Differences in the Motivational Beliefs

¶ … Motivational Beliefs

Martin Eaton and Myron Dembo (1997) examine the impact of culturally-based motivational beliefs on academic achievement. Focusing on the Asian-American population, the authors present their findings in their article "Differences in the Motivational Beliefs of Asian-American and non-Asian Students." Working with the premise, based on prior research, that Asian-American students outperform their non-Asian counterparts on a variety of measures, the authors set out to determine what role motivational beliefs had on the differences in performance of Asian vs. non-Asian students. The researchers surveyed 154 Asian-American and 372 non-Asian students for the purposes of this preliminary research and based on their findings concluded two main points. First, Asian-American students are more strongly motivated by a fear of academic failure rather than by reward for success. The fear of failure that is strongly ingrained in Asian-American students is a result of parental pressure and socialization, which in turn are dependent on cultural factors. Second, Asian-American students report low levels of self-efficacy, the belief in one's ability to succeed. The researchers noticed that in spite of low levels of self-efficacy, Asian-American students outperformed their non-Asian counterparts. The inverse relationship between self-efficacy and performance is a major factor in the current research and warrants further attention and applicability to other ethnic and cultural groups. However, the authors note that such studies should always be grounded in cultural awareness; cognitive and motivational factors should be examined with regards to specific populations because of the saliency of cultural differences.

Further research on the topic could therefore examine the nature of motivational factors in other communities besides Asians and Asian-Americans. Moreover, researchers could also take care to not over-generalize about Asians and divide their populations into more specific cultural delineations such as Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, etc. Southeast Asian and Indian populations should also be studied to see whether the hypotheses apply to these communities as well. In addition to examining the motivational factors affecting Asian-American student performance, further research could examine the factors responsible for high or low achievement within other ethnic and cultural communities.

In addition to examining the importance of culturally-rooted motivational beliefs, further research could also be based on the premise that self-efficacy is not necessarily a predictor of high performance achievement and could even potentially undermine success. As the authors of this study point out, self-efficacy among non-Asian students is largely a "self-protective illusion based on inadequate self-knowledge," and that there are "maladaptive consequences of optimistic (illusory) self-efficacy," (438).

Eaton and Dembo discuss their problem clearly, outlining their reasons for performing the research and placing it within the context of prior research. The fact that Asian-Americans usually outperform their non-Asian counterparts on academic tests warrants attention, for educators, psychologists, and sociologists can examine the factors that most predict high achievement among students. Moreover, such a study draws attention to the differences between different cultural communities, which can also help professionals understand and treat students with greater cultural awareness. Further research on other ethnic groups can also contribute much awareness and understanding, which can improve all students' chances for success. Educators, psychologists, and sociologists can glean much information from studies like this one.

The literature review provided in the introduction to the research is thorough and completely relevant. The authors examined a collection of studies related to their hypotheses. For example, they cite evidence of high achievement among the Asian community and also show how cultural factors including family influences student academic performance. Prior research that closely relates to Eaton and Dembo's study includes that of Stigler, Smith and Mao (1985) and Whang and Hancock (1994), which treats the inverse relationship between Asian-American self-concept and high achievement. Other literature reviewed includes studies that examine one of these variables in turn.

The authors clearly outline their hypotheses and operational definitions in the report. Furthermore, the methods section is detailed and offers an explanation of the variables and testing procedures. Instrumentation included a belief assessment inventory, and ability tests spanning math and English. Self-efficacy, fear of failure, effort attribution, and cultural identity were also measured using surveys and demographic information regarding parents' level of education and years lived in the United States was also collected. Potential sources of problems included the types of surveys and tests administered by the researchers: self-report measures are often inaccurate as students will respond according to what they perceive as tester expectations. However, there is really no other way to measure such subjective variables as self-efficacy. Statistical analysis included regression models and was consistent with the types of instruments used.