This thesis explores whether components of executive functioning beyond working memory, namely shifting and inhibition, contribute to effects of interpreting difficulty as importance versus impossibility. In two studies, college students were randomly assigned to interpret difficulty as importance, impossibility, or receive no interpretation, and completed measures of shifting (Study 1) and inhibition (Study 2). The studies found no significant differences between conditions on the executive functioning measures, suggesting shifting and inhibition may not underlie interpretation of difficulty effects as hypothesized by working memory. The implications are discussed.
Olivarez - www.nationalforum.com - NATIONAL FORUM JOURNALSWilliam Kritsonis
NATIONAL FORUM JOURNALS (Founded 1982 (www.nationalforum.com) is a group of national and international refereed journals. NFJ publishes articles on colleges, universities and schools; management, business and administration; academic scholarship, multicultural issues; schooling; special education; teaching and learning; counseling and addiction; alcohol and drugs; crime and criminology; disparities in health; risk behaviors; international issues; education; organizational theory and behavior; educational leadership and supervision; action and applied research; teacher education; race, gender, society; public school law; philosophy and history; psychology, sociology, and much more. Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, Editor-in-Chief.
Academic Procrastination: A Review of Research on Theory and PracticeKamden Strunk
This document summarizes research on academic procrastination. It discusses several categories of research: prevalence and correlates, personality factors like perfectionism and neuroticism, biological influences like gender and eveningness, procrastination as a coping mechanism or failure of self-regulation, and whether procrastination can enhance performance. The document also reviews limited research on practices to address procrastination in the classroom, finding that brief instructor interventions and less flexible deadlines may help reduce procrastination. Overall, the document provides an overview of the various theoretical perspectives and empirical findings regarding the causes and consequences of academic procrastination.
The Contributions of Teaching Type and Perceived Task Difficulty on CompetencySasha Albrecht
This study examined the effects of operant conditioning type (positive reinforcement vs positive punishment) and perceived task difficulty (difficult vs easy vs control) on participant competence in a treasure hunting game. A main effect was found for conditioning type, with positive reinforcement resulting in higher competence ratings than positive punishment. However, no main effect was found for perceived difficulty. Contrary to predictions, there was also no significant interaction between conditioning type and perceived difficulty. The competency questionnaire demonstrated good reliability. In summary, how participants were taught affected competence more than perceived difficulty level.
This study examined the effects of spatial skills training on female and minority students. The students were split into two groups - one that received four additional spatial training sessions and one that did not. Both groups improved on spatial tasks from pre-test to post-test, but the training group improved significantly more. The training group also reported greater confidence in their spatial abilities and belief that they could improve, while the comparison group's confidence decreased. Additionally, the training group experienced less anxiety about spatial tasks after training. The results suggest that providing spatial skills training can help improve performance, increase self-efficacy, and reduce anxiety related to STEM fields for women and minorities.
This document discusses staffing decisions for a group project. It lists 12 student names that will work on the project. The document provides the group number and title of "Staffing Decisions".
This document summarizes Abdullah Bismillah's research study into the role of perceived self-efficacy in an academic setting. The study used semi-structured interviews with three female participants aged 18 to explore how self-efficacy impacts students' educational experiences and outcomes. Previous research found self-efficacy beliefs directly influence students' motivation, effort, and academic performance. However, more research was needed to understand students' individual experiences. Bismillah's qualitative study aimed to understand how self-efficacy shaped each participant's journey through the education system from their perspective.
The study examined the effects of locus of control and problem-focused coping on GPA in university students. It found that students with an internal locus of control and those who used problem-focused coping had significantly higher GPAs than students with external locus of control and those who did not use problem-focused coping. However, there was no significant interaction between locus of control and problem-focused coping on GPA.
This document discusses individual differences and their assessment in psychology. It begins with a brief history of the field starting in 1876 with Wundt, who sought to uncover general principles of human behavior. One of his students, James McKeen Cattell, began measuring differences between people using psychological variables, laying the foundation for differential psychology. The document then outlines the basic assumptions made by industrial-organizational psychologists regarding individual differences and their relation to job success. It proceeds to discuss key human attributes assessed, including intelligence, physical and sensory abilities, psychomotor skills, personality, and models like the Big Five personality factors.
Olivarez - www.nationalforum.com - NATIONAL FORUM JOURNALSWilliam Kritsonis
NATIONAL FORUM JOURNALS (Founded 1982 (www.nationalforum.com) is a group of national and international refereed journals. NFJ publishes articles on colleges, universities and schools; management, business and administration; academic scholarship, multicultural issues; schooling; special education; teaching and learning; counseling and addiction; alcohol and drugs; crime and criminology; disparities in health; risk behaviors; international issues; education; organizational theory and behavior; educational leadership and supervision; action and applied research; teacher education; race, gender, society; public school law; philosophy and history; psychology, sociology, and much more. Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, Editor-in-Chief.
Academic Procrastination: A Review of Research on Theory and PracticeKamden Strunk
This document summarizes research on academic procrastination. It discusses several categories of research: prevalence and correlates, personality factors like perfectionism and neuroticism, biological influences like gender and eveningness, procrastination as a coping mechanism or failure of self-regulation, and whether procrastination can enhance performance. The document also reviews limited research on practices to address procrastination in the classroom, finding that brief instructor interventions and less flexible deadlines may help reduce procrastination. Overall, the document provides an overview of the various theoretical perspectives and empirical findings regarding the causes and consequences of academic procrastination.
The Contributions of Teaching Type and Perceived Task Difficulty on CompetencySasha Albrecht
This study examined the effects of operant conditioning type (positive reinforcement vs positive punishment) and perceived task difficulty (difficult vs easy vs control) on participant competence in a treasure hunting game. A main effect was found for conditioning type, with positive reinforcement resulting in higher competence ratings than positive punishment. However, no main effect was found for perceived difficulty. Contrary to predictions, there was also no significant interaction between conditioning type and perceived difficulty. The competency questionnaire demonstrated good reliability. In summary, how participants were taught affected competence more than perceived difficulty level.
This study examined the effects of spatial skills training on female and minority students. The students were split into two groups - one that received four additional spatial training sessions and one that did not. Both groups improved on spatial tasks from pre-test to post-test, but the training group improved significantly more. The training group also reported greater confidence in their spatial abilities and belief that they could improve, while the comparison group's confidence decreased. Additionally, the training group experienced less anxiety about spatial tasks after training. The results suggest that providing spatial skills training can help improve performance, increase self-efficacy, and reduce anxiety related to STEM fields for women and minorities.
This document discusses staffing decisions for a group project. It lists 12 student names that will work on the project. The document provides the group number and title of "Staffing Decisions".
This document summarizes Abdullah Bismillah's research study into the role of perceived self-efficacy in an academic setting. The study used semi-structured interviews with three female participants aged 18 to explore how self-efficacy impacts students' educational experiences and outcomes. Previous research found self-efficacy beliefs directly influence students' motivation, effort, and academic performance. However, more research was needed to understand students' individual experiences. Bismillah's qualitative study aimed to understand how self-efficacy shaped each participant's journey through the education system from their perspective.
The study examined the effects of locus of control and problem-focused coping on GPA in university students. It found that students with an internal locus of control and those who used problem-focused coping had significantly higher GPAs than students with external locus of control and those who did not use problem-focused coping. However, there was no significant interaction between locus of control and problem-focused coping on GPA.
This document discusses individual differences and their assessment in psychology. It begins with a brief history of the field starting in 1876 with Wundt, who sought to uncover general principles of human behavior. One of his students, James McKeen Cattell, began measuring differences between people using psychological variables, laying the foundation for differential psychology. The document then outlines the basic assumptions made by industrial-organizational psychologists regarding individual differences and their relation to job success. It proceeds to discuss key human attributes assessed, including intelligence, physical and sensory abilities, psychomotor skills, personality, and models like the Big Five personality factors.
Working Memory Load Modulation of Attentional Processes in Visual Search
The document summarizes research on how working memory load affects attentional processes during visual search tasks. Four experiments were conducted that varied the conditions of the memory and visual search tasks. The results showed that when items stored in working memory matched the target in the visual search task, there was a beneficial effect of high memory loads through more efficient searching. However, when items in working memory matched distractors in the visual search task, memory load did not modulate search efficiency. The document aimed to better understand the modulating factors between working memory and visual attention.
The study examined how academic stress and job pressure influence perceptions of cheating. Participants read scenarios describing a student, Jim, experiencing different levels of academic stress and job pressure. Those who read the high stress scenario rated Jim as more likely to cheat and perceived cheating as more morally justified. While academic stress influenced these perceptions, job pressure did not. The results suggest that academic stress can neutralize attitudes against cheating. More research is needed to better understand how students perceive and experience academic and job stress.
Comparison o f self beliefs for predicting student achievementDiana Delgado
This document examines the predictive relationships between self-concept, self-efficacy, and self-esteem on student motivation and achievement. The study compared these relationships for elementary and middle school students in Korea across mathematics and language arts. Consistent with previous research, domain-specific self-beliefs like self-efficacy and self-concept were better predictors of motivation (task value) and achievement than general self-esteem. Task value and test anxiety were found to mediate the relationship between self-efficacy and achievement. These domain-specific relationships tended to be stronger for middle school students and in mathematics.
Relational Assessment between Teacher's Implicit Theories, Rating Judgments a...AJHSSR Journal
In the context of the complementary roles (teacher-student), the teacher's implicit theories
interfere and form the educational relationship, direct the categorization, the resulting expectations and the
behaviors of the interacting persons, thus obstructing or facilitating the learning process. The aim of the present
study is to outline aspects of the teachers' implicit theories and discuss whether they can be altered, emphasizing
on the emergence of the imaginary element relying on student assessment. In order to achieve the aim above, a
meta-analysis of a series of four researches is carried out examining the ways that the implicit theories of
teachers are linked to the assessment judgments and the consequent expectations for student assessment.
This article introduces the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) as a tool for assessing psychosocial job characteristics. Part I describes the development and theoretical basis of the JCQ scales, which measure job demands, decision latitude, social support, physical demands, and job insecurity. These scales assess the job strain model and its predictions about stress risk and behavioral responses under conditions of high psychological demands and low decision control. Part II reports on the cross-national validity of the JCQ scales based on studies of over 10,000 men and 6,000 women across multiple countries. Part III reviews comparisons of intercountry and interoccupation differences in JCQ scale scores.
Effect of Perceived Goal Difficulty, Perceived Exercise Exertion and Sub-Goal...Meenakshi Singh
This study examined the effects of sub-goals on motor task performance, and the relationship between perceived goal difficulty and perceived exercise exertion. 40 college students performed sit-ups over 6 weeks with sub-goals set at 20%, 40%, and 60% improvements from their baseline over 2 week periods. 24 subjects completed the study. Results showed significant improvements in sit-up performance over time, with 61% of participants achieving their 60% improvement goal within 4 weeks. Perceived goal difficulty and perceived exercise exertion both decreased significantly over time. A positive correlation was found between perceived goal difficulty and perceived exercise exertion. The results support that setting sub-goals can improve motor task performance and that perceived goal difficulty reflects the effort required to achieve
Relationship of Demographic Variables and Job Satisfaction among Married WomenIJLT EMAS
The purpose of this study was to study the relationship
between job satisfaction and demographic variables among
married women who are working in academics. The research
was descriptive and survey study. In this study, women working
in technical educational Institutes, from Indore were studied. for
this 300 working women(N=300) were chosen as per their work
in the Institutes, teaching or Non-teaching. A socio- demographic
questionnaire were used for the purpose. The findings revealed
that on the basis of the age and qualification , there is no relation
between factors studied (work environment, job security, roles &
responsibility etc.) and job satisfaction and on the basis of
designation, income and experience, researcher found the
relation between factors studied (work environment, job
security, roles & responsibility etc.) and job satisfaction.
Assessment of Self Concept among Intermediate Students of A. P. Model Schoolsiosrjce
The main purpose of this study was to assess the Self Concept among Intermediate students of A.P.
Model Schools. In this study, Normative Survey Method was adopted. The participants of the study were 200
Intermediate II year students of ten A.P. Model Schools , Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India in 2014-2015
session. The researchers used Self Concept checklist developed by N. Venkataramana (1976). Its validity and
reliability has been well established. Data was analyzed using Descriptive Statistics and Differential Analysis
(t-test). The findings revealed that the subgroups of Intermediate students did not show any significant
difference in the five dimensions of Self Concept. Among the five dimensions, the first three are negative
dimensions and last two are positive dimensions. A negative relationship was found between the first three
dimensions and subgroups where as a positive relationship was found between the last two dimensions and
subgroups. Based on the findings, suggestions were made that same study may be extended to A.P. Model
Schools of 13 Districts of Andhra Pradesh, other Junior colleges, Degree colleges, PG colleges, Engineering
and Medical colleges etc. Different other variables like management, locality, birth order, caste, educational
status of father, educational status of mother, size of family etc. can be included.
This document contains a student's honesty declaration for an assignment submitted for an Advanced Research Methods course. The student declares that the assignment is their original work and where they have used other writers' ideas or visuals, they have properly referenced them. The student also acknowledges reading the university's code of conduct regarding honesty in submitting coursework. The student signs and dates the declaration.
Poster The impact of managerial style on task performance considering nature ...clase5pt09
This study experimentally evaluated the effects of managerial styles (X and Y theory) on task performance considering task nature (manual vs cognitive) and individual motivation.
Hypothesis 1 predicted that X-motivated individuals would perform better under X-style management, and vice versa. Hypothesis 2 predicted this effect would be greater for manual than cognitive tasks. Hypothesis 3 predicted more social loafing under Y-style than X-style management.
The study used a 3x2 quasi-experimental design with 12 participants completing history questions and puzzles under X-style and Y-style supervision, both with and without motivation. Results found no significant differences in performance based on management style or task type. However,
Impact of cognitive and decision making style on resilience an exploratory studyAlexander Decker
This document summarizes a research study that examined the relationship between cognitive styles, decision-making styles, and resilience among 152 students from the University of Gujrat in Pakistan. The study found that resilience had a positive correlation with cognitive style but no relationship with decision-making style. Specifically, systematic and intuitive cognitive styles showed a positive correlation with resilience. Finally, cognitive styles were found to have a significant influence on resilience.
This study examined the relationship between different domains of self-efficacy (academic, work, and family) and overall well-being. It surveyed 86 college students and 32 full-time workers. The study found:
1) Academic and family self-efficacy significantly predicted well-being, while work self-efficacy did not.
2) There was no overall moderating effect between domains.
3) However, academic self-efficacy significantly predicted well-being when family and work self-efficacy were low. And family self-efficacy significantly predicted well-being when academic and work self-efficacy were high.
4) In general, the study found people can have
This study examined the effects of social anxiety and gender on performance on a theory of mind task. The study hypothesized that social anxiety would negatively impact performance, especially for those with instructors of the opposite gender. A test was given to 48 college students, with half receiving an anxiety manipulation. Results found no significant main effects of anxiety or gender match on scores. There was also no significant interaction between anxiety and gender. The hypotheses were not supported, as social anxiety and gender of the instructor did not impact theory of mind task performance.
Formative assessment and contingency in the regulation of learning processes ...Iris Medrano
This document discusses the origins and definitions of formative assessment. It begins by exploring different perspectives on the relationship between instruction and learning. It then reviews the origins of formative assessment, tracing it back to Michael Scriven in 1967 and Benjamin Bloom in 1969. The document examines debates around defining formative assessment, looking at perspectives from Black and Wiliam, Sadler, the Assessment Reform Group, and others. It proposes a definition of formative assessment as any assessment that is used to make decisions about next steps in instruction that are likely to improve learning outcomes compared to decisions made without the assessment evidence.
Integrative Approach to Work Psychology and The Integration of Multi Criteria...H.Tezcan Uysal
Abstract
The purpose of this study is analysing the work psychology through a holistic view, so
determining the right choice to designate a strategic management move through multi criteria
decision making method, by performing positive and negative work psychology analysis. In the
study, 221 the positive and negative work psychologies perception oriented to employees were
determined through survey method. The data were processed through correlation and regression
methods and a new set of information was obtained for ELECTRE analysis, a multi criteria
decision making method. Thus, the cycle of ELECTRE analysis was provided by using positive
work psychology outputs as alternative, and negative psychology outputs as criteria. In the result
of the analyses related to the work psychologies of employees, a reasonably significant relation
was determined between the outputs of positive and negative work psychologies. However, this
could not set forth which was the action plan to be implemented by managers. This problem was
solved through ELECTRE analysis. In the result of the ELECTRE analysis performed, it was
determined that, among the outputs of positive work psychology, “job satisfaction” was the most
dominant output to enhance the work psychology.
1) The study examined whether exerting physical effort to move an object on a computer screen using a "slow" mouse would generate negative valence toward ambient images, making them less liked.
2) In the effortful condition, participants dragged an image across the screen using a slow mouse requiring more corrections, while in the easy condition they used a normal mouse. They then rated how much they liked presented images.
3) The study found that participants liked the images less in the effortful condition compared to the easy condition, supporting the hypothesis that physical effort generates negative valence that influences liking of unrelated stimuli.
1. The document analyzes the impact of locus of control and sex on stress levels of male and female teachers.
2. It finds that teachers with an internal locus of control experienced significantly less stress than those with an external locus of control, suggesting locus of control affects teacher stress.
3. Female teachers reported significantly higher stress levels than male teachers, indicating sex is also a factor influencing teacher stress.
4. However, there was no significant interaction found between a teacher's locus of control and their sex, meaning a teacher's stress level is not compounded or mitigated based on a combined effect of these variables.
Demographic Factors and Job Satisfaction: A Case of Teachers in Public Primar...Reuben Chirchir
Abstract
The success of any school depends among others on the social capital including teachers, students, parents and
other stakeholders who support the business of imparting knowledge. Satisfied and committed teachers impacts
both on individual student performance and general academic standards of the school. The study explored job
satisfaction among primary school teachers in relation to certain demographic variables. The objective of this
study was therefore to examine the influence of demographic factors on job satisfaction of teachers in public
primary schools in Bomet County, Kenya. This was done by conducting a survey using a self-administered
questionnaire. A total of 848 teachers in 129 primary schools participated in the study. Descriptive and
Inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The overall finding was that teachers were ambivalent on job
satisfaction, meaning that they were not sure whether they are satisfied with their jobs. However, teachers were
satisfied with their colleague co-teachers and happy when assigned administrative duties. Teachers were more
satisfied when authority is delegated to them. It is evident that school leadership need to improve on in ways of
supervision, systems of reward, ways of communication and working conditions. It was further established that
there was significant differences in the level satisfaction of male and female teachers for satisfaction with
administrative duties (t = 2.645) and satisfaction with teaching (t= 2.448). It was also found that male teachers
are more satisfied with administrative duties (m=3.2; s.d. = 1.05) than female teachers (m=2.91; s.d.= 1.18).
Similarly, male teaches are more satisfied with teaching (m= 2.6; s.d.= 0.70) than female teachers (m= 2.5; s.d. =
0.79). This implies that female teachers are not keen on taking up additional administrative duties in the school.
Overall, there was no significant difference between the levels of job satisfaction between male and female
teachers. On the other hand, it was found that job satisfaction was positively correlated with the ‘age of
respondent’ (r= 0.092; p<0.01)><0.05).
This study aims to investigate the match or mismatch between students' perceived understanding and actual understanding when engaging in self-assessment activities. Specifically, it will examine 29 high-achieving science students in England to see if their perceptions of their understanding match their test performance, and whether self-efficacy influences their perceptions. A case study methodology is used, involving tests, confidence ratings, questionnaires, and interviews to analyze students' understanding and the relationship between self-efficacy and perceived understanding.
The document discusses a quantitative research proposal on the effects of different teaching styles and classroom environments on student attitudes. It summarizes previous research on types of feedback, operant conditioning, attribution theory, and goal-setting theory. The proposal aims to investigate how primarily negative or positive feedback impacts student hostility and positivity in a college classroom setting. It puts forth two hypotheses: that negative feedback will be most effective, and that negative feedback will be most effective.
Working Memory Load Modulation of Attentional Processes in Visual Search
The document summarizes research on how working memory load affects attentional processes during visual search tasks. Four experiments were conducted that varied the conditions of the memory and visual search tasks. The results showed that when items stored in working memory matched the target in the visual search task, there was a beneficial effect of high memory loads through more efficient searching. However, when items in working memory matched distractors in the visual search task, memory load did not modulate search efficiency. The document aimed to better understand the modulating factors between working memory and visual attention.
The study examined how academic stress and job pressure influence perceptions of cheating. Participants read scenarios describing a student, Jim, experiencing different levels of academic stress and job pressure. Those who read the high stress scenario rated Jim as more likely to cheat and perceived cheating as more morally justified. While academic stress influenced these perceptions, job pressure did not. The results suggest that academic stress can neutralize attitudes against cheating. More research is needed to better understand how students perceive and experience academic and job stress.
Comparison o f self beliefs for predicting student achievementDiana Delgado
This document examines the predictive relationships between self-concept, self-efficacy, and self-esteem on student motivation and achievement. The study compared these relationships for elementary and middle school students in Korea across mathematics and language arts. Consistent with previous research, domain-specific self-beliefs like self-efficacy and self-concept were better predictors of motivation (task value) and achievement than general self-esteem. Task value and test anxiety were found to mediate the relationship between self-efficacy and achievement. These domain-specific relationships tended to be stronger for middle school students and in mathematics.
Relational Assessment between Teacher's Implicit Theories, Rating Judgments a...AJHSSR Journal
In the context of the complementary roles (teacher-student), the teacher's implicit theories
interfere and form the educational relationship, direct the categorization, the resulting expectations and the
behaviors of the interacting persons, thus obstructing or facilitating the learning process. The aim of the present
study is to outline aspects of the teachers' implicit theories and discuss whether they can be altered, emphasizing
on the emergence of the imaginary element relying on student assessment. In order to achieve the aim above, a
meta-analysis of a series of four researches is carried out examining the ways that the implicit theories of
teachers are linked to the assessment judgments and the consequent expectations for student assessment.
This article introduces the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) as a tool for assessing psychosocial job characteristics. Part I describes the development and theoretical basis of the JCQ scales, which measure job demands, decision latitude, social support, physical demands, and job insecurity. These scales assess the job strain model and its predictions about stress risk and behavioral responses under conditions of high psychological demands and low decision control. Part II reports on the cross-national validity of the JCQ scales based on studies of over 10,000 men and 6,000 women across multiple countries. Part III reviews comparisons of intercountry and interoccupation differences in JCQ scale scores.
Effect of Perceived Goal Difficulty, Perceived Exercise Exertion and Sub-Goal...Meenakshi Singh
This study examined the effects of sub-goals on motor task performance, and the relationship between perceived goal difficulty and perceived exercise exertion. 40 college students performed sit-ups over 6 weeks with sub-goals set at 20%, 40%, and 60% improvements from their baseline over 2 week periods. 24 subjects completed the study. Results showed significant improvements in sit-up performance over time, with 61% of participants achieving their 60% improvement goal within 4 weeks. Perceived goal difficulty and perceived exercise exertion both decreased significantly over time. A positive correlation was found between perceived goal difficulty and perceived exercise exertion. The results support that setting sub-goals can improve motor task performance and that perceived goal difficulty reflects the effort required to achieve
Relationship of Demographic Variables and Job Satisfaction among Married WomenIJLT EMAS
The purpose of this study was to study the relationship
between job satisfaction and demographic variables among
married women who are working in academics. The research
was descriptive and survey study. In this study, women working
in technical educational Institutes, from Indore were studied. for
this 300 working women(N=300) were chosen as per their work
in the Institutes, teaching or Non-teaching. A socio- demographic
questionnaire were used for the purpose. The findings revealed
that on the basis of the age and qualification , there is no relation
between factors studied (work environment, job security, roles &
responsibility etc.) and job satisfaction and on the basis of
designation, income and experience, researcher found the
relation between factors studied (work environment, job
security, roles & responsibility etc.) and job satisfaction.
Assessment of Self Concept among Intermediate Students of A. P. Model Schoolsiosrjce
The main purpose of this study was to assess the Self Concept among Intermediate students of A.P.
Model Schools. In this study, Normative Survey Method was adopted. The participants of the study were 200
Intermediate II year students of ten A.P. Model Schools , Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India in 2014-2015
session. The researchers used Self Concept checklist developed by N. Venkataramana (1976). Its validity and
reliability has been well established. Data was analyzed using Descriptive Statistics and Differential Analysis
(t-test). The findings revealed that the subgroups of Intermediate students did not show any significant
difference in the five dimensions of Self Concept. Among the five dimensions, the first three are negative
dimensions and last two are positive dimensions. A negative relationship was found between the first three
dimensions and subgroups where as a positive relationship was found between the last two dimensions and
subgroups. Based on the findings, suggestions were made that same study may be extended to A.P. Model
Schools of 13 Districts of Andhra Pradesh, other Junior colleges, Degree colleges, PG colleges, Engineering
and Medical colleges etc. Different other variables like management, locality, birth order, caste, educational
status of father, educational status of mother, size of family etc. can be included.
This document contains a student's honesty declaration for an assignment submitted for an Advanced Research Methods course. The student declares that the assignment is their original work and where they have used other writers' ideas or visuals, they have properly referenced them. The student also acknowledges reading the university's code of conduct regarding honesty in submitting coursework. The student signs and dates the declaration.
Poster The impact of managerial style on task performance considering nature ...clase5pt09
This study experimentally evaluated the effects of managerial styles (X and Y theory) on task performance considering task nature (manual vs cognitive) and individual motivation.
Hypothesis 1 predicted that X-motivated individuals would perform better under X-style management, and vice versa. Hypothesis 2 predicted this effect would be greater for manual than cognitive tasks. Hypothesis 3 predicted more social loafing under Y-style than X-style management.
The study used a 3x2 quasi-experimental design with 12 participants completing history questions and puzzles under X-style and Y-style supervision, both with and without motivation. Results found no significant differences in performance based on management style or task type. However,
Impact of cognitive and decision making style on resilience an exploratory studyAlexander Decker
This document summarizes a research study that examined the relationship between cognitive styles, decision-making styles, and resilience among 152 students from the University of Gujrat in Pakistan. The study found that resilience had a positive correlation with cognitive style but no relationship with decision-making style. Specifically, systematic and intuitive cognitive styles showed a positive correlation with resilience. Finally, cognitive styles were found to have a significant influence on resilience.
This study examined the relationship between different domains of self-efficacy (academic, work, and family) and overall well-being. It surveyed 86 college students and 32 full-time workers. The study found:
1) Academic and family self-efficacy significantly predicted well-being, while work self-efficacy did not.
2) There was no overall moderating effect between domains.
3) However, academic self-efficacy significantly predicted well-being when family and work self-efficacy were low. And family self-efficacy significantly predicted well-being when academic and work self-efficacy were high.
4) In general, the study found people can have
This study examined the effects of social anxiety and gender on performance on a theory of mind task. The study hypothesized that social anxiety would negatively impact performance, especially for those with instructors of the opposite gender. A test was given to 48 college students, with half receiving an anxiety manipulation. Results found no significant main effects of anxiety or gender match on scores. There was also no significant interaction between anxiety and gender. The hypotheses were not supported, as social anxiety and gender of the instructor did not impact theory of mind task performance.
Formative assessment and contingency in the regulation of learning processes ...Iris Medrano
This document discusses the origins and definitions of formative assessment. It begins by exploring different perspectives on the relationship between instruction and learning. It then reviews the origins of formative assessment, tracing it back to Michael Scriven in 1967 and Benjamin Bloom in 1969. The document examines debates around defining formative assessment, looking at perspectives from Black and Wiliam, Sadler, the Assessment Reform Group, and others. It proposes a definition of formative assessment as any assessment that is used to make decisions about next steps in instruction that are likely to improve learning outcomes compared to decisions made without the assessment evidence.
Integrative Approach to Work Psychology and The Integration of Multi Criteria...H.Tezcan Uysal
Abstract
The purpose of this study is analysing the work psychology through a holistic view, so
determining the right choice to designate a strategic management move through multi criteria
decision making method, by performing positive and negative work psychology analysis. In the
study, 221 the positive and negative work psychologies perception oriented to employees were
determined through survey method. The data were processed through correlation and regression
methods and a new set of information was obtained for ELECTRE analysis, a multi criteria
decision making method. Thus, the cycle of ELECTRE analysis was provided by using positive
work psychology outputs as alternative, and negative psychology outputs as criteria. In the result
of the analyses related to the work psychologies of employees, a reasonably significant relation
was determined between the outputs of positive and negative work psychologies. However, this
could not set forth which was the action plan to be implemented by managers. This problem was
solved through ELECTRE analysis. In the result of the ELECTRE analysis performed, it was
determined that, among the outputs of positive work psychology, “job satisfaction” was the most
dominant output to enhance the work psychology.
1) The study examined whether exerting physical effort to move an object on a computer screen using a "slow" mouse would generate negative valence toward ambient images, making them less liked.
2) In the effortful condition, participants dragged an image across the screen using a slow mouse requiring more corrections, while in the easy condition they used a normal mouse. They then rated how much they liked presented images.
3) The study found that participants liked the images less in the effortful condition compared to the easy condition, supporting the hypothesis that physical effort generates negative valence that influences liking of unrelated stimuli.
1. The document analyzes the impact of locus of control and sex on stress levels of male and female teachers.
2. It finds that teachers with an internal locus of control experienced significantly less stress than those with an external locus of control, suggesting locus of control affects teacher stress.
3. Female teachers reported significantly higher stress levels than male teachers, indicating sex is also a factor influencing teacher stress.
4. However, there was no significant interaction found between a teacher's locus of control and their sex, meaning a teacher's stress level is not compounded or mitigated based on a combined effect of these variables.
Demographic Factors and Job Satisfaction: A Case of Teachers in Public Primar...Reuben Chirchir
Abstract
The success of any school depends among others on the social capital including teachers, students, parents and
other stakeholders who support the business of imparting knowledge. Satisfied and committed teachers impacts
both on individual student performance and general academic standards of the school. The study explored job
satisfaction among primary school teachers in relation to certain demographic variables. The objective of this
study was therefore to examine the influence of demographic factors on job satisfaction of teachers in public
primary schools in Bomet County, Kenya. This was done by conducting a survey using a self-administered
questionnaire. A total of 848 teachers in 129 primary schools participated in the study. Descriptive and
Inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The overall finding was that teachers were ambivalent on job
satisfaction, meaning that they were not sure whether they are satisfied with their jobs. However, teachers were
satisfied with their colleague co-teachers and happy when assigned administrative duties. Teachers were more
satisfied when authority is delegated to them. It is evident that school leadership need to improve on in ways of
supervision, systems of reward, ways of communication and working conditions. It was further established that
there was significant differences in the level satisfaction of male and female teachers for satisfaction with
administrative duties (t = 2.645) and satisfaction with teaching (t= 2.448). It was also found that male teachers
are more satisfied with administrative duties (m=3.2; s.d. = 1.05) than female teachers (m=2.91; s.d.= 1.18).
Similarly, male teaches are more satisfied with teaching (m= 2.6; s.d.= 0.70) than female teachers (m= 2.5; s.d. =
0.79). This implies that female teachers are not keen on taking up additional administrative duties in the school.
Overall, there was no significant difference between the levels of job satisfaction between male and female
teachers. On the other hand, it was found that job satisfaction was positively correlated with the ‘age of
respondent’ (r= 0.092; p<0.01)><0.05).
This study aims to investigate the match or mismatch between students' perceived understanding and actual understanding when engaging in self-assessment activities. Specifically, it will examine 29 high-achieving science students in England to see if their perceptions of their understanding match their test performance, and whether self-efficacy influences their perceptions. A case study methodology is used, involving tests, confidence ratings, questionnaires, and interviews to analyze students' understanding and the relationship between self-efficacy and perceived understanding.
The document discusses a quantitative research proposal on the effects of different teaching styles and classroom environments on student attitudes. It summarizes previous research on types of feedback, operant conditioning, attribution theory, and goal-setting theory. The proposal aims to investigate how primarily negative or positive feedback impacts student hostility and positivity in a college classroom setting. It puts forth two hypotheses: that negative feedback will be most effective, and that negative feedback will be most effective.
This thesis examines how the gender composition of a group affects attributions made about the group's success or failure on a task. The study had participants complete a male-typed task in virtual groups that varied in gender composition (male-dominant vs. female-dominant). Participants were told their group either succeeded or failed and then evaluated the cause of the outcome. The study aimed to see if attributions differed based on the interaction of gender composition and performance feedback, and how this impacted domain-specific self-esteem. Previous research found gender biases in individual attributions and that more female groups were rated as less competent, so the study explored if these effects extended to group-level attributions and self-perceptions.
This document provides a summary of Kamden K. Strunk's research on motivation, equity, and measurement in education. It outlines Strunk's work in three main areas: motivation research on expectancy-value theory and achievement goals; procrastination and motivation; and equity research focusing on race, ethnicity, and LGBTQ students in education. In motivation research, Strunk has examined factors like expectancy-value, achievement goals, procrastination, and a new 2x2 model of time-related academic behavior. Equity research includes studies on American Indian STEM education, race and ethnicity in Southern US education, and quantitative work on climate for LGBTQ students. Ongoing and future work is focused on understanding how context influences
BABAKHANYAN ARTHUR.Task Performance and Social Anxiety.Arthur Babakhanyan
The document describes a study that examined the relationship between social anxiety and task performance on math and reading comprehension tests among 64 college students. The study found that gender had a significant main effect on math performance, with males scoring higher than females, but social anxiety did not have a significant main effect on performance. Several demographic variables like gender, parents' education level, and ethnicity were found to correlate with math performance scores.
Converging Evidence That Stereotype Threat ReducesWorking Me.docxmaxinesmith73660
The three experiments tested whether stereotype threat reduces working memory capacity. In Experiment 1, priming negative gender stereotypes reduced women's working memory capacity. Experiment 2 found that priming negative stereotypes about Latinos also reduced their working memory capacity. Experiment 3 revealed that the reduction in working memory capacity mediated the effect of stereotype threat on women's math performance. The results provide evidence that stereotype threat interferes with test performance by reducing individuals' working memory capacity.
This document presents a research study investigating how learning goal orientation leads to employee vitality, and how this relationship is moderated by workload and autonomy. The study aims to establish the positive relationship between employee learning goal orientation and vitality. It also aims to demonstrate how this relationship is strengthened or weakened depending on an employee's level of autonomy and workload. The document provides background on key concepts like learning goal orientation, vitality, autonomy, and workload based on prior literature. It proposes hypotheses that learning goal orientation will positively relate to vitality, and that this relationship will be moderated non-linearly by autonomy and workload.
Academic Procrastination In Higher EducationNicole Adams
This study examined the relationships between emotional intelligence, academic self-efficacy, academic procrastination, and GPA among 287 college students. The researchers hypothesized that academic self-efficacy would mediate the relationships between emotional intelligence and both academic procrastination and GPA. Structural equation modeling results supported this, indicating that emotional intelligence had an indirect negative effect on academic procrastination and an indirect positive effect on GPA, through its influence on academic self-efficacy. The findings suggest that emotional intelligence may impact academic outcomes by influencing students' beliefs in their own academic capabilities.
1) Previous research suggests learning in probabilistic category tasks is intact in amnesia, implying separate implicit and explicit memory systems. However, the evidence is weak as most studies only analyzed early performance and neglected the learning process.
2) This study analyzes the learning process through trial-by-trial modeling and examines both implicit response strategies and explicit knowledge of the task structure.
3) The goals are to provide a more sensitive analysis of differences between amnesic and normal participants, and to test predictions of multiple memory system accounts versus single system accounts.
Influential Determinants of Capacity Building to Cope With Stress among Unive...iosrjce
This study is a survey to find out the influential determinants of capacity building to cope with stress
among university students. Descriptive survey research design was employed for the study while self-structured
modified questionnaire was used to elicit information from the respondents. A total of nine hundred and five
(905) respondents participated in the study forming the sample size for the study. The statistical tools used for
the study includes; percentage counts, frequency, mean, regression analysis, spearman rank andMann-Whitney
U test. The statistical results of the multiple regression analysis showed that the predictors (age, sex, religion,
college, family financial status and academic performance) had 92% (adjR
2=.092, F(7,896)=14.02, P=.000,
P<0.05) joint contribution in the dependent variable (perceived ability to cope with stress). The linear
regression analysis showed that only age (β=-.112, p=.001), sex (β=.124, p=.000), religion (β=.084, p=.009),
college (β=-.088, p=.007) and academic performance (β=.249, p=.000) had significant relative contribution to
the dependent variable.The Mann-Whitney U results showed that there is significant difference in the perceived
ability to cope with stress between both male and female (H=84552, Z=-3.78, p=.000). The result of the
findings revealed that age, sex, religion, college of study, academic performance could significantly predict
perceived ability to cope with stress.And also showed that the way male and female perceived their abilities to
cope with stress differ
The relationship of_university_students_sleep_habits_and_academi[1]Ryrinn Azman
This document summarizes a research study that examined the relationship between college students' sleep habits and factors related to their academic motivation. The study found that 42% of students experienced excessive daytime sleepiness. Students with excessive daytime sleepiness tended to be motivated more by a desire to look competent rather than a desire to learn, engaged in more procrastination, and had lower self-efficacy than students who were well-rested. The findings suggest that lack of sleep can negatively impact factors like goal-orientation and self-regulation that are important predictors of academic performance.
College of Doctoral StudiesExpanded Comparison.docxjoyjonna282
College of Doctoral Studies
Expanded Comparison Matrix
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Title/Author(s)
Individual and Situational Predictors of Workplace Bullying: Why Do Perpetrators Engage in Bullying of Others?
Hauge, Skogstad, & Einarsen, (2009)
Does Trait Anger, Trait Anxiety or Organizational Position Moderate the Relationship Between Exposure to Negative Acts and Self-Labeling as a Victim of Workplace Bullying?
Vie & Einarsenm, (2010)
Developmental stage of performance in reasoning about school bullying.
Joaquim, (2014)
Persistent GCU library link
http://web.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=2c49d06c-c95e-48b4-aeaa-8eecbf8a7e59%40sessionmgr113&vid=10&hid=123
http://web.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/ehost/detail?vid=21&hid=123&sid=2c49d06c-c95e-48b4-aeaa-8eecbf8a7e59%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=psyh&AN=2010-22566-006
http://library.gcu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=97347305&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Purpose of the study
What is the author’s rationale for selecting this topic? Does he build a strong case?
The purpose of the study is to examine why perpetrators bully co-workers.
The assumption has been that stressful workplace conditions lead to bullying. Less research has been devoted to why perpetrators engage in bullying. This study addresses a gap in the literature by exploring individual and situational variables that contribute to bullying in the workplace.
Yes, the researchers provide a strong justification for their research, identifying what has been studied and what needs to be studied (a gap in the literature).
The aim of this study was to examine whether the relationship between exposure to negative acts and self-labeling as a victim of bullying was moderated by trait anger and trait anxiety or by the target’s organizational position.
The assumption has been that self-labeling does not bare a relationship with anger, anxiety or position. Previous research has been conducted to prove that the above factors are directly correlated with the study. This study is to be used as a conjecture to previous studies.
The research somewhat builds a strong justification for their research. Their main goal was to disprove a method that has been justified in the past.
The purpose of the study is to determine, at what cognitive developmental stages ) do urban
High school and middle school students reason about bullying.
The assumption being that students are between primary and formal cognitive developmental stages.
Which level of cognition plays a role in school bullying.
Research Question(s)
What question(s) does the author present?
What individual and situational variables predict bullying of others in the workplace?
Specifically, they administered a survey asking respondents to indicate whether they had exposed others to bullying in their workplace during t ...
The document summarizes research on the influences of stress appraisals and coping on individual well-being and academic performance. It discusses transactional models of stress and different sources and types of stress appraisals, including stress as a hassle versus an uplift. The study examined how sources of stress, coping resources, and outcomes like psychological distress, anxiety levels, and academic performance are related based on questionnaires completed by 118 first-year undergraduate students. Results found relationships between stress appraisals, coping strategies, and outcomes, with implications for improving student well-being and performance through stress management training.
This document summarizes an ongoing study to develop an instrument to measure problem-solving dispositions. Specifically, it aims to measure impulsive disposition, which refers to spontaneously acting without analyzing a problem, and analytic disposition, which refers to tendency to analyze problems. The researchers administered a survey with likelihood-to-act items to 318 college students and found the items were reliable. However, the instrument still needs improvement. The document provides theoretical background on impulsive disposition and discusses using surveys to quantify cognitive constructs.
This document is a thesis submitted by Elizabeth Jenkins to Howard University examining the effect of confidence in past performance on future performance. It provides background on underrepresentation of minorities in STEM fields and research showing stereotype threat and validation can negatively impact performance. The study hypothesized that high confidence in strong past performance would predict better future performance, while high confidence in poor past performance would predict worse future performance. 147 Black undergraduate students completed 2 math tests, evaluating their first performance and confidence. Results found high confidence in strong performance predicted better second test scores, while high confidence in poor performance predicted worse scores, supporting the hypothesis.
Perfectionism As A Multidimensional Personality...Camella Taylor
The San Diego Quick Assessment is a brief reading assessment tool used by middle school teachers to evaluate the reading levels of over 100 students. It provides a faster alternative to more extensive assessments. The assessment involves having students read one-minute passages and answer multiple-choice questions about the passage. Scores are used to determine independent, instructional, and frustration reading levels for students. The brief nature of the assessment allows teachers to evaluate many students in a short period of time to inform reading instruction.
Academic performance mapping traits of engineering studentsAlexander Decker
This study examined the relationship between personality type and academic performance in 272 engineering students in India. Students completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to assess their personality type, and their academic records provided their performance levels. The MBTI classified students into Thinking-Sensing (TS) and Feeling-Intuitive (FI) types. Results showed that TS students had significantly better academic performance and adjustment than FI students, suggesting personality type matching to an engineering course impacts success. No differences were found in mental ability between the types. This research contributes to understanding how non-cognitive factors like personality influence academic outcomes.
This document discusses barriers to the promotion of women teachers and the impact on their job satisfaction and attitudes towards work. It begins by introducing the topic and noting traditional beliefs that have prevented women from being seen as leaders. It then discusses intrinsic and extrinsic barriers that can hinder women's professional advancement. The objective and significance of studying this issue is presented. The research problem, hypotheses, scope, conceptual framework and literature review are also summarized. The methodology section outlines the research design, subjects, instruments, data collection procedures and statistical analysis that will be used in the study.
1. Need all 3 article read and compared answering the questions I .docxjackiewalcutt
1. Need all 3 article read and compared answering the questions I have left blank Please expound on article 2 & 3 on every question just incase. Document name is
psy801.v10r.expandedcomparisonmatrix_student_1.docx
Use Article1
Use Article 2
Use Article 3
2. Need a 1500 word paper written (instructions below)
Comparing all 3 articles I HAVE CHOSEN and answering the questions below.
Your comparisons should answer the following questions:
a) In which study(ies) are the themes of the literature review similar? Different?
b) Who (if any) are the authors that you see in common to the literature review of all three studies?
c) In which study(ies) does the data appear to support the conclusion?
d) In which study(ies) does the conclusion answer the research question?
e) What questions would you ask the author(s)?
College of Doctoral Studies
Expanded Comparison Matrix
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Title/Author(s)
Individual and Situational Predictors of Workplace Bullying: Why Do Perpetrators Engage in Bullying of Others?
Hauge, Skogstad, & Einarsen, (2009)
Does Trait Anger, Trait Anxiety or Organizational Position Moderate the Relationship Between Exposure to Negative Acts and Self-Labeling as a Victim of Workplace Bullying?
Vie & Einarsenm, (2010)
Developmental stage of performance in reasoning about school bullying.
Joaquim, (2014)
Persistent GCU library link
http://web.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=2c49d06c-c95e-48b4-aeaa-8eecbf8a7e59%40sessionmgr113&vid=10&hid=123
http://web.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/ehost/detail?vid=21&hid=123&sid=2c49d06c-c95e-48b4-aeaa-8eecbf8a7e59%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=psyh&AN=2010-22566-006
http://library.gcu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=97347305&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Purpose of the study
What is the author’s rationale for selecting this topic? Does he build a strong case?
The purpose of the study is to examine why perpetrators bully co-workers.
The assumption has been that stressful workplace conditions lead to bullying. Less research has been devoted to why perpetrators engage in bullying. This study addresses a gap in the literature by exploring individual and situational variables that contribute to bullying in the workplace.
Yes, the researchers provide a strong justification for their research, identifying what has been studied and what needs to be studied (a gap in the literature).
The aim of this study was to examine whether the relationship between exposure to negative acts and self-labeling as a victim of bullying was moderated by trait anger and trait anxiety or by the target’s organizational position.
The assumption has been that self-labeling does not bare a relationship with anger, anxiety or position. Previous research has been conducted to prove that the above factors are ...
Effect of learning goal orientationon work engagement througEvonCanales257
Effect of learning goal orientation
on work engagement through
job crafting
A moderated mediation approach
Makoto Matsuo
Graduate School of Economics and Business Administration, Hokkaido
University, Sapporo, Japan
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the mechanism by which learning goal orientation (LGO)
promotes work engagement through job crafting (seeking challenges).
Design/methodology/approach – A moderated mediation model was tested using survey data from 266
public health nurses and hospital nurses in Japan.
Findings – The results indicated that job crafting partially mediated the relationship between LGO and work
engagement, and that the mediation effect was stronger when reflection was high (vs middle and low).
Research limitations/implications – Although common method bias and validity of measurement were
evaluated in this paper, the survey data were cross-sectional.
Practical implications – The results suggest that selecting people with a stronger sense of LGO may be a
useful strategy for promoting job crafting and work engagement in an organization. Additionally,
organizations should give employees opportunities to reflect on their jobs and to craft them into more
challenging ones in the workplace.
Originality/value – Although little is known about mechanisms by which LGO promotes work engagement,
this study found that job crafting and reflection play important roles in linking LGO and work engagement.
Keywords Quantitative, Reflection, Work engagement, Moderated mediation, Learning goal orientation,
Job crafting
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Work engagement, or a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind (Schaufeli et al., 2002),
has emerged as a significant construct in the applied psychological and management
literature because it has been shown to promote both well-being and performance in
employees (Saks, 2006; Van De Voorde et al., 2016). The growing interest in work engagement
gives rise to the need for better understanding of its antecedents (Woods and Sofat, 2013).
Although numerous factors have been examined as antecedents (e.g. self-regulation
behaviors, personality traits, psychological meaningfulness, job autonomy), learning goal
orientation (LGO), known as a disposition that intrinsically motivates employees (Cerasoli
and Ford, 2014), may be one of the major determinants of work engagement (Adriaenssens
et al., 2015; Jones et al., 2017) because work engagement constitutes a form of intrinsic
motivation (Demerouti et al., 2015). Despite their importance, little is known, from previous
studies, about the factors that mediate the relationship between LGO and work engagement.
To address this gap, the present research examined the LGO–engagement relationship in
terms of “job crafting” (seeking challenges), conceptualized based on job demands-resources
(JD-R) theory (Demerouti et al., 2001), as well as “reflection,” which plays an important role
in the learning process (Kolb, 19 ...
Similar to Interpretation of Difficulty’s Impact on Shifting and Inhibition Ability (20)
Effect of learning goal orientationon work engagement throug
Interpretation of Difficulty’s Impact on Shifting and Inhibition Ability
1. Running head: INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 1
Interpretation of Difficulty’s Impact on Shifting and Inhibition Ability
by
Mo Zhang
A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts
With Honors in Psychology from the
University of Michigan
2013
Advisors:
Dr. Daphna Oyserman
George C. Smith
2. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 2
Abstract
Past research on identity-based motivation theory (Oyserman, 2007; 2009) has shown
that people given an interpretation of difficulty as importance outperform those given an
interpretation of difficulty as impossibility or those given no interpretation on school tasks
(Smith, Novin, Elmore, & Oyserman, under review). Paul, Smith, and Oyserman (2013)
suggested that working memory may be a mechanism underlying these effects. The current
research aims to explore whether other components of executive functioning, namely shifting
and inhibition, act as additional contributors to interpretation of difficulty effects. College
students were randomized to one of three conditions (interpretation of difficulty as importance,
interpretation of difficulty as impossibility, or no interpretation control) and worked on a
measure of shifting (Study 1) and a measure of inhibition (Study 2). Across studies, we found no
significant differences on our measures. Implications are discussed.
Words: 137
Keywords: identity-based motivation, interpretation of difficulty, shifting, inhibition
3. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 3
Interpretation of Difficulty’s Impact on Shifting and Inhibition Ability
Aspirations play a crucial role in individual development and achievement. Once students
begin their university studies, the autonomy and onus to properly manage their time becomes
primarily their own. But it is important that university students not only have aspirations to
succeed, but are motivated to take the necessary steps to achieve their academic and professional
goals and ultimately realize their possible selves, or who they hope to become (Oyserman &
James, 2009). Unfortunately, successfully completing all of one’s self-goals can be difficult.
Some students have aspirations and are able to motivate themselves to achieve their goals, while
others have aspirations but fail to attain what they want. Past research has shown that one way to
motivate goal-focused action is by providing students with an interpretation of the difficulty they
are likely to encounter. When difficulty is framed as a sign that effort on a particular goal is
important (rather than pointless), action increased. The current research focuses on exploration of
potential mechanisms behind these effects. Helping to understand the mechanism can help to
understand other possible methods for addressing and reducing aspiration-attainment gaps.
Identity-Based Motivation and Interpretation of Difficulty
To understand the relationship between aspiration, motivation, and achievement, identity-
based motivation theory suggests that people act in line with their accessible identities
(Oyserman, 2007) and makes the prediction that immediate contexts can influence which
identities are accessible in the moment (Oyserman, 2007, 2009). Moreover, the gap between
people’s aspiration and achievement may be partially due to how people interpret the difficulties
they meet (Smith, Novin, Elmore & Oyserman, under review). According to Oyserman (2013),
people interpret difficulty in two possible ways: people might think the task is hard and
impossible, and thus give up, or people might think the task is hard but important, so they keep
4. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 4
trying. Which interpretation people choose when they face difficulties is affected by what is
accessible in the moment, and different interpretations contribute to different motivation and
achievement outcomes.
Researchers have conducted a series of studies to test these predictions. In one
experiment with low-income minority children, Oyserman, Gant, and Ager (1995) examined the
relationship between participants’ identity and academic achievement. Children were randomly
assigned to do math problems before or after they were reminded of their racial-ethnic identity,
which was described to be associated with academic achievement. Children performed better if
their identity was made salient before completing the math task, which implies that identity can
positively affect performance if it is accessible, relevant, and believed to be linked to positive
outcomes. In the same way, a large body of research on stereotype threat (Steele, 1997) can be
explained using similar logic; if the identity made accessible is not linked to likelihood of
success and importance of a domain but instead the unlikelihood and impossibility of success,
then performance will likely suffer. For example, having Black students indicate their race
before taking a standardized test made negative stereotypes about their group’s performance in
that domain salient, negatively impacting performance (Steele & Aronson, 1995). Similarly,
positive stereotypes can boost performance. In other words, when a salient identity is linked to
the likelihood of and importance of success, performance should be positively impacted. For
instance, when female engineering majors were alerted to a positive stereotype about their ability
to do math, their performance on a subsequent math test was enhanced (Crisp, Bache, & Maitner,
2009).
Identity-based motivation also has implications for other domains as well, such as health.
Oyserman, Smith, and Elmore (2013) focused on the effects of identity-based motivation on
5. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 5
health. The authors suggested that how motivated people were to become healthy depended on
how people interpreted the difficulty of attaining a healthy future identity. If they thought the
difficulty was important for them to go through to become healthy, they should be more
motivated than people who thought difficulty pursuing the goal of being healthy meant
impossibility.
Recent evidence focuses directly on difficulty and suggests that interpretation of
difficulty can be directly manipulated to increase motivation and performance. In set of studies,
Smith et al. (under review) explored the interaction between interpretation of difficulty and
performance on academic tasks. In Study 1, children who were given the framing of difficulty as
importance reported more school focused possible selves and strategies to attain them than
children who were given no framing. The groups did not differ in the number of non-school
identities that were salient, showing effects were targeted. Additionally, children provided an
importance framing of their difficulty performed better on a change-making task. In Study 2,
participants given the framing of difficulty as importance performed better on a set of hard
problems from Raven’s Progressive Matrices Test than participants given the framing of
difficulty as impossibility and control condition participants given no framing. A third study
replicated these effects, with students who interpreted difficulty as importance writing better
quality essays than children in the other two conditions. These studies demonstrated the
effectiveness of the interpretation of difficulty primes and the benefits of interpreting difficulty
as importance.
Interpretation of Difficulty and Working Memory
Given the recent results demonstrating how interpretation of difficulty matters,
researchers have begun to explore potential mechanisms behind the IBM difficulty effects. Paul,
6. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 6
Smith, and Oyserman (2013) proposed that recruitment of executive functioning resources,
specifically working memory, might play an important role in explaining the above effects.
Working memory is people’s process of storing and manipulating information over a short
period of time. Working memory capacity has been found to have a strong positive relationship
with intelligence in previous research. A study by Friedman et al. (2006) found that working
memory capacity explained 37% to 45% of the variance in intelligence measures. Also, better
performance on tasks that required working memory resources was related to better performance
on intelligence tasks as well. At the same time, working memory capacity has been shown to be
positively related to problem solving skills. Seyler, Kirk, and Ashcraft (2003) conducted a study
to explore how one’s problem solving ability (specifically, performing subtraction) interacted
with working memory. Results showed that when people had a higher working memory capacity,
the percentage of calculation errors decreased, indicating better problem solving skills. Thus,
having better working memory in the moment could lead to a better ability to sustain effort and
be successful on difficult tasks.
Paul et al. (2013) predicted just that – when people were cued to interpret difficulty in a
certain way, their performance on given tasks might improve because of a better ability to recruit
working memory resources in the moment and focus and sustain effort on a task. If difficulty is
interpreted as importance, then more effort is deemed necessary, meaning more cognitive focus
should be devoted to a given task. If difficulty is interpreted as impossibility, then effort is not
necessary, and one should quickly revert to being a cognitive miser on a given task, not desiring
to expend the effort to devote more cognitive focus. The researchers tested this hypothesis by
randomly assigning participants to one of three conditions (interpretation of difficulty as
importance, interpretation of difficulty as impossibility, or a no interpretation control condition)
7. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 7
and requiring participants to complete an “N-back” working memory task (Paul et al., 2013). The
responses on the task were recorded and weighted by difficulty (i. e., how taxing the problem
was on working memory). After controlling for baseline working memory score, results showed
that participants in the difficulty as importance condition had better scores on the N-back task
than participants in the difficulty as impossibility or control conditions, and there was no
significant difference between performance in these latter two conditions. This suggests that
better recruitment of working memory resources in the moment could be one possible
explanation underlying interpretation of difficulty effects, which lead to better performance
outcomes. While interesting, several questions still remain. Since working memory is not an
isolated process but an integral part of larger executive functioning, what is the role of executive
functioning as a whole? Further, what (if any) is the role of the other key components of
executive function, namely, shifting and inhibition? Is it likely that effects from different
components are separable and each makes a unique contribution to interpretation of difficulty
effects?
Executive Functioning: Shifting and Inhibition
Executive functioning consists of processes that control and regulate thought and action.
Executive functioning (EF) is typically thought to have three separable components: updating,
shifting, and inhibition (Miyake, Friedman, Emerson, Witzki, & Howerter, 2000; Friedman et al.,
2006). While there is some overlap between these components, each one makes unique
contributions to our thought and action and is separable from the others. The previously
mentioned research by Paul et al. (2013) focused on the updating component of EF. Updating is
the ability to add new and remove irrelevant information from working memory (i. e., to update
working memory). Tasks that examine updating ability include the keep track task and the letter
8. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 8
memory task (Miyake et al., 2000), as well as the previously mentioned N-back task (Shelton,
Metzger, & Elliot, 2007), which require participants to organize short-term working memory by
taking in new information and eliminating irrelevant information.
Shifting is the ability to change mental operations between tasks in order to respond
appropriately to given situations; for example, one may shift from one mental operation such as
making a mathematical calculation to another mental operation like letter recognition. Tasks to
test the shifting ability include the plus-minus task (Jersild, 1927), the number-letter task (Rogers
& Monsell, 1995), and the local-global task (Miyake et al., 2000). These tasks all require
participants to shift between different mental operations, like shifting between adding 3 and
subtracting 3 to a series of digits, or between reporting numbers and letters.
Inhibition is the ability to inhibit the dominant response to a stimulus in order to respond
to another stimulus simultaneously. For example, when participants are presented the word
“green” in a black font, one may be required to report the color of the word (black) and resist the
dominant response of reporting what the word actually says (green). Example tasks to assess
inhibition ability are the antisaccade task (Roberts, Hager, & Heron, 1994), the stop-signal task
(Logan, 1994), and the Stroop task (Stroop, 1935). When participants complete these tasks, they
are asked to pay attention to stimuli and make responses that would not be their gut-reaction
response. The earlier task described was an example of the Stroop task, in which words are
names of color words that are presented in a different color than what the word describes (for
instance, the word ‘blue’ may be written in red ink). Participants are asked to respond to the
color of words while overriding their proponent response to read the words. In the antisaccade
task, participants are required to ignore an initial stimulus and look in the opposite direction so
9. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 9
that they do not miss a brief secondary stimulus. Here, one’s dominant response would be to look
at the initial stimulus, which would mean the second stimulus would be missed.
Interpretation of Difficulty and Executive Functioning
Experimental evidence has suggested that executive functioning is associated with
performance on tasks that measure intelligence and academic performance. Brydges, Reid, Fox,
and Anderson (2012) examined the relationship between EF and intelligence. Nine different
tasks were used to assess different EF components (working memory, shifting, and inhibition),
and four tasks were used to evaluate fluid intelligence (gF, such as reasoning ability) and
crystallized intelligence (gC, information acquired through culture or other experiences).
Researchers combined people’s performance on working memory, shifting, and inhibition tasks
and formed an overall score for EF, and analyzed the relationship of this score with gF and gC.
Results showed that EF was highly correlated with both fluid and crystallized intelligence, and
“specifically, executive functions explained 80% and 69% of the variance in gF and gC in
children” (Brydges et al., 2012, p. 467), and explained 43% and 51% of the variance in gF and
gC in young adults (Friedman et al., 2006). Thus, the researchers looked at the overall
contribution of EF rather than the specific contribution of one subcomponent.
Executive functioning also matters for academic performance. In a study by Best, Miller,
and Naglieri (2011), participants took part in the “Cognitive Assessment System”, which was a
standardized test that assessed children’s cognitive function abilities, indicating executive
functioning capabilities. Next, participants were given an achievement test to evaluate their
reading, writing, and mathematical skills. Research found that there was a strong association
between EF and academic achievement, and participants with higher EF capabilities reported
higher academic achievement.
10. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 10
As a whole, executive functioning seems to be related to intelligence and performance on
a variety of tasks. Similar results have been found looking just at the updating component of EF
via working memory (Paul et al., 2013). This leads us to an important question: what is the role
of shifting and inhibition in intelligence and academic performance? Research suggests that
shifting is indeed related to intelligence and academic performance. Puric and Pavlovic (2012)
showed that shifting ability was positively associated with fluid intelligence. Also, Yeniad,
Malda, Mesman, van IJzendorn and Pieper (2013) conducted a meta-analysis of twenty studies to
examine the relationship between shifting ability and children’s performance on math and
reading tasks, and found that there was a strong relation between shifting ability and
performance. Additionally, evidence has shown that inhibition is associated with intelligence and
school performance. Michel and Anderson (2009) found a correlation between inhibition ability
and intelligence, such that as inhibitory processes became more efficient, intelligence increased
as well. They further noted that the increase in intelligence over childhood can be explained at
least in part by better inhibition ability, and that the antisaccade task, an inhibition task, can be
used for intelligence training. Another study by Vuontela, et al. (2013) showed that inhibition
was related to school performance such that children with more inhibition ability had better
academic performance, less behavioral problems, and were happier. These studies above imply
that shifting and inhibition play an important role in executive functioning and can lead to higher
intelligence and better academic performance, just like working memory. Thus, it is very much
possible that in addition to working memory, differences in shifting and inhibition may underlie
differences in interpretation of difficulty effects, linking identity-based motivation and academic
performance. In the current research, we directly test this idea, exploring whether shifting and
inhibition are potential mechanisms that help explain the interpretation of difficulty effects.
11. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 11
For tasks to measure shifting and inhibition, we looked to the existing literature. Miyake
et al. (2000) tested 3 measures of each of the 3 components of EF. Through structural equation
modeling, Miyake and colleagues found loadings for each task on the underlying EF component
it was designed to measure. According to Miyake et al. (2000), the plus-minus task had the
highest loading on the underlying shifting component, in addition to the lowest error term
compared to other shifting tasks. Similarly, the antisaccade task had the highest loading on the
underlying inhibition component, and the lowest error term compared to other inhibition tasks.
As a result, we decided to use the plus-minus and the antisaccade task as our measures of shifting
and inhibition, respectively.
Current Studies
To test the relationship between the executive functioning components of shifting and
inhibition and the identity-based motivation interpretation of difficulty effects, we conducted two
studies to examine if different interpretations of difficulty can affect shifting and inhibition. In
both studies, we manipulated participants’ interpretation of difficulty. In Study 1, we use the
plus-minus task to test interpretation of difficulty’s effects on shifting ability. In Study 2, we use
the antisaccade task to test interpretation of difficulty’s effects on inhibition. In both cases, we
predict that interpreting difficulty as importance will lead to better performance than no
interpretation of difficulty or an interpretation of difficulty as impossibility.
Study 1
We predicted that different interpretations of difficulty would lead to performance
differences on the plus-minus task, evidence for interpretation of difficulty’s impact on the
underlying ‘shifting’ component of executive functioning. Participants in the difficulty as
12. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 12
importance condition should perform better (lower shift cost) on a shifting task versus those in
the difficulty as impossibility and control conditions.
Methods
Sample and Procedure
Participants were from the University of Michigan Introductory Psychology Subject Pool
(N = 198, 60% male, 62% freshman, 58% White, 16% Asian, 12% Black, 14% other), and
earned course credit for their participation. Students came to the lab in groups of six for a study
on problem solving and completed study materials on separate computers with large dividers
between them. The study was run using Qualtrics software, which was programmed to
randomize participants to one of three conditions, difficulty-as-importance (n = 67), difficulty-
as-impossibility (n = 66), and no prime control (n = 65). After reading an informed consent,
participants were exposed to an initial difficulty prime, followed by the first part of the plus-
minus task. Next, participants saw another difficulty prime consistent with the one they
previously saw followed by the second part of the plus-minus task, demographic questions, and
debriefing.
Manipulation
Participants in the experimental conditions first read Experiencing difficulty working on
school goals can be thought of as signaling importance (impossibility). In other words, the
school task you are working on is (not) worth your effort because it is important (impossible),
and this can be a common occurrence for UM students. What about you? How many times have
you had the feeling of difficulty as importance (impossibility) when it comes to school tasks or
studying in the past month? This prompt was followed by a 6-point scale (1-2 times to more than
11 times) for participants to respond. By using a scale with low frequencies, participants should
13. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 13
feel that they frequently experience difficulty as importance (impossibility) more than others
(Rothman, Haddock, and Schwarz, 2001).
After the first part of the plus-minus task, participants were exposed to a second prime
congruent with the first. Experimental condition participants rated their agreement to a set of 4
biased statements that led participants to endorse an interpretation of difficulty as importance or
impossibility, depending on condition (Smith et al., under review). Participants in the difficulty
as importance condition rated agreement to statements such as Sometimes, you have to work
really hard in order to be successful at a school task and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Having to work hard at a task means it is important (1 being strongly disagree, 5 being strongly
agree). Participants in the difficulty as impossibility condition were asked to rate their agreement
with statements such as When you’re stuck on a school task, it is a sign that your effort is better
spent elsewhere on a 5-point scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). Control
condition participants proceeded directly to the dependent variable without interruption.
Measures
To assess participants shifting ability under different interpretations of difficulty, we
examined shift cost as our dependent variable via the plus-minus task. To measure participants’
shift cost, they completed three sets of arithmetic problems. On the first set, participants were
given a list of 30 two-digit numbers (10-99, pre-randomized without replacement) and had to add
3 to each number and input their answers next to the original. On the second set, participants
were given a different list of two-digit numbers and were instructed to subtract 3 from each
number and input their answers. Time to completion on both of these sets was recorded
separately. Finally, on the third set, participants were required to alternate between adding 3 to
and subtracting 3 from the numbers (i.e., add 3 to the first number, subtract 3 from the second
14. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 14
number, and so on) and time data was recorded. The change from addition to subtraction and
back constituted a mental ‘shift’. In order to calculate the cost of shifting between the operations
of addition and subtraction, we averaged the time on the first two sets and subtracted from it time
on the final set of problems (time on set 3 minus average time on set 1 and 2). We removed one
participant in the difficulty as impossibility condition who failed to effortfully complete the
measures (the participant answered “1” or “4” for all arithmetic problems).
We also asked participants at the end of the study On the last set of problems, you were
asked to alternate between addition and subtraction. Did you follow directions and alternate, or
did you do all the addition problems by skipping every other problem and then go back and fill in
the subtraction problems (or vice versa)? Fifteen participants (four in the difficulty as
importance condition, seven in the difficulty as impossibility condition, and four in the control
condition) reported not following directions by not alternating between addition and subtraction
on the final set of problems, so they were removed from the final analyses (N = 182). We first
looked at accuracy. Participants’ accuracy on the addition block (M = 98%, SD = .03) was not
different from the accuracy on the subtraction block (M = 98%, SD = .04), t(181) = -1.464, p >
.1. Participants’ accuracy on the switching block (M = 89%, SD = .22) was significantly lower
than the accuracy on the addition block, t(181) = -4.678, p < .001, and the subtraction block,
t(181) = -5.724, p < .001. Average time in seconds on the addition (M = 76.17, SD = 21.90) and
subtraction (M = 76.42, SD = 23.50) blocks were not different from each other, t(181) = -.225, p
> .8. Average time on the first 2 blocks (M = 76.30, SD = 21.42) involved no shift in mental
processes but time on the third block (M = 88.13, SD = 26.12) did. Participants did take longer
on the final set than the initial sets, indicating the final set was more difficult and likely did
indeed involve an effortful mental shift of operations t(181) = -29.41, p < .001. Finally, we
15. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 15
computed shift cost by subtracting the shift time from the average time on the first 2 blocks from
response time on the third block (M = -11.84, SD = 15.54, the more negative the number, the
worse participants were at shifting). Also, we were able to assess accuracy on each set. We
ultimately decided to remove participants whose accuracy was less than one standard deviation
from the mean (n = 23). Time spent on each block was similar after removing theses participants
(addition block time M = 75.62, SD = 21.42; subtraction block time M = 76.07, SD = 23.30;
switch block time M = 85.84, SD = 23.89; shift time M = -9.99, SD = 14.37). In addition, we
asked participants to indicate how easy they found the task to be (1 = very easy to 7 = very hard,
M = 3.58, SD = 1.58) and how hard they tried to answer the problems correctly (1 = I did not try
at all to 7 = I tried very hard, M = 6.43, SD =.87).
Analyses
As mentioned, shift cost was calculated for each participant. We looked for differences
on our dependent measure based on gender, year in school, race, how easy or hard the
participants felt the task was, how hard they tried, and their total accuracy on the three blocks.
According to an analyses of variance (ANOVA), gender (F(1, 157) = .037, p = .847) and year in
school (coded as freshman vs. other, F(1, 157) = .018, p = .895) did not significantly influence
our shift cost results. However, race had an effect, F(1, 157) = 5.67, p = .018, with Whites doing
better than non-Whites. Also, the percentage of correct responses was not significantly different
across conditions (difficulty as importance, M = 97.3%, SD = 3.5%; difficulty as impossibility,
M = 97.6%, SD = 3.1%; control condition, M = 98.1%, SD = 2.2%; F(1, 156) = .980, p = .378).
Using regression analyses, how hard the participants tried did not affect their shift time,
(standardized B = .095, p = .233), while how easy or hard participants’ found the task influenced
16. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 16
shift cost (standardized B = -.304, p < .001, those who found the task easier had a higher shift
cost).
Results
Looking solely at the effects of our prime on shift cost, as depicted in Figure 1, there was
no significant influence of our interpretation of difficulty primes on participants’ shift cost, F(1,
156) = .621, p = .539. Controlling for the influence of race and how easy or hard the participants
felt about the task, the analysis still did not reach significance, F(2, 154) = .384, p = .682. Thus,
the results do not support our hypothesis that priming different interpretations of difficulty
results in different shifting performance.
Discussion
We hypothesized that participants in the difficulty as importance condition would
perform the best (having the smallest shift cost) on the plus-minus task, participants in the
difficulty as impossibility condition would perform the worst, and participants in the control
condition would be somewhere in the middle. However, results showed that there was no
significant effect of different interpretations of difficulty on performance on the plus-minus
shifting task. While a number of factors might be at play in our non-significant results, one might
have been the difficulty of the task itself. When asked how easy or hard the task was, participants
on average responded that the task was “neither easy or hard”. Without sufficient difficulty,
interpretations of difficulty have little application. We return to this in the general discussion.
Also, it is possible that the plus-minus task is not a very sensitive task to measure shifting ability.
In the task, people switch between addition and subtraction, which are two mathematical
operations that are not dramatically different from each other; a switch to something such as
verbal ability might constitute more of a change from mental arithmetic calculations. The switch
17. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 17
cost caused from switching between addition and subtraction may not have been a large enough
“shift”. Alternatively, it could just be the case that shifting, as one of the processes of executive
functioning, is not part of the mechanism that explains the interpretation of difficulty effects. In
Study 2, we further explored if inhibition, as another component of EF, would help shed some
light on interpretation of difficulty effects. We hypothesized that interpretation of difficulty
would affect people’s inhibition ability.
Study 2
We predicted that interpreting difficulty as importance would lead to better performance
on an antisaccade task, a measure of the executive functioning component of inhibition. We
expected participants who were primed with difficulty as importance would outperform those
primed with difficulty as impossibility and people who were in the control condition, showing
faster reaction time because of a better ability to inhibit and refocus attention.
Methods
Sample and Procedure
Participants (N = 197, 72.1% female, 54.8% freshman, 60.4% White, 23.9% Asian, 4.5%
Arab, and 11.2% other) were recruited from the University of Michigan Introductory Psychology
Subject Pool, and earned course credit for their participation. Students came to the lab in groups
of six and sat at separate computers to complete the study as in Study 1. Before the study started,
the experimenter randomly assigned participants to one of three conditions, interpretation of
difficulty as impossibility (n = 66), interpretation of difficulty as importance (n = 65), or a no
prime control (n = 65). After reading informed consents, participants were asked to complete a
problem-solving task on the computer using E-Prime software. Once they started the program,
they were given instructions and practice trials of the antisaccade task (described below).
18. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 18
Following practice trials were the primes, followed by the actual trials of the antisaccade task.
Finally, participants completed demographic questions and debriefing.
Manipulation
As in Study 1, experimental condition participants rated their agreement to a set of 4
biased statements. Prior work has shown these sets of questions effectively cue interpretations of
experienced difficulty as importance or impossibility (Smith et al., under review). As before,
control condition participants proceeded directly to the dependent measure without interruption.
Measures
Our dependent measure was the antisaccade task. Participants were asked to complete 5
antisaccade practice trials and 80 actual trials as quickly and accurately as they could. In each
trial, a fixation point ‘+’ first appeared in the middle of the computer screen for a set amount of
time (randomized times between 1500 ms and 3500 ms in 250 ms intervals). A black square was
then presented on one side of the screen for 225 ms. Then, a target stimulus, which was an arrow
inside an open square, appeared on the opposite side of the screen for 150 ms before being
covered by a larger gray square. The participants’ task was to indicate the direction of the arrow
(right, left, up, or down) using the arrow keys on the keyboard as quickly as possible. Since the
arrow appeared for only 150 ms before being masked, participants would need to inhibit the
dominant response of looking at the initial stimulus (a small black square) because doing so
would make it difficult to identify the direction of the target stimulus correctly. The response
time on each trial and total accuracy were recorded using the E-Prime software to indicate how
well participants could inhibit.
We also asked participants at the end of the study What did you think this study was
about? Four participants in the difficulty as impossibility condition effectively guessed the main
19. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 19
purpose of the study, so they were removed from the final analyses (N = 193)1
. Excluding these
participants, we computed the participants’ average response time in milliseconds on the 80
antisaccade trials (M = 383.14, SD = 76.71). In addition, we asked participants how easy or hard
they found the task (1 = very easy to 7 = very hard, M = 1.79, SD = .96).
Analyses
As mentioned, total accuracy and average response time on actual antisaccade trials that
participants responded correctly to were calculated for each participant. We looked for
differences on our dependent measure based on gender, year in school, race, and how easy or
hard the participants found the task. According to an analysis of variance (ANOVA), year in
school (coded as freshman, others), F(1, 190) = 1.45, p = .230, and race (coded as White, other),
F(1, 191) = .75, p = .389, did not significantly influence our response time results. However,
gender had an effect, F(1, 191) = 10.06, p = .002, with females doing better than males. Using
regression analyses, how easy or hard participants’ found the task marginally influenced
response time (standardized B = .134, p = .079)2
.
Results
Looking just at the effect of our experimental manipulation, there was no significant
influence of our interpretation of difficulty primes on participants’ response time on the
antisaccade trials, F(2, 190) = .045, p = .9563
(see Figure 2). Controlling for gender and how
easy or hard participants thought the task was improved the analysis, but results were still not
1
The same pattern of result is observed leaving these participants in the analysis.
2
Twenty-one people did not respond to this measure, so cannot be included in the analysis that
used this variable as control.
3
In addition, we tried excluding the participants whose time was two standard deviations above
the mean, indicating they may not have paid attention, but this did not affect the results, F(2,
180) = .385, p = .681.
20. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 20
significant, F(2, 167) = .092, p = .912. Thus, the results do not support our hypothesis that giving
participants different interpretation of difficulty primes leads to different inhibition ability.
Discussion
We predicted that interpretation of difficulty matters for inhibition ability and
performance on an inhibition task, the antisaccade task. However, results showed that there was
no significant effect of our manipulation on people’s inhibition ability. Similar to Study 1, it
could be possible that the task used did not induce sufficient difficulty, and therefore the effect of
our difficulty primes on performance was not seen. In Study 2, most people actually thought that
the antisaccade task was fairly easy, with the average response being “easy”. As a result, the
interpretation of difficulty may not have affected performance because there was no difficulty to
interpret. Also, the antisaccade task has been widely used with children (Aman, Roberts, &
Pennington, 1994) and patients with prefrontal lesions (Guitton, Buchtel, and Douglas, 1985). It
may not have been the best task to assess adults’ inhibition ability because adults without
impairment may find it too easy, and therefore the task is not sensitive enough to show changes
in inhibition ability.
General Discussion
The goal of the current study was to examine the mechanism behind the identity-based
motivation theory interpretation of difficulty effects. These effects demonstrate that different
accessible interpretations of difficulty can lead to different future identities and different
performance on relevant tasks (Smith et al., under review). In addition, these effects help shed
light on a potential explanation for the gap between aspirations and achievement. Empirical
evidence suggested that executive functioning was related to intelligence task performance and
academic performance (Brydges et al., 2012; Puric & Pavlovic, 2012; Vuontela, et al., 2013),
21. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 21
implying that executive functioning could be an explanation of performance differences under
different interpretations of difficulty. Executive functioning includes three components: updating,
shifting, and inhibition (Miyake et al., 2000; Friedman et al., 2006). Paul et al. (2013) found that
updating ability was influenced by interpretation of difficulty manipulations. We predicted that
the shifting and inhibition components of executive functioning would also be part of the
mechanism that explains the gap between aspirations and achievement and contributes to
interpretation of difficulty effects.
When people are primed with an interpretation of difficulty as importance, we predicted
they should outperform people who were primed with an interpretation of difficulty as
impossibility and those receiving no prime on tasks assessing their shifting and inhibition
abilities. Unfortunately, our results did not support our hypotheses. In Study 1, there was no
significance difference in the shifting performance among participants in the difficulty as
importance, difficulty as impossibility, and the control conditions. Participants’ shift time on the
plus-minus task was not affected by different interpretations of difficulty. Results of Study 2
showed that our difficulty interpretation manipulation did not influence people’s inhibition
ability either. Participants’ ability to inhibit, measured by averaging reaction times across 80
antisaccade trials, did not differ between our three conditions.
The current study did not support our prediction. This could be due to several potential
issues. First, there may have been problems with the measures we chose in our studies to test our
theory and hypotheses; second, our hypotheses might not have held true in these conditions; third,
there may have been crucial study implementation issues. First, our measures might not have
adequately tested our theory and hypothesis. In short, the tasks we chose, the plus-minus task and
the antisaccade task, may not have induced a sufficient level of difficulty for participants. Smith
22. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 22
et al. (under review) pointed out that interpretation of difficulty would make a difference only if
the task is difficult. In their second study, they found effects of interpretation of difficulty on a
difficult set of reasoning problems but not on an easy set of problems. When we asked
participants how hard they felt the tasks were in Study 1 and Study 2, most participants thought
the tasks were fairly easy. Additionally, accuracy in both studies was fairly high. If participants
did not find the tasks difficult enough, interpretation of difficulty and identity-based motivation
would not predict a change in their task performance, and therefore we would not be able to
identify any significant changes in shifting and inhibition ability.
In support of the idea that the measures may not have induced a sufficient feeling of
difficulty, some studies (Guitton et al., 1985) used the antisaccade task specifically with adult
patients that had frontal lobe lesions. For this population, the antisaccade task was found to be
sensitive in measuring their inhibition performance. Moreover, studies have also used the
antisaccade task as an effective measure of inhibition with children who may also have other
cognitive deficits, rather than adults (Aman et al., 1994). It is reasonable to assume that our
college student sample surpassed both patients with brain lesions and children in terms of
cognitive ability and inhibition skills. Rober et al. (1994) did successfully use the antisaccade
task with college participants, but their participants performed a measure of working memory at
the same time, making both tasks much more difficult. Thus, while this may be a good task for
some populations, it may have simply been too easy for ours. In other words, since the
participants in the current study are college students, the antisaccade task might not be sensitive
enough to show performance differences.
There is also reason to cast doubt on previous research using the plus-minus task. These
studies tend to be plagued by small sample sizes. For instance, several studies have used this task
23. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 23
to test various topics relating to mental shifting, but all with small samples. Baddeley, Chincotta
and Adlam (2001) had 12 to 36 participants in their experiments, Spector and Biederman (1976)
recruited 12 to 48 participants, and Emerson & Miyake (2003) had 48 to 72 participants split
across at least two conditions. Thus, the relationship between the plus-minus task and shifting
ability in college students may not have as convincing support from the literature as it seemed to
have initially.
In addition, our choice of the plus-minus and the antisaccade task may have been
problematic because analyses in Study 1 and Study 2 showed that race and gender differences
were present. In Study 1, there was a race difference on performance on the plus-minus task,
with Whites outperforming non-Whites. In Study 2, gender influenced the performance on the
antissacade task such that females did better than males. To our knowledge, race and gender
differences were not observed in other studies that used these tasks. This indicates that previous
studies likely used samples too homogenous to tease apart group differences that may have been
present in our studies. Furthermore, it is likely that whatever group differences we did find in our
study cannot be fully understood because even our samples were overwhelmingly White and
female. Nonetheless, the existence of meaningful group differences may have helped mask any
potential effect we could have found, undermining our observation of the effects of identity-
based-motivation on shifting and inhibition.
Secondly, our predictions in the current studies were not supported possibly because
shifting and inhibition, as parts of executive functioning, do not actually help explain the
performance differences when college students have different interpretations of difficulty. In our
study, the executive functioning tasks we chose may not be able to explain changes in
performance since the relationship between executive functioning and intelligence is not as clear
24. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 24
with this population. Brydges et al. (2012) pointed out that the relationship between executive
functioning and intelligence changes with age. In children, executive functioning explained 80%
and 69% of the variance in gF and gC (Brydges et al., 2012), while executive functioning
explained only 43% and 51% of the variance in gF and gC in young adults (Friedman et al.,
2006). Thus, as we get older, intelligence becomes less associated with executive functioning.
The participants in our study were all college-aged, likely around 20 years old, and the relation
between their executive functioning and intelligence was probably weaker than that of
participants in the Smith et al. (under review) study, who focused on children in 4th
to 8th
grade.
It is possible that the interpretation of difficulty primes affected our participants’ executive
functioning, but since the effect of executive functioning on intelligence was weaker, there was
no significant change in our participants’ task performance. If any potential effect was smaller
than expected, we may not have had the power to detect meaningful differences.
It is also possible that shifting and inhibition may not be as important as working memory
in explaining the effects of identity-based motivation theory on people’s intelligence and task
performance. Working memory has been shown to be closely associated with intelligence
(Friedman et al., 2006; Salthouse, Atkinson, & Berish, 2003; Ackerman, Beier, & Boyle, 2005).
However, findings on the relations between intelligence and shifting, and between intelligence
and inhibition are a bit more mixed. Some studies show that intelligence is related to shifting
(Puric & Pavlovic, 2012; Salthouse et al., 2003) and inhibition (Salthouse et al., 2003; Michel
and Anderson, 2009), whereas some studies indicate that there is a much weaker association
between shifting and intelligence (Friedman et al., 2006; Rockstroh & Schweizer, 2001) and
between inhibition and intelligence (Friedman et al., 2006). We can reasonably conclude that all
three components of executive functioning are related to intelligence and academic performance,
25. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 25
but it is likely the relationship with working memory is much stronger and consistent than the
relationship with shifting and inhibition. Again, if this is the case, this would make the likelihood
of seeing significant results in our studies much smaller.
Moreover, as previously mentioned, previous studies have used the plus-minus task and
the antisaccade task with college students to measure the change in shifting and inhibition
abilities, and college students were the sample in our study. Yet the interpretation of difficulty
effects we were testing were based on findings that different interpretations of difficulty affected
children’s task performance (Smith et al., under review). Since the sample of the current study
was college students and the sample of previous study was children, it is possible that this
disconnect hindered our ability to see significant results.
Finally, we made no prediction about the size of the effect we were looking for. It is very
possible that the size of the effect was too small to identify with our sample size. Additionally,
we ran the study in a room with six participants at the same time. Participants took different
amounts of time to complete the study, and left the study room accordingly. Since these are
sensitive measures of executive functioning components, people leaving earlier than other
participants may have unknowingly hurt others’ performance. The distraction and noise in the
room created by participants leaving at different times may have negatively impacted the
performance of those still working. We did not have a measure of total time spent on the study or
who finished first or last in a study session, but these might prove to be useful factors to examine
in the future.
Despite these limitations, our study adds value to the exploration of the mechanism
behind the identity-based motivation theory interpretation of difficulty effects, and has several
implications for future research. The current study did not support our hypothesis. This implies
26. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 26
that updating is probably the main part of executive functioning that explains the performance
effects behind the identity-based motivation theory (Paul et al., 2013). Still, we may not have
seen significant results due to various factors. As we discussed earlier, interpretation of difficulty
does not influence task performance unless the task is hard, and our tasks were easy for the
participants. Future studies should consider harder tasks that ensure the interpretations of
difficulty can have impact. In addition, the plus-minus and the antisaccade task had mixed results
with college students, and people’s performance on these tasks varied with gender and race. In
order to further investigate the relation between the identity-based motivation theory effects and
shifting and inhibition abilities, future research can improve upon the current studies namely by
using tasks of shifting and inhibition that properly test the theory regarding difficulty with an
appropriate age group and sample. Recruiting more participants could also be a good idea, as
could tightening study implementation so as to reduce distraction among participants while
performing the tasks.
In conclusion, our prediction was not supported that interpreting difficulty as importance
would lead to better performance on a shifting task and an inhibition task than no interpretation
of difficulty or an interpretation of difficulty as impossibility. Thus, we did not find a significant
relationship between different interpretations of difficulty and shifting and inhibition abilities.
Previous research, though, has shown that at least one component of executive functioning,
namely updating as measured by working memory, has yielded positive results in understanding
interpretation of difficulty effects. Nonetheless, future studies are needed to solidify this
relationship and further test the predictions suggested in this paper. Creating a complete picture
of the relationship between executive functioning and interpretation of difficulty effects is an
27. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 27
important step in indentifying ways to address the gap between aspirations and achievements,
and help students to reach their goals.
28. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 28
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Figure 1. Study 1: Effects of Interpretation of Difficulty on Shifting Abilities
Participants were randomized to one of three conditions: difficulty means importance, difficulty
means impossiblity, or a no difficulty control condition. Participants’shift cost in seconds was
calculated by subtracting completion time on trials where there was no shift from a trial where a
shift was required, with larger numbers indicating less shift cost and better shifting ability. No
significant condition differences were found, F(1, 156) = .621, p = .539.
-15
-13
-11
-9
-7
-5
-3
-1
Impossibility Importance Control
Inseconds
Mean of Shift Cost
33. INTERPRETATION OF DIFFICULTY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING 33
Figure 2. Study 2: Effects of Interpretation of Difficulty on Inhibition Abilities
Participants were randomized to one of three conditions: difficulty means importance, difficulty
means impossiblity, or a no difficulty control condition. Participants’ response time on the
antisaccade task was measured in milliseconds, with longer response times indicating worse
inhibition performance. No significant condition differences were found, F(2, 190) = .045, p =
.956.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Impossibility Importance Control
InMilliseconds
Average Response Time