Self-efficacy theory maintains that self-efficacy expectancy, a belief about one's ability to perform a behavior successfully, is independent of outcome expectancy, a belief about the likelihood of the behavior leading to a specific outcome. To examine this hypothesis, subjects (N=95) read communications that differed in descriptions of the…

Previous research indicates that social beliefs can act in a self-fulfilling manner, affecting responses to individuals and thereby constraining these individuals to behave in ways that spuriously confirm attitudes about them. The possible role of self-perception, i.e., whether targets of such self-fulfilling prophecies not only alter their…

Two issues related to expectation and student achievement were examined in this study of eighth-grade mathematics students: (1) the influence of parental, peer, and self-expectation on student performance; and (2) the influence of cultural expectations, or stereotypes, on student performance. Students were questioned at the beginning of the school…

Two experiments were conducted to examine self-fulfilling expectancy influence in a simulated supervisor-worker interaction. The first experiment led supervisor subjects to expect either high or low compliance from their workers. All workers completed a set of five tasks twice, once when instructed to work fast and once when instructed to work…

Extending the work of Crandall (1969), this study tested the hypotheses of sex differences in interpretation of past academic performance and expectations of future achievement. Subjects were 225 freshman women and 194 freshman men (93 percent of the freshmen class) at a highly selective midwestern liberal arts college: they did not differ in past…

Discussed is the development of games which provide teacher-trainees with experience in anticipating the responses of different types of handicapped children to different tasks. It is explained that the games are inexpensive, that they permit the trainee to become a participatory observer in an interactional setting, and that they provide…

This study was designed to identify the goal approach behaviors which distinguish first-graders with a successful achievement orientation from equally competent first-graders with an unsuccessful orientation. Based on scores of test anxiety and expectancy for success, 100 boys were designated either success-oriented or failure-threatened and then…

The task undertaken in this research was to extend the Curry-Picou Goal Deflection Model by introducing additional variables. Variables considered were main breadwinner's occupation, race, family structure, birth order, goal blockage, significant other influence, self-image, and anticipatory occupational goal deflection (AOGD). Data were collected…

Clients enter counseling with expectations regarding what counseling will be like. It is widely believed that effectiveness of counseling is closely linked with these expectancies. This study was designed to determine the degree to which college students actually possess such expectations and to investigate the relationship of their expectations…

Cooperation among students is an instructional technique often cited as a constructive alternative to that used typically, namely interstudent competition. What is missing in the cooperation-competition literature is a clear explanation of why the two techniques should result in differential levels of student motivation. Expectancy theory is used…

The relationship between job satisfaction and the participation of full-time teaching faculty of the North Carolina Community College System in decision making was investigated. It was anticipated that the results of the study would indicate that the level of job satisfaction would be higher as the full-time teaching faculty perceived that they…

The Center for Cooperative Research with Schools (CReWS) contracted to develop a management information system (MIS) for the National Regional Resources Center of Pennsylvania (NRRCP). The system was originally intended to transform NRRCP data into management--oriented information to support decision-making within the agency. After a year's work,…

Mid-career is a time period when the knowledge and skills acquired during a collegiate education begin to approach obsolescence unless constantly renewed. Several studies had reported that peak performance of engineers and scientists occurs in the thirties and early forties. If these observations are correct, the updating process must be viewed as…

The research literature is full of studies about attitudes of black students toward white students and vice versa, but more often such studies lack generalizable measures and contain methodological problems. This study was concerned with a standardized measure of university student perceptions and expectations (College and University Environment…

This paper comments on a study undertaken to ascertain if personnel practices used to achieve faculty integration under court order affected teacher morale. The Indianapolis Public Schools categorized teachers as (1) those reassigned to another teaching faculty, (2) those already under contract who volunteered to be transferred, and (3) teachers…