The primary purpose of this study was to test the attribution theory of motivation cross-culturally by comparing performance and attribution patterns on inductive rule learning in two different cultures (Canadian & Korean) within the framework of collectivism vs. individualism. Two hypotheses were formed: 1) Korean and Canadian students would show differences in attribution patterns following success or failure outcome due to different cultural emphasis. 2) Given the effort attribution of failure, Korean students would perform more accurately on the reasoning task than Canadian students, and given higher ability attribution of success, Canadian students may perform better or at least equally as well as Korean students. A Total of 120 grade seven students (60 Canadian and 60 Korean) from a middle-class community from Korea and Canada participated in the computerized experimental tasks. The research design involved two culture groups (Canadian and Korean) and three outcome feedback (control, failure, and success), as independent variables, and the number of instances, response rate and accuracy on the inductive reasoning tasks as dependent variables. Findings of this study indicate that Canadian culture may not be defined as more individualistic than Korean culture. The study results did not provide a clear cut distinction of collectivistic vs. individualistic cultures between Korean and Canadian cultures. In terms of attribution patterns, both culture groups showed similar patterns, but different from Weiner's theory of motivation, not only effort but also ability attribution influenced positively the accuracy of performance on the subsequent task upon receiving failure feedback. Given failure feedback, Korean grade seven students performed better, while Canadian counterparts' performance level on the subsequent task deteriorated with failure feedback. Further research on cross-cultural study of attribution theory has been suggested along with educational implications.

This study examined the impact of positive or negative interpersonal feedback on standard-setting, affect, and motivational concerns, within the framework of selfregulation theories of social anxiety. Thirty-two individuals who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (rev. 3rd ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) criteria for social phobia and 32 nonclinical controls participated in a successful or unsuccessful conversation with an assistant. Subjects rated two aspects of self-regulation (self-efficacy and standards), positive and negative affect, and motivational concerns. Consistent with predictions, socially phobic subjects displayed a discrepancy between what they believed they could achieve (efficacy) and what they believed others expected of them (standard) and the magnitude of this discrepancy increased when they had succeeded at the social task. In addition, anxious subjects reported higher levels of positive affect after experiencing social success than they did after experiencing social failure but they did not relinquish protective concerns. There was no evidence that socially phobic subjects were distressed by social success but the results illuminate dysfunctional standard-setting. Specifically, socially phobic individuals perceive larger discrepancies between their ability and expectations following success than they do following failure.

The purpose of this work was to study the peculiarities and interrelations of achievement motivation, locus of health control (multidimensional and visual analogue scales) and academic advancement of senior schoolchildren (years IX – XII). 228 senior schoolchildren participated in the study. The study involved two methodologies. The first one, meant for the research of learning motivation of schoolchildren, was used A. Mehrabian’s achievement motivation test-enquiry, modified by M. Sh. Magomed – Eminov. The second one – K. Wallston’s (1978) health locus of control (multidimensional and visual analogue scales). The research results data confirmed the hypothesis that achievement motivation of senior girls is different from that of senior boys. It was established that the ratios of motivation of boys were higher than those of girls of the same age. It is confirmed by the statistically relevant relation (t(226)=2,004, p = 0,04). The analysis of research data showed that: achievement motivation of senior schoolchildren decreases with the age; senior schoolchildren’s belief that condition of health depends on contingencies or external influences decreases with the age; senior boys evaluate their health better than girls of the same age; advancement of senior schoolchildren increases with the age. Second hypothesis of probability of relation among achievement motivation, health control ratios and academic advancement in senior grades was not confirmed.

This study examines whether self-esteem and anxiety are related to achievement and aptitude in 28 boys and 20 girls in grades 3 through 6. The influence of 48 mothers' and 42 fathers' self-esteem and anxiety on the child's achievement, aptitude, self-esteem, and anxiety is also assessed. / Main and interaction effects of achievement and aptitude on anxiety are obtained. High achievers have lower anxiety scores than low achievers. Gifted children have higher physiological anxiety than nongifted children. In most cases, gifted low achievers have the highest anxiety scores and gifted high achievers have the lowest. Aptitude and achievement groups do not differ in self-esteem. / Mothers of gifted children report higher total self-esteem than mothers of nongifted children. Fathers of high achievers report higher total self-esteem than fathers of low achievers. Parents do not differ in anxiety. Father total self-esteem is negatively related to anxiety and positively related to self-esteem in boys.

The aim of the study was to gain an understanding of the motivational styles that learners display when engaging in their schoolwork. The study was conducted with 132 grade seven learners at a primary school in KwaZulu-Natal. The five variables examined were extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, attributions, self-efficacy, and self-regulation. Learners had to respond to a self-report questionnaire adapted from The Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire (Ryan and Connell; 1989), and Morgan and Jinks Self-Efficacy Scale (Morgan and Jinks; 1999). Items were related to learner's involvement in classwork, homework, and participation in lessons, and based on the five motivational variables mentioned previously. The Likert Scale with response options of Very True, Sort of True, Not very True, and Not at all True were used. In favourable statements Very True was scored four, Sort of True three, Not very True two, and Not at all True one. The scoring was reversed in the case of reversed coding. Emanating from the study, the findings reveal that learners reported doing their work for fear of punishment, and adherence to rules (extrinsic motivation), value their work (intrinsic motivation), have strong internal attributes (attribution), understand the work (self-efficacy beliefs), and can work on their own to achieve personal goals (self-regulation styles). The implications is that Curriculum 2005 may be having a positive effect in developing learners who are motivated to achieve academically. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

This study examined the factors that impact on positive pupil performance in the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) in the Botha-Bothe district primary schools of Lesotho. Given the pupil performance in Lesotho districts the study aimed to find out what factors lead to high pupil performance in Botha-Bothe district, as well as why some schools in the same district perform better than others, and how low performing schools and school developers can learn from the high performing schools. This study used a descriptive survey research design to collect quantitative and qualitative data from the Ministry of Education District officials, primary school principals and primary school teachers. A descriptive survey design used involved questionnaires interviews, and document analysis to collect data for the study. The research findings in this study revealed that the Ministry of Education Officials, principals and teachers specifically identified the following factors to have positive impact on pupil performance: • A teacher with positive relationships • Effective teaching and learning processes • Purposeful leadership by the principal • The way in which the teacher and pupils interact with each other. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the academic achievement and the need for achievement and the need for affiliation for high school students of Oman. Further investigation was carried out if there was a significant difference in the needs for achievement and affiliation between high G.P.A. students and low G.P.A. students as well as between males and females. A self-rating form of 75 items derived from the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule was used to measure the fifteen needs listed by Duncan Osborne (1963). However, the scores on ten items pertaining to need for achievement and need for affiliation were used in this study. Academic achievement was measured by the scores on school tests from the Interior Province of Oman. The results indicated no significant correlation between the academic achievement and the need for achievement and the need for affiliation. The results also showed no significant difference between high G.P.A. students and low G.P.A. students as well as between males and females on either the need for achievement or affiliation.

This study explored the way women and men achieved and competed in an academic environment. Because of a lack in the literature of a conceptual framework from which to guide an investigation of achievement in the academic domain, an additional purpose of this study was to develop a grounded or data-derived theory of women's and men's achievement striving based upon their self-reported experiences. Results of this study demonstrated that both women and men achieve and that women and men appeared more similar than different in their achievement endeavors. Additionally, the results demonstrated a remarkable degree of variability among participants, suggesting that the desire to achieve is a highly individualistic phenomenon in which gender is only one possible variable that affects how individuals compete and cooperate. Closely associated with this high degree of variability was the observation that participants' perceptions, evaluations, and beliefs about achievement were often associated with situational variables. These situational variables (e.g., different contexts, importance of particular goals, relationship factors, type of preferred competition) had a mediating effect on whether or not participants competed or how they chose to compete. The results suggested that some women and men differed from one another in how they chose to compete according to various situational variables. These three interactive data-generated, theoretical elements (i.e., both women and men compete, achievement involved a high degree of variability, achievement was mediated by situational variables) combined to form a grounded theory known as the Expectancy Theory of Women's and Men's Achievement Striving. This theory suggests that women and men have a great deal in common with one another when striving to achieve, but that there may be some gender differences based upon the expectations about the process of achieving in the world of work. Some of these expectations in which women and men appeared to differ includedwomen's notion that other women were more difficult to compete with than were men. Also, men discussed the expectation that the world was a competitive place and was only going to get more competitive. Finally, both women and men expected that they world achieve the goal of having careers and families in the future, but men expected that they would achieve these goal shortly after they graduated while women expected that they would have to choose between which of these two goal they wanted first (family or career). / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

A quasi-experimental study was implemented to investigate student achievement, time-on-task, and attitude toward microcomputer instruction in relation to the Meyers-Briggs psychological subgroup types of IN, EN, IS, and ES as they interact simultaneously. A pretest-posttest nonrandomized control-group design study comprised of 52 control group subjects and 39 experimental group subjects was carried out during four separate quarters of instruction in a college introductory genetics course during a unit on Mendelian genetics. The control group was instructed with a conventional lecture, discussion, and laboratory method that was based on identified conceptual blocks that are guided by clearly defined learning objectives. The experimental group was taught using the same conceptual blocks and learning objectives, but this group's instruction emphasized the supplementary use of microcomputers to generate genetic cross data with a software program called CATLAB in place of actual fruit fly crosses. Additionally, the experimental group used a microcomputer tutorial programmed by the investigator from a Mendelian genetic programmed instruction book used regularly in the course. This investigator taught both groups throughout the study of Mendelian genetics.Psychological type equivalency between the two groups was established through the use of computer software called the Selection Ratio Type Table PC program (SRTT). No significant differences were identified between the control and experimental group with respect to the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (Form G) testing either in relation to the sixteen main classes or to their subgroupings.A MANOVA statistical analysis was carried out on the data and was performed to test for significant differences between vectors of means for the three dependent measures of time-on-task, posttest achievement, and attitudes toward the instruction given with microcomputers. There was no significant difference between the two treatments toward the instruction given with regard to time-on-task, achievement, and attitude, when considered simultaneously, F(3,72) = 2.58 and p < .06. Further, when the MBTI subgroups of IN, EN, IS, and ES were considered simultaneously in relation to the three dependent measures as vectors of means, no significant differences toward the instruction given were discovered among the types in the treatment samples, F(9,175) = 1.47 and p < .16. / Department of Biology

This qualitative study used a triangulation of survey, conversational interviews, and observations in an authentic setting to explore the phenomenon of reading motivation from the perspectives of a specific group of individuals. Five participants, all African American fifth grade boys qualifying for meal subsidies, gathered in a local youth facility, where they regularly attended as members. The researcher interviewed and observed the boys over the span of three months. Three major themes from the study unveiled the influence of individual interests on reading motivation. This particular group of boys was motivated to read according to measured success and competition, familiarity of topics, and varied selections of reading materials. The study’s findings could potentially influence the gender achievement gap in literacy. / Department of Elementary Education