Understanding motivation for implementing cooperative learning methods: a value-based approach

Social Psychology of Education - The implementation of cooperative learning methods remains disparate in primary schools despite their widely recognised benefits. To explain this paradox, we first...     

When and why people <Emphasis Type="Italic">don</Emphasis>’<Emphasis Type="Italic">t</Emphasis> accept cheating: self-transcendence values,social responsibility,mastery goals and attitudes towards cheating

Although self-transcendence values have received top rankings as moral values, research has yet to show how they relate to cheating. In two studies, (N = 129) and (N = 122), we analyze the indirect motivational path between self-transcendence values and acceptance of cheating. Both studies were carried out with third-year students in an international management school: Study 1 included 58 male and 65 female students (six missing values), mean age: 22.38 (SD = 1.60). The study 2 sample comprised 46 male and 73 female students, (three missing values), mean age: 22.01 (SD = 1.74). We find that adherence to self-transcendence values positively predicts a social-responsibility driven motivation to study, namely wanting to study to help improve society. This, in turn, predicts the adoption of study-related mastery-approach achievement goals, characterized by a desire to understand course material. These learning-oriented goals negatively predict the acceptance of cheating. Study 2 also reveals that exposing individuals to representations of society characterized by opposing self-enhancement values of power and achievement is sufficient to render non-significant the negative relation between self-transcendence values and acceptance of cheating. The theoretical and practical significance of understanding motivational connections between higher-order life values and context-specific acceptance of dishonest behaviors is discussed.     

Competitive conflict regulation and informational dependence in peer learning

The present set of studies investigates the role of competitive conflict regulation and informational dependence in peer learning. Previous studies have shown that peer work on identical information produces not only confrontation of viewpoints but also competitive conflict regulation, the latter of which is detrimental for learning. Conversely, working on complementary information produces positive interactions but also informational dependence, and good quality information transmission is needed to foster learning. The present research shows that discussion aids (note‐taking and access to the study materials during discussion), a variable related to the quality of informational input, moderated the relationship between information interdependence and learning. This moderation was mediated by competitive conflict regulation: Students who worked on identical information with discussion aids reported more competitive conflict regulation than those without discussion aids, which in turn reduced learning, a pattern that did not appear for students working on complementary information. Moreover, when students worked on complementary information, the good quality of information transmission elicited by discussion aids led to high levels of learning for all students. Contributions to research on resource interdependence, socio‐cognitive conflict, and peer learning are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.