Work

Faking the Desire to Learn

Year: 2009

Type: article

Abstract: Research on achievement goals has demonstrated that mastery goals positively impact achievement-related outcomes, but paradoxically hold an inconsistent relation with academic achievement. We hypothesized that this relationship depends on the reason why students endorse mastery goals--namely, to garner teachers' appreciation (social desirability) or to succeed at university (social utility). First-year psychology students completed a mastery-goal scale in a standard format, with social-desirability instructions and social-utility instructions. Participants' grades on academic exams were recorded later in the semester. Results indicated that students' perceptions of both social desirability and social utility related to mastery goals moderated the relationship between the endorsement of mastery goals and final grades. This relationship was reduced by the increase of perceived social desirability of mastery goals, and strengthened by the increase of perceived social utility of these goals.

Source: Psychological Science

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02384.x

Authors: Benoît Dompnier, Céline Darnon, Fabrizio Butera

Institutions: Université Pierre Mendès France, University of Lausanne

Language: English

Topic: Education, Achievement, and Giftedness

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Université de Lausanne