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Dimensional comparisons: How academic track students’ achievements are related to their expectancy and value beliefs across multiple domains
Gaspard, Hanna Wigfield, Allan Jiang, Yi Nagengast, Benjamin Trautwein, Ulrich Marsh, Herb W.
Gaspard, Hanna
Wigfield, Allan
Jiang, Yi
Nagengast, Benjamin
Trautwein, Ulrich
Marsh, Herb W.
Abstract
In the present study, we investigated how students’ expectancies and values can be predicted by their achievements in multiple domains. Our major aim was to extend previous findings on dimensional comparison processes for expectancies to task values while systematically comparing multiple value facets defined in expectancy-value theory. We assessed the expectancies, values, and achievements of N = 857 students in Grades 5–12 from two German academic track schools in five academic domains. The results for students’ expectancies largely supported the predictions that were derived from dimensional comparison theory: We found strong evidence for negative cross-domain paths between achievements and expectancies in “far” domains such as math and languages, indicating contrast effects. There were also some positive cross-domain paths between achievements and expectancies in “near” domains such as math and physics, indicating assimilation effects. We also found similar patterns of cross-domain paths for students’ values. However, the results varied substantially across the nine value facets under investigation. We found the strongest evidence for dimensional comparison processes for the value facets most closely related to expectancy (e.g., intrinsic value and cost facets), whereas we found only a little evidence for dimensional comparison processes for the facets of utility value
Keywords
expectancy-value theory, internal/external frame of reference model, self-concept, task value, dimensional comparisons
Date
2018
Type
Journal article
Journal
Contemporary Educational Psychology
Book
Volume
52
Issue
Page Range
1-14
Article Number
ACU Department
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as green open access
License
File Access
Open
Controlled
Controlled