The effects of metamotivational dominance and perceived control on mood, telic and paratelic state, coping styles, and persistence after experiencing academic failure

Reversal theory posits that individuals reverse between being in a telic state (serious-minded) and a paratelic state (playful). Individuals can also be dominant in one of the two states, and thus telic and paratelic dominance was investigated in the present study. One hundred and forty-two undergraduate students volunteered to participate in the study. All participants were exposed to failure feedback on an initial test, and then half were informed it was possible to change their score on the subsequent test while the other half were told that due to high correlations between the two tests, it was typically impossible to improve their scores on the second test. Although strong effects of perceived control were not observed and the hypotheses were not confirmed, additional analyses revealed that telic and paratelic dominance influenced mood, telic and paratelic state and coping styles. Overall, telic dominant individuals expressed more negative mood, were more likely to be in a telic state, and engaged in more emotion-oriented and avoidance-oriented coping, while paratelic dominant individuals expressed more positive mood, were more likely to be in a paratelic state, and engaged in more problem-focused coping. Although most of the results are supported by reversal theory, the findings for coping styles appear to contradict the literature. A plausible explanation is provided for the inconsistent results observed with coping styles.Dept. of Psychology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2002 .G74. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 41-04, page: 1216. Adviser: Kathryn Lafreniere. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2002.