ALTERNATEASSIGNMENT0-PSYC 471-260529216-BODNARUKlogan

Alternate Assignment (A) – PSYC 471 – 260529216 – BODNARUK, Logan

The effects of strength-based versus deficit-based self-regulated learning strategies on

students’ effort intentions

Hiemstra, D., & Van Yperen, N.W.

Hiemstra and Van Yperen investigated the casual effects of strength-based versus
deficit-based self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies on students’ effort intentions
(hypothesis 1) and the mediating effects of perceived competence (PC) and intrinsic
motivation (IM) on effort intentions (IM; hypothesis 2). Their research model highlights
the importance of SRL strategies, competence, and intrinsic motivation on the effort
intentions of students on a hypothetical school project. As expected, the findings of the
first methodological study proved that students who use strength-based SRL stragies are
higher on all three measures of PC, IM, and EI. However, within the measures itself, it is
possible that the results may vary if you measure students effort intensions on a project
that they actually intend and are required to complete. As this is difficult to manufacture
accurately, a follow up study would be helpful in the expansion and understanding of the
difference between strength-based and self-regulated SRL strategies and the impact that
they have on effort intentions in students. The second methodological study – using a
different sample – found that PC and IM mediate effort intentions. The use of a
randomized control trial design presents a good chance of the results being replicable,
and could establish causation rather than correlation an eventual grasp of understanding
of the implications that these results could potentially have. Although contradicting many
learning and motivation theories (such as Baumeister, Mueller and Dweck), that self-
enhancing strategies are detrimental to intrinsic motivation, the experiment presents
interesting results that require further investigation and verification.
Expanding on these results and the implications that they pose, I think that it
would be necessary to move forward to a more precise measurement of self-regulated
learning strategies. For instance, the ability to rate these strategies on a continuum could
help to specifically isolate which learning strategy would be ideally suited for the
particular individual that is being taken into account. In addition, these students were of
an older age and it would be interesting to see if these SRL strategies would extend to a
younger age group (i.e. elementary aged kids). The advantages to being able to encourage
self-motivating strategies in children while retaining intrinsic motivation does not need to
be emphasized – as it would be an excellent way for teachers to not only positively
involve themselves in younger students education without the fear of unintentionally
discouraging their motivation, and also encourage kids who lack said motivation to learn
the intrinsic value of education. Unfortunately, to do the fragility of motivation in
children and the importance of education, it would be important in developing an
experiment that would have no long-lasting effects on children’s ability to perform in
school. In addition, experiments to analyze if there are sex-differences in what SRL
strategy would be highly valuable.
Alternate Assignment (B) – PSYC 471 – 260529216 – BODNARUK, Logan

Motivational strategies in EFL classrooms: how do teachers impact student’s

motivation?

McEown & Takeuchi

McEown and Takeuchi investigates the changes in effectiveness of motivational strategy

use by teachers in EFL classrooms and the differences in effectiveness of each change
according to various measures. The main focus was to examine how teachers can
influence students’ motivation through alterations in their motivational teaching
strategies. Longitudinal measures were taken over the course of a year in four different
sessions of students’ proficiency levels and motivational intensity towards general
English learning. However, using self-report questionnaires (as always) pose the problem
of self-report bias and could inhibit the generalizability and validity of the experiment.
However, the thoroughness of the questionnaires provides a good indication of the levels
measured of the students, if the possibility of self-report bias is ignored. Based on cluster
A of students evaluated, the correlation between frequency of instructor’s strategy use
and student’s motivation fluctuates through the progression of the semester. The
correlations between strategy use and motivation for cluster B do not show any consistent
or significant effect. Comparing cluster A and B, the authors concluded that students’
English proficiency levels and motivational intensity levels are factors that influence the
perceived effectiveness of motivational strategies. A large gap that I see in this study is
that all students majored in humanities – a group of students that have a skill set that is
geared towards reading, comprehension of overarching subjects and themes and a more
conceptual grasp on education. To include science students in the sample may give a
better insight into differing motivational strategies for science and humanities programs.
To expand on this experiment, it would helpful to see if the results extend to
different contexts, situation, varying levels of interest in the students and the teachers
themselves. For instance, in a high-achieving environment (i.e. advanced classes in high
school) the students are likely to have more motivation, and a better liking towards the
teacher, thus measuring the same motivational strategies on these types of students may
present different results that a general population. In addition, the extension to students of
all ages to differentiate of whether or not students younger or older have different
patterns of motivation would be highly interesting.
Alternate Assignment (A) – PSYC 436 – 260529216 – BODNARUK, Logan

Gender (In)equality in Internet Pornography: A Content Analysis of Popular

Pornographic Internet Videos

Klaassen & Peter

Klaassen and Peter investigated the research on the effects of pornography and the
content, trying to settle disputing claims about the depiction of gender (in)equality in
Internet pornography and the difference of this representation in amateur and professional
pornography. Analyzing content of objectification, power, and violence (three main
dimensions of gender equality), of 400 popular sexually explicit videos of both amateur
and professional videos, the study attempted to provide an insight of the content of
Internet porn. Women were objectified through instrumentality more than men, but men
were often objectified through dehumanization. Social power did not differ between men
and women, but the traditional man-dominant and woman-submissive was shown more
frequently that the opposite situation. Violence occurred infrequently outside of some
mild S&M scenes, in addition to nonconsensual sex. Amateur pornography depicted
women as lesser than men in the category of gender inequality than professional
pornography did. This study was extremely comprehensive and posited questions and
defined variables allowing for easy classification and evaluation of videos and the results.
As the study shows, there are implications for this study in both media effects
research and debates on pornography. For instance with media effects research, a large
issue in contemporary society is the objectification of women in advertising in order to
sell to the consumer markets. Although economically proven (i.e. men are more likely to
make a snap decision to purchase something unnecessary if they are distracted by an
attractive women in the ad), the problem of this is still hazardous to the well beings and
impressionability of adolescent women. This type of media campaigning can lead to
negative self-images, decreased happiness, eating disorders, and self-esteem issues of
both teenage girls and boys. An extension to understand the effects of the media could be
taken from this study and an analysis to the extent that both men women are objectified
and dominated in the media industry would prove to be highly useful.
Alternate Assignment (B) – PSYC 436 – 260529216 – BODNARUK, Logan

Psychosexual Correlates of Sexual Double Standard Endorsement in Adolescent

Sexuality

Emmerink et al.

Emmerink and colleagues explored the demographic and psychosexual correlates

of (hetero) sexual double standard (SDS) endorsement in contemporary society.
Examining variables such as gender, age, sexual experience, culture, peer norms,
individual sexual behavior, sexual autonomy, and partner induced sexual pleasure they
evaluated the roles in the development of maintenance of SDS. Ultimately, demographic
and psychosexual correlates were linked to the degree of SDS endorsement and some
associations were present stronger in boys, whereas others were present in both boys and
girls. This is most likely to do the masculinity norm that pressures boys to be providers,
and dominant in the community – demonstrating that this could have an impact
psychologically and behaviorally in the male population. The use of an Internet sample
and the means to collect the data suggests that a more scientific and controlled way to
administer such a questionnaire could be useful in collecting a more reliable set of data.
In addition, it is impossible to know that (a) if the sample was actually the age that they
claim to be (b) if a self-report bias was present (i.e. men have more of a tendency to over-
report and women have a tendency to under-report). Secondly, SDS endorsement and
attitudes may not always be recognized explicitly in the society the way that Emmerink
and colleagues have measured it. Frequently, implicit attitudes towards subjects may
have a great effect, but are equally harder to measure. For example, measuring prejudice
in a community, you cannot explicitly ask people if they do not like a certain ethnicity
because many people will falsify their responses or not recognize their own propensity
towards one or the other. A good scale that measures this is the Implicit Attitudes Test
introduced to social psychology by Greendwald, McGhee, Sherry and Schwartz. If
something like this could be developed for attitudes of SDS endorsement, it could prove
to have different results than those from this study.
The use of an adolescent sample is insightful as it is at this age that many
teenagers are likely to be the most effected by and associated with SDS endorsement.
However, it would be interesting to see if different communities and samples are affected
in the same manner. For instance, extending it to the LGBTQ community and
investigating transgender and transsexual individuals could hold interesting results. The
focus on heterosexual adolescents in this study proved to be a good starting point, but it
would be interesting to see if SDS endorsement extended into adulthood and into elderly
sexuality in addition to homosexual and bisexual communities and individuals.