Lost confidence and potential: a mixed methods study of underachieving college students’ sources of self-efficacy

This study investigated the sources of self-efficacy of college students enrolled in a learning frameworks course, whom we identified as underachievers. Through weekly journal entries, the group of underachievers ( \(n=13\) ) cited the factors that made them feel confident or not confident. Students’ responses to open-ended prompts were coded according to Bandura’s (Self-efficacy: the exercise of control, W.H. Freeman, New York, 1997) four hypothesized sources of self-efficacy and an additional emergent theme of self-regulated learning. After, through student responses on a self-report survey, we compared the group of underachievers to a group of achievers ( \(n=36\) ) on their self-efficacy and its sources. Both quantitative and qualitative results underscored the importance of mastery experiences for underachievers. The underachievers had significantly less mastery experiences and verbal persuasions despite having similar levels of self-efficacy. Implications for how to cultivate mastery and to provide efficacy-supportive feedback as well as psychological mechanisms regarding high potential underachievers are discussed.     

Where there is a way, is there a will? The effect of future choices on self-control

Choices often involve self-control conflicts such that options that are immediately appealing are less desirable in the long run. In the current research, the authors examine how viewing such a choice as one of a series of similar future choices rather than as an isolated decision decreases the preference for items requiring self-control. The authors show that (a) in a choice between a vice and a virtue, the share choosing vice increases when the decision is presented as one of a series of similar future choices versus when the same choice is viewed in isolation, and (b) the overall share choosing a vice increases when decisions are seen in connection with similar future choices. The findings contrast with the general wisdom that broader choice frames lead to the exercise of greater self-control. The authors propose that the context of similar future choices allows people to optimistically believe that they will choose a virtue in the future choice and hence provides them with a guilt-reducing justification to not exercise self-control in the present.     

The role of race and teachers’ cultural awareness in predicting low-income,Black and Hispanic students’ perceptions of educational attainment

Demographic shifts in the United States have resulted in similar demographic shifts between K-12 teachers and their students, resulting in important implications for the educational outcomes of traditionally marginalized students and educators’ cultural awareness required in teaching diverse classrooms. Using data from the Three-City Teacher Study, this study examined students’ (N = 207; 55 % female; 52 % non-Hispanic Black, 48 % non-White Hispanic; mean age = 16.70 years, SD = 1.67) and teachers’ (N = 202; 71.5 % female; 64.3 % white; mean years of experience = 13.80 years, SD = 10.83) agreement on the potential educational attainment of the student. Specifically, we explored the probability that teachers had lower, matched, or higher perceptions of educational attainment compared to their low-income Black and Hispanic students’ perceptions of attainment while accounting for teachers’ and students’ reports of school connectedness, teachers’ cultural awareness, and moderating effects of students’ race. Results from multinomial logistic regressions found that teachers were more likely to have lower perceptions of educational attainment for Hispanic students compared to Black students. Teachers were also more likely to have lower perceptions when they perceived students to have low school connectedness. For Black students, teachers’ cultural awareness attenuated this association; that is, teachers were more likely to have higher perceptions of educational attainment for Black students when they reported higher cultural awareness. The reverse was true for Hispanic students. These results enhance our understanding of how teacher and student perceptions shape expectations of educational attainment with implications for teacher education and professional development domestically and internationally.     

Self-concordance, goal attainment, and the pursuit of happiness: can there be an upward spiral?

Two studies used the self-concordance model of healthy goal striving (K. M. Sheldon & A. J. Elliot, 1999) to examine the motivational processes by which people can increase their level of well-being during a period of time and then maintain the gain or perhaps increase it even further during the next period of time. In Study 1, entering freshmen with self-concordant motivation better attained their 1st-semester goals, which in turn predicted increased adjustment and greater self-concordance for the next semester's goals. Increased self-concordance in turn predicted even better goal attainment during the 2nd semester, which led to further increases in adjustment and to higher levels of ego development by the end of the year. Study 2 replicated the basic model in a 2-week study of short-term goals set in the laboratory. Limits of the model and implications for the question of how (and whether) happiness may be increased are discussed.     

Immigrant students’ educational expectations: the role of religious affiliation and practice

A body of scholarly work has emerged on educational expectations. More recently, the relationship between educational expectations and immigrant background in Western Europe has been investigated. Although the results of this type of inquiry show that students with an immigrant background tend to have higher educational expectations, potential explanations of this relationship remain unarticulated. In this article, we investigate whether religious affiliation and practice help explain the relationship between immigrant background and educational expectations. We use the Flemish survey data from the 2009 wave of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS). In comparison with students who claimed to have no religious affiliation, students with a Muslim and other religious affiliation were more likely to have these expectations. This relation does not hold for the students with a Christian religious affiliation. However, the effect of religious affiliation disappears when the effects of religious participation were included. We also found that the more religiously active, the higher the educational expectations are for the students. This effect diminished when we controlled for talking with parents about political or social issues. The relationship between immigrant background and educational expectations is partially explained by the level of religious practice and religious affiliation of students.     

Determinants of academic self-efficacy in different socialization contexts: investigating the relationship between students’ academic self-efficacy and its sources in different contexts

Social Psychology of Education - The present study examined the four sources of self-efficacy (mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal and social persuasion, and physiological state) and...     

Where am I and how will I get there from here? A role for posterior parietal cortex in the integration of spatial information and route planning

The ability of an organism to accurately navigate from one place to another requires integration of multiple spatial constructs, including the determination of one's position and direction in space relative to allocentric landmarks, movement velocity, and the perceived location of the goal of the movement. In this review, we propose that while limbic areas are important for the sense of spatial orientation, the posterior parietal cortex is responsible for relating this sense with the location of a navigational goal and in formulating a plan to attain it. Hence, the posterior parietal cortex is important for the computation of the correct trajectory or route to be followed while navigating. Prefrontal and motor areas are subsequently responsible for executing the planned movement. Using this theory, we are able to bridge the gap between the rodent and primate literatures by suggesting that the allocentric role of the rodent PPC is largely analogous to the egocentric role typically emphasized in primates, that is, the integration of spatial orientation with potential goals in the planning of goal-directed movements.     

‘Believe in me,and I will too’: a study of how teachers’ expectations instilled confidence in Grade 10 students

Social Psychology of Education - Teacher expectation research has continued to establish an association between what teachers expect of their students and what students accomplish academically....     

‘Journey in the world of professions and work’: A career intervention for children

A structured ten-unit training was devised to stimulate some career adaptability resources such as optimism and hope toward the future, curiosity, career exploration, and occupational knowledge in children. Ten classes, for a total of 154 children (79 boys and 75 girls) with a mean age of 10.65 years (SD = 1.24), were randomly assigned to either the experimental, who was the focus of the intervention, or control group. At post-test the experimental group held significantly more hope, optimism, curiosity, career exploration, occupational knowledge, information, planning, and time perspective than the control group. The pattern of effect sizes strengthens the idea that the training enhanced experimental participants’ some career adaptability resources.     

Relieving career anxiety and indecision: the role of undergraduate students’ perceived control and faculty affiliations

As educators and mentors, we often focus on helping undergraduate students make career decisions. However, there is also value in helping alleviate career anxiety and indecision, both of which impede decision-making and are not automatically resolved once a decision is made. This research examined the role of individual differences (age, gender, and perceived control) and learning environment variables (year in university, participation in an orientation program, and faculty affiliations) as predictors of undergraduates’ (n = 844) career-related anxiety and indecision. Traditional individual difference variables like age and gender had little effect whereas perceived control (primary and secondary) predicted lower levels of career anxiety and indecision. The outcomes were not influenced by environmental factors such as year in university or completion of an orientation program, but students’ self-reported faculty affiliation had significant effects. Students who were not affiliated with any specific faculty reported more indecision than students in arts, science, and professional faculties. Likewise, students in professional faculties had less career anxiety and career indecision than arts students. The implications of these results for potential interventions and future research are discussed.     

Optimism–pessimism and adjustment in college students: Is there support for the utility of a domain-specific approach to studying outcome expectancies?

Over the past 30 years, researchers have increasingly focused on the study of general optimism–pessimism. In this research, we examined the validity and usefulness of a domain-specific model of optimism–pessimism. We examined whether the addition of domain-specific measures of optimism–pessimism would add to the prediction of self-reported GPA, health status, family life satisfaction, financial satisfaction, and general life satisfaction. Results of regression analyses indicated that domain-specific optimism–pessimism added significantly, beyond general optimism–pessimism, in predicting each of these outcomes. Some implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Religiosity, self-control, and virginity status in college students from the “Bible Belt”: a research note

Using a sample of college students (N = 904) from the "Bible Belt," this study examines the effect of religiosity and self-control on late adolescents' delay in initiating sexual intercourse or oral sex. Findings from logistic regressions provide evidence that for each one unit increase in self-control, the odds of a male remaining a virgin or of delaying oral sex increased by a factor of 1.82 and 2.84, respectively, while for females, the odds of not engaging in oral sex increased by a factor of 1.67. In addition to the effect of self-control, a one unit increase in religiosity results in the odds of a male remaining a virgin by a factor of 3.86 and 3.30, respectively. For females the odds are increased by a factor of 4.13 and 2.60, respectively. Mediation tests also provided evidence that self-control mediated the effects by religiosity on both dependent measures. Thus, both religiosity and self-control independently and additively function as key social control mechanisms that promote late adolescent health.     

Self-kindness when facing stress: The role of self-compassion,goal regulation,and support in college students’ well-being

This project brought together the constructs of goal and emotion regulation as a way of understanding college students’ well-being, building on previous work that identified the ability to disengage in goal pursuit and to redirect energy toward alternative goals as an important contributor to well-being. In Study 1, we assessed the amount of variance in well-being accounted for by measures of goal management, adding to the regression measures of student stress and self-compassion, the latter defined as a healthy form of self-acceptance and characterized as a tendency to treat oneself kindly in the face of perceived inadequacy. In Study 2, the stress scale was replaced by measures of perceived need and availability of support. Across studies, although factors such as goal management, stress, and need for and availability of support were important predictors of well-being, self-compassion accounted for a significant amount of additional variance in well-being.     

Contribution of social support to home-quarantined Chinese college students’ well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: the mediating role of online learning self-efficacy and moderating role of anxiety

Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the implementation of quarantine policy led to an unprecedented home-quarantined living and online learning context for Chinese college students. This study aimed to investigate whether and how social support contributed to home-quarantined Chinese college students’ well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, this study examined the mediating role of online learning self-efficacy in explaining how social support contributed to home-quarantined Chinese college students’ well-being. The study also examined the moderating effect of anxiety, which may buffer the effectiveness of social support and online learning self-efficacy in home-quarantined online learning contexts. Data include 2481 responses to an online questionnaire survey from home-quarantined Chinese college undergraduates. Data were analyzed by performing Partial Least Squares regression. Results showed that social support associated positively with home-quarantined Chinese college students’ online learning self-efficacy and well-being. The results revealed a partial mediating effect of online-learning self-efficacy on the positive effect of social support on well-being. The moderating effect analysis found that the positive association of online learning self-efficacy with social support and well-being was stronger in home-quarantined Chinese college students who perceived no anxiety.

     

‘It seems at the moment my career is dependent on factors outside of my control’: reflections on graduates’ experiences of employment and career enactment in an era of economic uncertainty and austerity

ABSTRACT

This paper explores contested notions of the purpose of education and careers work. The research for the paper examines public sector employee reactions to notion of a psychological contract breach, when cuts in funding put their jobs and careers at risk. It argues that, in this environment, the search for career fulfilment can be marked by feelings of cruel optimism, wicked problems and broken expectations. The findings are then used to present the case for further research, firstly, to address the notion of possible selves, as individuals explore alternative identity affirming career opportunities; and secondly, the impact of changes in public policy on the processes of psychological contracting between students and staff in further and higher education.     

Autobiographical memory in dysphoric and non‐dysphoric college students using a computerised version of the AMT

On autobiographical memory tests (AMTs) using positive and negative cue words, research has consistently found that depressed individuals (relative to nondepressed controls) are more likely to recall overgeneral memories (OGMs) and are less likely to recall specific memories. A total of 56 undergraduates who scored high or low on a measure of depression were shown positive and negative word cues and event cues in a computerised AMT. Dysphoric college students made significantly fewer specific and more categoric (overgeneral) responses than controls, but did not differ from controls in terms of extended responses. Results suggest that the difference in memory specificity between low and high dysphoric students generalises across word and event cues and that a computerised version of the AMT can be used as an alternative to interviews as a form of administration.     

I checked the prof on ratemyprofessors: effect of anonymous,online student evaluations of professors on students’ self-efficacy and expectations

Social Psychology of Education - Little is known about the effects of Ratemyprofessors.com teaching evaluations relative to university-administered teaching evaluations in students. Therefore, this...     

Attention in humans and animals: is there a capacity limitation at the time of encoding?

Investigators have suggested that pigeons have a limited capacity input channel and that as a result performance suffers when information load is great. This information overload hypothesis is based on converging findings from experiments using the matching-to-sample paradigm. Fundamental among these findings are that (a) performance improves as sample duration increases, (b) performance is better when the sample contains one relevant feature (elements) than when it contains two (compounds), and (c) this element superiority effect can be reduced by making the relevant feature of compound samples predictable. Experiments 1 and 2 show that these effects occur for humans as well. However, Experiments 3, 4, and 5 show that in humans at least some of these effects do not result from information overload at the time of encoding. Thus, the assertion that these effects do reflect such a limitation in pigeons must be reevaluated.