Background: Vocational interests play a central role in the vocational decision-making process and are decisive for the later job satisfaction and vocational success. Based on Ackerman's (1996) notion of "trait complexes," specific interest profiles of gifted high-school graduates can be expected. Aims: Vocational interests of gifted and…

Background: Research has shown how academic emotions are related to achievement and to cognitive/motivational variables that promote achievement. Mediated models have been proposed to account for the relationships among academic emotions, cognitive/motivational variables, and achievement, and research has supported such mediated models,…

Background: It is commonly assumed that there is conceptual equivalence between the task and ego achievement goals proposed by Nicholl's (1989) dichotomous achievement goal theory (Nicholls, 1989), and the mastery and performance approach goals advanced by Elliot's (1997) trichotomous hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement…

Background: Epistemological beliefs are subjective theories of the structure and acquisition of knowledge. The instruments used to measure epistemological beliefs in educational psychology (see Duell & Schommer-Aikins, 2001) typically consist of questionnaires tapping general, decontextualized beliefs about knowledge or knowledge acquisition in a…