Achievement motives and emotional processes in children during problem-solving: Two experimental studies of their relation to performance in different achievement goal conditions

In two studies, the influence of key emotional and motivational factors on performance in different achievement goal-type situations is examined. In study 1, based on 314 sixth-graders, two types of goal situations were induced; performance and mastery. The goals were examined with respect to important antecedents (e.g., motive dispositions) and several consequences (e.g., performance, satisfaction, pleasant affect, worry, and emotionality). The results showed that the motive to achieve success (M _s) produced positive affects, satisfaction, and increased performance, whereas the motive to avoid failure (M _f) produced worries and performance reduction. In study 2, based on 331 sixth-graders, three types of goal situations were induced; performance–approach, performance–avoidance, and mastery goals. The findings revealed that the most important single factors positively related to performance were M _s and mastery–goal situation. In addition, high M _s pupils performed better under mastery condition than under performance condition. Finally, avoidance-goal situation accentuate the negative effects of high M _f on performance.     

Effects of fear of success on women's performance at masculine versus feminine tasks

The present study was designed to test hypotheses derived from Horner's theory concerning the effect of the sex-role orientation of the performance situation on the arousal of the motive to avoid success in women. The study compared the performance of women high and low in the motive to avoid success in a male-oriented and a female-oriented situation. It was found that women performed significantly better (p < .01) in the male-oriented than in the female-oriented situation, with this difference between conditions being greater for those women scoring high rather than low in the motive to avoid success (p < .05). These results are inconsistent with an inhibitory anxiety explanation of motive to avoid success. The possibility that the measure of this motive may in part be a measure of ability is discussed.     

Child’s Personality and Perception of Parental Relationship as Correlates of Optimal Experience

The study was designed to assess the influence of child’s personality and perception of parental relationship on children’s optimal experiences. We proposed functional and dysfunctional models to analyze the increase or the decrease of the children’s flow experience. The sample of this study included 909 middle class children, aged 9–12 (M = 11.02, SD = 1.08), both sexes, from Argentina. When we analysed the psychological factors that could be related to the flow state in childhood, we found out that the child’s perception of a functional parental relationship, in which there is either acceptance or moderate control, indirectly affects the flow experience, through child’s personality—extraversion, openness to experience, and conscientiousness. Functional personality traits have an important positive effect on optimal experience when they are considered as a unit. In the dysfunctional model of flow, the results showed that the child’s perception of parental pathological control had an important positive effect on neuroticism and –through this—a negative effect on flow. The child’s perception of parental negligence did not have a significant effect on neuroticism; however, neuroticism still maintained its negative effect on flow.     

Goal complexes: Integrating achievement goals as standards and self-attributed motives as reasons underlying goal pursuit

Goal complexes, which are formed by pairing standards of competence strivings with their underlying reasons, are essential to an understanding of achievement goal regulation. This paper examines goal complexes that cross other-approach and other-avoidance goals with the approach-avoidance dimensions of Big Three motives as underlying reasons. 220 undergraduates participated in Study 1 which developed and validated the Self-Attributed Motive Scale to measure hope of success, fear of failure, hope of affiliation, fear of rejection, hope of power, and fear of loss of power. Additionally, 235 undergraduates participated in Study 2 where goal complexes were created by crossing the motive items developed in Study 1 with other-approach and other-avoidance goals. The predictive utility of the resultant goal complexes was examined in relation to positive well-being (positive learning-related emotions and engagement), negative well-being (negative learning-related emotions and burnout), and academic buoyancy. The contributions of the studies to the self-attributed motive and goal complex literatures are discussed.

     

Intolerance of Uncertainty Mediates the Relation Between Generalized Anxiety Disorder Symptoms and Anger

Previous research has shown that individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) report elevated anger compared with nonanxious individuals; however, the pathways linking GAD and anger are currently unknown. We hypothesized that negative beliefs about uncertainty, negative beliefs about worry and perfectionism dimensions mediate the relationship between GAD symptoms and anger variables. We employed multiple mediation with bootstrapping on cross-sectional data from a student sample (N = 233) to test four models assessing potential mediators of the association of GAD symptoms to inward anger expression, outward anger expression, trait anger and hostility, respectively. The belief that uncertainty has negative personal and behavioural implications uniquely mediated the association of GAD symptoms to inward anger expression (confidence interval [CI] = .0034, .1845, P_M = .5444), and the belief that uncertainty is unfair and spoils everything uniquely mediated the association of GAD symptoms to outward anger expression (CI = .0052, .1936, P_M = .4861) and hostility (CI = .0269, .2427, P_M = .3487). Neither negative beliefs about worry nor perfectionism dimensions uniquely mediated the relation of GAD symptoms to anger constructs. We conclude that intolerance of uncertainty may help to explain the positive connection between GAD symptoms and anger, and these findings give impetus to future longitudinal investigations of the role of anger in GAD.     

Mental Health of Parents of Children with Congenital Zika Virus Syndrome in Brazil

This study aims to analyze the potential impact of taking care of a child with congenital Zika virus syndrome (CZS) on the mental health of parents. Specifically, three objectives were formulated: (a) to assess the level of mental health of the parents; (b) to examine the influence of subjective well-being and fatigue as predictors of parents’ mental health; and (c) to identify the impact of sociodemographic variables on parents’ mental health. Sixty-nine mothers (M_age?=?26.38; SD?=?6.23) and 17 fathers (M_age?=?31.41; SD?=?7.57) of children diagnosed with CZS took part in this study. They answered a questionnaire containing measures of positive and negative affects, life satisfaction, fatigue, mental health, as well as sociodemographic questions. The results indicated that approximately 7% of the participants had low levels of mental health and probable emotional disorder. In addition, higher levels of fatigue and negative affects and lower levels of life satisfaction significantly predict a lower level of mental health. Finally, comparative analysis showed significant differences between fathers and mothers: mothers reported experiencing fewer positive and more negative affects, a lower level of satisfaction with life, a higher level of fatigue and worse mental health. In summary, this article presents an overview of the mental health of mothers and fathers of children with CZS and points the way to devising strategies for psychological intervention that promote the adaptation of parents to this kind of developmental disability in the family.     

The relationship between the motive to avoid success and vocational choice

This study examined, for 221 black and white male and female college students, the relationship between the Motive to Avoid Success (M_−s) and: (a) sex and race; (b) congruency, consistency, and differentiation of occupational choice; and (c) occupational aspirations. M_−s was assessed by a recent scoring system for verbal TAT cues and occupational choice patterns were analyzed by the Self-Directed Search. The results showed a significant sex difference on M_−s. High M_−s, in white females predicted well defined, sex-role stereotyped, and low occupational aspirations, but for white males it predicted high aspirations. No significant results were found for black males, and M_−s in black females seemed to be related to economic well-being.     

Cognitive empathy moderates the relationship between affective empathy and wellbeing in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder

Background: Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) reportedly have reduced cognitive empathy (CE), yet intact levels of affective empathy (AE) when compared to typically developing individuals. To date, no research has examined the implications of this empathic imbalance on personal wellbeing (PWB). Method: Twenty four high-functioning adolescents with ASD (M _age = 13.21, SD = 2.83, 14 males) and 24 non-clinical control adolescents (M _age = 13.10, SD = 2.73, 15 males) took part in the present study. CE and AE were measured using the interpersonal reactivity index, while PWB was assessed via the personal wellbeing index-school children. Results: Participants in the ASD group scored significantly lower than the control group on measures of CE and AE. Moderated regression analyses revealed that for the ASD group only, CE appeared to moderate the relationship between AE and PWB. Specifically, when CE was low, the relationship between AE and PWB was significant and negative. However, when CE was high, the relationship between AE and PWB was significant and positive. Conclusions: CE appears central to the PWB of those with ASD. Only when CE is high were participants able to experience the positive relationship between AE and PWB. Interventions that target the cognitive dimensions of empathy may improve PWB.     

Risk perception and risky choice: Situational, informational and dispositional effects

We investigated how situational (gain–loss), informational (opportunity–threat framing) and dispositional (achievement motive and avoidance motive) variables affected opportunity–threat perception and risky choice in managerial decision-making contexts. In Study 1, the risk preference of the participants showed a reflection effect due to situational differences (gain or loss) and a partial framing effect caused by presenting the same choice information in terms of either opportunities or threats. However, both effects were in the opposite direction of predictions from prospect theory. Gains and positive framing enhanced risk-seeking preference whereas losses and negative framing augmented risk-averse preference. Risk-seeking choices were mediated by opportunity perception whereas risk-averse choices were mediated by threat perception. In Study 2, the participants high in achievement motive perceived greater opportunities in a negative situation, and the participants high in avoidance motive perceived greater threats in a positive situation, suggesting that ambition (achievement motive) operates more significantly in the face of adversities whereas cautiousness (avoidance motive) functions more significantly in prosperity.     

Task Enjoyment: A Mediator Between Achievement Motives and Performance

Task enjoyment is an important component in social cognitive theories of achievement motivation and intrinsic motivation. Combining these theories with the classic achievement-motivation theory we predicted that task enjoyment and its facilitating behavioral manifestations are associated with an approach-oriented achievement motive and only when individuals anticipate forthcoming competence feedback. In the present study we regarded task enjoyment as a mediator between the achievement motive and performance. First, a two-way ANOVA design was adopted. Success-motivated individuals performed better in a reaction task than failure-motivated individuals, and they reported more task enjoyment during performance. This relationship was not dependent on whether competence information had been announced or not. Second, path analyses showed as expected that the relationship between achievement motivation and performance was mediated by task enjoyment. This mediation was observed only under the condition that individuals expected competence feedback. These results were discussed considering current theories of achievement motivation and intrinsic motivation. It is shown that the findings enrich the related nomological networks in some important ways.     

Creators and Presses: The Person–Situation Interaction in Negative Creativity

Given the recent emphasis on exploring valence in creative behavior, this study examines negative creativity via a person–situation interactionist perspective. By manipulating goal valence (uses or misuses) and object valence (positive or negative), four conditions of an adapted Divergent Thinking task were used to predict positive and negative creativity. Participants (N = 178, 103 females, M_age = 23.82, SD = 4.03, range: 18–38) responded to a single condition along with the Big Five and Dark Triad personality scales in a between-groups design. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that goal and object valence significantly explained variance in valences of creative responses, beyond individual differences of personality. Furthermore, the congruence between goal and object valence predicted valenced creativity; that is, the positive objects and goals condition yielded more positive-original ideas, and the negative objects and goals condition yielded more negative-original ones. Object valence alone (material presses) did not contribute significantly to explaining valenced creativity. Negative-original responses were inversely related to conscientiousness, and directly to intellect/imagination and secondary psychopathy. Thus, negative creativity was attributed relatively more to person as compared to situation variables. Results are discussed from a valence-based and interactionist perspective.     

Binary choice probabilities: on the varieties of stochastic transitivity

Let {P_λ} denote the family of decisiveness relations {$\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{\lambda }}\text{:}\text{1}\text{2}\text{≤ λ < 1}$} with aP_λb if and only if P(a,b) > λ, where P is a binary choice probability function. Families in which all decisiveness relations are of the same type, such as all strict partial orders or all semiorders, are characterized by stochastic transitivity conditions. The conditions used for this purpose differ in various ways from the traditional forms of strong, moderate, and weak stochastic transitivity. The family {P_λ} is then examined from the viewpoint of interval representation models, the most general of which is aP_λb if and only if I(a, λ) > I(b, λ), where the I's are real intervals with I(a, λ) > I(b, λ) if and only if the first interval is completely to the right of the second. With I(a, λ) = [f(a, λ), f(a, λ) + σ(a, λ)], the specializations of the interval model that are discussed include those where the location function f (for left end-points) depends only on the set A of alternatives or stimuli and where the length function σ depends only on A or on λ or neither.     

Obsessive-compulsive symptoms and cigarette smoking: an initial cross-sectional test of mechanisms of co-occurrence

ABSTRACT

Tobacco addiction and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS; intrusive thoughts or impulses that cause distress and rituals) are both mediated by compulsivity and negative reinforcement. Little evidence exists to guide theory, research, treatment, and population-based prevention of this co-occurrence. We propose a conceptual model of OCS-smoking co-occurrence in which smokers with elevated OCS capitalize on smoking to assuage OCS. This secondary analysis examined associations between OCS levels and self-reported smoking motives that are model-concordant: i) negative reinforcement—smoking for relief; ii) sensorimotor—benefits of behaviors and sensations of the tobacco self-administration ritual; and iii) habitual—smoking without conscious control. A community sample of cigarette smokers enrolled in a cessation trial (N = 458; 47.2% female; M _age = 36.9; SD = 13.6) completed pre-quit self-report measures of OCS levels and smoking motives. Regression models adjusted for sociodemographic covariates and non-OCS psychopathologies indicated that OCS level was positively associated with each model-concordant motive. OCS level was also correlated with tobacco dependence severity and greater withdrawal symptom severity experienced during previous quit attempts. Those with higher OCS report greater motivation to smoke for negative reinforcement, sensorimotor behavioral-ritualistic, habit/automaticity, and stimulation reasons. Further examination of the proposed model of OCS-smoking co-occurrence is warranted to guide theory and intervention for this population.     

Violations of Branch Independence in Choices between Gambles

Branch Independence is weaker than Savage's independence axiom; it holds that if two gambles have a common outcome for an event of known probability, the value of that common outcome should have no effect on the preference order induced by other probability-outcome branches. Systematic violations of branch independence were obtained in two experiments with choices between gambles composed of three equally likely, positive outcomes. Most people prefer ($2, $40, $44) over ($2, $10, $98); however, most people prefer ($10, $98, $136) over ($40, $44, $136). These results refute Expected Utility theories. They also refute the theory that people edit and cancel common components in choice. The pattern is opposite that predicted by the weighting function of cumulative prospect theory. Results are consistent with rank dependent, configural weight theory, with w_L> w_M> w_H, where w_L, w_M, and w_Hare the weights of the lowest, medium, and highest outcomes, respectively. In this theory, violations of branch independence depend on relations among weights: results indicate that w_L/w_M< w_M/w_H.     

The Creative Side of the Dark Triad

This study associates the subclinical dark triad (DT) of personality—narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism, and their composite—with negative creativity. An instrument developed by the author assessed the likelihood of engaging in creativity, where negative creativity was defined as an act that is original and useful to the individual. The strength of association between creativity, positivity, and negativity was assessed via an Implicit Association Test. The DT scales, Creativity measure, and the IAT were administered to 51 Indian adults (M _age = 22.3 years, 27 women). Multiple regression analyses revealed positive associations between narcissism and positive creativity, and between psychopathy and negative creativity. Further, the composite DT score predicted engagement in negative creativity. The associative strength between negativity and creativity on the IAT was not significant, though corollaries were drawn. Limitations and contributions of this study are outlined, and suggestions for future research are summarized.     

Age differences in managing response to sadness elicitors using attentional deployment,positive reappraisal and suppression

The current study investigated age differences in the use of attentional deployment, positive reappraisal and suppression while regulating responses to sadness-eliciting content. We also tested to what extent these emotion regulation strategies were useful for each age group in managing response to age-relevant sad information. Forty-two young participants (M_age = 18.5, SE = .15) and 48 older participants (M_age = 71.42, SE = 1.15) watched four sadness-eliciting videos (about death/illness, four to five minutes long) under four conditions—no-regulation (no regulation instructions), attentional deployment (divert attention away), positive reappraisal (focus on positive outcomes) and suppression (conceal emotional expressions). We assessed negative emotional experience, expression, skin conductance level (SCL) and visual fixation duration while participants watched the emotional clips and followed the instructions for each condition. Results suggest that older adults were more successful than younger adults at implementing both attentional deployment and positive reappraisal. Ability to suppress emotions appears to remain stable with age. Within age-group comparisons suggested that for the older adults, positive reappraisal was a more useful emotion regulation strategy than the others, while the pattern among younger adults was less conclusive. Age-relevant differences in motivation and successful emotion regulatory efforts based on theoretical and empirical literatures are discussed.     

Female motive to avoid success

This study interprets female “motive to avoid success” as a normative response to social deviancy. It examines the responses of males and females to a TAT-type verbal cue regarding a female actor's success at an activity depicted as either typical for both sexes or deviant for women. When the activity is described as typical for both sexes, no sex differences in the incidence of reported “motive to avoid success” appear; reports of the “motive” are few. When the activity is described as typical for males but deviant for females, a higher percentage of men than women report negative consequences for female success.     

Intrusive thoughts mediate the association between neuroticism and cognitive function

Although research has established a negative association between trait neuroticism and cognition, little is known about the mechanisms that underlie this relationship. We examined the tendency to experience intrusive thoughts and negative affect as potential mediators of the relationship between neuroticism and cognitive performance. We hypothesized that the tendency to experience intrusive thoughts reflects ineffective attentional control and would account for the relationship between neuroticism and cognitive performance over and above the mediating effect of negative affect. Three hundred seventeen adults (M_age = 49.43) completed a series of attention-demanding cognitive tasks as well as self-report measures of intrusive thoughts, negative affect, and neuroticism. Intrusive thoughts mediated the association between trait neuroticism and cognitive performance beyond negative affect. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the tendency to experience intrusive thoughts is a mechanism through which trait neuroticism influences cognitive performance.     

A model for achievement motives, goal orientations, intrinsic interest, and academic achievement

This study investigated the effects of approach and avoidance achievement motives (the motive to achieve success and the motive to avoid failure) on three goal orientations (mastery, performance-approach, performance-avoidance goals) and the effects of goal orientations on intrinsic interest in learning and academic achievement for 157 tenth and 135 eleventh grade students of a Japanese girls' high school. Structural equation modeling indicated that mastery goals arose mainly from the motive to achieve success; however, the positive relation between the motive to avoid failure and mastery goals was also found. Performance-approach goals were related both the motive to achieve success and the motive to avoid failure. Performance-avoidance goals arouse mainly from the motive to avoid failure; however, the positive relation between the motive to achieve success and these goals was found. Mastery goals positively correlated with intrinsic interest and academic achievement, and scores on both performance-approach goals and performance-avoidance goals had no significant effects on either intrinsic or academic achievement.     

Self‐Monitoring and the Metatraits

Prior attempts at locating self‐monitoring within general taxonomies of personality traits have largely proved unsuccessful. However, past research has typically neglected (a) the bidimensionality of the Self‐Monitoring Scale and (b) the hierarchical nature of personality. The objective of this study was to test hypotheses that the two self‐monitoring factors are located at the level of the metatraits. Using data from two large multi‐informant samples, one community (Sample 1: N = 552, M_age = 51.26, 61% female; N_Peers = 1,551, M_age = 48.61, 37% female) and one online (Sample 2: N = 3,726, M_age = 24.89, 59% female; N_Peers = 17,868, M_age = 26.23, 64% female), confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Results confirmed hypotheses that acquisitive self‐monitoring would have a strong positive relation to metatrait Plasticity, whereas protective self‐monitoring would have a moderate negative relation to metatrait Stability. In both samples, constraining the correlation between acquisitive self‐monitoring and Plasticity to unity did not alter model fit indices, indicating that the two putatively distinct constructs are identical. Findings have wide‐ranging implications, including integration of the construct of self‐monitoring into the mainstream of personality research, as the latter moves toward the development of broad explanatory theories.