Cognitive Appraisal: An Examination

Summary

Two hundred ninety-five college students were tested to determine the effects of specified variables of self-appraisal and task appraisal on achievement, self-assessment of achievement, and expended effort. Primary results were as follows: (a) The academic self-concept was found to contribute significantly to achievement on a specific task. Partial correlation between the academic self-concept and task achievement with intelligence controlled was .39 (p ≤ .05). A nonsignificant partial correlation between task confidence and task achievement with intelligence controlled was .16 (considered high enough to warrant further study). (b) Approximately two-thirds of the variance in self-assessment of achievement was found to be due to one's perceived achievement on a specific task. The variables of self-appraisal (i. e., academic self-concept and self-confidence) were not found to affect self-assessment of achievement, nor the variables of task appraisal (i. e., task confidence and task interest). Expended effort appears to have had a small part in the total variance of self-assessment of achievement. (c) Expended effort was found to be significantly related to task interest, but variables of self-appraisal did not contribute significantly to expended effort.