The Relationship Between Individual Interest and Knowledge Acquisition: A Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis

• In Event: Poster Session 7
  In Poster Session: Division C Section 2a Poster Session 2: Motivational and Affective Processes

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine how individual interest and knowledge acquisition are causally related. Three hypotheses were tested using cross-lagged panel analysis and involving 186 primary school students. The first hypothesis is the broadly shared standard assumption of the relationship between individual interest and knowledge: the more an individual is interested in a topic the more is (s)he willing to engage in learning. An alternative hypothesis assumes that individual interest is not the cause but the consequence of the process of learning: individual interest as an affective byproduct of learning. A third possibility is that interest and knowledge influence each other reciprocally. The results supported the affective-byproduct hypothesis. Implications of these findings for interest research are discussed.

Authors

• Jerome I. Rotgans, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University

• Henk G. Schmidt, Radboud University Nijmegen