Research suggests that students who fear failure are likely to utilize cognitive strategies such as self-handicapping that serve to perpetuate failure. Such devastating motivational dispositions clearly limit academic success. The present study examined negative emotional responses to scenarios involving academic failure among a sample of…

The acquisition and the application of mental skills in sports and non-sport settings are discussed in this paper. The paper opens with an overview of the situation in Sweden; it is noted that 25% of the Swedish population have used mental training programs and that in the future all Swedes will have experienced such programs, since basic mental…

Deci and Ryan's (1975, 1980) cognitive evaluation theory viewed intrinsic motivation as a function of perceived competence and personal causation. Deci and Ryan also proposed that people tend to perceive competitive situations as controlling. Gender differences were used by Deci and Olson (1989) to explain the findings by Ryan and Deci (1986) that…

Recent literature on motivation has documented that perceptions of self-competence and motivational orientations for learning are interrelated. This study focuses specifically on childrens perceptions of their scholastic abilities, how these perceptions develop and how they relate to intrinsic motivation for learning. The rationale for this study…

This study examined the effects of specific motivational dimensions and self-perceptions of a group of 47 urban black fourth and fifth grade students on attendance and academic achievement. Each student's responses to a measure of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and a self-perception inventory were compared to each other and to his or her…

This study examined the relationship between ego-oriented or task-oriented motivation on one hand and subjective well-being and perceived ability on the other. Undergraduate (N=124) and graduate (N=212) students at Purdue University responded to a questionnaire by listing up to 10 personal projects and rating the 2 most important ones with respect…

A qualitative investigation of the professional development experiences of 17 prominent U.S. Latinas across 7 occupational fields is the subject of this paper. The investigation described here explored cultural, personal, and contextual variables in relation to the career development of Latinas; in addition, it included specific exploration of…

This paper argues that a useful way of analyzing the current moves to locate education within a decentralized framework of schools competing for educational consumers is to return to the founders of managerialism. In particular, this paper suggests that by returning to the point of production, the "mutilated rationality" (Habermas) of…

Self-regulated learning is usually viewed as the fusion of skill and will, referring to the students' development of different learning strategies in service of their goals. This definition is expanded in a study of self-schemas as a means of representing multiple goals for learning. Measures of self-schemas were used with 151 seventh graders (86…

This paper explored the contributions made by self-efficacy theory to the study of self-regulation and motivation in academic settings. Findings on the relationship between self-efficacy and academic performance are first summarized. The conceptual difference between the definition and use of perceptions of competence in social cognitive theory…

Changes in students' (N=313) present and possible "good student" selves over the transition from elementary school to middle school are examined by this study. Findings indicate that both present and possible selves decline over the transition, and that the decline is greater for males than for females. Holding mastery goals is related to…

Middle school students (N=712) were surveyed about their achievement goals and cognitive processing strategies. Results suggest that academically at-risk students use deep strategies less and are less learning focused than not at-risk and special education students. Special education and at-risk students tended to be more ability-focused than not…

Profiles of 104 welfare recipients in Georgia were examined to identify social indicators and cognitive variables that influenced work role participation. Three instruments were administered the Career Thought Inventory, the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form, and the demographic profile and participation scale of the Salience…