Self-evaluative Responses of Children in an Achievement Setting

Thoughts on a theory of constructive failure

“…Research outside the context of learned helplessness also indicates that the correlates and effects of low performance or high errorrates include reduced self-confidence (Finn, 1979), unhappiness (Nicholls, 1975;Ruble, Parsons & Ross, 1976), disorganization of right hemispheric activity (Wiet & Goldstein, 1979), hypcractivity (Cunningham & Barkley, 1978), and lowered aspirations (Lewin, 1935;Robbins & Harway, 1977). In summary, there appears to be no shortage of evidence for those wishing to plead the case for minimizing errormaking and failure in education.…”

Self‐efficacy perspective on achievement behavior

“…Teachers who wish to promote a strong sense of efficacy among students might avoid providing comparative information in favor of directly telling students that they can attain the goal ("You can do this."). As Ruble, Parsons, and Ross (1976) suggest, providing social comparative information may lead to a focus on self-evaluation. With direct task information, students might focus more on how their present attainments surpass their prior accomplishments, which should promote selfefficacy.…”

The Onset of Asymmetries in Attributions about Success and Failure

“…Early presentations of the attributional model of achievement stated that the strength of the affective significance of an outcome was related to the extent to which it was explained internally. However, subsequent empirical efforts at testing this hypothesized relationship did not support it (9,10). More recently, Weiner (14) has altered his statements regarding the role of affect.…”

“…This asymmetry in explanations for outcomes takes the form of success eliciting more internal explanations (e.g., effort or ability) and failure eliciting more external explanations (e.g., luck or task difficulty). Outcome asymmetries have been found in attributions made about the self (1) and others (e.g., 4,11) and among children as young as six (10). The purpose of the present study is to determine the onset of this attributional tendency.…”