Testing Strategies for Communicating Personal and Communal Utility Value

• In Event: Poster Session 15
  In Poster Session: Motivation in Education SIG Poster Session 1

Abstract

Recent research suggests that first-generation college students may benefit from a utility-value intervention that helps them to find connects between their coursework and their important personal goals, which often include communal (other-oriented, helping-focused) goals. In the current laboratory experiment (n = 300) we tested different strategies for communicating utility value directly, by telling students about the value of a biology topic, or by having them discover the value of the topic themselves through a writing task. In addition, we manipulated the content of the utility value information and writing task to target either personal or communal utility. We found that both strategies helped enhance students’ perceived utility value. Furthermore, these strategies worked equally well for both first-generation and continuing-generation students.

Authors

• Stacy J. Priniski, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Cory Washington

• Cameron Hecht, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Judith Harackiewicz, University of Wisconsin