The authors aimed to extend the literature in self-determination theory (SDT) to understand the relations between college environmental variables (faculty and peer support) and academic major satisfaction. The study was disseminated via an online platform to 320 students attending a large midwestern university. Based on SDT, it was hypothesized that student perceptions of their volitional autonomy, competence, and relatedness in their academic major would fully mediate the relations between perceived faculty and peer supports and major satisfaction. This hypothesized model was tested against a partially mediated model and an alternate model that further tested the directionality of the argument. Results from structural equation modeling partially supported the hypotheses. Faculty and peer support, respectively, significantly contributed to students' experience of volitional autonomy in their major (βs = .23 and .39), perceived competence in their major (βs = .31 and .37), and relatedness in their major (βs = .29 and .56). Volitional autonomy in a major fully mediated the relationship between faculty support and major satisfaction (M = .14, SE = .05, p < .01, 95% confidence interval CI [.04, .24]) and the relationship between peer support and academic major satisfaction (M = .22, SE = .02, p < .05, 95% CI [.10, .34]). The hypothesized model was found to be superior than the partially mediated and alternate models. Thus, the authors concluded that SDT is a useful framework for understanding the relationship between faculty and peer supports, psychological needs, and major satisfaction.
Taking a test improves memory for that tested information, a finding referred to as the testing effect. Multiple-choice tests tend to produce smaller testing effects than do cued-recall tests, and this result is largely attributed to the different processing that the two formats are assumed to induce. Specifically, it is generally assumed that the multiple-choice format bypasses the need to retrieve information. Research suggests, however, that multiple-choice questions can be constructed to induce retrieval of information pertaining to the incorrect alternatives. In the present research, we investigated the processes that individuals use to answer multiple-choice questions and how those processes relate to later memory, particularly for information pertaining to the incorrect alternatives. Most critically, we found that participants sometimes spontaneously recall information pertaining to incorrect alternatives, and these spontaneous retrievals are associated with retention of those alternatives as correct answers to related questions later. Although multiple-choice questions can be constructed so as to bypass retrieval, they can also be constructed to induce retrieval, and when they are, learning benefits are likely to occur. The present work has practical implications for how instructors can create multiple-choice questions to induce processes that facilitate learning. (PsycINFO Database Record
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