Carolyn M. Jagacinski

Reducing effort to protect perceived ability: they'd do it but I wouldn't

Researchers have proposed that when students expect a failure that will indicate their incompetence, they intentionally reduce effort so that failure can be attributed to low effort, rather than low ability. Impaired performance has been found when students anticipate feedback that would indicate incompetence, but there is not clear evidence that the impairment results from a calculated reduction in effort. It was hypothesized that this self-protective mechanism makes better sense to observers than to people in a position to use it

Engineering Careers: Women in a Male-Dominated Field.

A national survey was conducted to compare the background and career characteristics of men and women engineers differing in the number of years since they completed their BS degrees (0–5, 6–10, 11–15, and 16–20 years). The parents of women engineers were more likely to have college degrees and to be employed in professional positions than were the parents of men engineers. Women engineers were less likely to be married and were more likely to be childless than were the men. Both men and women were influenced by courses and work-related factors in their decisions to pursue engineering, but men made their career decisions sooner than women. Although men and women reported comparable levels of technical responsibility in their present jobs, gender differences favoring men were found for supervisory responsibility and salary among those with more than five years of experience, with the gap between men and women increasing with experience. Men with 16–20 years of experience and all four degree cohorts of women endorsed the opinion that there are better opportunities for men than women in engineering.

A comparative analysis of contemporary achievement goal orientation measures

As research on achievement goals has increased, so has the number of different measures of goal orientations. In this article, the authors examined three popular measures of task and ego achievement goal orientations in terms of factorial and construct validity, internal consistency reliability, and distributional characteristics. College students completed the Ability and Task Orientation scales from the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey (PALS), Task and Ego Motivational Orientation Scales, and the General Learning and Performance Goal Orientations Scales. The first two sets of scales assess goal orientations for schoolwork, whereas the third is more general. To assess construct validity, the scales were correlated with the Jackson Achievement Orientation Scale, beliefs concerning the role of effort and ability in success, and interest/enjoyment of and boredom with schoolwork. The PALS scales generally faired the best in terms of distributional characteristics, factorial validity, and construct validity.

Gender Differences in Persistence in Computer-Related Fields

The effectiveness of precollege and college achievement measures in predicting persistence for men and women in computer-related fields was examined. Persistence rates were similar for men and women in computer technology, electrical/computer engineering, and industrial engineering. However, fewer women than men persisted in computer science. Discriminant function analysis was conducted separately for men and women in each field and was equally effective for men and women in correctly classifying persisters and nonper-sisters (64–72%) in each field except computer technology where the classification rate was considerably lower for women (58%). GPA was generally the most important variable followed by a measure of math ability. High school science grades and number of semesters were often selected for the discriminant function for men, but not for women. The potential role of nonachievement factors in persistence such as peer and faculty support and expectancies are also discussed.

The impact of situational and dispositional achievement goals on performance.

Achievement goal theorists propose that both situational factors and individual differences influence which type of achievement goals individuals adopt. That is, instructions can be used to make a situation task-involving or ego-involving, but individuals also have dispositional tendencies to approach achievement tasks with task and/or ego orientations. In this experiment we investigated the independent and interactive effects of situational and dispositional achievement goals on performance. College students performed a brainstorming task after receiving neutral, task-involving, or ego-involving instructions. General task and ego orientations toward achievement tasks were assessed before the students tried the task, and perceived ability was assessed after a practice trial. Consistent with the predictions of achievement goal theorists, perceived ability was more strongly related to performance when students were given ego-involving rather than task-involving instructions. In addition, task orientation was more strongly related to performance when task-involving rather than ego-involving instructions were given. The results demonstrate that dispositional and situational factors may interact to predict performance.

Task and ego orientation: The role of goal orientations in anticipated affective reactions to achievement outcomes

Abstract When approaching achievement tasks, people can focus on different types of goals, for example, task mastery (task orientation) and/or demonstrating ones superior ability (ego orientation). We investigated the extent to which dispositional task and ego orientations towards a personally valued activity predict anticipated affective reactions to a hypothetical situation involving the activity. College students were asked to think of a career-related activity or a competitive sport that was personally important to them. Half of the students were further told that the activity should be one that they enjoyed for its own sake, and the other half were told that the activity should be one at which they wanted to be outstanding. In the hypothetical situation, students imagined that they succeeded at the activity with much effort, but others succeeded with less effort. Task orientation predicted anticipated positive affect in the outstanding performance context, but was not significant in the enjoyment context. Ego orientation predicted anticipated negative affect in the enjoyment context, but was not significant in the outstanding performance context. The ego orientation effects only held for students with low perceived ability. Women scored higher than men on task orientation and anticipated more positive affect. Differences in the task value of competitive sports and career-related activities were also explored.

Factors Influencing the Choice of an Engineering Career

In two National Engineering Career Development Surveys, engineering students (N = 960) and graduates (N = 2401) were found to be quite similar in their ratings of the relative importance of various factors which influenced them to pursue careers in engineering. Work-related factors (especially challenge, creativity, independence, problem solving, and salary) were found to be most important followed by school-, people-, and hobby-related factors. In selecting engineering as a career, graduates were more apt than students to cite related work experiences, and students were more apt to cite security and rapid advancement. Other differences were noted when comparisons were made by sex, ethnic group, and field of engineering. Women and minorities tended to rate independence, challenge, female role models, and precollege programs to be of greater importance than did men and majority students. Differences among engineers in different fields were observed primarily in their ratings of related hobbies. For example, electrical and mechanical engineers were more influenced in their career choices by electrical and mechanical hobbies than were engineers in other fields. Electrical and computer engineers were influenced strongly by computers, chemical engineers by high school science and college chemistry courses, and civil and agricultural engineers by outdoor activities.

Comparisons of Women and Men in the Engineerng Work Force

The results of the 1981 National Engineering Career Development Survey were used to examine differences in the employment characteristics, job values, job satisfaction, and professional activities of men and women engineers. Men and women engineers were generally similar in terms of the types of positions they held; however, significantly more men than women reported management as their principal function. Men and women reported comparable levels of technical responsibility increasing with experience. Supervisory responsibility also increased with experience, and was comparable for men and women with less than 10 years of experience. However, among men and women with more than 10 years of experience, larger percentages of men than women reported high levels of supervisory responsibility. Reports of median salaries demonstrated a similar pattern, with men reporting higher salaries than women after 8-10 years of experience. Men were somewhat more satisfied with their work, their career progress, and the intrinsic aspects of their jobs than were women. Men and women reported similar involvement in professional activities, although men were more likely to apply for patents and to purchase and read new books on engineering and science. Many of the observed differences between men and women were smaller or nonsignificant when the responses of engineers with five years of experience or less were examined, suggesting that opportunities for women in engineering may be improving.

Engineering Profiles For The Eighties: Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

Summary Comparisons among men and women members of IEEE and ASME were made in terms of their responses to the 1981 National Engineering Career Development Survey. The sample was limited to men and women who had received their bachelors degree since 1975. In general, few significant differences were found. Those differences found were more likely to be a function of sex than society membership. Consistent with the results of previous surveys, men in t his sample tended to decide on a career in engineering earlier than did the women. However, both men and women were highly influenced by the nature of engineering work in their decision to study engineering. Although mre than half of the engineers in the sample felt that a bachelors degree was sufficient preparation for a career in engineering, 89% of the respondents plaMed to continue their education. About one-half of these respondents planned to continue their studies in engineering, the rest expecting to continue in a nonengineering field such as management. A larger percentage of women than men had already begun graduate work. Most of the respondents were working for some type of manufacturing firm and described their jobs as primarily t echnical. Men were somewhat more likely to report higher levels of supervisory responsibility than were women. Members of ASME were mre likely to be involved in the areas of energy and fuel supplies and environmental protection while members of IEEE were mre likely to be involved in comunications and crime prevention and control.