Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T00:15:07.342Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Optimistic and Defensive-Pessimist Students: Differences in their Academic Motivation and Learning Strategies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2014

José Manuel Suárez Riveiro
José Manuel Suárez Riveiro*
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to José Manuel Suárez Riveiro. Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED). Facultad de Educación. C/ Juan del Rosal, 14. 28040. Madrid (Spain). E-mail: jmsuarez@edu.uned.es
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In addition to cognitive and behavioral strategies, students can also use affective-motivational strategies to facilitate their learning process. In this way, the strategies of defensive-pessimism and generation of positive expectations have been widely related to conceptual models of pessimism-optimism. The aim of this study was to describe the use of these strategies in 1753 secondary school students, and to study the motivational and strategic characteristics which differentiated between the student typologies identified as a result of their use. The results indicated a higher use of the generation of positive expectations strategy (optimism) (M = 3.40, SD = .78) than the use of the defensive pessimism strategy (M = 3.00, SD = .78); a positive and significant correlation between the two strategies (r = .372, p = .001); their relationship with adequate academic motivation and with the use of learning strategies. Furthermore, four student typologies were identified based on the use of both strategies. Lastly, we propose a new approach for future work in this line of research.

Keywords

optimismdefensive pessimismmotivational strategiesacademic motivationlearning strategies
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 17 , 2014 , E26
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cantor, N. (1990). From thought to behavior: “Having” and “doing” in the study of personality and cognition. American Psychologist, 45, 735–750. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.45.6.735 Google Scholar
Chang, E. C., Bodem, M. R., Sanna, L. J., & Fabian, C G. (2011). Optimism-pessimism and adjustment in college students: Is there support for the utility of a domain-specific approach to studying outcome expectancies?. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 6, 418–428. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2011.605167 Google Scholar
Eronen, S., Nurmi, J. E., & Salmela-Aro, K. (1998). Optimistic, defensive-pessimistic, impulsive and self-handicapping strategies in university environments. Learning and Instruction, 8, 159–177. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0959-4752(97)00015-7 Google Scholar
Fernández, A. P., Anaya, D., & Suárez, J. M. (2012a). Motivation features and motivational self-regulatory strategies in the middle school students. Revista Psicodidáctica, 17, 95–111.Google Scholar
Fernández, A. P., Anaya, D., & Suárez, J. M. (2012b). Niveles motivacionales en los estudiantes de Secundaria y su discriminación en función de las estrategias motivacionales [Motivational levels in secondary students and their discrimination in terms of the motivational strategies]. Revista Española de Orientación y Psicopedagogía, 23, 50–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, M. W., & Lopez, S. J. (2009). Positive expectancies and mental health: Identifying the unique contributions of hope and optimism. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4, 548–556. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760903157166 Google Scholar
García, T., & Pintrich, P. R. (1994). Regulating motivation and cognition in the classroom: The role of self-schemas and self-regulatory strategies. In Schunk, D. H. & Zimmerman, B. J. (Eds.), Self-regulation of learning and performance: Issues and educational applications (pp. 127–154). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Hazlett, A., & Molden, D. (2011). Hoping for the best or preparing for the worst? Regulatory focus and preferences for optimism and pessimism in predicting personal outcomes. Social Cognition, 29, 74–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1521/soco.2011.29.1.74 Google Scholar
Norem, J. K. (2001). Defensive pessimism, optimism, and pessimism. In Chang, C. E. (Ed.), Optimism & pessimism: Implications for theory, research, and practice (pp. 77–100). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/10385-004 Google Scholar
Norem, J. K., & Cantor, N. (1986). Defensive pessimism: Harnessing anxiety as motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1208–1217. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1208 Google Scholar
Norem, J. K., & Illingworth, K. S. S. (1993). Strategy-dependent effects of reflecting on self and tasks: Some implications of optimism and defensive pessimism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 822–835. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.65.4.822 Google Scholar
Ntoumanis, N., Taylor, I. M., & Standage, M. (2010). Testing a model of antecedents and consequences of defensive pessimism and self-handicapping in school psychical education. Journal of Sports Sciences, 28, 1515–1525. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2010.511650 Google Scholar
Pintrich, P., Smith, D., García, T., & McKeachie, W. (1991). A manual for the use of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). National Center for Research to Improve Postsecondary Teaching and Learning. Michigan, MI: University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1985). Optimism, coping, and health: Assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health Psychology, 4, 219–247. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.4.3.219 Google Scholar
Scheier, M. F., Carver, C. S., & Bridges, M. W. (2001). Optimism, pessimism, and psychological well-being. In Chang, E. C. (Ed.), Optimism and pessimism: Implications for theory, research, and practice (pp. 189–216). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Skaalvik, E. M. (1997). Self-enhancing and self-defeating ego orientation: Relations with task and avoidance orientation, achievement, self-perceptions, and anxiety. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 71–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.89.1.71 Google Scholar
Spencer, S. M., & Norem, J. K. (1996). Reflection and distraction: Defensive pessimism, strategic optimism, and performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 354–365. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167296224003 Google Scholar
Suárez, J. M., & Fernández, A. P. (2005). Escalas de evaluación de las estrategias motivacionales de los estudiantes [Scales assessing students’ motivational strategies]. Anales de Psicología, 21, 116–128.Google Scholar
Suárez, J. M., & Fernández, A. P. (2011a). A model of how motivational strategies related to the expectative component affect cognitive and metacognitive strategies. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 9, 641–658.Google Scholar
Suárez, J. M., & Fernández, A. P. (2011b). Evaluación de las estrategias de autorregulación afectivo-motivacional de los estudiantes: Las EEMA-VS [Assessment of students´ affective-motivational self-regulatory strategies: The MSLS-VS]. Anales de Psicología, 27, 369–380.Google Scholar
Suárez, J. M., & Fernández, A. P. (2013). Un modelo sobre cómo las estrategias motivacionales relacionadas con el componente de afectividad inciden sobre las estrategias cognitivas y metacognitivas [A model of how motivational strategies related to the affective component influence cognitive and metacognitive strategies]. Educación XX1, 16, 231–246. http://dx.doi.org/10.5944/educxx1.16.2.2641 Google Scholar
Sweeny, K., & Shepperd, J. A. (2010). The cost of optimism and the benefits of pessimism. Emotion, 10, 750–753. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0019016 Google Scholar
Vermunt, J. D., & Verloop, N. (1999). Congruence and friction between learning and teaching. Learning and Instruction, 9, 257–280. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0959-4752(98)00028-0 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Y., Haddad, E., Torres, T., & Chen, Ch. (2011). The reciprocal relationships among parents’ expectations, adolescents’ expectations, and adolescents’ achievement: A two-wave longitudinal analysis of the NELS data. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40, 479–489. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10964-010-9568-8 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed