Individual Differences in Response to Attributional Praise in an Online Learning Environment

• In Event: 58.084 - Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: 58.084-4 - Poster Session 2: Motivational and Affective Processes

Abstract

This study investigated how gender and beliefs about ability moderate the effects of attributional feedback (specifically, praise) on college students' task motivation and performance in an online environment. We conducted a 3 (praise type: ability vs. effort vs. none) x 2 (gender: male vs. female) x 2 (belief about ability: entity vs. incremental) between-subjects factorial experiment with 196 college students. Multivariate analysis of variance of the data detected significant interactions between praise and gender on the main outcome variables. Overall, praise, particularly effort praise, positively influenced male participants' performance, self-efficacy, and intrinsic motivation; whereas for female participants, praise had no significant impact on these variables.

Authors

• QIN ZHAO, Western Kentucky University

• Xiaoxia Huang, Western Kentucky University