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The effects of feedback on performance and factors associated with it were examined in a large introductory psychology course. The experiment involved college students (N = 464) working on an essay examination under 3 conditions: no feedback, detailed feedback that was perceived by participants to be provided by the course instructor, and detailed feedback that was perceived by participants to be computer generated. Additionally, these conditions were crossed with factors of grade (receiving a numerical grade or not) and praise (receiving a statement of praise or not). The task under consideration was a single-question essay examination administered at the beginning of the course. Detailed feedback on the essay, specific to individual's work, was found to be strongly related to student improvement in essay scores, with the influence of grades and praise being more complex. Generally, receipt of a tentative grade depressed performance, although this effect was ameliorated if accompanied by a statement of praise. Overall, detailed, descriptive feedback was found to be most effective when given alone, unaccompanied by grades or praise. It was also found that the perceived source of the feedback (the computer or the instructor) had little impact on the results. These findings are consistent with the research literature showing that descriptive feedback, which conveys information on how one performs the task and details ways to overcome difficulties, is far more effective than evaluative feedback, which simply informs students about how well they did. (Contains 7 tables, 1 figure and 1 footnote.)

This study explores relations between measures of individuals’ circadian preferences and the Big Five. To this end, we compared a model of circadian preferences that acknowledges morningness (M) and eveningness (E) as separate dimensions to that of a model that places M and E on a single continuum (M-E). Analyses of 620 correlations from 44 independent samples (N = 16,647) revealed weak to modest relations between both dimensions of circadian preferences and the Big Five personality traits. The strongest observed relation was found between Conscientiousness and M (ρ = .37). In the next step, regression analyses revealed that personality traits accounted for between 10.9% and 16.4% of the variance in circadian preferences. Of all the Big Five dimensions, Conscientiousness exhibited the strongest unique relation with M (β = .32), E (β = −.26), and M-E (β = .32). Extraversion and Openness exhibited moderate unique relations with E (β = .23 and β = .17, respectively), whereas relations with M (β = .00 and β = .04), and M-E (β = −.05 and β = −.06) were relatively weak. Neuroticism exhibited a modest unique and negative relation with M (β = −.16), and Agreeableness was largely unrelated to all circadian preference variables. To determine whether these findings translated into anything of applied significance, we explored relations between circadian preference and academic performance. M and E incremented slightly over the Big Five factors in predicting grade-point average. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In two studies we investigated whether student-reported mathematics attitudes, conceptualized with the theory of planned behavior, incrementally contributed to students' mathematics grades over and above cognitive ability and the Big Five personality dimensions. College students from Germany (n = 179) and Belarus (n = 202) participated. Results highlighted the importance of attitudes for mathematics achievement, with attitudes toward mathematics incrementally explaining 25% (Germany) and 7% (Belarus) of variance in mathematics grades over and above students' cognitive ability and Big Five personality dimensions. The overall model that included the three construct domains accounted for 45% (Germany) and 27% (Belarus) of variation in mathematics grades. We argue that because attitudes may be more malleable than broad personality and cognitive ability characteristics, our findings are particularly important in the context of intervention development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated whether there is a discrepancy pertaining to trait and state academic emotions and whether self-concept of ability moderates this discrepancy. A total of 225 secondary school students from two different countries enrolled in grades 8 and 11 (German sample; n = 94) and grade 9 (Swiss sample; n = 131) participated. Students’ trait academic emotions of enjoyment, pride, anger, and anxiety in mathematics were assessed with a self-report questionnaire, whereas to assess their state academic emotions experience-sampling method was employed. The results revealed that students’ scores on the trait assessment of emotions were generally higher than their scores on the state assessment. Further, as expected, students’ academic self-concept in the domain of mathematics was shown to partly explain the discrepancy between scores on trait and state emotions. Our results indicate that there is a belief-driven discrepancy between what students think they feel (trait assessment) and what they really feel (state assessment). Implications with regard to the assessment of self-reported emotions in future studies and practical implications for the school context are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether problem-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidant coping strategies predict key outcomes in a sample of 354 high school students. The four outcomes considered are: academic achievement, life satisfaction, positive feelings towards school, and negative feelings towards school. Results demonstrate that coping incrementally predicts all four outcomes above and beyond the effects of the Big Five personality factors, vocabulary, and demographic variables. Incremental prediction is strongest for school feeling variables, where coping predicts 17.4% of the variance in positive feelings, and 15.9% of the variance in negative feelings. All three coping styles are important in predicting different outcomes: problem-focused coping predicts grades, life satisfaction, and positive feelings about school; emotion-focused coping predicts negative feelings only; and avoidant-focused coping predicts both positive and negative feelings about school. Results suggest that coping styles are an important variable for school outcomes, and that the effectiveness of different strategies differs depending on the outcome considered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The current study examined students’ perceptions of the effects of different forms of instructional feedback on their performance, motivation, and emotion. Forty-nine students attending an eastern US university participated in focus group discussions. The groups explored students’ reactions to grades, praise, and computer versus instructor provided feedback, as well as students’ views of the ideal feedback. Students named detailed comments as the most important and useful form of feedback. Grades were deemed to be unnecessary if the goal of an activity was to learn. Students proposed that low grades elicit negative affect and damage the students’ sense of self-efficacy, and high grades decrease motivation and lessen students’ perceived need to improve. Praise was reported to positively affect emotion, but not to be directly conducive to learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory of planned behavior (TPB) offers a theoretically meaningful framework for examining students' beliefs and attitudes toward mathematics at school. However, longitudinal investigations of mathematics beliefs and attitudes using the TPB are scarce at best. To redress this imbalance, we examined the predictive validity of mathematics beliefs and attitudes, modeled using the four key constructs of the TPB (i.e., intention, attitude, norms, and control), on mathematics grades across time, while simultaneously controlling for quantitative reasoning. Furthermore, we explored the longitudinal interplay among these key constructs of the TPB. The total sample, drawn from various US middle schools, comprised 752 students at Time 1 and 514 students at Time 2. We used structural equation modeling to address the proposed research questions, and found that intention was associated with students' grades over time above and beyond quantitative reasoning. Additionally, intention at Time 1 was positively associated with control at Time 2, whereas – after controlling for shared variances – attitude at Time 1 showed a negative relation with control at Time 2. Intention and norms were reciprocally related across time. The current study provides the first longitudinal support for the validity of a mathematics beliefs and attitudes model strongly rooted in the TPB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]