Maladaptive Achievement Patterns in Students: The Role of Teachers' Controlling Strategies

Abstract

Guided by a theoretical model of academic achievement, the studies described here employed a multimethod approach to explore the interplay of factors that lead some children to strive harder in the face of failure and others to exhibit a maladaptive “helpless” response pattern. Converging evidence from laboratory and field research demonstrates that children with extrinsic motivational styles are more susceptible to helpless behavior, particularly when adults teach by use of controlling strategies (e.g., rewards, exhortations, evaluative cues). Autonomy‐inducing techniques that focus the child more upon intrinsic aspects of the task, however, elicit better performance, more persistence, and greater preference for challenge. Nevertheless, parents and teachers paradoxically believe controlling strategies are more effective. The implications of this disparity between empirical findings and adult beliefs are discussed.