While intelligence and motivational variables are well-established predictors of academic achievement, Need for Cognition (NFC), the stable intrinsic motivation to engage in and enjoy challenging intellectual activity, has not yet been considered comprehensively in this field, especially not longitudinally. By applying latent change score…

To examine whether need for approval (NFA) and antisocial behavior (ASB) moderate the effects of socioemotional stimuli on cognitive control, 88 girls (M[subscript age] = 16.31 years; SD = 0.84; 65.9% White) completed a socioemotional Go/No-go and questionnaires. At high approach NFA, girls responded more slowly during appetitive than control (b =…

Online and computer-assisted learning have become widespread in the rapidly evolving education landscape. However, these learning modalities uniquely challenge academic integrity, escalating the potential for academic cheating. This systematic review used thematic and narrative syntheses to examine the relationships and the effects of self-doubt…

The pressures inherent in trying to be perfect can undermine learning and exacerbate anxiety in certain students. In the current article, we review existing research and theory on the role of perfectionism in language learning anxiety and performance deficits. Our analysis highlights the complexities inherent in the perfectionism construct,…

"Teaching, Learning and Psychology" offers comprehensive coverage of contemporary psychological issues and new directions in education. With its focus on the non-deficit nature of human behaviours and positive psychology, the book emphasises the importance of appropriate pedagogical practices for effective learning. Comprehensive and…

Few researchers have investigated the factors that influence children's tendency to indicate correctly when they do not know the answer to a question. In this study, 5- to 8-year-olds witnessed a staged event in their classroom and were subsequently interviewed about that event either the following day or after 5 months. Some of the questions were…

Having a sense of purpose is recognized as an important resource for maintaining health and well-being over the life span. We examined associations of individual differences in sense of purpose with levels and rates of change in indices of aging well (health, cognition, and depressive symptoms) in a sample of 1,475 older adults (M[subscript age] =…

The recent No Child Left Behind legislation has defined a vital role for large-scale assessment in determining whether students are learning. Given this increased role of standardized testing as a means of accountability, the purpose of this article is to consider how individual differences in motivational and psychological processes may…

In recent years, the study of the self has been concentrated in the areas of self-esteem, individual differences in self-relevant cognition, and the processes of self-relevant cognition. To validate understanding of the individual difference dimensions of public and private self-consciousness and self-esteem, college students (N=101) completed the…

Provides a basis from which to critically examine contemporary identity research, by offering a definition of identity, a constructive criticism of the subject approach, and an empirical approach to studying sense of identity. The empirical approach is based on conceptually sound ideas and leads to important questions about identity modes and the…

The reading of a literary work can give rise to five different kinds of literary knowing: (1) knowing about self; (2) knowing about others; (3) knowing about texts; (4) knowing about contexts; and (5) knowing about processes of making meaning. A literary work can prompt a reader to reflect upon aspects of his or her own life. Concentrating upon…

Used self-ratings to compare 96 shy and nonshy tenth-grade students. The shy group reported significantly more negative self-ratings on loneliness, interference of shyness with academic success and friendships, shyness around the opposite sex, and belief in the noticeability of shyness. There were no significant group differences in self-liking.…

Recent experiments have shown that people process information about themselves more efficiently than other kinds of information. To investigate individual differences in the processing of self-relevant information, subjects (N=41) rated the self- and other-applicability of 90 traits and completed nine standard personality scales. Several measures…

Self-schemas are knowledge-structures that organize information relevant to the "self." Research has demonstrated that persons who are schematic (versus aschematic) for a particular trait process self-relevant information on that dimension more efficiently. To determine whether individual self-schemas are organized into relatively…