While there is much empirical support for achievement goals, mastery-avoidance goals are still under-researched. The current study sought to investigate the task-based and intrapersonal dimensions of mastery-avoidance goals, in addition to exploring the relationship between mastery-avoidance goals and classroom goal structures among 115 psychology…

The study explored a taxonomy of alternative latent models to understand the weight of expectancy-value and approach-related goal orientations in predicting students' achievement behaviors (scientific career interest and math achievement). A full model where all the factors contribute to explaining the total variance of outcomes and two models in…

Given the prevalence of group project assignments in college coursework, it is surprising that the rich literature on achievement goal orientation has been so rarely used to understand students' commitment to an assigned group project and the emotions they associate with group work, especially when they report some degree of group conflict among…

This goal of this study was to develop a measure that captures the three dimensions of youth purpose proposed by Damon, Menon, and Cotton-Bronk (2003). We tested a theoretical model that links youth purpose (comprised of intention, engagement, and prosocial reasoning) with achievement motivation, agency, and civic engagement for a sample of high…

Many African Americans were imbued with the cliché that they must work twice as hard as others to be a success in life. Entering college, students with this belief put extensive effort into earning top grades to ensure quality preparation for their chosen career; yet, some fail to earn top scores. Why? This is the million dollar question, but the…

Participation in society is increasingly dependent on educational achievement. Accordingly, society as a whole is committing more resources to education to prevent the adverse outcome of students moving through the school system only to emerge without the knowledge and skills that they might be expected to attain. In this paper, we explore the…

Though factors contributing to difficulty in learning school subjects including Mathematics were extensively studied, nature and characteristics of mathematics, possibly, one among the foremost causes for difficulty in learning it has not received required attention. To bring attention to the difficulties arising out of the nature of mathematics…

Utilizing longitudinal data of 3477 students from 28 institutions, we examine the effects of structural diversity and quality of interracial relation on students' persistence towards graduation within six years. We utilize multilevel discrete-time survival analysis to account for the longitudinal persistence patterns as well as the nested…

This paper reports pilot data from an instrument devised as part of a large ARC funded project that aims, among other things, to investigate factors that influence the decisions of students in rural and/or disadvantaged areas to continue their schooling beyond Year 10. One section of the pilot student questionnaire comprised 42 items designed to…

This study investigates motivation that influences heritage and non-heritage students' learning of Chinese, and its relationship with Chinese language learning strategies (LLS). The study uses Deci and Ryan's typology--"Intrinsic Motivation" and "Extrinsic Motivation", for the investigation, examining issues such as: (1) What…

A limited amount of literature has discussed older adults in formal education, especially their motivations to learn in higher education. This study aims to understand older adults' learning in the context of higher education. Specifically, this study argues that higher education can function as a stimulating learning environment that helps older…

The purpose of this study was to integrate domain-learning theory and goal theory to investigate the learning processes, achievement goals, social goals, and achievement of 141 college students. Cluster-analytic procedures were used to categorize participants at different levels of expertise based on their responses on knowledge, interest, and…

The paper analyzes fear and hate as motivating forces in entrepreneurship. Fear can drive entrepreneurs, as they attempt to control their fear of poverty, loneliness, and being controlled by others. Hate, such as hatred of sloth and waste or hatred of being told something cannot be done, can also motivate entrepreneurs. (JDD)

Although the effect of perfectionism on academic performance has received increasing attention in recent years, little has been written about the ways it affects career development. Combined with increasing pressures to succeed at the workplace, perfectionism may adversely affect individuals sense of accomplishment and their actual achievements.…

Interactions and relationships involving goal attributes and goal types were examined to supplement previous studies of goal types alone. In previous studies, goal attributes such as positive-based incentive values had been found to be higher for intrinsic goals, mastery goals, and more difficult goals. Intrinsic goals and mastery goals were more…