How Do Perceived Goal Structure and Perceived Professor Mindset Predict Undergraduates' Motivation and Belonging?

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Achievement Goals, Classroom Goal Structures, and Their Associations With Other Motivational Beliefs and Behaviors

Abstract

Social cognitive theories of motivation emphasize the importance of the social context in students’ motivation. However, different approaches to measuring the social context have arisen from different research traditions. One approach is to focus on students’ perceptions of mastery versus performance goal structures, and another approach is to focus on students’ perceptions of teachers’ fixed versus growth mindsets. In the present study with undergraduate students (N = 231), I directly compared these different measures of the social context as predictors of students’ expectancies, values, costs, and sense of belonging. Findings suggest that all three aspects of the social context examined (perceived mastery and performance goal structures and perceived professor fixed mindset) uniquely predicted some aspect of students’ motivation and/or belonging.

Author

• Katherine M. Muenks, University of Texas at Austin