Judith M Harackiewicz
Biographic Data
| ID | 1661318 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Judith M Harackiewicz |
| GIVEN NAMES | Judith M |
| FAMILY NAME | Harackiewicz |
| SIGNATURE | HARACKIEWICZ J M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4748-1174 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 56 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 435 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 54 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1979 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 13 |
Motivating Self-Regulation: Utility Value, Interest Development, and the Potential for Intervention
Students in high school and college are expected to take on greater responsibility for regulating their own learning. As they navigate course demands and explore potential career paths, students are making decisions about what to attend to, how to engage, how much effort to invest, and how long to persist. Motivation and its regulation is key to this process (Sansone et al., 2019). We integrate insights about the importance of task value from sit…
Using choice and utility value to promote interest: Stimulating situational interest in a lesson and fostering the development of interest in statistics
2,019), in which undergraduate students learned about statistics. In these studies, we tested two manipulations, each theorized to promote a different phase of interest development: (i) we provided students with meaningful choices as they learned, hypothesized to trigger and maintain situational interest, and (ii) we presented students with information about the utility value (i.e., usefulness) of the topic for commonly valued goals, an instructi…
An Intersectional Application of Expectancy-Value Theory in an Undergraduate Chemistry Course
The underrepresentation of women and Black, Latinx, and Native Americans within the United States scientific workforce is a persistent and multifaceted problem warranting an intersectional approach. Applying intersectionality to the expectancy-value theory of motivation, we examined initial motivation and subsequent achievement among a sample of undergraduate students ( N = 687) enrolled in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (S…
A prosocial value intervention in gateway STEM courses
Many college students, especially first-generation and underrepresented racial/ethnic minority students, desire courses and careers that emphasize helping people and society. Can instructors of introductory science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses promote motivation, performance, and equity in STEM fields by emphasizing the prosocial relevance of course material? We developed, implemented, and evaluated a prosocial utility-value …
College students’ reasons for leaving biomedical fields: Disenchantment with biomedicine or attraction to other fields
This study examined whether students who left biomedical fields of study during college did so primarily because they became disenchanted with those fields or because they felt attracted to alternative fields of study. We identified 1193 students intending to pursue biomedical fields of study early in college, collected data about their beliefs and performance throughout college, and interviewed them near graduation about their future plans. Desc…
Affirming both independent and interdependent values improves achievement for all students and mitigates cultural mismatch for first‐generation college students
Many first-generation college students-whose parents have not obtained a 4-year college degree-experience a "cultural mismatch" due to a lack of alignment between the independent values of their university (consistent with the culture of higher education) and their own interdependent values (consistent with working-class culture). We documented this mismatch at a 4-year university ( n = 465), and then tested a values-affirmation intervention in a…
The Science of Interest
Making Learning Personally Meaningful: A New Framework for Relevance Research
Personal relevance goes by many names in the motivation literature, stemming from a number of theoretical frameworks. Currently these lines of research are being conducted in parallel with little synthesis across them, perhaps because there is no unifying definition of the relevance construct within which this research can be situated. In this paper we propose a new framework to synthesize existing research on relevance and provide a common platf…
Improving Student Outcomes in Higher Education: The Science of Targeted Intervention
Many theoretically based interventions have been developed over the past two decades to improve educational outcomes in higher education. Based in social-psychological and motivation theories, well-crafted interventions have proven remarkably effective because they target specific educational problems and the processes that underlie them. In this review, we evaluate the current state of the literature on targeted interventions in higher education…
Interest Matters: The Importance of Promoting Interest in Education
Interest is a powerful motivational process that energizes learning, guides academic and career trajectories, and is essential to academic success. Interest is both a psychological state of attention and affect toward a particular object or topic, and an enduring predisposition to reengage over time. Integrating these two definitions, the four-phase model of interest development guides interventions that promote interest and capitalize on existin…
The Role of Mothers' Communication in Promoting Motivation for Math and Science Course‐Taking in High School
In the context of concerns about American youths' failure to take advanced math and science (MS) courses in high school, we examined mothers' communication with their adolescent about taking MS courses. At ninth grade, U.S. mothers (n = 130) were interviewed about their responses to hypothetical questions from their adolescent about the usefulness of algebra, geometry, calculus, biology, chemistry, and physics. Responses were coded for elaboratio…
Mathematics—a Critical Filter for STEM-Related Career Choices? A Longitudinal Examination among Australian and U.S. Adolescents
Affirming independence: Exploring mechanisms underlying a values affirmation intervention for first-generation students
First-generation college students (students for whom neither parent has a 4-year college degree) earn lower grades and worry more about whether they belong in college, compared with continuing-generation students (who have at least 1 parent with a 4-year college degree). We conducted a longitudinal follow-up of participants from a study in which a values-affirmation intervention improved performance in a biology course for first-generation colleg…
Closing achievement gaps with a utility-value intervention: Disentangling race and social class
Many college students abandon their goal of completing a degree in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) when confronted with challenging introductory-level science courses. In the U.S., this trend is more pronounced for underrepresented minority (URM) and first-generation (FG) students, and contributes to persisting racial and social-class achievement gaps in higher education. Previous intervention studies have focused exclusively on …
Academic Motivation and Performance: Task Value Interventions
Closing the social class achievement gap for first-generation students in undergraduate biology
Many students start college intending to pursue a career in the biosciences, but too many abandon this goal because they struggle in introductory biology. Interventions have been developed to close achievement gaps for underrepresented minority students and women, but no prior research has attempted to close the gap for first-generation students, a population that accounts for nearly a fifth of college students. We report a values affirmation int…
Helping Parents to Motivate Adolescents in Mathematics and Science: An Experimental Test of a Utility-Value Intervention
The pipeline toward careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) begins to leak in high school, when some students choose not to take advanced mathematics and science courses. We conducted a field experiment testing whether a theory-based intervention that was designed to help parents convey the importance of mathematics and science courses to their high school–aged children would lead them to take more mathematics and scie…
Achievement Goal Theory at the Crossroads: Old Controversies, Current Challenges, and New Directions
Achievement goal theory has been one of the most prominent theories of motivation in educational research for more than 25 years. It has undergone considerable revision during that span, most notably with the distinction between approach and avoidance goals, debate concerning the critical features of performance goals, and the emergence of a multiple goal perspective that emphasizes the positive potential of performance-approach goals alongside m…
Enhancing interest and performance with a utility value intervention.
We tested whether a utility value intervention (via manipulated relevance) influenced interest and performance on a task and whether this intervention had different effects depending on an individual's performance expectations or prior performance. Interest was defined as triggered situational interest (i.e., affective and emotional task reactions) and maintained situational interest (i.e., inclination to engage in the task in the future). In 2 r…
Measuring Situational Interest in Academic Domains
Three studies were conducted to develop and validate scores on a new measure appropriate for assessing adolescents’ situational interest (SI) across various academic settings. In Study 1 ( n = 858), a self-report questionnaire was administered to undergraduates in introductory psychology. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) supported a three-factor model that differentiated between interest generated by (a) the presentation of course material that…
A meta-analytic review of achievement goal measures: Different labels for the same constructs or different constructs with similar labels
This meta-analysis addresses whether achievement goal researchers are using different labels for the same constructs or putting the same labels on different constructs. We systematically examined whether conceptual and methodological differences in the measurement of achievement goals moderated achievement goal intercorrelations and relationships with outcomes. We reviewed 243 correlational studies of self-reported achievement goals comprising a …
Promoting Interest and Performance in High School Science Classes
For the Love of Science Which is a better predictor of a student's continued participation in science, facile understanding or personal interest? Hulleman and Harackiewicz (p. 1410 ) designed an experiment to find out what drives high-school students. First-year high-school students were asked either to write about what they had just learned or about how what they had just learned connected to some facet of their personal lives. Connections of pe…
Task values, achievement goals, and interest: An integrative analysis.
The research presented in this article integrates 3 theoretical perspectives in the field of motivation: expectancy-value, achievement goals, and interest. The authors examined the antecedents (initial interest, achievement goals) and consequences (interest, performance) of task value judgments in 2 learning contexts: a college classroom and a high school sports camp. The pattern of findings was consistent across both learning contexts. Initial i…
The role of achievement goals in the development of interest: Reciprocal relations between achievement goals, interest, and performance.
The dynamics of individual and situational interest and academic performance were examined in the college classroom and 7 semesters later in conjunction with achievement goals. At the beginning of an introductory psychology course, participants reported their initial interest in psychology, achievement goals, and situational interest in course lectures. At the end of the semester, participants (N = 858) reported their situational interest in cour…
The Effects of Cooperation and Competition on Intrinsic Motivation and Performance
The authors examined the effects of competition and cooperation on intrinsic motivation and performance in 4 studies. Across 3 behavioral studies that involved shooting a basketball, no differences were observed between competition and cooperation on task enjoyment or performance. However, the combination of competition and cooperation (intergroup competition) consistently led to higher levels of intrinsic motivation, and in 2 of the 3 studies, p…
Approach and avoidance achievement goals and intrinsic motivation: A mediational analysis
nMost contemporary achievement goal conceptualizations consist of a performance goal versus mastery goal dichotomy. The present research offers an alternative framework by partitioning the performance goal orientation into independent approach and avoidance motivational orientations. Two experiments investigated the predictive utility of the proposed approach-avoidance achievement goal conceptualization in the intrinsic motivation domain. Results…
Closing the social class achievement gap for first-generation students in undergraduate biology
Many students start college intending to pursue a career in the biosciences, but too many abandon this goal because they struggle in introductory biology. Interventions have been developed to close achievement gaps for underrepresented minority students and women, but no prior research has attempted to close the gap for first-generation students, a population that accounts for nearly a fifth of college students. We report a values affirmation int…
Improving Student Outcomes in Higher Education: The Science of Targeted Intervention
Many theoretically based interventions have been developed over the past two decades to improve educational outcomes in higher education. Based in social-psychological and motivation theories, well-crafted interventions have proven remarkably effective because they target specific educational problems and the processes that underlie them. In this review, we evaluate the current state of the literature on targeted interventions in higher education…
Achievement goals and optimal motivation: Testing multiple goal models
Currently, there is a debate about which types of achievement goals promote optimal motivation. A number of theorists argue for a mastery goal perspective focusing on the adaptive consequences of mastery goals and the maladaptive consequences of performance goals. Others endorse a multiple goal perspective in which both mastery and performance goals can be beneficial. The purpose of the present investigation was to review why this debate has emer…
Closing achievement gaps with a utility-value intervention: Disentangling race and social class
Many college students abandon their goal of completing a degree in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) when confronted with challenging introductory-level science courses. In the U.S., this trend is more pronounced for underrepresented minority (URM) and first-generation (FG) students, and contributes to persisting racial and social-class achievement gaps in higher education. Previous intervention studies have focused exclusively on …
Mathematics—a Critical Filter for STEM-Related Career Choices? A Longitudinal Examination among Australian and U.S. Adolescents
Predictors and consequences of achievement goals in the college classroom: Maintaining interest and making the grade
The authors investigated personality predictors of achievement goals in an introductory psychology class, as well as the consequences of these goals for the motivation and performance of 311 undergraduates. Two dimensions of achievement motivation (workmastery and competitive orientations; J. T. Spence & R. L. Helmreich, 1983) predicted the goals endorsed. Individuals high in workmastery were more likely to adopt mastery goals and less likely to …
Processing goals, task interest, and the mood–performance relationship: A mediational analysis
Making Learning Personally Meaningful: A New Framework for Relevance Research
Personal relevance goes by many names in the motivation literature, stemming from a number of theoretical frameworks. Currently these lines of research are being conducted in parallel with little synthesis across them, perhaps because there is no unifying definition of the relevance construct within which this research can be situated. In this paper we propose a new framework to synthesize existing research on relevance and provide a common platf…
Goal setting, achievement orientation, and intrinsic motivation: A mediational analysis
This study investigated the interactive effects of achievement orientation and evaluative focus of assigned, task-specific goals on intrinsic motivation for an enjoyable pinball game. Regression analyses revealed that the effect of performance or mastery-focused goals on intrinsic motivation varied as a function of achievement orientation. Specifically, the provision of task-specific standards with a performance focus enhanced intrinsic motivatio…
The effects of reward contingency and performance feedback on intrinsic motivation
Winning Isn't Everything: Competition, Achievement Orientation, and Intrinsic Motivation
Performance evaluation and intrinsic motivation: The effects of evaluative focus, rewards, and achievement orientation
Achievement goals and intrinsic motivation
Two experiments investigated the effects of achievement goals on intrinsic motivation for an enjoyable pinball game. Study 1 manipulated Ss' performance (demonstrating ability) and mastery (developing one's skills) achievement goals and contrasted them with a neutral control group. Stud, 2 replicated Study 1 and extended it by additionally providing (or not) Ss with positive, goal-relevant feedback. Results were consistent across studies, indicat…
A process analysis of the effects of performance-contingent rewards on intrinsic motivation
Affirming independence: Exploring mechanisms underlying a values affirmation intervention for first-generation students
First-generation college students (students for whom neither parent has a 4-year college degree) earn lower grades and worry more about whether they belong in college, compared with continuing-generation students (who have at least 1 parent with a 4-year college degree). We conducted a longitudinal follow-up of participants from a study in which a values-affirmation intervention improved performance in a biology course for first-generation colleg…
Competence, achievement orientation, and intrinsic motivation: A process analysis
Rewarding pinball wizardry: Effects of evaluation and cue value on intrinsic interest
The Effects of Cooperation and Competition on Intrinsic Motivation and Performance
The authors examined the effects of competition and cooperation on intrinsic motivation and performance in 4 studies. Across 3 behavioral studies that involved shooting a basketball, no differences were observed between competition and cooperation on task enjoyment or performance. However, the combination of competition and cooperation (intergroup competition) consistently led to higher levels of intrinsic motivation, and in 2 of the 3 studies, p…
Opposite-sex interpersonal attraction as a function of the sex roles of the perceiver and the perceived
Proximal versus distal goal setting and intrinsic motivation
Performance goals: The moderating roles of context and achievement orientation
Self-handicapping and intrinsic motivation: Buffering intrinsic motivation from the threat of failure
High and low self-handicappers (as measured by E. E. Jones & F. Rhodewalt's [1982] Self-Handicapping Scale) were asked to play a game of pinball (in a competitive or noncompetitive setting) after they had practices as much as they wanted on a related task (thus, not practicing could have served as a self-handicap). High self-handicappers who did not practice much became more involved in the game and subsequently reported enjoying the game more th…
Managing motivation: The impact of supervisor feedback on subordinate task interest
Contrast effects in attitude judgment: An examination of the accentuation hypothesis
Opposite-sex interpersonal attraction as a function of the sex roles of the perceiver and the perceived
The effects of reward contingency and performance feedback on intrinsic motivation
Contrast effects in attitude judgment: An examination of the accentuation hypothesis
Epistemic curiosity and incidental recognition in relation to degree of uncertainty: Some general trends and intersubject differences
This study sought to clarify the empirical relationships between epistemic curiosity, incidental recognition, and degree of uncertainty. Sixty‐four college and high school students had to solve four problems differing in level of uncertainty, measured in terms of the nearness in probability of being correct of four response alternatives, on each of eight trials. Additionally, subjects indicated how curious they were to learn the correct answer fo…
The earliest recollection: A new survey
High school (N= 150) and college (N= 164) students completed a survey of their earliest personal recollection (ER). These memories typically were of events occurring in the fourth year of life, and varied widely in terms of content and associated affect. The ERs of the high school sample were dated significantly later, contained more traumatic content, and were more likely to possess the qualities of a “screen memory” than were those of the colle…
A process analysis of the effects of performance-contingent rewards on intrinsic motivation
Rewarding pinball wizardry: Effects of evaluation and cue value on intrinsic interest
Proximal versus distal goal setting and intrinsic motivation
Competence, achievement orientation, and intrinsic motivation: A process analysis
Managing motivation: The impact of supervisor feedback on subordinate task interest
Performance evaluation and intrinsic motivation: The effects of evaluative focus, rewards, and achievement orientation
Achievement goals and intrinsic motivation
Two experiments investigated the effects of achievement goals on intrinsic motivation for an enjoyable pinball game. Study 1 manipulated Ss' performance (demonstrating ability) and mastery (developing one's skills) achievement goals and contrasted them with a neutral control group. Stud, 2 replicated Study 1 and extended it by additionally providing (or not) Ss with positive, goal-relevant feedback. Results were consistent across studies, indicat…
Goal setting, achievement orientation, and intrinsic motivation: A mediational analysis
This study investigated the interactive effects of achievement orientation and evaluative focus of assigned, task-specific goals on intrinsic motivation for an enjoyable pinball game. Regression analyses revealed that the effect of performance or mastery-focused goals on intrinsic motivation varied as a function of achievement orientation. Specifically, the provision of task-specific standards with a performance focus enhanced intrinsic motivatio…
Test Anxiety, Self‐Awareness, and Cognitive Interference: A Process Analysis
Participants performed a cognitive task under evaluative, self‐awareness, and neutral conditions, Task performance was determined jointly by trait test anxiety and situational factors. Test anxiety led to poorer performance in both evaluative and self‐awareness situations, relative to the neutral situation. We examined the cognitive activity variables that might mediate the effects of test anxiety and situational variables on performance, and ide…
Processing goals, task interest, and the mood–performance relationship: A mediational analysis
Processing goals, task interest, and the mood-performance relationship: A mediational analysis
The authors examined the role of intrinsic interest in mediating the relationship among mood, processing goals, and task performance. Participants in induced happy, neutral, or sad moods generated similarities and differences between TV shows using performance-based, enjoyment-based, or no stop rule (cf. L.L. Martin, D.W. Ward, J.W. Achee, & R.S. Wyer, 1993). Pretask interest and both quantitative (time spent, number generated) and qualitative (c…
Self-handicapping and intrinsic motivation: Buffering intrinsic motivation from the threat of failure
High and low self-handicappers (as measured by E. E. Jones & F. Rhodewalt's [1982] Self-Handicapping Scale) were asked to play a game of pinball (in a competitive or noncompetitive setting) after they had practices as much as they wanted on a related task (thus, not practicing could have served as a self-handicap). High self-handicappers who did not practice much became more involved in the game and subsequently reported enjoying the game more th…
Approach and avoidance achievement goals and intrinsic motivation: A mediational analysis
nMost contemporary achievement goal conceptualizations consist of a performance goal versus mastery goal dichotomy. The present research offers an alternative framework by partitioning the performance goal orientation into independent approach and avoidance motivational orientations. Two experiments investigated the predictive utility of the proposed approach-avoidance achievement goal conceptualization in the intrinsic motivation domain. Results…
Predictors and consequences of achievement goals in the college classroom: Maintaining interest and making the grade
The authors investigated personality predictors of achievement goals in an introductory psychology class, as well as the consequences of these goals for the motivation and performance of 311 undergraduates. Two dimensions of achievement motivation (workmastery and competitive orientations; J. T. Spence & R. L. Helmreich, 1983) predicted the goals endorsed. Individuals high in workmastery were more likely to adopt mastery goals and less likely to …
Rethinking achievement goals: When are they adaptive for college students and why?
The types of goals that students adopt in educational settings and the consequences of those goals an 2 important educational outcomes-performance and intrinsic motivation-are discussed. In the case of performance, we briefly review and evaluate a large body of theory and research conducted by other investigators. In particular, we consider the possibility that some commonly accepted conclusions about the effects of achievement goals are prematur…
"Reality" is complicated
"Reality" is complicated
Winning Isn't Everything: Competition, Achievement Orientation, and Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: The Search for Optimal Motivation and Performance (Educational Psychology)
Short-term and long-term consequences of achievement goals: Predicting interest and performance over time.
Why do some students excel in their college classes and develop interest in an academic discipline? The authors examined both the short-term and long-term consequences of students ' achievement goals in an introductory psychology course. Mastery goals positively predicted subsequent interest in the course, but not course grades. Performance goals positively predicted grades, but not interest. Three semesters later, the authors obtained measures o…
Psychology (49 works) · Social Psychology (39 works) · Education, Achievement, and Giftedness (33 works) · Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports (28 works) · Cognitive psychology (24 works) · Social Psychology (21 works) · Developmental psychology (18 works) · Mathematics education (17 works) · Intrinsic motivation (14 works) · Creativity in Education and Neuroscience (12 works)