The Role of Expectancy & Self-Efficacy Beliefs Chapter 3 The Role of Expectancy & Self-Efficacy Beliefs Notes from class textbook: Pintrich, P.R., & Schunk, D.H. (1996). Motivation in Education: Theory, Research, & Applications. Englewood Cliff, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Expectancy of Beliefs: Do I have the ability to succeed at this task? Do I have the skills or knowledge to do well? If I attempt this task, what do I expect will happen?

Expectancy Most individuals will not choose to do a task or continue to engage in a task when they expect to fail Even if the task is interesting and valuable to the learner, trying and failing repeatedly will result in eventually not engaging in the task

Historical Perspectives on Expectancy Construct Use of expectancy construct is from cognitive perspective of motivation Reflects cognitive metaphor of individual as active and rational decision maker Less need for instigator (like instinct, drive, need, habit) Directionality: how learners make decisions about goals, direction of energies, curiosity, & activity

Level of Aspiration Learners feel successful when meeting goals they set for themselves Prior successes generally lead to increases in aspiration, whereas failure results in decreased aspiration levels High ability learners set higher aspirations than low ability learners Learners are influenced by group goals & performance and adjust aspirations to these

is a multiplicative function of Atkinson Model Behavior is a multiplicative function of Incentive Value Motives Probability for Success

Motivation Matrix (Covington) Motive to Approach Success Low High Success- Oriented Students Motive to Avoid Failure Failure Acceptors Low High Failure Avoiders Overstrivers

3 Current Perspectives on the Expectancy Construct Recent Model of Expectancy for Success Cognitive (student expectancies) & Organismic (personality/psychology) Research on Self-Perception & Ability Organismic (role of individual) & Cognitive (competence & motivation) Model of Self-Efficacy Beliefs More mechanistic perspective (from social learning theory)

1. Model of the Expectancy-for-Success Construct Derived from Atkinson’s expectancy-value model: Probability of success Incentive value Developed by Eccles and Wigfield: Expectancy construct Task value construct

Future Expectancy for Success Value Construct Expectancy Construct Why should I do this task? Am I able to do this task?

Expectancy-Value Model Social World Cognitive Processes Motivational Beliefs Achievement Behavior 1.Cultural milieu 2. Socializers’ behaviors 3. Past per- formances and events Perceptions of social environment Interpretations and attributions for past events Goals Task value Choice Persistence Quantity of effort Cognitive engagement Actual performance Task-specific self-concept Perceptions of task difficulty Expectancy

Correlation Studies on Student Self-Perceptions of Ability & Expectancies for Success Strongest predictors of subsequent grades in math & English (even better than previous grades) Higher levels correlated with use of cognitive & metacognitive strategies

Actual Achievement Expectancy Beliefs Choice Behaviors Value Beliefs

2. Research on Self-Perceptions of Competence & Ability Students’ self-evaluative judgments about their ability to accomplish certain tasks Is a more cognitive evaluation of ability in a domain, NOT just self-esteem about oneself

Self-Perceptions of Competence & Ability -- Some Issues Related to self-concept & personal identity research Early research very general & global Actually very domain specific

Domains of Competence Academic -- general competence for school work Social -- competence in interactions with others Physical -- competence in physical activities like sports and perceptions of physical attractiveness/appearance

Perceptions of Competence vs. Self-Esteem Perceptions of confidence -- more cognitive judgments of personal skills & abilities Self-esteem -- more global affective reaction or evaluation of yourself

Reciprocal Relationship Self- Concept Achievement

3. Model of Self-Efficacy Beliefs People’s judgments of their capabilities to organize & execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances (Example -- “I can high jump 6 feet.”)

Different from Self-Concept & Self-Perception of Competence More specific & situational view of perceived competence in terms of including behavioral actions or cognitive skills necessary for performance Used in reference to some type of goal

Model of Self-Efficacy Beliefs Outcome expectations: Judgments or beliefs regarding the contingency between a person’s behavior and the anticipated outcome (Example -- “If jump 6 feet, I’ll get applause, a trophy, and feel cool about myself.”)

Developmental Differences Young children have an overall optimistic perception of situations Young children tend to choose the end-points of Likert scales (extremes) Younger children do not have information-processing skills available to integrate information & make necessary social comparisons Changes in environment for older children affects both structure of the classroom situation & nature of evaluation

Gender Differences When a gender difference is found, it is that females have lower self-perceptions of ability than males Males have higher self-perceptions of their ability in math and sports Females have higher self-perceptions of their ability in English

Ethnic Differences Research often confounds race & ethnicity with social class differences Generally have found that African American students do not have lower self-concepts of ability and often have higher expectations for success than Caucasian children Minority students may compare themselves with social groups similar to their own

Implications for Teachers Help students maintain relatively accurate but high expectations & efficacy and help students avoid the illusion of incompetence Students’ perceptions of competence develop not just from accurate feedback from the teacher, but through actual success on challenging academic tasks. Keep tasks & assignments at a relatively challenging but reasonable level of difficulty

Implications for Teachers Foster the belief that competence or ability is a changeable, controllable aspect of development Decrease the amount of relative ability information that is publicly available to students

Implications for Teachers Students’ perceptions of competence are somewhat domain specific and are not equivalent to global self-esteem. It is more productive for academic learning to help students develop their self-perceptions of competence rather than their global self-esteem