John G Nicholls
Biographic Data
| ID | 110636 |
|---|---|
| NAME | John G Nicholls |
| GIVEN NAMES | John G |
| FAMILY NAME | Nicholls |
| SIGNATURE | NICHOLLS J G |
| AFFILIATIONS | Purdue University West Lafayette |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 194 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1973 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Chinese and American Adolescents' Perceptions of the Purposes of Education and Beliefs About the World of Work
We studied and compared the views of Chinese and American high school students as to what attendance at school should achieve, and what brings success in work. The worlds of school and work were perceived by American students to be related, but not so by Chinese students. American students are more firm in the view that school should teach them to understand science, think critically, be useful to society and consider the family first. In contras…
Adolescents' social goals, beliefs about the causes of social success, and satisfaction in peer relations
The Effect of Personal Philosophy on Orientation Toward School
A total of 130 African American students in Grades 4 through 8 were interviewed about the merits and educational consequences of adopting the philosophies of integrationism and nationalism. Simplified presentations of the perspectives of Shelby Steele and Malcolm X were used to represent these philosophies. The students generally responded positively to the communal aspect of Malcolm X's position and Steele 's suggestion that no grudges should be…
Voices we want to hear and voices we don't
TUDENTS, WRITES IRA SCHOR (1986), will resist any process that disempowers them .... Familiar school routines produce this alienation: teachertalk, passive instruction in pre-set materials . . . mechanical drills ... the denial of subjects important to them, the exclusion of student co-participation in curriculum design and governance, and the outlawing of popular idioms in favor of correct usage (p. 183). Taken literally, this vision, which is c…
A place to begin (again) in research on student motivation
Elementary school pupils' beliefs about practices for motivating pupils in mathematics
Pupils in the second ( N = 304) and fifth grades ( N = 272) and their teachers ( N = 35) rated the effectiveness of a variety of teacher strategies for motivating pupils to learn maths. Factor analysis indicated that older pupils made finer distinctions among types of strategy than did younger pupils. Second‐graders endorsed most strategies, while fifth‐graders were more selective, rejecting evaluative praise (e.g., ‘Good boy’), teacher attributi…
Dimensions of achievement motivation in schoolwork and sport.
Both sport and academic work play large roles in school life, yet there is little comparative evidence on the nature or generality of achievement motivation across these domains. In this study, beliefs about the causes of success in school and sport of 207 high school students were found to be related in a logical fashion to their personal goals. The ego-involved goal of superiority was associated with the belief that success requires high abilit…
Intellectual Conventions Versus Matters of Substance
Elementary school students were interviewed about substantive and conventional aspects of academic knowledge They considered the learning of intellectual conventions (spelling and methods of representing addition) less important than matters of substance (mathematical logic or facts about nature). They also viewed didactic teaching as more appropriate for matters of convention than for matters of logic and fact. These results support the theses t…
Differentiation of the concepts of luck and skill
Kindergarten through eighth-grade children were presented two versions of a Matching Familiar Figures Test. In one version (luck), figures to be matched with a standard were not visible but were on the underside of cards. In the other (skill), the figures were visible. Questioning about the performance of hypothetical others on these tasks revealed four levels of differentiation of luck and skill. These levels showed parallels with age-related ch…
Achievement motivation
Achievement behavior is denned as behavior directed at developing or demonstrating high rather than low ability. It is shown that ability can be conceived in two ways. First, ability can be judged high or low with reference to the individual's own past performance or knowledge. In this context, gains in mastery indicate competence. Second, ability can be judged as capacity relative to that of others. In this context, a gain in mastery alone does …
On the validity of inferences about personality constructs
On the validity of inferences about personality constructs
Some dangers of using personality questionnaires to study personality
Quality and equality in intellectual development
Quality and equality in intellectual development
The Development of the Concepts of Effort and Ability, Perception of Academic Attainment, and the Understanding That Difficult Tasks Require More Ability
John G. Nicholls, The Development of the Concepts of Effort and Ability, Perception of Academic Attainment, and the Understanding That Difficult Tasks Require More Ability, Child Development, Vol. 49, No. 3 (Sep., 1978), pp. 800-814
Development of causal attributions and evaluative responses to success and failure in Maori and Pakeha children
Motivational Factors in the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test
Zigler et al.'s (1973) hypothesis that economically disadvantaged children's performance on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test is impaired because of their wariness in test situations was tested with 5- and 10-year old Maori and Pakeha New Zealand children. In contrast to Zigler et al.'s findings, no significant test-retest gains were found with the Peabody. However, the performance of lower-class Maori children, but not Pakeha children, was dep…
Effort is virtuous, but it's better to have ability
Occupational Identity Status, Occupational Preference, and Field Dependence in Maori and Pakeha Boys
Occupational identity status was assessed, using Marcia's (1967) interview method, in Maori (Polynesian) and Pakeha (White) high-school boys. Marcia's method is based on Erikson's (1950) conception of the adolescent stage of ego development, identity v. identity diffusion. More Maoris than Pakehas were occupational identity diffusions: they were not committed to an occupation and had not seriously contemplated possible occupations. More Pakehas t…
Causal attributions and other achievement-related cognitions
A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Conservation
The Concept Assessment Kit Conservation, in previous studies found to be a reliable indicator of conservation in the United States, was administered to approximately 250 children-25 boys and girls from each age group from 4 to 8 years-in each of the following countries: Australia, Holland, England, New Zealand, Poland, and Uganda. The results indicated that the age trends in conservation development for bothmales and females are fairly consistent…
Adolescents' social goals, beliefs about the causes of social success, and satisfaction in peer relations
Causal attributions and other achievement-related cognitions
Some dangers of using personality questionnaires to study personality
Voices we want to hear and voices we don't
TUDENTS, WRITES IRA SCHOR (1986), will resist any process that disempowers them .... Familiar school routines produce this alienation: teachertalk, passive instruction in pre-set materials . . . mechanical drills ... the denial of subjects important to them, the exclusion of student co-participation in curriculum design and governance, and the outlawing of popular idioms in favor of correct usage (p. 183). Taken literally, this vision, which is c…
Differentiation of the concepts of luck and skill
Kindergarten through eighth-grade children were presented two versions of a Matching Familiar Figures Test. In one version (luck), figures to be matched with a standard were not visible but were on the underside of cards. In the other (skill), the figures were visible. Questioning about the performance of hypothetical others on these tasks revealed four levels of differentiation of luck and skill. These levels showed parallels with age-related ch…
Effort is virtuous, but it's better to have ability
Occupational Identity Status, Occupational Preference, and Field Dependence in Maori and Pakeha Boys
Occupational identity status was assessed, using Marcia's (1967) interview method, in Maori (Polynesian) and Pakeha (White) high-school boys. Marcia's method is based on Erikson's (1950) conception of the adolescent stage of ego development, identity v. identity diffusion. More Maoris than Pakehas were occupational identity diffusions: they were not committed to an occupation and had not seriously contemplated possible occupations. More Pakehas t…
Intellectual Conventions Versus Matters of Substance
Elementary school students were interviewed about substantive and conventional aspects of academic knowledge They considered the learning of intellectual conventions (spelling and methods of representing addition) less important than matters of substance (mathematical logic or facts about nature). They also viewed didactic teaching as more appropriate for matters of convention than for matters of logic and fact. These results support the theses t…
A place to begin (again) in research on student motivation
Development of causal attributions and evaluative responses to success and failure in Maori and Pakeha children
A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Conservation
The Concept Assessment Kit Conservation, in previous studies found to be a reliable indicator of conservation in the United States, was administered to approximately 250 children-25 boys and girls from each age group from 4 to 8 years-in each of the following countries: Australia, Holland, England, New Zealand, Poland, and Uganda. The results indicated that the age trends in conservation development for bothmales and females are fairly consistent…
A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Conservation
The Concept Assessment Kit Conservation, in previous studies found to be a reliable indicator of conservation in the United States, was administered to approximately 250 children-25 boys and girls from each age group from 4 to 8 years-in each of the following countries: Australia, Holland, England, New Zealand, Poland, and Uganda. The results indicated that the age trends in conservation development for bothmales and females are fairly consistent…
Causal attributions and other achievement-related cognitions
Effort is virtuous, but it's better to have ability
Occupational Identity Status, Occupational Preference, and Field Dependence in Maori and Pakeha Boys
Occupational identity status was assessed, using Marcia's (1967) interview method, in Maori (Polynesian) and Pakeha (White) high-school boys. Marcia's method is based on Erikson's (1950) conception of the adolescent stage of ego development, identity v. identity diffusion. More Maoris than Pakehas were occupational identity diffusions: they were not committed to an occupation and had not seriously contemplated possible occupations. More Pakehas t…
The Development of the Concepts of Effort and Ability, Perception of Academic Attainment, and the Understanding That Difficult Tasks Require More Ability
John G. Nicholls, The Development of the Concepts of Effort and Ability, Perception of Academic Attainment, and the Understanding That Difficult Tasks Require More Ability, Child Development, Vol. 49, No. 3 (Sep., 1978), pp. 800-814
Development of causal attributions and evaluative responses to success and failure in Maori and Pakeha children
Motivational Factors in the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test
Zigler et al.'s (1973) hypothesis that economically disadvantaged children's performance on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test is impaired because of their wariness in test situations was tested with 5- and 10-year old Maori and Pakeha New Zealand children. In contrast to Zigler et al.'s findings, no significant test-retest gains were found with the Peabody. However, the performance of lower-class Maori children, but not Pakeha children, was dep…
Quality and equality in intellectual development
Quality and equality in intellectual development
Some dangers of using personality questionnaires to study personality
On the validity of inferences about personality constructs
On the validity of inferences about personality constructs
Achievement motivation
Achievement behavior is denned as behavior directed at developing or demonstrating high rather than low ability. It is shown that ability can be conceived in two ways. First, ability can be judged high or low with reference to the individual's own past performance or knowledge. In this context, gains in mastery indicate competence. Second, ability can be judged as capacity relative to that of others. In this context, a gain in mastery alone does …
Differentiation of the concepts of luck and skill
Kindergarten through eighth-grade children were presented two versions of a Matching Familiar Figures Test. In one version (luck), figures to be matched with a standard were not visible but were on the underside of cards. In the other (skill), the figures were visible. Questioning about the performance of hypothetical others on these tasks revealed four levels of differentiation of luck and skill. These levels showed parallels with age-related ch…
Intellectual Conventions Versus Matters of Substance
Elementary school students were interviewed about substantive and conventional aspects of academic knowledge They considered the learning of intellectual conventions (spelling and methods of representing addition) less important than matters of substance (mathematical logic or facts about nature). They also viewed didactic teaching as more appropriate for matters of convention than for matters of logic and fact. These results support the theses t…
Dimensions of achievement motivation in schoolwork and sport.
Both sport and academic work play large roles in school life, yet there is little comparative evidence on the nature or generality of achievement motivation across these domains. In this study, beliefs about the causes of success in school and sport of 207 high school students were found to be related in a logical fashion to their personal goals. The ego-involved goal of superiority was associated with the belief that success requires high abilit…
Elementary school pupils' beliefs about practices for motivating pupils in mathematics
Pupils in the second ( N = 304) and fifth grades ( N = 272) and their teachers ( N = 35) rated the effectiveness of a variety of teacher strategies for motivating pupils to learn maths. Factor analysis indicated that older pupils made finer distinctions among types of strategy than did younger pupils. Second‐graders endorsed most strategies, while fifth‐graders were more selective, rejecting evaluative praise (e.g., ‘Good boy’), teacher attributi…
A place to begin (again) in research on student motivation
Voices we want to hear and voices we don't
TUDENTS, WRITES IRA SCHOR (1986), will resist any process that disempowers them .... Familiar school routines produce this alienation: teachertalk, passive instruction in pre-set materials . . . mechanical drills ... the denial of subjects important to them, the exclusion of student co-participation in curriculum design and governance, and the outlawing of popular idioms in favor of correct usage (p. 183). Taken literally, this vision, which is c…
Adolescents' social goals, beliefs about the causes of social success, and satisfaction in peer relations
The Effect of Personal Philosophy on Orientation Toward School
A total of 130 African American students in Grades 4 through 8 were interviewed about the merits and educational consequences of adopting the philosophies of integrationism and nationalism. Simplified presentations of the perspectives of Shelby Steele and Malcolm X were used to represent these philosophies. The students generally responded positively to the communal aspect of Malcolm X's position and Steele 's suggestion that no grudges should be…
Chinese and American Adolescents' Perceptions of the Purposes of Education and Beliefs About the World of Work
We studied and compared the views of Chinese and American high school students as to what attendance at school should achieve, and what brings success in work. The worlds of school and work were perceived by American students to be related, but not so by Chinese students. American students are more firm in the view that school should teach them to understand science, think critically, be useful to society and consider the family first. In contras…
Psychology (21 works) · Social Psychology (17 works) · Developmental psychology (12 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Pedagogy (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Education, Achievement, and Giftedness (5 works) · Mathematics education (5 works) · Attribution (4 works) · Epistemology (4 works)