This analysis also suggests a relatively easy way to improve achievement
motivation: Change people ’s attributions. One team of researchers did just that
with a group of college freshmen (Wilson & Linville, 1982, 1985). Participants
in this study were students who, like many freshmen, didn’ t do very well their
first two semesters in college. The researchers explained to some of these
students that the causes of low grades during one ’s freshman year are usually
only temporary. In other words, they replaced stable attributions ( “I am not a
good student ”) with unstable ones ( “Freshman year is always the most diffi-
cult”). The students who used unstable attributions to explain their perfor-
mance not only got better grades during the next semester but also did betterwhen they later took the Graduate Record Exam. The implications for educa-tion, sports, the business world, and other achievement domains are obvious.
ASSESSING YOUR OWN PERSONALITY
Achievement Goals
Indicate with a number from 1 to 7 the extent to which each of thefollowing statements is true about you in the class you are currently taking.
A response of 7 indicates the statement is very true about you; 1 indicates
the statement is not at all true about you.
1. It is important for me to do better than other students.
2. I worry that I may not learn all that I possibly could in this
class.
3. I want to learn as much as possible from this class.
4. I just want to avoid doing poorly in this class.
5. It is important for me to do well compared to others in this
class.
6. Sometimes I ’m afraid that I may not understand the content
of this class as thoroughly as I ’d like.
7. It is important for me to understand the content of this
course as thoroughly as possible.
8. My goal in this class is to avoid performing poorly.
9. My goal in this class is to get a better grade than most of the
other students.
10. I am often concerned that I may not learn all that there is to
learn in this class.
11. I desire to completely master the material presented in this
class.
12. My fear of performing poorly in this class is often what
motivates me.
The scale provides a score for each of the four kinds of achievement goals.
Add the following answer values to obtain your scores: Mastery-Approach
goals (items 3, 7, and 11); Mastery-Avoidance goals (items 2, 6, and 10);
(continues)190 CHAPTER 8 The Trait Approach