The relationship between perceived attainment and optimism, and academic achievement and motivation

Abstract

Constructed a measure to assess students' domain specific optimism for medium-term goals: perceived expansibility of knowledge and skills in mathematics for 1 yr. 130 9th-grade students (aged 14–25 yrs) were categorized into 4 groups by 2 dimensions: perceived attainment and optimism. Students with low perceived attainment and high optimism showed the most optimistic way of processing personal and surrounding information, and their high optimism was not based on actual achievement. Those with high perceived attainment and low optimism had modest expectation and showed the highest achievement and motivation among the 4 groups. Males showed higher academic achievement scores than females, while females showed higher scores in learning attitudes and activities than males. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)