Sociocultural antecedents of academic motivation and achievement: Role of values and achievement motives in achievement goals and academic performance

With a view to understand the influence of culture on achievement motivation, the study aimed to test the hypothesized mediating role of individual‐oriented and social‐oriented achievement motives in linking value orientations (e.g. achievement, security, conformity, hedonism) to achievement goals (i.e. mastery‐approach, mastery‐avoidance, performance‐approach, and performance‐avoidance goals) as predictors of English and mathematics achievements. These hypothesized relationships were tested in the one‐path analytic model with a sample of Indonesian high‐school students (n = 356; 46% girls, M age = 16.20 years). The findings showed that security and conformity values positively predicted social‐oriented achievement motive; self‐direction values positively predicted individual‐oriented achievement motive; and hedonism values negatively predicted both achievement motive orientations. Both individual‐oriented and social‐oriented achievement motives positively predicted mastery‐approach and performance‐approach goals. Interestingly, social‐oriented achievement motive also positively predicted mastery‐avoidance and performance‐avoidance goals, which in turn, negatively predicted English and mathematic achievement. There was also some evidence for the direct effects of values on performance‐approach goals and achievement. Taken together, the findings evinced the relevance of achievement goal constructs to Indonesian students and the psychometric properties of the Indonesian version of the Achievement Goals Questionnaire for further use in Indonesia. The study concludes that the meanings of academic motivation and achievement should be seen from a sociocultural perspective relevant to the context in which they are being studied.     

Sentiments d’efficacité personnelle et dynamique du projet professionnel

The present study explored the relations of emotional self-efficacy, career indecision and motivation in a sample of 200 French university students. Results from standard multiple regression analyses showed that emotional self-efficacy appeared the best predictor of intrinsic motivation toward education. The three dimensions of career indecision, as measured by CDDQ, do not revealed good predictors of intrinsic motivation. Concerning amotivation, inconsistent information (due to unreliable information, internal and external conflicts) is the best predictor of amotivation. Emotional self-efficacy also explains amotivation. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Will psychoanalysis fulfill its promise?

Although Freud had aspirations of a university structure for psychoanalytic education the sociopolitical structure of the Austro-Hungarian empire precluded this, and psychoanalysis developed by default in the central European heartland within a part-time, private-practice educational structure. With its rapid spread in the post-World-War-II United States, and its ready penetration of American academic psychiatry, a counter educational structure arose in some quarters: the department-of-psychiatry-affiliated institute within the medical school. This article outlines beyond these other, more ambitious, academic vistas (the David Shakow model, the Anna Freud model, the Menninger Foundation, Emory University (USA), AP de BA (Argentina)); conceptions even closer to the ideal (idealized) goal of full-time placement within the university, with strong links to medicine, to the behavioral sciences and to the humanities. The putative advantages of such a structure are presented.     

Growth motivation as a moderator of behavioral self-handicapping in women

Behavioral self-handicapping is a strategy used to protect attributions about ability. People behaviorally self-handicap by creating an obstacle to their success so failure is attributed to the obstacle instead of to their ability. Although past research has observed behavioral self-handicapping exclusively in men, the current research revealed a moderator of behavioral self-handicapping in women: growth motivation, which reflects the desire to develop one's abilities and learn from failure. Participants (N = 100) completed a test purportedly predictive of successful careers and relationships, and some were given failure feedback about their performance. Participants could behaviorally self-handicap by choosing to complete another test in a performance-impairing environment. Although men self-handicapped more overall, women self-handicapped more after failure when they were low in growth motivation. These results highlight a novel moderator of behavioral self-handicapping in women.     

Role Stressors and Job Attitudes: A Mediated Model of Leader-Member Exchange

ABSTRACT

Past research has shown the importance of considering close others' interests when pursuing goals, but no research has examined potential moderators of this effect. Two studies examined how attachment style moderates the association between reasons for studying and academic outcomes. In Study 1, 119 participants reported their attachment style, the reasons why they study, and their study habits. As predicted, the association between relational reasons and studying was positive for secure individuals and negative for avoidant individuals. In Study 2, 195 participants reported their attachment style and reasons for studying, as well as their GPA and academic well-being. As predicted, the association between relational reasons and GPA was positive for secure individuals, whereas the associations between personal reasons for studying and academic well-being were positive for avoidant individuals. These results indicate the importance of considering individual differences as moderators of the association between goal motives and outcomes.     

Distinguishing Source of Autonomy Support in Relation to Workers' Motivation and Self-Efficacy

ABSTRACt

The purpose was to investigate the relationship between autonomy support by managers and co-workers and employees' work motivation and self-efficacy in two studies. In Study 1, a sample of 343 Swedish workers completed surveys, and in Study 2, we followed up with a subsample of 98 workers one year later. As in previous studies, managers' support of autonomy was significantly positively related to workers' outcomes. However, the results of Study 1 also showed that co-worker autonomy support was related to these outcomes over and above the effects of manager support. Study 2 showed that changes in autonomy support from co-workers during one year significantly predicted motivation and self-efficacy one year later, while change in support from managers was unrelated to outcomes later. These findings provide evidence for the importance of both vertical and horizontal sources of support.     

A Different View of Anger: The Cognitive‐Neoassociation Conception of the Relation of Anger to Aggression

The common, everyday understanding of anger is problematic in a number of respects—in its inattention to the prototypic nature of this emotional state; in its failure to recognize the important role often played by the critical event's aversiveness; and in its neglect of the frequently close connection between anger arousal and aggression‐related motor impulses. This article discusses all of these matters from the point of view of my cognitive‐neoassociation perspective [Berkowitz, 1990, 1993, 2010; Berkowitz and Harmon‐Jones, 2004]. The role of automatic, nonconscious reactions is considered, and it is also emphasized that angry feelings are linked to approach motivation—movement toward the perceived source of the anger. The article also briefly summarizes relevant research dealing with the self‐regulation of anger reactions. This broad review hopefully will prompt further inquiries into the arousal, nature, and operation of anger. Aggr. Behav. 38:322‐333, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The career resources model: an integrative framework for career counsellors

Changes in the nature of work and organisations have led to an increased need for self-directed career management (SDCM). However, there is no consensus in the literature of what constitutes SDCM and many related concepts have been proposed. Integrating previous research across different conceptualisations of SDCM, the article proposes four critical career resources which are essential for career development in the modern context: human capital resources, social resources, psychological resources and identity resources. Implications of this framework for counselling practice are presented.     

Art as Orientation

What is it that we lack in everyday life that causes us to value art so highly? This article argues that (almost) all values are to be understood in terms of a needs‐satisfaction system, and hence that the value of art can be understood only with reference to the state of the appreciator prior to engagement with the artwork. Aesthetic appreciation can be analysed as a process, which can be described in empirically based psychological terms, leading to a functional view of aesthetic experience as potentially enhancing the individual's orientation at sensory, cognitive, and interpersonal levels; our motivation is a special form of pleasure. Various objections are then considered, with particular attention to the role of pleasure in connection with tragedy; the relation of art to related cultural pursuits is also briefly indicated.     

Need fulfillment and motivation in physical education predict trajectories of change in leisure-time physical activity in early adolescence

ObjectivesWe examined (1) how psychological need fulfillment and motivation in physical education and leisure-time physical activity change during early adolescence, and (2) the degree to which need fulfillment and motivation predict trajectories of change in physical activity.DesignLongitudinal survey.MethodsStudents (N = 134, ages 10–13 years) completed surveys assessing perceived competence, autonomy, relatedness, intrinsic motivation, and identified, introjected, and external regulations in physical education, and leisure time physical activity each semester in school for 3 years.ResultsUnconditional growth models showed an average increase in physical activity. Competence also increased, while autonomy and relatedness, and identified and introjected regulation decreased. Conditional models showed that students with higher levels of autonomy, relatedness, intrinsic motivation, and identified regulation had higher levels of physical activity at baseline and throughout the study. Students with lower levels of autonomy, relatedness, intrinsic motivation, and identified regulation experienced significantly greater increases in physical activity, but these effects were very small.ConclusionsNeed fulfillment and motivation variables positively predict physical activity. While youth with lower levels of need fulfillment and motivation have lower levels of physical activity, they also tend to increase physical activity levels more across early adolescence. These associations highlight how physical education experiences in early adolescence may influence change in physical activity, and suggest efforts to foster need fulfillment and autonomous regulation in physical education may promote physical activity.