The relation between mastery goals and intrinsic motivation among university students: a longitudinal study

The present work broadens previous research on students’ mastery goals and intrinsic motivation by exploring their reciprocal effects using a longitudinal approach. To this end, a study using four measurement points was conducted during 10 weeks of one semester. The sample comprised 1156 students enrolled in psychology courses at a medium-sized university in Germany who completed questionnaires. The findings showed that both constructs were intra-individually stable over the course of one semester although the rank-order stability of mastery goals was higher than the rank-order stability of intrinsic motivation. Cross-lagged structural equation models revealed that students’ mastery goals predicted their intrinsic motivation throughout the semester. However, intrinsic motivation did not predict mastery goals. Results are discussed in terms of a potential integration of achievement goal theory and self-determination theory and their practical implications.     

Friends’ influence on the development of academic values in mathematics: are there differences between female and male dyads?

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Based on the social cognitive theory and the emotional contagion theory, this study investigated if friends influence (reinforce or change) the...     

On sharks, trolls, and their patent prey—Unrealistic damage awards and firms’ strategies of “being infringed”

Patent trolls (or sharks) are patent holding individuals or (often small) firms who trap R&D intensive manufacturers in patent infringement situations in order to receive damage awards for the illegitimate use of their technology. While of great concern to management, their existence and impact for both corporate decision makers and policy makers remains to be fully analyzed from an academic standpoint. In this paper we show why patent sharks can operate profitably, why they are of growing concern, how manufacturers can forearm themselves against them, and which issues policy makers need to address. To do so, we map international indemnification rules with strategic rationales of small patent-holding firms and large manufacturers within a theoretical model. Our central finding is that the courts’ unrealistic consideration of the trade-offs faced by inadvertent infringers is a central condition for sharks to operate profitably.     

Supporting Self-Regulated Learning With Digital Media Using Motivational Regulation and Metacognitive Prompts

Studying with digital media, learners often struggle because of inadequate self-regulation. Previous research presented clear evidence of metacognitive prompts being effective in supporting learning with digital media. This study examines the potential of motivational regulation prompts, which are assumed to additionally support self-regulated learning. During a 50-minute learning session in a digital media learning environment, 215 university students received either no prompts, only metacognitive prompts, only motivational regulation prompts, or both types of prompts. Task value, metacognitive control, task-related learning activities, and knowledge were assessed at a pretest, posttest, and follow-up. The results replicated known positive effects of metacognitive prompts and revealed additional supportive effects of motivational regulation prompts on all dependent variables. Path modeling of the experimentally induced changes was in line with a theoretical model specifying proximal and distal effects of both prompts. Altogether, this indicates that especially motivational regulation prompts could be an effective scaffold to support SRL with digital media.     

Dealing with errors in mathematics classrooms: Structure and relevance of perceived error climate

Errors are often perceived by students as self-threatening and not as learning opportunities. The present work focuses on contextual influences on reactions to errors and learning processes. Based on prior research, a conceptualization of perceived error climate in the classroom with eight subdimensions and one superordinate uniform factor is proposed and a newly developed student questionnaire for its assessment is presented. Results of a study with N = 1116 students from 56 mathematics classrooms in German secondary schools indicated the validity of the error climate conceptualization and the suitability of the questionnaire. Moreover, the results showed that perceived error climate in the classroom predicted the adaptivity of students’ individual reactions to errors above and beyond perceived classroom goal structures and personal achievement motivation (academic self-concept, mastery goal orientation). In addition, the study provided evidence that perceived error climate affects – partially mediated through students’ individual reactions to errors – the quantity and self-regulation of students’ effort.     

Committees of division 15 1974–1975

A meta-analysis was undertaken to reexamine near- and far-transfer effects following working-memory training and to consider potential moderators more systematically. Forty-seven studies with 65 group comparisons were included in the meta-analysis. Results showed near-transfer effects to short-term and working-memory skills that were sustained at follow-up with effect sizes ranging from g = 0.37 to g = 0.72 for immediate transfer and g = 0.22 to g = 0.78 for long-term transfer. Far-transfer effects to other cognitive skills were small, limited to nonverbal (g = 0.14) and verbal (g = 0.16) ability and not sustained at follow-up. Several moderators (e.g., duration of training sessions, supervision during training) had an influence on transfer effects, including far-transfer effects. We present principles for how best to improve working memory through training in the narrow-task paradigm and conjecture how best to improve basic cognitive functions in complex activity contexts.     

Relational integration as a predictor of academic achievement

The current study aimed at applying a broad model of cognitive functions to predict performance in science and language courses at school as well as performance in a science course at university. We hypothesized that performance in science courses was predominantly related to the cognitive function known as relational integration, whereas performance in language courses should be best explained by individuals' short-term memory capacity. The sample consisted of 161 German undergraduate students who were asked to complete 33 cognitive tasks. School grades were also obtained. The analyses revealed that relational integration incrementally explained variance in science grades. Short-term memory acted as a predictor of language grades. However, mental speed was also substantially related to language grades. Predicting university exam scores revealed that short-term memory yielded an incremental predictive power. We conclude that academic performance requires different cognitive functions depending on a domain of study.     

Associations of temperament traits and mathematics grades in adolescents are dependent on the rater but independent of motivation and cognitive ability

The current study examines associations between self- and teacher-rated temperament traits (activity, inhibition, negative emotionality, persistence, distractibility, and mood) and mathematics grades. The sample includes 310 ninth grade students (mean age 15.0) from several schools in Finland. Analyses were conducted with multilevel modeling. Except for mood, all temperament traits were associated with math grades independent of motivation and standardized cognitive ability test performance (intelligence). However, some relations were found only for teacher-reports and some only for student-reports. The rater dependent differences are of interest and emphasize a need for data from multiple raters before drawing conclusions on how temperament relates to school grades. The results suggest that temperament should be taken into account in schooling and in teacher education.