The Differentiation of the Concepts of Difficulty and Ability

Nicholls, John G.; Miller, Arden

doi:10.2307/1129899

Cited by 129 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…As Nicholls and Miller (1983) have shown, during early adolescence, children's conception of the nature of ability becomes more differentiated and more like that of an adult. The difference in beliefs of elementary and high school students may be a reflection of this developmental change.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implicit theories, goal orientations, and perceived competence: Impact on students' achievement behavior

Leondari

Gialamas

2002

Psychology in the Schools

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The present study was designed to explore relations between implicit theories of intelligence, goal orientations, perceived competence, and school achievement. It was assumed that implicit theories of intelligence orient individuals toward particular goals, which in turn influence achievement behavior. Perceived competence was hypothesized to moderate the relationship between implicit theories, goal orientations and actual achievement. Subjects were 451 elementary and junior high school students. The results of Pearson product moment correlations and Path analysis show theoretically important intercorrelations that replicated previous research. Implicit theories were not related to academic achievement. Goal orientations had an indirect effect on achievement, which was mediated through perceived competence. Educational implications of these findings are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implicit theories, goal orientations, and perceived competence: Impact on students' achievement behavior

Leondari

Gialamas

2002

Psychology in the Schools

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“…For young children-before about age 6 or 7-ability and effort are virtually synonymous. The same is true for older learners engaged in certain types of learning activity (Nicholls, 1979(Nicholls, , 1983Nicholls & Miller, 1983, in press), and we will return to this issue later. Similarly, children's concepts of success and failure are variable (Frieze, Francis, & Hanusa, 1983).…”

Section: The Learner's Part In Passive Failurementioning

confidence: 96%

Passive Failure in Reading

Johnston

Winograd

1985

Journal of Reading Behavior

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This paper examines the notion that many of the problems evidenced by poor readers are related to their passive response to the interactive task of reading. An integrative review of research in metacognition, attribution theory, and other related fields supports this notion by emphasizing the roles that appropriate goal-directed intentionality and active participation play in effective reading. Implications for reading instruction are examined and areas in need of research are identified.Determining why some children have particular difficulty in learning to read has been one of the most intractable research problems since the first published case study of reading failure appeared almost 90 years ago (Morgan, 1896). Since then, a wide variety of reading difficulties has been described, and an equally wide variety of contributing factors has been implicated. It is our thesis that many of the problems evidenced by poor readers stem from, or are compounded by, the fact that they are passive, helpless participants in what is fundamentally an interactive process-reading. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the current understanding of reading failure by reviewing and integrating relevant literature from a variety of different domains. First, we will describe the characteristics of passive failure-what it looks like. Second, we will examine why passive failure might occur in reading. Next, we will focus on 279

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“…We expected that children's self-perceived ability is positively related to motivation and negatively related to task difficulty. Additionally, according to different studies (e.g., Madigan et al 2002;Nicholls and Miller 1983) selfperceived ability (compared to the perception of task difficulty and motivation) is the most important perception in evaluating a challenging situation. Therefore, we suggested that self-perceived ability mediates the effect of task difficulty on motivation.…”

Section: Research Questions and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Self-Perceived Ability in Relation to Perception of Task Difficulty Nicholls and Miller (1983) proposed three levels of difficulty conceptions that are closely related to the self-perception of ability. At the first level, termed egocentric difficulty, selfperceived ability and task difficulty are closely associated.…”

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confidence: 99%

Young Children’s Self-Perceived Ability: Development, Factor Structure and Initial Validation of a Self-Report Instrument for Preschoolers

Müller

Seiler

Perren

et al. 2014

J Psychopathol Behav Assess

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We developed and evaluated a self-report instrument for preschoolers assessing self-perceived ability, task difficulty, and motivation. 231 3-to 5-year-old children (M= 3.84 years, SD=.49, 112 girls, 119 boys), participated in the interview, and reported also on their self-concept. Parents and teachers reported on children's symptoms. In a first step we used a person-and a variable-oriented approach to assess associations between self-perceived ability, estimated task difficulty and motivation. In a second step, we aimed to generate evidence for our construct of self-perceived ability based on relationships between the test scores and other measures that are theoretically assumed to be related to selfperceived ability. Results confirm the theory-based relation between self-perceived ability, task difficulty, and motivation, and indicate construct validity. Self-perceived ability proved to mediate the association between task difficulty and motivation and was associated with children's task mastery and self-concept. However, children's self-reports were not associated with adult-reported symptoms. The findings extend the discussion on the validity, reliability, and accuracy of selfreports in preschoolers. Further studies need to address the criterion-related validity of the interpretation of the newly developed instrument.

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The Differentiation of the Concepts of Difficulty and Ability

Cited by 129 publications

References 11 publications

Implicit theories, goal orientations, and perceived competence: Impact on students' achievement behavior

Implicit theories, goal orientations, and perceived competence: Impact on students' achievement behavior

Passive Failure in Reading

Young Children’s Self-Perceived Ability: Development, Factor Structure and Initial Validation of a Self-Report Instrument for Preschoolers

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