1. 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.

2. 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?

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

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

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

8. 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)

9. 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

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

11. 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

12. 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

13. Actual
Achievement
Expectancy
Beliefs
Choice
Behaviors
Value
Beliefs

14. 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

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

16. 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

17. 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

18. Reciprocal Relationship
Self-
Concept
Achievement

19. 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.”)

20. 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

21. 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.”)

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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