scholarly journals Causal Attribution Preferences and Prospective Self-Assessment: The Unknowns of the Middle Eastern Learner

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 265
Author(s):  
Maura A. E. Pilotti ◽  
Khadija El Alaoui ◽  
Kerstin Hamann ◽  
Bruce Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Test Performance ◽  
Causal Attribution ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Metacognitive Awareness ◽  
Final Test ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Metacognitive Control ◽  
Subjective Confidence ◽  
Illusion Of Knowing

In the present field experiment, we examined the effects of a self-assessment exercise conducted in the middle of the semester on metacognitive awareness (i.e., the accuracy of self-assessment and its subjective confidence) and final test performance of college students of Middle Eastern descent. Effects were measured in the classroom against a business-as-usual control condition. It was hypothesized that if the exercise focuses students’ attention on internal causes (e.g., effort) in response to specific task demands, metacognitive awareness, metacognitive control, and, ultimately, final test performance would be enhanced. In poor performers, the exercise indeed improved the accuracy of self-assessment (as measured by grade estimates) and final performance. There was no evidence of the illusion of knowing phenomenon (i.e., the unrealistic belief that one knows or is able to perform a given task) among poor-performing students as their confidence in estimates remained low. Furthermore, the exercise did not change students’ causal attribution preferences, thereby suggesting that other dynamics are responsible for the effects of the self-assessment exercise.

A Close-Up on a Predictive Moment: Illusion of Knowing or Lack of Confidence in Self-Assessment?

2020 ◽  
pp. 002205742094484
Author(s):  
Maura A. E. Pilotti ◽  
Khadija El Alaoui ◽  
Huda Al Mulhem ◽  
Muamar Hasan Salameh
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Prediction Accuracy ◽  
Prediction Errors ◽  
Final Test ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
The Past ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Illusion Of Knowing

Prediction allows learners to adjust behavior toward the future by exploiting information pertaining to the present and the past. Through a field study, we examined whether poor performing students are truly unaware of not knowing their deficiencies as the illusion of knowing (IoK) phenomenon implies. College students’ ability to predict their final test performance was surveyed as a function of experience (before and after the test), performance level, and self-efficacy. In this study, high performers’ prospective and retrospective predictions were more accurate and confident than those of poor performers. Although poor performers overestimated their grades (as predicted by IoK), they were less confident in their predictions. Furthermore, both their prediction accuracy and confidence benefited from the experience of taking the test. These findings, coupled with the lower self-efficacy of poor performers, suggest that prediction errors involving inflated estimations reflect the wishful thinking exhibited by students who are aware of their lack of competence but may have little confidence in their abilities.

scholarly journals The illusion of knowing in college: A field study of students with a teacher-centered educational past

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 789-807
Author(s):  
Maura A. E. Pilotti ◽  
Khadija El Alaoui ◽  
Huda Mulhem ◽  
Halah A. Al Kuhayli
Keyword(s):  
Test Performance ◽  
Core Curriculum ◽  
Assessment Practice ◽  
Final Test ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Actual Performance ◽  
Practice Condition ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Illusion Of Knowing ◽  
Teacher Centered

In the present study, the tendency to overestimate performance (illusion of knowing) was examined in college students whose educational past experiences had emphasized verbatim learning. Female students enrolled in core curriculum classes were sampled. Classes taught by the same instructor were randomly assigned to a self-assessment practice condition, where students predicted their test and class performance and were asked to reflect on discrepancies between predictions and actual performance, or to a control condition. At the end of the semester, irrespective of condition, as performance declined on the final test, predictions of final test grades became more inflated, but less confident, indicating that students were aware of their own deficiencies. Overall, students in the practice condition displayed not only greater prediction accuracy, but also greater final test performance than students in the control condition. Practice, however, benefited the most self-assessment accuracy of students whose final test grades were just above the passing grade. Although the responses to self-assessment practice of students with a teacher-centered educational past were largely similar to the responses of students from Western countries reported in the extant literature, differences in impact and meaning could be inferred.

scholarly journals Metacognitive control processes in question answering: help seeking and withholding answers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Undorf ◽  
Iris Livneh ◽  
Rakefet Ackerman
Keyword(s):  
Help Seeking ◽  
Question Answering ◽  
Monetary Incentives ◽  
Metacognitive Control ◽  
Self Regulated Learning ◽  
Response Strategies ◽  
Seeking Help ◽  
Subjective Confidence ◽  
Different Populations ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractWhen responding to knowledge questions, people monitor their confidence in the knowledge they retrieve from memory and strategically regulate their responses so as to provide answers that are both correct and informative. The current study investigated the association between subjective confidence and the use of two response strategies: seeking help and withholding answers by responding “I don’t know”. Seeking help has been extensively studied as a resource management strategy in self-regulated learning, but has been largely neglected in metacognition research. In contrast, withholding answers has received less attention in educational studies than in metacognition research. Across three experiments, we compared the relationship between subjective confidence and strategy use in conditions where participants could choose between submitting answers and seeking help, between submitting and withholding answers, or between submitting answers, seeking help, and withholding answers. Results consistently showed that the association between confidence and help seeking was weaker than that between confidence and withholding answers. This difference was found for participants from two different populations, remained when participants received monetary incentives for accurate answers, and replicated across two forms of help. Our findings suggest that seeking help is guided by a wider variety of considerations than withholding answers, with some considerations going beyond improving the immediate accuracy of one’s answers. We discuss implications for research on metacognition and regarding question answering in educational and other contexts.

scholarly journals Students’ Self-Efficacy, Causal Attribution Habits and Test Grades

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 231
Author(s):  
Kerstin Hamann ◽  
Maura A. E. Pilotti ◽  
Bruce M. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
General Education ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Causal Attribution ◽  
Test Preparation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public University ◽  
Final Examination ◽  
Subjective Confidence ◽  
Different Levels

Why do students vary in their performance on exams? It may be that their test preparation is insufficient because they overestimate their anticipated grade. Our study investigates four issues related to performance on a final examination. First, we analyze whether students’ ability to accurately predict their grade and their subjective confidence in this prediction may account for their grade. Second, we ask whether students at different levels of performance vary in their ability to accurately predict their grade, and if so, whether subjective confidence also differs. Third, we ask whether the accuracy and confidence of learners’ predictions are conditioned by self-efficacy beliefs and causal attribution habits, which serve as indices of motivation for test preparation. Fourth, we ask whether different causal attribution preferences contribute to self-efficacy. We use statistical analysis of data from a general education course at a large public university in the United States. Our results indicate that poor performers’ overestimates are likely to be wishful thinking as they are expressed with low subjective confidence. Self-efficacy is a significant contributor to the inaccuracy of students’ predicted grades and subjective confidence in such predictions. Professors’ understanding of learners’ forecasting mechanisms informs strategies devoted to academic success.

Relationships between Experiences, Processing Style, and Sex-Related Differences in Performance on Spatial Tests

1986 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 447-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darlene M. Olson ◽  
John Eliot
Keyword(s):  
Test Performance ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Processing Style ◽  
Environmental Mapping ◽  
Surface Development ◽  
Academic Courses ◽  
Self Assessments ◽  
Spatial Test ◽  
Spatial Dimensionality

53 female and 45 male undergraduates were administered the Spatial Antecedents Questionnaire (Activities, Academic Courses, Self-assessments, and Environmental Mapping subscales), the Spatial Dimensionality Test (Embedded Figures, Card Rotations, Paper Folding, Surface Development, Horizontal/Vertical Rotations, and Cube Perspectives subtests), and Revised-Individual Differences Questionnaire of Paivio. Scores from the Academic Courses and Self-assessment scales accounted for the most variability in spatial performance. Visual processing style correlated with performance on spatial tests for men, but not for women. Different patterns of activities and experiences correlated with spatial test performance for men and women.

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