Motivation in African Americans

Graham, Sandra

doi:10.3102/00346543064001055

Cited by 291 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 164 publications

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“…In a sample of high school students, self-perceptions of ability were positively related to intentions to complete high school for both boys and girls (Saunders, Davis, Williams, & Williams, 2004). Thus, consistent with motivational theories, positive beliefs about one's academic abilities presumably lead to greater achievement striving in African American youth (Bandura, 1997; Graham, 1994). …”

Section: Academic Stereotype Endorsement and Self-perceptions Of Compmentioning

confidence: 66%

Academic Race Stereotypes, Academic Self-Concept, and Racial Centrality in African American Youth

Okeke

Howard

Kurtz‐Costes

et al. 2009

Journal of Black Psychology

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The relation between academic race stereotype endorsement and academic self-concept was examined in two studies of seventh-and eighth-grade African Americans. Based on expectancyvalue theory, the authors hypothesized that academic race stereotype endorsement would be negatively related to self-perceptions. Furthermore, it was anticipated that the relation between stereotype endorsement and self-perceptions would be moderated by racial centrality. The hypothesis was supported in two independent samples. Among students with high racial centrality, endorsement of traditional race stereotypes was linked to lower self-perceptions of academic competence. The stereotype/self-concept relation was nonsignificant among youth for whom race was less central to their identities. These results confirm the supposition of expectancy-value theory and illustrate the interweaving of group and individual identity with motivational beliefs. Keywords stereotypes; motivation; racial identity; self-conceptIdentity development is particularly important during adolescence, when youth are distancing themselves from parents through increasing expressions of autonomy (Erikson, 1968). In exploring who they are as individuals, adolescents depend on cues from the social environment (Oyserman, Gant, & Ager, 1995). As Erikson (1968) noted, adolescents are "sometimes morbidly preoccupied with what they appear to be in the eyes of others" (p. 128). For racial and ethnic minority youth, the expectations of others may be shaped by stereotypes about racial differences in abilities. Thus, for these youth, identity development entails forging an understanding of how race-including the centrality of race for the individual, as well as the meaning ascribed to race by others in the society-is intertwined with personal identity. In this article, we explore African American adolescents' endorsement of racial stereotypes about academic abilities and the relation between these stereotypes and the self-perceptions of adolescents for whom race is more or less central in their views of themselves. © 2009 The Association of Black PsychologistsCorrespondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ndidi A. Okeke, Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB # 3270, Chapel Hill, NC 27599; okeke@email.unc RACE STEREOTYPES ABOUT ACADEMIC ABILITYBy age 4 or 5, children in North America are aware that race is a human characteristic that is fixed at birth and that membership in a racial group predicts some qualities of group members (Hirschfeld, 1996(Hirschfeld, , 2001. Although much research has examined children's implicit and explicit attitudes toward members of other races (e.g., Aboud, 1988;Baron & Banaji, 2006), relatively little research has examined the age at which children become aware of academic race stereotypes, whether or not children endorse them, and the resulting repercussions for children's views of themselves. These stereotypes would presumably have an important impact on children's identity development as ...

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Section: Academic Stereotype Endorsement and Self-perceptions Of Compmentioning

confidence: 66%

Academic Race Stereotypes, Academic Self-Concept, and Racial Centrality in African American Youth

Okeke

Howard

Kurtz‐Costes

et al. 2009

Journal of Black Psychology

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“…However, we do not have a definitive explanation for why our results differ from prior work. As Graham (1994) discussed, there is much within group variation in African American students’ motivation that needs to be explored. We encourage future researchers studying African American’s students’ motivation in reading and other areas to explore this variation more fully, in order to build on the results reported here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, in a study using person-centered analyses, Guthrie, Coddington, et al (2009) found no ethnic differences in students’ patterns of motivation for reading school-based texts. We followed the recommendations of Graham (1994), Murdock (2009), and others and considered ethnic differences in conjunction with students’ socioeconomic status (SES). This is because there are often confounds between ethnicity and SES and so it is critical to examine both variables if there is variation in each within a given sample.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What if reading is easy but unimportant? How students’ patterns of affirming and undermining motivation for reading information texts predict different reading outcomes

Rosenzweig

Wigfield

2017

Contemporary Educational Psychology

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Many affirming and undermining motivational constructs affect students as they read information texts, but few researchers have explored how these motivations are patterned within students. In this study we used cluster analysis to classify middle school students (n = 1,134) based on their patterns of self-efficacy, perceived difficulty, value, and devalue for reading school information texts. We then compared how the patterns predicted students’ language arts grades, science information text comprehension, and dedication to reading school information texts. We found and validated a four-cluster solution. One cluster included a pattern of high affirming and low undermining motivations, and another included low affirming and high undermining motivations. Students with these patterns earned the highest and lowest scores, respectively, on all outcomes. A third pattern showed high self-efficacy/low difficulty with low value/high devalue, and a fourth showed moderate levels of all four motivational constructs. Students with the high efficacy and devalue pattern showed high information text comprehension but relatively low dedication. Students with the moderate pattern showed high dedication but low initial information text comprehension. Students with these two patterns earned similar grades. We discuss the implications of our findings for motivation theories and for school instruction that involves information text reading.

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“…Because children judge their capabilities partly by comparing their performances with those of others, future studies should also explore the influence of peers on the development of self efficacy beliefs as well as the social comparative information that students find most useful in developing these beliefs. Graham's (1994) summary of the literature on the expectancy beliefs of African American students revealed that Black students "maintain undaunted optimism and positive self-regard even in the face of achievement failure" (p. 103). Similar findings have been reported with Hispanic American samples (Lay & Wakstein, 1985).…”

Section: Developmental and Multicultural Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Academic Settings

Pajares

1996

Review of Educational Research

2,675

889

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The purpose of this article is to examine the contribution made by the selfefficacy component of Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory to the study of self-regulation and motivation in academic settings. The difference between self-efficacy beliefs and other expectancy constructs is first explained, fol lowed by a brief overview of problems in self-efficacy research. Findings on the relationship between self-efficacy, motivation constructs, and academic performances are then summarized. These findings demonstrate that particu larized measures of self-efficacy that correspond to the criterial tasks with which they are compared surpass global measures in the explanation and prediction of related outcomes. The conceptual difference between the defi nition and use of expectancy beliefs in social cognitive theory and in expect ancy value and self-concept theory is then clarified. Last, strategies to guide future research are offered.In Social Foundations of Thought and Action, Albert Bandura (1986) wrote that individuals possess a self system that enables them to exercise a measure of control over their thoughts, feelings, and actions. This self system houses one's cognitive and affective structures and includes the abilities to symbolize, learn from others, plan alternative strategies, regulate one's own behavior, and engage in self-reflection. It also plays a prominent role in providing reference mechanisms and a set of subfunctions for perceiving, regulating, and evaluating behavior, which results from the interplay between the self system and externalenvironmental sources of influence. As such, the self system serves a selfregulatory function by providing individuals with the capability to alter their environments and influence their own actions. In all, Bandura painted a portrait of human behavior and motivation in which the beliefs that people have about themselves are key elements in the exercise of control and personal agency.According to Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory, self-referent thought mediates between knowledge and action, and through self-reflection individuals evaluate their own experiences and thought processes. Knowledge, skill, and prior attainments are often poor predictors of subsequent attainments because the beliefs that individuals hold about their abilities and about the outcome of their efforts powerfully influence the ways in which they will behave. This view is consistent with that of theorists who have argued that the potent nature of beliefs Different sections of this article formed the basis for an invited address and two papers presented at symposia conducted at Annual Problems in Research on Perceived CompetenceAs noted earlier, research findings have generally supported the contentions of social cognitive theory as regards the role of self-efficacy. Findings have also been successful in supporting the contentions of other expectancy theories. It is, of course, in keeping with the predictive nature of normal science that most theoretical contentions receive support when o...

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Motivation in African Americans

Cited by 291 publications

References 164 publications

Academic Race Stereotypes, Academic Self-Concept, and Racial Centrality in African American Youth

Academic Race Stereotypes, Academic Self-Concept, and Racial Centrality in African American Youth

What if reading is easy but unimportant? How students’ patterns of affirming and undermining motivation for reading information texts predict different reading outcomes

Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Academic Settings

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