Unmotivated or motivated to fail? A cross-cultural study of achievement motivation, fear of failure, and student disengagement

A classic distinction in the literature on achievement and motivation is between fear of failure and success orientations. From the perspective of self-worth theory, these motives are not bipolar constructs but dimensions that interact in ways that make some students particularly vulnerable to underachievement and disengagement from school. The current study employs the quadripolar model of need achievement (Covington, 1992; Covington & Omelich, 1988) to explore how these approach and avoidance orientations are related to self-handicapping, defensive pessimism, and helplessness in Eastern and Western settings. Although there have been numerous calls for research of this kind across cultures (Elliott & Bempechat, 2002; Jose & Kilburg, 2007; Pintrich, 2003), little exists in the field to date. In Study 1, with 1,423 Japanese high school students, helplessness and self-handicapping were found to be highest when students were low in success orientation and high in fear of failure. These findings were replicated in Study 2 with 643 Australian students and extended to measures of truancy, disengagement, and self-reported academic achievement. Consistent with self-worth theory, success orientation largely moderated the relationship between fear of failure and academic engagement in both cultures. These results suggest that in the absence of firm achievement goals, fear of failure is associated with a range of maladaptive self-protective strategies. The current project thus represents a unique application of self-worth theory to achievement dynamics and clarifies substantive issues relevant to self-handicapping and disengagement across cultures

Unmotivated or motivated to fail? A cross-cultural study of achievement motivation, fear of failure, and student disengagement

A classic distinction in the literature on achievement and motivation is between fear of failure and success orientations. From the perspective of self-worth theory, these motives are not bipolar constructs but dimensions that interact in ways that make

My intelligence may be more malleable than yours: the revised implicit theories of intelligence (self-theory) scale is a better predictor of achievement, motivation, and student disengagement

The belief that intelligence is malleable has important consequences for achievement and motivation (Blackwell et al. Child Development, 78, 246-263. 2007; Dweck, 1999; Robins & Pals, Self and Identity, 1,313-336, 2002). However, believing that it is possible to improve intelligence does not necessarily mean students are always confident they can improve their own. The current study presents a revised “self-theory” measure of the implicit theories of intelligence scale, which assess students’ beliefs about their ability to mold their own intelligence in contrast to their beliefs about the malleability of intelligence in general. In testing with 643 Australian high school students (62 % female) ranging from 15 to 19 years of age (M=16.6, standard deviation (SD)=1.01), the belief that intelligence is “fixed” was predictive of lower endorsement of achievement goals, greater helplessness attributions, and poorer self-reported academic grades. Fixed “entity” beliefs were also predictive of academic self-handicapping, truancy, and disengagement. On all of these measures, the new self-theory scale uniquely explained greater outcome variance. These results indicate that students’ implicit beliefs—particularly about their own intelligence—may have important implications for their motivation, engagement, and performance in school

Implicit Theories and Emotion Regulation: Beliefs about Emotions and their role in Psychological Health and Well-being

Implicit theories about emotion refer to people’s beliefs about whether their emotions are fixed (entity theory) or malleable (incremental theory). Growing research indicates that these beliefs influence emotion regulation efforts, psychological health and well-being, and may even play a key role in clinical disorders and their treatment. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to this growing body of literature. Across 10 studies and seven empirical chapters, I examine the associations between implicit theories of emotion, emotion regulation, and psychological health. Using the Process Model of Emotion Regulation as a framework, this thesis is divided into sections corresponding to different emotion regulation stages: Situation Selection; Attentional Regulation; Response Modulation and Cognitive Change. The first three studies are focused on measurement: The personal implicit theory scales are developed and evaluated, and qualitative measures are used to test whether implicit theories map onto different emotion regulation strategies. Studies 4 and 5 examine implicit theories of emotion and the first stages of the Process Model: Situation Selection and Situation Modification. In a Study 4 entity (versus incremental) beliefs were associated with poorer psychological health outcomes, and avoidance strategies mediated the links between implicit theories and psychological health. In Study 5, participants’ emotion beliefs were experimentally manipulated leading them to believe that they struggled (entity condition) or did not struggle (incremental condition) with controlling their emotions. Participants in the entity condition reported increased intentions to engage in avoidance strategies, were more likely to avoid emotion regulation stimuli, and reported greater avoidance of psychological help. Studies 6 and 7 examined implicit theories of emotion and the third stage of the Process Model: Attentional Deployment. In a correlational study (Study 6), entity beliefs about emotions were positively associated with maladaptive attention regulation (e.g., catastrophizing) and negatively associated with adaptive attention regulation (e.g., mindfulness). Entity beliefs also predicted greater likelihood of using response modulation strategies like alcohol and medication as a means of regulating emotions. Attention regulation also indirectly explained links between emotion beliefs and response modulation. In a longitudinal Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention study (Study 7), MBSR led to a significant reduction in entity beliefs (compared to controls). Changes emotion beliefs mediated MBSR-related reductions in stress, anxiety, depression and response modulation at 12-month follow-up. Studies 8, 9 and 10 examine implicit theories of emotion and the third stage of the Process Model: Cognitive Change. In a correlational study (Study 8), entity beliefs about emotions predict reduced likelihood of using cognitive reappraisal in daily life, which in turn predict poorer self-esteem and life satisfaction. In a clinical study (Study 9), patients with social anxiety disorder (compared to healthy controls) were more likely to view emotions as things that cannot be controlled (entity theory). These beliefs predicted anxiety symptom severity. Finally, in a waitlist-controlled, 12-week Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) intervention study (Study 10), changes in implicit theories of emotion explained CBT-related reductions in social anxiety symptoms and uniquely predicted treatment outcomes even when controlling for baseline anxiety and other kinds of maladaptive beliefs. Emotion beliefs also continued to predict social anxiety 12-months post-treatment. The final chapters of this thesis employ a clinical case study to demonstrate why emotion beliefs can be harmful, and why psychoeducation may not always be an effective intervention. The implications of these findings in relation to emotion regulation and clinical treatment are discussed

Emotion beliefs and cognitive behavioural therapy for social anxiety disorder

Despite strong support for the efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD), little is known about mechanisms of change in treatment. Within the context of a randomized controlled trial of CBT, this study examined patients' beliefs about the fixed versus malleable nature of anxiety-their 'implicit theories'-as a key variable in CBT for SAD. Compared to waitlist (n = 29; 58% female), CBT (n = 24; 52% female) led to significantly lower levels of fixed beliefs about anxiety (Mbaseline = 11.70 vs. MPost = 7.08, d = 1.27). These implicit beliefs indirectly explained CBT-related changes in social anxiety symptoms (κ(2) = .28, [95% CI = 0.12, 0.46]). Implicit beliefs also uniquely predicted treatment outcomes when controlling for baseline social anxiety and other kinds of maladaptive beliefs (perceived social costs, perceived social self-efficacy, and maladaptive interpersonal beliefs). Finally, implicit beliefs continued to predict social anxiety symptoms at 12 months post-treatment. These findings suggest that changes in patients' beliefs about their emotions may play an important role in CBT for SAD

Beliefs about emotion: links to emotion regulation, well-being, and psychological distress

People differ in their implicit beliefs about emotions. Some believe emotions are fixed (entity theorists), whereas others believe that everyone can learn to change their emotions (incremental theorists). We extend the prior literature by demonstrating (a) entity beliefs are associated with lower well-being and increased psychological distress, (b) people's beliefs about their own emotions explain greater unique variance than their beliefs about emotions in general, and (3) implicit beliefs are linked with well-being/distress via cognitive reappraisal. These results suggest people's implicit beliefs—particularly about their own emotions—may predispose them toward emotion regulation strategies that have important consequences for psychological health

The war/crime narrative and fear content in leader rhetoric about terrorism

The current chapter considers fear arousing content in the terrorism-related rhetoric of former American President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Australian Prime Minister John Howard. We begin by discussing the specific military and political problem that terrorism presents to Western leaders in the 21st century, before examining how elements from what can be termed a war and a crime narrative have come to shape leader rhetoric in the War on Terror. In the second half of this chapter we examine the evidence for fear arousing content in leader rhetoric as well as how it differs between speakers and over time. This is supplemented with a textual analysis of key speeches by Bush, Blair and Osama Bin Laden. Finally, we consider alternatives to the War/Crime narrative and the ways in which leaders could actually seek to reduce unnecessary fear of terrorism

Fear Appeals in Political Rhetoric about Terrorism: An Analysis of Speeches by Australian Prime Minister Howard

This paper explores fear-arousing content in Australian former Prime Minister John Howard's political rhetoric about terrorism. We coded 27 speeches delivered between September 2001 and November 2007 for the presence of statements promoting fear-consistent appraisals (Smith & Lazarus, 1993). Fear-arousing content was present in 24 of these speeches, but the amount of fear-arousing content varied markedly. In particular, rhetoric that raised doubts about the capacity of Australia and its allies to cope with terrorism was most strongly present in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq and at times of declining support for government policies. Textual analysis of three key speeches confirmed a marked difference between Howard's speech given immediately after the attacks on September 11, 2001, and the second and third speeches presented prior to and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. These findings indicate that Howard has not consistently employed fear-inducing rhetoric in his speeches about terrorism, but that particular speeches appear to take this form, raising the possibility that fear-arousing rhetoric may have been selectively deployed to support his political purposes at those times

Beliefs about emotion: implications for avoidance-based emotion regulation and psychological health

People’s beliefs about their ability to control their emotions predict a range of important psychological outcomes. It is not clear, however, whether these beliefs are playing a causal role, and if so, why this might be. In the current research, we tested whether avoidance-based emotion regulation explains the link between beliefs and psychological outcomes. In Study 1 (N = 112), a perceived lack of control over emotions predicted poorer psychological health outcomes (increased selfreported avoidance, lower well-being, and higher levels of clinical symptoms), and avoidance strategies indirectly explained these links between emotion beliefs and psychological health. In Study 2 (N = 101), we experimentally manipulated participants’ emotion beliefs by leading participants to believe that they struggled (low regulatory self-efficacy) or did not struggle (high regulatory self-efficacy) with controlling their emotions. Participants in the low regulatory self-efficacy condition reported increased intentions to engage in avoidance strategies over the next month and were more likely to avoid seeking psychological help. When asked if they would participate in follow-up studies, these participants were also more likely to display avoidance-based emotion regulation. These findings provide initial evidence for the causal role of emotion beliefs in avoidance-based emotion regulation, and document their impact on psychological health-related outcomes.This work was supported by Australian National Universit

Retribution or restoration? Anglo–Australian's views towards domestic violence involving Muslim and Anglo–Australian victims and offenders

The current study explored how gender, group membership and different emotional reactions to the crime of domestic violence predict attitudes and endorsement of restorative or retributive justice practices. The experiment consisted of a 2 (victim group membership: Muslim- or Anglo-Australian) × 2 (offender group membership: Muslim- or Anglo-Australian) × 2 (Sex of participant) between-participants factorial design. Anglo-Australian participants (43 men; 50 women) were randomly assigned to one of the four manipulated conditions, and completed an online questionnaire that involved viewing a short video clip of a woman describing her experience as a domestic violence victim. Results revealed strong preferences for restorative justice in dealing with domestic violence, with women supporting this practice more than men. The crime was perceived as most severe and retribution was endorsed most strongly when the victim was Anglo-Australian (i.e. an in-group member). Intra-group violence was also perceived to be a greater breach of shared Australian values than inter-group (i.e. cross-cultural) domestic violence. Emotional reactions further predicted participants' responses, with hatred predicting stronger support of retributive ideals and sympathy for the victim predicting greater endorsement of restoration