Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The present study, based on the work of Dweck (2000) and her description of helpless and mastery-orientated children, was designed to find a new, simple and economic way of assessing helplessness while testing a child's intelligence. Two hundred and thirty-two Austrian grammar-school children, previously classified as either helpless or mastery-oriented, were tested with the Adaptive Intelligence Diagnosticum (AID 2; Kubinger and Wurst, 2000), a German intelligence test-battery for children and adolescents. During the testing, the children were asked if they would prefer to continue with easier, equally difficult or harder items after each task block. Analysis of variance revealed that it is possible to identify helpless subjects during the regular test procedure with AID 2.

Keywords

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Atkinson, J.W. (1957) `Motivational Determinants of Risk-Tasking Behavior' , Psychological Review 64: 359-72.

Caplovitz Barrett, K. , Morgan, G.A. and Maslin-Cole, C. (1993) `Three Studies on the Development of Mastery Motivation in Infancy and Toddlerhood', in D. J. Messer (ed.) Mastery Motivation in Early Childhood. Development, Measurement and Social Processes, pp. 83-108. London: Routledge.

Crandall, V.C. , Katkovsky, W. and Crandall, V.J. (1965) `Children's Beliefs in Their Own Control of Reinforcements in Intellectual-Academic Achievement Situations', Child Development 36: 91-109.

Diener, C.I. and Dweck, C.S. (1978) `An Analysis of Learned Helplessness: Continuous Changes in Performance, Strategy, and Achievement Cognitions Following Failure' , Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 36: 451-62.

Diener, C.I. and Dweck, C.S. (1980) `An Analysis of Learned Helplessness: II. The Processing of Success', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39: 940-52.

Dweck, C.S. (1975) `The Role of Expectations and Attributions in the Alleviation of Learned Helplessness', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 31: 674-85.

Dweck, C.S. , Davidson, W. , Nelson, S. and Bradley, E. (1978) `Sex Differences in Learned Helplessness: II. The Contingencies of Evaluative Feedback in the Classroom and III. An Experimental Analysis', Developmental Psychology 14: 268-76.

Dweck, C.S. (2000) Self-theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality and Development. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.

Dweck, C.S. and Reppucci, N.D. (1973) `Learned Helplessness and Reinforcement Responsibility in Children', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 25: 109-16.

10.

Elliott, E.S. and Dweck, C.S. (1988) `Goals: An Approach to Motivation and Achievement' , Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 54: 5-12.

11.

Heckhausen, H. (2003) Motivation und Handeln (Motivation and Acting) , 2nd edn. Berlin: Springer.

12.

Kubinger, K.D. and Wurst, E. (2000) Adaptives Intelligenz Diagnostikum - Version 2.1(AID 2)(Adaptive intelligence diagnosticum 2.1). Weinheim: Beltz.

13.

Licht, B.G. and Dweck C.S. (1984) `Determinants of Academic Achievement: The Interaction of Children's Achievement Orientations With Skill Area', Developmental Psychology 20: 628-36.

14.

Mueller, C.M. and Dweck, C.S. (1998) `Intelligence Praise Can Undermine Motivation and Performance', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 75: 33-52.

15.

Smiley, P.A. and Dweck, C.S. (1994) `Individual Differences in Achievement Goals Among Young Children', Child Development 65: 1723-43.

16.

Stipek, D.J. and Gralinski, J.H. (1991) `Gender Differences in Children's Achievement-Related Beliefs and Emotional Responses to Success and Failure in Mathematics', Journal of Educational Psychology 83: 361-71.

An Innovative Method for Testing Children's Achievement-Related Reactions

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References