Self-Relevant Motivation for Success and Performance Feedback on an Intellectual Task Noëlle Liwski & David Buck

Contingencies of Self-Worth (Crocker & Wolfe, 2001) Domains in which self-worth is based Approval from others: basing worth on other peoples opinion of you. Appearance: basing worth on your appearance. Academic Competency: basing worth on how well you do in school.

Intellectual Competency Intellectual Competency: basing worth on how intelligent you perceive yourself to be. Distinction: Academic competency is dependent on grades. Intellectual competency is an internal judgment, not necessarily dependent on grades. Related Concept Need for Cognition (Cacioppo, Petty, & Kao, 1984) is a measure of the intrinsic desire to perform intellectual tasks.

What we are asking Predictive Validity: What behaviors would be expected from people high or low in this contingency? Intellectual competency contingency of worth will predict time spent practicing an intellectual task. Intellectual competency will predict pursuit of feedback regarding intellectual performance. Discriminant Validity Will intellectual competency be a better predictor than academic competency and need for cognition?

Overview of Procedure Questionnaires (SV) 1 st Round of Tasks Practice Time (DV1) 2 nd Round of Tasks Pursuit of Feedback (DV2) N=15, 10 female, 5 male

Questionnaires Intellectual Competency Contingency (15 items, α =.89) My self-worth is influenced by how smart I am. Intelligence has no bearing on my sense of self-esteem.* Academic Contingency (10 items, α =.85) When I do poorly on an exam or paper, my self-esteem suffers. Need For Cognition (18 items, α =.89) The notion of thinking abstractly is appealing to me. * reverse coded

Intellectual and Perceptual Tasks Remote Associates Test Mobile Flake Cone Snow Muller-Lyer Illusion Controlled Feedback Intelligence Score : 80% correct Perceptual Score: Length of the right line compared to the left =.86

Practice Time Hypothesis: Individuals high in Intellectual Competency will spend more time practicing the intellectual task. What we found: Intellectual competency was positively correlated (r =.62, p <.05) with time spent practicing the intellectual task. This was not the case for either the academic competency contingency or need for cognition.

Intelligence Scores Perception Scores Difference of left from right 1: C 11: X 1: 17 mm 2: X 12: C 2: 25 mm 3: C 13: C 3: 10 mm 4: C 14: X 4: 15 mm 5: C 15: C 5: 12 mm 6: C 6: 21 mm 7: C 7: 6 mm 8: X 8: 19 mm 9: C 9: 25 mm 10: X 10: 18 mm C = correct; X = incorrect Pursuit of Feedback

Perception: Step 1: The positioning of the lines on the screen creates different levels of difficulty. To standardize the individual scores, multiply the difference for each Easy item by 2, the Medium items by 1.5, and leave the Hard items alone. 1. _______ x 2 = ________ 2. _______ x 1.5 = ________ 3. _______ x 1 = ________ 4. _______ x 2 = ________ 5. _______ x 2 = ________ 6. _______ x 1.5 = ________ 7. _______ x 1= ________ 8. _______ x 1 = ________ 9. _______ x 1.5 = ________ 10. _______ x 2 = ________ Step 2: Now add all of the newly created scores up and find the average __________(Sum of scores) / 10 = __________ Step 3: To place this score on a normal curve, multiply the average by.4 and then multiply this by 100. (Avg.) ______ x.4 = _______ _________ x 100 = _________ Intelligence: Step 1: The questions on the IQ test have varying degrees of difficulty. To find your score, add up the points corresponding to the questions you answered correctly Total: _____(A) Step 2: Now subtract one quarter of a point for each incorrect answer. # Wrong ____ x.25 = ____(B) (A)_____- (B)_____ = ______ Step 3: IQ scores are normally charted on a standard normal curve with a mean of 100. To find where you score on a similar curve, multiply the number you currently have (C) by the z score of 1.13 and divide it by the highest possible score and multiply by 100. (C) ___ x 1.13 = ______(D) (D) ____/ 42 = _____(E) (E)_____ x 100 = _______(Final Score) Pursuit of Feedback

Hypothesis: Individuals high in Intellectual competency will put forth more effort to pursue feedback on the intellectual task. What we have found: People high in Intel. were more likely to pursue feedback on the intellectual task than people low in Intel. (Fisher exact test p =.04). This difference was only found for the intellectual competency variable. Pursuit of Feedback

Conclusions Tested new measure of contingency of self- worth based on intellectual competency Predictive Validity Intellectual Comp predicts Practice time on intellectual tasks Pursuit of feedback Discriminant Validity Academic Comp & Need for Cognition Did not predict practice on intellectual tasks. Were not significant predictors of pursuit of feedback.

Questions?