Perceived Task Difficulty Research Articles

Early Research on Self-Efficacy: What we Already Know Without Knowing we Knew

The term “self-efficacy” was introduced by Bandura in 1977. However, expectancy for success in achievement situations, which was investigated extensively prior to 1977, is operationally equivalent to self-efficacy. Studies of expectancy for success reveal that self-efficacy is affected by performance feedback, but that the debilitating effect of failure on self-efficacy is greater than the facilitating effect of success. Experience at a task stabilizes self-efficacy, thereby decreasing the effects of feedback. Self-efficacy is more resistant to extinction following continuous reinforcement than following intermittent reinforcement. Besides perceived ability, self-efficacy ratings are affected by perceived task difficulty and locus of control. Self-efficacy judgments for one task generalize to other tasks, leading to individual differences in generalized self-efficacy. There are conflicting data about the effects of reinforcement value (outcome expectancies) on self-efficacy. Self-efficacy ratings predict persistence at a task, future performance levels, choice of contingent over noncontingent rewards, and alcohol use and abuse. Low self-efficacy elicits fear only to the extent that it is associated with aversive outcomes.

Long-Term Prediction of Achievement and Attitudes in Mathematics and Reading

The purpose of the longitudinal study was to investigate the prediction of children's academic achievement on the basis of cognitive tasks given prior to kindergarten, and academic attitudes on the basis of teachers' and mothers' ratings of the children's general cognitive abilities and actual achievement. Subjects were tested initially before entering kindergarten; from 105 to 154 of the 255 kindergarten children were followed through grades 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10. A subset of cognitive tasks maintained a high relation to high school achievement scores, especially in reading. Tenth-grade self-concept of ability, expectancy for success, value of success, and perception of task difficulty showed effects of sex and academic content area, with boys generally being more favorable toward math and girls more favorable toward reading. Children's attitudes were related both to mothers' earlier ratings of their children's cognitive abilities and actual achievement scores; this was especially the case for girls. There was a negative relation between mothers' ratings and girls' attitudes toward mathematics. Sex differences in all measures throughout the 11-year period are reviewed.

Promoting Children's Cognitive and Social Competence: The Relation between Parents'Perceptions of Task Difficulty and Children's Perceived and Actual Competence

LADD, GARY W., and PRICE, JOSEPH M. Promoting Children's Cognitive and Social Competence: The Relation between Parents' Perceptions of Task Difficulty and Children's Perceived and Actual Competence. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 446-460. The purpose of this study was threefold: (1) to assess the degree of difficulty parents attribute to specific socialization tasks, such as promoting children's cognitive and social competence; (2) to explore the relation between parents' perceived difficulty for these tasks and children's perceived and actual competence in the corresponding skill domains; and (3) to determine whether the degree of perceived difficulty reported by parents for cognitive and social child-rearing tasks varies as a function of the consistency between children's competence-oriented perceptions and actual achievements in these respective domains. 114 thirdthrough fifth-grade children (ages 8-11) were administered measures of perceived and actual competence (cognitive and social), and their parents completed a scale designed to assess the relative ease or difficulty associated with both cognitive and social child-rearing tasks. Preliminary analyses of the parent perception measure indicated sufficient reliability and factorial validity to warrant its use. In general, results indicated a stronger relation between parents' perceived difficulty and measures of children's actual as opposed to perceived competence, although the strength of the relation between these measures also varied depending on the skill domain assessed and the child's sex. Parents of children who scored high on both perceived and actual competence tended to report lower levels of perceived difficulty for corresponding socialization tasks than did parents of children whose scores on both measures were either low or mismatched (e.g., high perceived but low actual competence).

Promoting Children's Cognitive and Social Competence: The Relation between Parents' Perceptions of Task Difficulty and Children's Perceived and Actual Competence

Promoting Children's Cognitive and Social Competence: The Relation between Parents' Perceptions of Task Difficulty and Children's Perceived and Actual Competence

Children's Task Interest and Performance

This study explored the effect of extrinsic reward on children's task interest and performance. A total of 48 third-grade children participated in groups that differed in whether or not rewards were offered and the task used (mazes or block design). Each child participated twice. The baseline session was designed to assess initial nonreward levels. The experimental session, which occurred one week later, was identical except that half of the children received rewards for their participation. Results revealed that the effects of reward on subsequent intrinsic interest were found to vary as a function of the task. Lowered interest under reward conditions was found only for those children in the block design task. However, rewards were found to adversely affect immediate task performance on both tasks, supporting McGraw's (1978) prediction model. Reward subjects also perceived the task to be of greater difficulty than did nonreward subjects. These findings suggest the effects of rewards on performance and interest are not directly related and that task characteristics, particularly perceptions of task difficulty, may be important mediators of reward effects.

Cardiac and somatic activation in the continuous perceptual-motor task: The significance of threat and serious-mindedness

The significance of serious-mindedness and task-contingent threat for cardiac and somatic activation were tested in a mixed design. Ten serious-minded and 10 playful state-dominant subjects were recruited from a larger sample to form extreme-groups according to their responses to the Telic Dominance Scale. They all performed a continuous perceptual-motor task with and without threat of aversive electric shock as punishment for inferior performance (counterbalanced). Results supported the following conclusions: serious-mindedness was associated with passive forearm EMG activity, whereas playfulness was related to active forearm EMG activity. Threat of shock interacted with serious-mindedness to cause particularly high HR with threat versus low HR in the no-threat treatment. Error-scores and scores on perceived task difficulty did not explain group differences in physiological activation. The results were discussed in relation to a hypothesis of cardiac-somatic uncoupling during effortful active coping, the pyramidal and extrapyramidal pathways to the skeletal muscles, and to effort expended in the serious-minded and playful motivational states.

Self-reinforcement: Impact of instructions, criterion setting, and tangible rewards

This investigation was designed to ascertain the effects of instructions, criterion setting, and the presence of tangible rewards on the self-reinforcement process. Fifty-two third- and fourth-grade subjects were assigned to one of four treatment groups: (a) stringent instructions/criterion setting/tangible reward, (b) stringent instructions/criterion setting/no tangible reward, (c) nonstringent instructions/criterion setting/tangible reward, and (d) nonstringent instructions/no tangible reward. In the stringent-instruction conditions, subjects received social reinforcement for selecting stringent performance criteria, whereas in the non-stringent-instruction conditions, social reinforcement was withheld. Subjects in the tangible-reward groups were allowed to select a prize following the successful completion of their self-selected work performance. Subjects in the no-tangible-reward groups received no prizes for their work. All subjects performed an arithmetic task in which the number of correct problems completed, number of problems attempted, and time at task served as dependent variables across five reinforcement and two extinction trials. The results suggest that the condition of stringent instructions, criterion setting, and tangible reward was more effective in producing behavior change than the other three conditions. Perceived task difficulty and previous achievement on arithmetic task performance were shown to affect criteria selected and mathematical performance. The results are discussed in light of the contributory role of instructions, criterion setting, and tangible rewards on the self-reinforcement procedure.

Components of Achievement Motivation in Young Children

The emergence of the components of achievement motivation was studied in two groups of kindergarten children of 5:06 and 6:06 years old. The theoretical framework was provided by Heckhausen's concept of motivation as a self-reinforcing system. Several tasks were constructed, each consisting of 6 items, half of which were manipulated to be failed, in order to measure the children's causal attribution, affective self-evaluation, goal-setting and perception of task difficulty. In addition scores on a test for achievement motivation were obtained. Perception of difficulty and affective self-evaluation were found to be influenced by type of task and by age. The relations between the task variables did not reflect the structure predicted by Heckhausen's theory. The development status of the components of the achievement motivation system is discussed. The results are interpreted as reflecting a differential development of a cognitive and affective evaluative structure in young children.

Facilitation and helplessness: The interaction of perceived difficulty and importance of a task

Experimentally induced failure sometimes produces helplessness and sometimes facilitation on subsequent tasks. A model which accounts for this in terms of variations in perceived task difficulty and importance and variations in the cost of effort is proposed. Predictions from the model were confirmed in two experiments using the finger shuttlebox. When subjects expected the test task to be easy, importance of test outcome did not affect performance. However, when they expected the test task to be difficult, low outcome importance led to debilitation, and high importance to facilitation. If, in this condition, subjects experienced initial failure on the task perceived as difficult and important, helplessness rather than facilitation was observed. The model proposed may account for some of the conflicting results obtained in laboratory studies of human helplessness.

Attributions and Performance: An Empirical Test of Kukla's Theory

The purpose of this investigation was to test Kukla's attributional theory of performance and to address the mediating link between causal attribution and subsequent action in a competitive motor task. Two experiments were conducted: the first was designed to determine the effect of perceived task difficulty and attributional instructions on the ball-tossing performance of high achievers while competing against a standard of excellence. Results indicated that high achievers performed with greater intensity when receiving an effort rather than ability-oriented instructional set and when they perceive themselves to be behind a normative score of their classmates. To refine and clarify results found in Experiment 1, low as well as high achievers were added to the second study and were placed in face-to-face competition instead of a competition against a standard of excellence. Results from the performance data in Experiment 2 supported Kukla's theory in that high achievers performed best when they perceived themselves to be behind an opponent's score midway through the experiment, whereas low achievers performed best when they perceived themselves to be ahead. Results from the cognitive assessment procedure, however, failed to support the performance findings. Implications for the viability of Kukla's attributional theory of performance and problems related to the assessment of cognitive states are discussed.

The role of ability and effort in attributions for sport achievement1

In an initial attempt to assess the applicability of Weiner's (1972) attribution model to sport-related behavior, the effects of ability (high versus low), effort (high versus low) and outcome (success versus failure) on causal attributions were investigated. After riding a bicycle ergometer, subjects were asked to attribute the cause of their increased or decreased performance to ability, effort, task difficulty and/or luck. The results indicated that successful outcomes were attributed to both ability and effort and that unsuccessful outcomes were attributed to a lack of ability but not a lack of effort. While the task was seen as easier following success, the perception of low effort mediated this relationship. The results were interpreted to support a situationally specific conceptualization of sport achievement. First, whereas a motivational bias appears to preclude low ability attributions in intellectual pursuits, such is not the case with a novel physical task contingent on strength and muscular endurance. It was suggested that physiologically related ability may be viewed as relatively unstable. Second, relative to intellectual tasks, sport-related effort may be more salient and more quantifiable and may exert a greater influence on subsequent attributions for sport achievement. Finally, support was obtained for the assertions that affect is codetermined by both effort and ability and that expectancy discrepant performance is accounted for largely by perceptions of task difficulty.

Standardizing Perceived Task Difficulty for Studies of Cheating: A Methodological Refinement and Sample Tasks

As a contribution to research on cheating (in experiments that investigate ethical action) three “tests” of intellectual competence which permit cheating were standardized for perceived level of difficulty. A vocabulary, remote-associates, and trigram word-making task were rated for perceived difficulty and ranked for relative perceived difficulty by 71 college students. Analyses of variance of the mean rankings and ratings showed that the three tasks are of widely (and significantly) different degrees of perceived difficulty. Moreover, the three tasks occupy nearly equal distances from one another along the dimension of perceived difficulty, permitting classification by experimenters as “easy,” “medium,” and “very difficult” in false norms provided to subjects. Suggestions for use in cheating studies included manipulations that require credible false-norm feedback as well as those which attempt to assess the clash between perceived difficulty and discrepant instructions concerning level of difficulty.

Locus of Control, Task Attributes, and Job Performance

In the present study locus of control influenced perceptions of task difficulty and variability for 281 technical personnel. Individuals ( n = 80) with more internal orientations were better performers than those ( n = 59) with more external orientations.

Perception of Task Difficulty

Twenty male subjects were shown the operation of a rotor-pursuit apparatus under two states of three different task conditions; rotor speed, target shape, and hand used. Pre and post-performance estimates of task difficulty were obtained. The results indicated that subjects had trouble in estimating the relative affects of as few as three different task variables on performance.

Overpaid or Overworked? Cognitive and Behavioral Reactions to Inequitable Rewards1

Although early studies support the equity theory prediction that increasing rewards for task performance enhance the effort devoted to the task, these findings may be challenged on a number of counts. Social exchange theory suggests, for example, that when rewards exceed what is felt to be equitable, the recipient may increase his perception of task difficulty and his estimate of what is a fair return for his efforts. In this case, there should be little need to devote increased energy to task performance. The present study, conducted in both Italy and the United States, supports this reasoning. Compared with equitably rewarded subjects, those rewarded by either 40% or 80% over their estimate of what was fair, altered both their perceptions of task difficulty and of a fair return. No performance differences were found.