MOTIVATIONAL BELIEFS, GOALS AND PATTERNS

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MOTIVATIONAL BELIEFS, GOALS AND PATTERNS

• Damon Burton
• University of Idaho

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GOAL MODEL OF MOTIVATION

• (Antecedents)
  (Consequences)
• Beliefs about Goal
  Motivational
• Talent Orientations
  Patterns
• Capacity Ego-Involved Success-
• or Outcome
  Failure-Oriented
• Learning Task-Involved Performance-
• or Performance
  Oriented

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BELIEFS ABOUT TALENT INTELLIGENCE

• Capacity beliefs intelligence and sport ability
  are fixed and unchangeable.
• The worst thing is to look dumb or incompetent
• Talent is measured now and far into the future.
• Learning beliefs intelligence and talent are
  changeable and controllable.
• The worst thing is to not learn.
• Talent is measured for the present but not for
  the future.

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ROLE OF EFFORT IN TALENT BELIEFS

• Capacity beliefs high ability means you
  shouldnt have to work hard.
• They feel smart when others struggle.
• They perceive a negative relationship between
  effort and performance.
• Learning beliefs hard work always is necessary
  to reach your potential.
• They feel smart when they help others or bring
  out the best in others.
• They perceive a positive relationship between
  effort and performance.
• Effort will get your somewhere better as long as
  you work hard.

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BELIEFS-GOAL RELATIONSHIPS

• Outcome Goals Outcome
  Goals Performance Goals
• Low Challenge High
  Challenge High Challenge
• Capacity 50 32
  18
• Learning 10 29 61

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BELIEFS PREDICT JUNIOR HIGH TRANSITION

• 7th grade important transition that is stressful
  to adolescents because
• work gets suddenly harder,
• workload becomes greater,
• grading is more stringent,
• grades become more important and
• instruction is less personalized.

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HENDERSON DWECK (1990)

• Predicted that capacity belief kids would show
  helpless responses to new environment
• Doubt their intellectual ability in the face of
  failure,
• More anxiety about schoolwork
• Achieve at a lower level compared to peers

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HENDERSON DWECK (1990)

• Capacity belief kids showed a marked decline in
  class standing.
• High achievers in 6th grade were now low
  achievers
• Learning belief kids showed the most impressive
  gains in class standing, particularly those with
  low confidence in their intelligence

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IMPACT OF BELIEFS ON FAILURE RESPONSES

• 
  Learning Capacity Depressed
• Group Group
  Group
• Global Self-Putdown 2 7
  6
• Intellectual Blame 3 8
  7
• Negative Affect 4 8
  8.5

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ROBINS PALS (1998)

• Beliefs did predict goals valued.
• Capacity belief students blamed their failure on
  low ability, felt distressed and ashamed about
  their GPAs and gave up in challenging situations.
• Beliefs were stable across 3 years (r .64)

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ARONSON (1998)

• Stereotype threat is when members of a
  stigmatized group feel threatened when they think
  theyre in danger of confirming a negative group
  stereotype.
• When students believe the ability in question is
  malleable, or when they are trained to have
  learning beliefs, the harmful effects of
  stereotype threat are reduced.

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HOW ARE BELIEFS DEVELOPED?

• Feedback patterns have a major impact on beliefs.
• If feedback focuses on traits (e.g., youre very
  talented) to explain success or lack of talent to
  explain failure, capacity beliefs develop.
• If feedback focuses on effort and strategy as the
  keys to success and failure, learning beliefs
  develop

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• The
• End