Maximizing Effectiveness: Identifying Beneficial Writing Patterns in Affirmation Interventions

• In Event: Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Advances in Utility-Value Intervention Research

Abstract

Recent research suggests that first-generation (FG) students perform better academically as a result participating in a values affirmation (VA) intervention in which students write about why personal values are important to them Harackiewicz, Canning, et al., 2014). Here, we report on a laboratory study in which we tested if manipulating the different kinds of values that students wrote about in a VA intervention would yield different results in terms of their performance on a standardized math test. By considering which values are most beneficial for FG students to reflect on, we will be able to better inform future iterations of VA interventions to ensure that they are optimally effective.

Authors

• Yoi Tibbetts, University of Wisconsin

• Judith Harackiewicz, University of Wisconsin