Expectancy-Value Theory

• In Event: Motivation Theory Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: Reflections of Founders and Descendants

Abstract

Modern expectancy-value theories (e.g., Eccles (Parsons) et al., 1983; Wigfield, Tonks, & Klauda, 2016) are based on seminal work by Lewin (1938) and Tolman (1932) who initially defined the expectancy and value constructs, and also on Atkinson's (1957) expectancy-value model of achievement motivation. Eccles (Parsons) et al. (1983) defined expectancies for success as children's beliefs about how well they will do on an upcoming task currently or further into the future. They defined values with respect to the qualities of different tasks and how those qualities influence the individual’s desire to do the task; hence the term task value. Eccles et al. (1983) proposed that children’s interest in tasks (termed interest value), beliefs about their importance to them (attainment value), and the perceived usefulness (or utility value) of it positively influence individuals’ overall task values. Overall task value is influenced negatively by the perceived cost of the activity, or what the individual has to give up to do a task (e.g., do I do my math homework or call my friend).
Eccles (Parsons) et al. (1983) proposed that individuals’ expectancies for success and their valuing of achievement are the most proximal predictors of performance and choice. Expectancies and values themselves are influenced by their task-specific beliefs such as perceptions of competence, perceptions of the difficulty of different tasks, and their goals and self-schema, along with their affective memories for different achievement-related events. Many social and cultural aspects of children’s worlds influence these beliefs, goals, and affective memories. These include perceptions of other peoples' attitudes, expectations, and behaviors for and towards them, their actions towards them, the experiences children have in different classrooms in various school structures, and the broader cultural milieu in which they live.
Eccles, Wigfield, and colleagues have shown that students’ expectancies and values indeed do predict their performance and choice on different achievement activities (see Wigfield et al., 2016, for a review). They have examined gender differences in students’ competence-related beliefs and values, and how these lead to girls opting out of STEM careers despite often having the necessary skills to succeed at those careers. They also have studied extensively the development of children’s competence-related beliefs and values; their research shows a “normative” pattern of decline in them across the school years, but also complex patterns of change in different subgroups of children and adolescents.
Much remains to be learned about children’s developing expectancies and values, and there is exciting new research on previously understudied topics in this model. For example, after years of neglect various researchers now are studying the perceived cost construct, developing new measures of it and examining it in different countries (e.g., Nagengast et al, 2016). Others are working on developing “brief” motivation interventions focused on increasing students’ valuing of different achievement activities (Rosenzweig & Wigfield, 2016). Although the cultural milieu is an important part of the model, much remains to be learned about the processes that impact children’s expectancies and values in different cultures (Wigfield et al., 2004).

Authors

• Jacquelynne Eccles, University of California - Irvine

• Chris S. Hulleman, University of Virginia