the hypotheses that similarity of ideal self and occupational stereotypes are important in determining the vocational preferences of adolescents, while similarity between expected self and occupational stereotypes is important in determining their occupational expectations. Subjects were 97 male and 88 female high school students. Findings were consistent with the view that ideal self played an important role in determining vocational preferences for males and females. However, contrary to expectations, ideal self was more strongly associated than expected self with vocational expectations for females, though not for males.     

Egotism and evaluation in self and other attributions for achievement related outcomes

A critical appraisal of the existing motivational versus cognitive controversies in the area of attributional research led to the formulation of a model which contains the dimension of Evaluation conceptualized independently from Locus of causality. The model was tested, with Nigerian undergraduate students serving as subjects, in an experiment on self versus other attributions for success and failure outcomes. The data revealed two major findings: (1) Positive evaluation, and not attributional asymmetry, is the pattern of self-perception in the achievement-related contexts; (2) The pattern of positive evaluation in other-perception is self-outcome mediated, it shows a high level of generalization in the co-shared experience and an egotistic reversal if opposite outcomes occur.     

Indian students' perceptions of the ideal self, the ideal leader, the ideal teacher, Indira Gandhi and the business executive.

The Activity Vector Analysis (AVA) was administered to three samples drawn from a population of graduate students at an Indian university. Results indicated a high positive relationship among the perceptions of the ideal self, ideal teacher, and ideal leader. Likewise, the consensual profile of Indira Gandhi was found to be quite similar to the ideal self cluster (r = .96). The collective perception of the business executive, however, was only remotely similar to the other two character profiles.     

Remembering information related to one's self

How does memory for an incident vary depending on whether, and how, the person relates the information to himself? Trait adjectives are better remembered if they were judged in reference to oneself rather than judged for meaning or sound. Our first experiment found a similar mnemonic advantage of referring a described episode or object to some event from one's life. Pleasant events were remembered better than unpleasant ones. A second experiment found incidental memory for trait adjectives was equally enhanced by judging each directly in reference to one's self-concept or indirectly by retrieving an episode either from one's life or from one's mother's life. Contrariwise, memory was poorer when traits were judged in reference to a less familiar person. Thus, good memory depends on relating the inputs to a well-differentiated memory structure.     

The ideal self and cognitive development in adolescence

This study investigated the relationship between cognitive development level and the ideal self in adolescence, sampling 223 male and female 12- and 13-, and 15- and 16-year-old working and middle class English comprehensive school students, hypothesizing that maturity of the ideal self would be related to cognitive development. Correlations between cognitive developmental total score and ideal self score were significant for the whole sample and for both age groups. Regression analysis showed cognitive development score to be the major significant predictor of ideal self score at both age levels, with sex contributing additionally at the older age level.     

Relations among peer acceptance,inhibitory control,and math achievement in early adolescence

This study examined relations among peer acceptance, inhibitory control, and math achievement in ninety-nine 4th and 5th grade early adolescents. Teachers rated students on peer acceptance and students completed a computerized executive function task assessing inhibitory control. Math achievement was assessed via end of year math grades. Results indicated that both inhibitory control and peer acceptance were positively and significantly related to math achievement. In addition, peer acceptance significantly mediated the relationship between inhibitory control and math grades when all three variables were entered simultaneously in a linear regression model. These results suggest that peer acceptance is an important indicator of social functioning and plays a significant part in academic success in the classroom. Results also suggest that indicators of social functioning – such as peer acceptance – need to be included in addition to cognitive functioning, when examining academic achievement in early adolescence.     

Sex-role orientation,achievement motivation,and causal attributions of college females

Female undergraduates were asked to state causal attributions for success or failure outcomes. Students worked in pairs so that one half of them cooperated with either a male or a female partner, while the other half competed with a male or female opponent. All female subjects were pretested on achievement motivation and sex-role orientation. Women who espoused the traditional feminine role were more self-derogating in causal attribution than nontraditional women. Achievement-oriented women, like their male counterparts, were more self-enhancing following failure. However, following competitive success against male opponents, women who scored high in achievement motivation were less self-enhancing than those who scored low.This article is part of a larger study originally prepared as the author's doctoral dissertation at Hofstra University, 1975. The author is indebted to Claire Ernhart, the dissertation chairperson, and to the committee members, Alfred Cohn and Dianne Krooth, for their guidance and support.     

Self‐regulation as relating to one's ideal possible self

People dream of countless ideal possible selves they hope to become, but they have a difficult time actualizing them. In the present work, we review and integrate prior research regarding possible selves, self‐regulation, and interpersonal relationships. We draw on multiple perspectives to define ideal possible selves and clarify their structure. We suggest that framing self‐regulation of an ideal possible self as relating to one's ideal possible self affords an explanation that ideal possible selves can (but sometimes do not) motivate current self‐regulation. We discuss two ways ideal possible selves motivate current self‐regulatory behavior: through increased vividness of the ideal possible self and through commitment to the ideal possible self. These routes pave the way for future research designed to help people increase their efforts toward becoming their ideal possible selves.