Performance Approach, Performance Avoidance and Depth of Information Processing: A fresh look at relations between students' academic motivation and cognition

Abstract

This study examines the effects of motivational approach on the recall of verbal information processed at shallow and deep levels. Two hundred students attending the same primary school were randomly assigned to either a mastery focused condition, performance approach condition, performance avoidance condition, or a control group. The participants were motivationally manipulated prior to receiving 12 stimulus words designed to be encoded at either shallow or deep levels of processing. A free recall test followed, then a cued recall test. Results indicate that students remembered more stimulus words during cued recall than free recall. Recall of verbal information was superior when processed according to the deeper (category and sentence) levels of processing. Performance approach and avoidance goals resulted in superior recall during free and cued recall, compared with a mastery goal or with the control group. The usefulness of these findings for promoting greater clarity among motivational frameworks and ideas for further research are discussed.