Explain Eccles’s expectancy-value theory, including the various factors and values that make up the model. What are the practical implications of Eccles’s model? Suppose that our goal was to get more girls enrolled in science courses to expand their career options. How would we do that, according to the theory?
What will be an ideal response?
Eccles’s expectancy-value theory is a major theory of motivation and seeks to predict achievement behavior and the multiple factors feeding into the choices individuals make, such as course choices. The model shows that any particular achievement behavior is a product of the person’s expectations for success and the person’s values. Several types of values are involved, including interest-enjoyment value, utility value, attainment value, relative cost, and prior investments. There are various factors involved, including cultural/social milieu, socializer’s beliefs and behaviors, the child’s interpretations of those beliefs, expectations, social roles and task demands; stable child characteristics, previous achievement-related experiences, the child’s interpretations of those experiences; the child’s goals and general self-schemata, child’s affective reactions and memories, activity-specific ability, self-concept, and expectation of success; achievement-related choices, engagement, and persistence; and relative subjective task value. The practical implications of this model are that there are various factors that play a role in the choices we make, particularly pertaining to achievement. There are a lot of ways we can influence an individual’s choice, depending on which factor you focus on or intervene with. If our goal was to get more girls enrolled in science courses, we could work on the expectancy side of the model, on the value side, or both. On the expectancy side, we would try to get high school girls to have higher expectancies for success in math and science courses. This could be done in a number of ways: by stressing that no average gender differences exist in math ability, by pointing to a pattern of success in math and sciences courses for an individual girl, and by encouraging girls to attribute their previous good grades in math and science to their own abilities. On the value side, we would need to increase the utility value that girls attach to math and science course. Most girls are probably not aware of the wide variety of careers that require math and science. Individual counseling sessions might examine each girls’ anticipated career and the math and science required for it.
You might also like to view...
What was the focus of early black women's clubs in the 1870s and 1880s?
A) women's right to vote B) the abolition of slavery worldwide C) cultural, religious, and social matters D) publicizing and criticizing domestic abuse
What set of circumstances led to Truman's speech announcing the policies which would form the Truman Doctrine?
What will be an ideal response?
William Harvey propelled forward the science of medicine in what way?
A) He was the first to record arteries in the body. B) He was the first to understand the circulation of the blood through a human body. C) He was the first to vivisect a reptile to understand the heart. D) He was the first to understand diastolic pressure. E) He was the first to understand the existence of the valves of the heart.
Which of the following was NOT one of the stipulations of the Transcontinental Treaty of 1819?
A. Spain recognized the Louisiana Purchase. B. Spain ceded Florida to the U.S. C. The United States would not pay for private claims against the Spanish. D. The United States conceded that the Louisiana Purchase did not include disputed territory in what is now eastern Texas.