Effect of Threatening Feedback on Expected Grade, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of perceived threat on expecred course grade, self-efficacy, and motivation. The study required college students to decide whether they perceived their most recent examination grade in a statistics course to be threatening to achievement of their over-all expected course grade and, based on that assessment of threat, subsequently place themselves into one of three feedback categories (positive nonthreatening, negative nonthreatening, or negative outcome-threatening). Expected course grade, self-efficacy, and motivation (intended effort) were assessed before the examination and after feedback had been delivered. Ratings of expected course grade, self-efficacy, and motivation significantly changed from pre- to posttest for subjects who perceived that their goals were threatened.