Social Goals and Math Persistence: The Role of Goal Internalization

• In Event: 45.026 - Mathematics Within Social and Cultural Contexts: Promising Perspectives and Practices

Abstract

The present study, which was conducted in the U.S. and China, examined the association between college students’ social goals and their math problem-solving persistence. In Session 1, we assessed both the strength of students’ social goals and their reasons for adopting them. In Session 2, we assessed students’ persistence on two different math tasks. The results showed that, contrary to our expectations, Chinese students did not report stronger social goals compared to American students, nor did they report more internalized (i.e., more autonomous and less controlled) reasons for adopting the goals. However, consistent with our expectations, we found that the strength of Chinese students’ goals interacted with their internalization of these goals in predicting persistence.

Authors

• Chen Shen, Boston College

• David B. Miele, Boston College

• Marina Vasilyeva, Boston College

• Qiong Li, Beijing Normal University

• Jingtian Zhou, Beijing Normal University