The Development of Achievement-Related Expectancies

PARSONS, JACQUELYNNE E., and RUBLE, DIANE N. The Development of Achievement-related Expectancies. CmLD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 1075-1079. This study investigated the development of achievement-related expectancies. Based on the models of attribution and cognitive developmental theory and on past research, it was predicted that younger children would relate past history of outcomes to expectancies differently than older children, that sex differences in expectancies would not be present in the preschool-age group, and that older children would have the lowest expectancies. As predicted, success/failure experiences had a more systematic effect on school-age children's expectancies than on the expectancies of preschoolers, and older children consistently reported lower expectancies. In addition, the subject's sex in interaction with age influenced both initial expectancy and the use of outcome information.