Ruth Butler

Task-involving and ego-involving properties of evaluation: Effects of different feedback conditions on motivational perceptions, interest, and performance.

I designed this study to test the hypothesis that the impact of information about performance on subsequent intrinsic motivation depends significantly on the degree to which this information promotes a task-involved or an ego-involved motivational orientation. A total of 200 fifth- and sixth-grade students with high or low school achievement were given interesting divergent thinking tasks in each of three sessions. Individual comments, numerical grades, standardized praise, or no feedback were received after Sessions 1 and 2. Results confirmed that at Session 3 (posttest), interest, performance, and attributions of effort, outcome, and the impact of evaluation to taskinvolved causes were highest at both levels of achievement after receipt of comments. Egoinvolved attributions were highest after receipt of grades and praise. These findings support the conceptualization of the feedback conditions as task involving (comments), ego involving (grades and praise), or neither (no feedback). The similar impact of grades and praise would not be predicted by cognitive evaluation theory. I discuss the importance of distinguishing between taskand ego-involved orientations in the study of continuing motivation. In several recent articles, Nicholls (1979, 1983) distinguishes among three main kinds of task motivation, according to the primary goal or focus of behavior characteristic of each. In a conceptualization similar to that suggested by deCharms (1968), Nicholls defines task involvement as a motivational state in which an activity is perceived as inherently satisfying and in which the individual is concerned primarily with assessing and developing individual mastery in relation to task demands or prior performance. Thus, greater effort is expected to yield greater competence. In ego involvement, on the other hand, attention is focused primarily on assessing ability, which is perceived as a stable dimension of individual differences. Because such capacity can only be evaluated against the performance of others, ego involvement should promote a self-worth orientation in which ones main concern is to demonstrate high ability or mask low ability relative to others. Finally, extrinsic motivation is assumed to operate when an activity is undertaken as a means to some other end. Attention is thus focused primarily on attaining the desired goal, rather than on demonstrating either individual mastery or normative ability. Nicholls (1984) has been concerned mainly with exploring the implications of task-involved and ego-involved motivation for immediate achievement behavior, whereas extrinsic motivation has been studied mainly within the context of research on the effects of incentives on subsequent interest (Lepper & Greene, 1978). In the present study, I attempt to bridge these traditions by suggesting that continuing interest

Effects of Task and Ego Achievement Goals on Help-Seeking Behaviors and Attitudes.

We proposed that help-seeking perceptions and behaviors will be more adaptive under salient task goals relative to ego achievement goals. A total of 159 2nd- and 6th-grade Israeli children could request help as they worked on difficult puzzles in either a task or an ego goal condition. As predicted, children were more likely to request help and to explain help avoidance as guided by strivings for independent mastery in the task-focus condition. In contrast, more children in the ego-focus condition explained help avoidance in terms of masking incapacity. Skill level moderated help seeking only in the ego-focus condition, wherein requests for help were more frequent at intermediate than at both high and low skill levels. The results clarify the role of motivational factors in promoting or undermining academic help seeking and can help resolve theoretical controversy and inconsistent empirical findings concerning the relation between competence and help seeking

Determinants of Help Seeking: Relations between Perceived Reasons for Classroom Help-Avoidance and Help-Seeking Behaviors in an Experimental Context.

It was predicted that orientations to help-avoidance (HA) would predict styles of help seeking (HS). In Study 1, a total of 1,029 pupils aged 10-12 years rated reasons for HA in math class. Ratings formed 3 factors reflecting autonomous strivings for independent mastery, ability-focused concerns to mask poor ability, and expedient perceptions that help would not expedite task completion. In Study 2, a total of 272 pupils who had endorsed one or another HA orientation could request help for math problems. An autonomous orientation was associated with autonomous HS, which promoted independent mastery, and an expedient orientation with executive HS, which expedited task completion. Pupils, especially boys, with an ability-focused orientation exhibited avoidant-covert HS: they requested least help and were most likely to cheat. HS was moderated by perceived threat to competence (ability-focused orientation) but not by perceived competence.

Eating disturbances among adolescent girls: Evaluation of a school-based primary prevention program

Abstract A school-based program aimed at the primary prevention of eating disturbances was developed, implemented, and evaluated. The eating disturbances targeted included unhealthy dieting and binge-eating, which are common among nonclinical populations of adolescent girls. The program was based on social-cognitive principles for behavioral change, and the goals were to change knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to nutrition and weight control; improve body and self-image; and promote greater self-efficacy in dealing with social pressures regarding excessive eating and dieting. The baseline population included 341 tenth-grade girls from 16 classes at three high schools in Jerusalem. Classes were assigned to intervention or control groups and girls in the former participated in a 10-session program. Program effectiveness was evaluated with a quasi-experimental design for 269 girls who were present at follow-up assessments conducted both 6 months and 2 years after program implementation. Results indicated that the program had moderate effects on nutrition knowledge and meal patterns and on preventing the. onset of unhealthy dieting and bingeing behaviors. The effects were most consistent among overweight girls. The results suggest that school-based programs can contribute to primary prevention of eating disturbances.

Are mastery and ability goals both adaptive? Evaluation, initial goal construction and the quality of task engagement.

AIMS The aims of this research were to examine the predictions that (a) the kind of evaluation pupils anticipate will influence their initial achievement goals and, as a result, the quality and consequences of task engagement; and (b) initial mastery goals will promote new learning and intrinsic motivation and initial ability goals will promote entity beliefs that ability is fixed. SAMPLE Participants were 312 secondary school pupils at ages 13-15. METHODS Pupils expected to receive normative evaluation, temporal evaluation (scores over time) or no evaluation. Mastery and ability goals were measured before pupils worked on challenging problems; intrinsic motivation and entity beliefs were measured after task completion. RESULTS Anticipation of temporal evaluation enhanced initial mastery goals, anticipation of normative evaluation enhanced ability goals and the no-evaluation condition undermined both. Anticipation of temporal evaluation enhanced new learning (strategy acquisition and performance gains) and intrinsic motivation both directly and by enhancing initial mastery goals; anticipation of normative evaluation enhanced entity beliefs by enhancing ability goals. CONCLUSIONS Results confirmed that evaluation conveys potent cues as to the goals of activity. They also challenged claims that both mastery and ability goals can be adaptive by demonstrating that these were differentially associated with positive versus negative processes and outcomes. Results have theoretical and applied implications for understanding and improving evaluative practices and student motivation.

Mastery versus Ability Appraisal: A Developmental Study of Children's Observations of Peers' Work.

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that there is an age-related shift from mastery enhancement to relative ability assessment in the goal of social comparison. Children at ages 5, 7, and 10 made pictures with stickers under conditions of high or low concern with relative performance (competition/no competition) and high or low procedural ambiguity (free design/copying a drawing). The effects of the manipulations on frequency of glancing at the experimenter and the drawing were similar at all ages; competition enhanced glancing at peers, however, only at ages 7 and 10. The hypothesized shift in the function of social comparison was further supported by age differences in childrens explanations for glancing at peers and by the pattern of intercorrelations between glances at the 3 targets and between glances and picture quality. The results indicate how mastery-based comparisons can promote mastery and performance and illustrate some costs older children may pay for their tendency to observe others primarily to assess relative ability.

Personal and socioenvironmental predictors of disordered eating among adolescent females

Abstract A model examining the associations of potential risk factors playing a role in the development of dieting and other unhealthy eating behaviors was proposed and tested using linear structural relationships in order to define risk groups and prepare an educational prevention program for high school students. Personal and socioenvironmental variables were included in the model. The overall predictive value of the model was high, with 65% of the variance in eating behaviors explained by personal and socioenvironmental variables. Body/self-image was a strong predictor of both dieting (r = .64) and binging (r = .54), while nutritional knowledge and attitudes was a strong predictor of nutritional intake (r = .42). The effect of socioenvironmental factors on behaviors was less than expected and was primarily via their effect on personal factors. The model, while comprehensive enough to explain a significant percentage of the variance in disturbed eating patterns, is also simple enough to allow for empirical testing in other populations and guide in the planning of educational programs aimed at the primary prevention of dieting and unhealthy eating patterns.

Gender and Patterns of Concerned Responsiveness in Representations of the Mother–Daughter and Mother–Son Relationship

Given that girls show more interpersonal concern than boys, it was predicted that more mother-daughter than mother-son dyads would develop a relationship of mutual concerned responsiveness (CR). Two hundred and twenty-six Israeli children (7-8 years old) and 91 mother-child pairs provided narratives of mother-child interactions. At high levels of socioeconomic status (SES), descriptions of child but not maternal concern differed by gender; therefore, more mother-daughter narratives described mutual CR and more mother-son narratives described a nonreciprocal pattern of maternal CR. In a low-SES sample, most mother-daughter narratives described mutual CR, but many mothers and sons described little concern by either partner. Results provided clear evidence of gender differences in mother-child reciprocity and confirmed the importance of examining gender influences in different social groups.

Das zeigt doch nur, dass ich’s nicht kann

Basierend auf Theorien der motivationalen Zielorientierung analysiert die vorliegende Untersuchung den Zusammenhang zwischen der beruflichen Zielorientierung von N = 224 Lehramtsanwarterinnen und –anwartern und deren Einstellung gegenuber Hilfe. Durch die Vermeidungsleistungszielorientierung (das habituelle Verfolgen des Ziels, nicht als inkompetente Lehrkraft aufzufallen) konnte vorhergesagt werden, inwieweit die angehenden Lehrer/-innen das Erbitten von Hilfe als bedrohlich wahrnahmen. Die Wahrnehmung von Hilfe als lernforderlich konnte durch die Lernzielorientierung (das habituelle Verfolgen des Ziels, als Lehrer/-in die eigenen Kompetenzen zu steigern) vorhergesagt werden. Die Wahrnehmung von Hilfe als zusatzlichen Aufwand verursachend stand im Zusammenhang mit der Tendenz zur Arbeitsvermeidung. Die Befunde werden vor dem Hintergrund der Bedeutung motivationaler Faktoren fur die Erklarung des Erlebens und Verhaltens von (angehenden) Lehrkraften diskutiert.

Persistence of weight loss behavior among adolescent girls in jerusalem.

Objective: The study objectives were to examine changes in nutritional knowledge, attitudes, and practices throughout secondary school; to determine which factors in middle adolescence predict excessive and unhealthy dieting behaviors in late adolescence; and to compare factors predicting weight loss behaviors during middle and late adolescence. Method: This paper reports a longitudinal study of weight loss behaviors, eating behaviors, nutritional knowledge and attitudes, body image, self esteem, and Body Mass Index among 143 adolescent girls in Jerusalem, Israel. Girls were surveyed at the beginning of tenth grade (middle adolescence) and at the end of twelfth grade (late adolescence). Results: In spite of improvements in nutritional knowledge and attitudes, eating behaviors either remained stable or deteriorated during this period. Girls who engaged in dieting and bingeing behaviors in middle adolescence were more likely to engage in these behaviors in late adolescence. Results Address for correspondence: Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health University of Minnesota, Suite 300, 1300 South Second Street Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA Tel: (612) 624-0880. Fax: (612) 624-0315 VOL. 9, NO. 1, 1997 19 20 NEUMARK-SZTAINER, ET. AL. indicated that 44% of the variance in twelfth grade dieting behaviors were accounted for by tenth grade knowledge, attitudes and practices. Predictors of dieting behaviors include early dieting behaviors, attitudes towards weight loss methods, body dissatisfaction, BMI, and number of peers dieting. Self esteem predicted dieting behaviors in middle adolescence but not in late adolescence. Discussion: The results indicate that dieting and bingeing behaviors are not just a passing fad but continue into later adolescence. The persistence of these behaviors provides justification for early interventions aimed at the prevention of disordered eating among adolescents.