Under pressure to achieve? : the impact of type and style of task instructions on student cheating

Combining principles of Achievement Goal Theory, which maintains that performance goals play a key role in individuals' likelihood of cheating, and Self-Determination Theory, which highlights the importance of autonomy support and autonomous motivation underlying achievement goals, we examined whether the combination of experimentally inducing a mastery-approach (relative to performance-approach) goal with an autonomy-supportive manner (instead of controlling) may attenuate cheating. In two experiments carried out with university students, one classroom based (N = 164) and one laboratory (N = 160), we manipulated the type of induced goal (performance-vs. mastery-approach) and style of introducing the goal (i.e., controlling vs. autonomy-supportive) by taking also into consideration participants' values. We hypothesized that the least behaviorally observed cheating would occur in a context promoting mastery-approach goals in an autonomy-supportive way and among individuals low in self-enhancement value adherence. The dependent variables in both studies consisted of two set of exercises, both including questions that could only be solved by cheating. Results of Poisson regression analyses revealed that in both studies the least cheating in the first set of exercises occurred in the autonomy-supportive/mastery-approach condition, indicating that this induced goal complex has the greatest potential to restrain academic dishonesty in the short-term. Interaction effects with self-enhancement value adherence revealed that the cheating inhibitory effects of this induced goal complex was less effective for those who value power and achievement

The good cheat: Benevolence and the justification of collective cheating.

“Sharing is caring” the old adage goes, with its implied message that both are morally desirable. But what if it’s test answers that students are sharing with their friends? Integrating values, cheating and in-group bias theory, we hypothesize that adherence to group-loyalty benevolence values—considered as some of the most moral values—positively predicts the acceptance of collective cheating, that is students cheating together with in-group peers, when competition is salient. Operationalizing competition in three different ways we test this in four studies. In Study 1, adherence to benevolence values predicted positive attitudes towards collective but not individual cheating among students presented (vs. not) with a portrayal of society as competitive. Study 2 revealed that, within the competitive context of an end-of-year exam, adherence to benevolence values positively predicted moral disengagement towards collective cheating but negatively predicted individual cheating. Study 3 showed that valuing both being a dependable friend and attaining power and influence, predicted the acceptance of collective cheating. Finally, in Study 4, carried out with dyads of students, groups composed of students who knew each other cheated more than students composed of strangers. Furthermore, dyad adherence to power values positively predicted cheating behavior among dyads that knew (vs. did not know) each other. These results signal that group loyalty can, in certain conditions, lead to justifying and engaging in collective cheating, and that the motivational underpinnings may be the moral status of benevolence values

Teaching as Social Influence: Empowering Teachers to Become Agents of Social Change

International audienceTeachers carry out a number of roles in the educational system. Their primary role is to help all students develop knowledge and skills, but, most of the time, they take on the role of gatekeepers: They evaluate students and exercise selection on the basis of performance. We analyze the roles of teachers through the lens of the literature on social influence, and put forward the proposal that teaching is a form of social influence. We review existing research on the mechanisms that explain the differential effects teachers may have on students' learning, students' prospects and, therefore, educational justice. We conclude that if teachers endorse the role of mentors-instead of that of gatekeepers-focusing on the development of their students' knowledge, they can promote deep study, long-term learning, and equality of treatment. Such an approach could help design teacher training and school reform so as to maximize the learning potential of all students and empower teachers to become active agents of profound individual and social change

Après la Note : Effets Psychosociaux de L'Evaluation Normative

L’évaluation n’est pas un exercice neutre qui consiste à quantifier les mérites de la production d’un élève : selon le type d’évaluation utilisée (p.ex., normative ou formative) et selon la fonction qu’on lui attribue (sélectionner ou former), les élèves se sentent plus ou moins menacés, et développent des représentations différentes de leur autonomie et de leurs compétences sociales. Ceci a un impact sur leur apprentissage et sur l’égalité de chances. Le présent chapitre passe en revue un programme de recherche qui étudie la menace impliquée dans l’évaluation normative et ses conséquences en termes d’autonomie, compétences sociales et inégalité de traitement des élèves

Power poses – where do we stand?

<p>Dynamic results for Scenario 2.</p

Why Grades Engender Performance Avoidance Goals: The Mediating Role of Autonomous Motivation

Evaluation is an inescapable feature of academic life with regular grading and performance appraisals at school and at university. Although previous research has indicated that evaluation and grading in particular are likely to have a substantial impact on motivational processes, little attention has been paid to the relationship between grading and approach versus avoidance achievement goals, 2 fundamental concerns whenever evaluation is at stake. Three experiments, carried out in professional schools, revealed that expectation of a grade for a task, compared with no grade, consistently induced greater adoption of performance-avoidance, but not performance-approach, goals. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that expectation of a grade, compared with no grade, consistently induced greater adoption of performance avoidance goals even when grading was accompanied by a formative comment. Furthermore, Experiment 3 showed that reduced autonomous motivation measured after having completed a task for a grade versus no grade mediated the relationship between grading and adoption of performance-avoidance goals in a subsequent task. Results are discussed in the light of achievement goal and self-determination theory

Reducing Threat in Cooperative Learning: The Role of Decentering

Previous research in cooperative learning has demonstrated that working on identical information may elicit comptence threat: Partners try to affirm their competence by focusing on their own position, which results in reduced learning. The present study tested a decentering procedure (emphasizing the complementarity of multiple viewpoints) as a way to reduce this threat when working on identical information. Forty-four students discussed one text either with or without decentering. Results indicated that students working with decentering reported a marginally more positive relationship with their partner, less competence threat, and they had better learning performance. Decentering canceled out the negative relationship between perceived partner’s competence and student performance, emphasizing its usefulness in overcoming the negative effects of competence threat when working on identical information

Reducing threat in cooperative learning: the role of decentering

Previous research in cooperative learning has demonstrated that working on identical information may elicit comptence threat: Partners try to affirm their competence by focusing on their own position, which results in reduced learning. The present study tested a decentering procedure (emphasizing the complementarity of multiple viewpoints) as a way to reduce this threat when working on identical information. Forty-four students discussed one text either with or without decentering. Results indicated that students working with decentering reported a marginally more positive relationship with their partner, less competence threat, and they had better learning performance. Decentering canceled out the negative relationship between perceived partner's competence and student performance, emphasizing its usefulness in overcoming the negative effects of competence threat when working on identical information

Challenges for cooperative learning implementation: reports from elementary school teachers

Despite the well-established benefits of cooperative learning, implementation remains a challenge. This research aims to document these challenges at the elementary school level, drawing on teachers’ beliefs regarding learning as well as the difficulties teachers report. Results indicate that the most frequent instructional strategies reported are traditional ones such as teacher-monitored, collective class discussion, transmission and individual work. The use of these last two is particularly associated with teacher beliefs that learning derives from teacher-delivered knowledge. In general, this research found that teachers do not perceive cooperative learning as very easy to implement; over 40% introduce it occasionally and only 33% use it routinely. Teachers reported that they are particularly ill at ease with embedding cooperative learning in the curriculum, finding the time required for cooperative learning and evaluating pupils when using cooperative learning. Results underline that, in addition to teachers’learner-orientation beliefs predicting the use of cooperative learning,the more teachers report difficulties in embedding cooperative learning into the curriculum and finding time for it, the less they say they actually implement it. Contributions to teacher education programmes are discussed in the light of these findings