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This study, conducted with 279 5th graders, examined the effects of high norms (HN) and low norms (LN) used as goals in a 2-week vocabulary learning task. Ss in the LN condition yielded significantly higher retention scores; performance and interest scores were not significantly different. These results were compared with those of a related experiment in an attempt to identify factors of goal-effectiveness. Hypotheses concerning the functions of goal remoteness, goal-ability discrepance, and goal specificity on academic performance are proposed. (Author)

The effects of competitive treatments on performance, interest, and retention were examined with the use of a ten-day vocabulary task administered to 2,256 sixth graders. The four major objectives of this experiment were: (1) to examine educational competition within a learning, as opposed to a testing, situation; (2) to examine competition using an experimental design, task, procedure, and setting which allow for generalization to present educational situations; (3) to reexamine the effect of educational competition on three dependent variables: performance, interest, and retention; and (4) to examine the difference between competition with a material reward and competition in a game situation without a material reward. Although interest was found to be significantly higher in these treatments than in a control, neither performance nor retention was increased under the competitive treatments. Based on a review of the literature and the results of this study, a model relating task complexity and intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation to increased performance was proposed. (Author)

The possible advantages and disadvantages of using local or national educational achievement norms as standards for classroom performance are weighed against the more common situation wherein students are involved in face-to-face competition with their classroom peers. This introductory discussion concludes that the motivational value of "average scores" as goals may be inversely related to: (1) the discrepancy between these scores and participants' abilities; and (2) the dissimilarity between those subjects used in establishing norms and those for whom those norms are used as criteria for performance. The experiment reported herein tries to control for these relationships as it examines the effects of using high and low norms as standards for 8 classes of 5th graders on a 10-day vocabulary task, where norms were said to have been established by similar 5th grade classes. Results show the use of norms to be ineffective in influencing performance. Further, the speculation is supported that social relevance and relative difficulty are 2 major factors which do influence the effectiveness of academic goals. (TL)

A study is reported in which the effects of 2 competitive treatments on mean classroom performance, interest and retention were examined with the use of a 10-day vocabulary-learning task. Sixty-six 5th grade classrooms were randomly assigned to one of 3 conditions: (1) control; (2) competition with reward; and (3) competition in a game setting. The results indicate that, contrary to prediction, neither performance nor retention was increased under the competitive treatments. However, interest was found to be significantly higher in these treatments than in the control. Finally, and according to prediction, little variability was found between the effects of the 2 competitive conditions on the 3 dependent variables. A model relating task-complexity and motivation to increased performance is proposed and discussed. Several related areas of educational research are suggested, all of which concern aspects of cognitive and affective motivation. (Author/TL)

The introductory discussion focuses on research which shows relationships between self-perception and school performance, and emphasizes especially a locus of control measurement scale developed to assess children's belief in internal vs. external control in academic situations exclusively. Internality is seen as constituting a motivational influence upon achievement performance. In this study, conducted with 99 4th, 5th and 6th graders, the author examined relationships between internality and performance on spelling, vocabulary and math tests in which subjects determined the levels of difficulty at which they worked. Correlation was controlled for IQ and achievement. At each grade level, internality showed a significant positive correlation with performance. For boys, this relationship was stronger than that found between performance and IQ, while for girls IQ correlated more highly with performance than did internality. (Author/TL)

In the study reported here, teachers were given a 5th grade student's report card to which was attached a photo of either an attractive boy, an unattractive boy, an attractive girl, or an unattractive girl. Teachers completed an opinion sheet indicating their best estimate of: (1) the child's IQ; (2) his peer relationships; (3) the parents' interest in the child's academic achievements; and (4) the student's potential educational attainments. Results show that, on all 4 dependent measures, teacher expectations are significantly higher for the attractive child than for the unattractive child. In the concluding discussion, the author presents some implications of her findings and suggests to teachers that they make a conscious effort to compensate for this "natural" bias against less attractive children. (Author/TL)

Decision-making Rationale for Educational Testing (DRET) is a proposal intended to reduce the misuse of achievement tests. It assumes 1) measurement is intended to facilitate decision-making, 2) the choice of an instrument, the identification of examinees and the use of test results is determined by the decision for which the measurement is to be taken, and 3) effective educational measurement is a function of the nature of the decision, the examinee's option to measure, and his expectation of the measurement. DRET specifies that a decision issue must be clearly stated and validated before initiating measurement, and that measurement in excess of that which facilitates the decision is prohibited. This proposal gives the student a major role in determining measurement activities and might be summarized in the motto, "Test at Student Request." (Author)

Two predictions related to educational performance are examined in this experiment: (1) Competitive treatments increase classroom performance and interest on a power test; and (2) game-like competition is as effective as reward competition in increasing classroom performance and interest on a power test. 1,035 fifth and sixth graders from 36 classes in four Wisconsin school systems participated in the research and were randomly assigned to either a control group (competition with reward treatment), or an experimental group (competition in a game setting treatment). Forms 4A and 4B of the mathematical subtest of School and College Ability Tests were used to measure treatment effects. The competitive treatments had no significant effect on performance but significantly increased the childrens' interest in the test. There was no difference between the two significant treatments; competition with a game was as effective as competition with a reward for both performance and interest measures. The speculation is made that the relative magnitude of the performance and interest effect is directly related to the nature of the task. That is, competition increases performance more in a speed task than in a power task; and competition increases interest more in a power task than in a speed task. (Author/RSM)

A revised measure of locus of control for children and a summary of its descriptive statistics is presented. The nature of the instrument is discussed in light of Weiner's two-dimensional attribution table. (Author/MS)

Two studies were conducted to investigate the relationship between academic performance and physical attractiveness, using an elementary school sample. (BRT)

This field study was designed as an examination of the effects of stating self-expectancy for complex learning tasks administered under typical classroom conditions. (Author/RK)

This study was designed to measure the effect of option on cognitive andaffective behavior and reexamine the function of locus of control as a predictor of academic performance in a situation where option-in-means is provided while option-in-ends is controlled. (Author/RK)

The effects of competitive treatments on performance, interest, and retention were examined with the use of a ten-day vocabulary task administered in sixty-six fifth grade classrooms. Neither performance nor retention was increased under the competitive treatments. (CK)

The study examined the effects of emphasizing the competitive environment in a testing situation through the use of rewards and game techniques. Neither rewards nor games had an effect on test performance. (Author/MF)

Purpose of the study is to examine relationships between internality and achievement-related variables in a performance situation where students determine the difficulty level at which they desire to work. (Authors)

Results of three studies indicate that unless a woman is of unusual ability and/or is an acknowledged success, she must expect to be treated inequitably. (Authors/CB)

The extent to which performance is a function of interest will be dependent upon (a) the nature of the task per se (e.g., complex vs. simple); (b) the conditions for task specification (e.g., imposed vs. selected); and (c) characteristics of the performer (e.g., high internality vs. low internality). (Author)