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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 32, No. 12, 1690-1702 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167206291946
© 2006 Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Matching Achievement Contexts with Implicit Theories to Maximize Motivation After Failure: A Congruence Model

Amani El-Alayli

Eastern Washington University

Previous research has shown that matching person variables with achievement contexts can produce the best motivational outcomes. The current study examines whether this is also true when matching entity and incremental beliefs with the appropriate motivational climate. Participants were led to believe that a personal attribute was fixed (entity belief) or malleable (incremental belief). After thinking that they failed a test that assessed the attribute, participants performed a second (related) task in a context that facilitated the pursuit of either performance or learning goals. Participants were expected to exhibit greater effort on the second task in the congruent conditions (entity belief plus performance goal climate and incremental belief plus learning goal climate) than in the incongruent conditions. These results were obtained, but only for participants who either valued competence on the attribute or had high achievement motivation. Results are discussed in terms of developing strategies for optimizing motivation in achievement settings.

Key Words: self-theories • effort • competence valuation • achievement goals • motivation

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