<p>The
notion of momentum has received significant attention from sports
psychologists. Recently, however, some researchers have introduced it to
educational contexts and developed a psychological momentum perspective toward
academic motivations. Different from other motivation theories, the
psychological momentum theory mainly builds on Newtonian physics. It stresses
the analogy between physical concepts (mass, inertia, and momentum) and
psychological processes. While such a background brings several novel and
appealing insights into academic motivations, as the theory is still new to the
field, more validation work, such as those exploring its convergence and
divergence with other established theories, is needed. Using self-determination
theory as a complementary theory, the current study explored the convergence
between the two theories by examining the association between self-determined
motivations and two states of academic inertia (i.e., low-momentum state
inertia [LMSI] and high momentum state inertia [HMSI]). The study also examined
the two theories’ divergence by investigating how the two states of inertia
predict academic engagement over and above self-determined motivations. </p>
<p>Two
hundred and six undergraduate students from a Midwestern university participated
in this study. Regarding convergence, results provided mixed support for the
hypothesis. No significant association was obtained between HMSI and all
motivations; however, LMSI was negatively associated with intrinsic motivation
and the relatively autonomy index but positively associated with amotivation
(all to a weak-to-moderate extent). Regarding divergence, results demonstrated
that inertia explained a moderate-yet-meaningful amount of variation in
academic engagement, even after self-determined motivations are controlled for.
Taken together, the results suggested the promise of PMT as a motivation
theory. Based on the findings, implications and limitations of the study were
further discussed.<b><br>
</b></p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/14924913 |
| Date | 22 July 2021 |
| Creators | Tao Li (11090310) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/ACADEMIC_INERTIA_SELF-DETERMINED_MOTIVATIONS_AND_ACADEMIC_ENGAGEMENT_A_VALIDATION_OF_PSYCHOLOGICAL_MOMENTUM_THEORY/14924913 |
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