Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions and Its Relevance to School Psychology

The control-value theory (CVT) of achievement emotions is a well-established theoretical framework which delineates the predictive relationships among distal and proximal antecedents, academic emotions, and student engagement and achievement. Although most research anchored in CVT is conducted by educational psychologists, the theory is arguably applicable to the field of school psychology. In this article, we first provide a brief overview of the theory, with a specific focus on the proximal antecedents (i.e., cognitive appraisals), as well as academic emotions and performance. Given that school psychologists are often consulted with strategies regarding students’ emotional challenges exhibited in the classroom, we then discuss empirical evidence of control- and value-based interventions (e.g., attributional retraining, utility-value), both of which can be posited to address the cognitive appraisals of achievement emotions. Lastly, we discuss the implications of CVT and control- and value-based interventions to school psychologists’ work.

Adaptive Causal Thinking About Mobility Challenges: Implications for Quality of Life

Weiner’s attribution theory posits that it is adaptive to ascribe challenges to controllable causes (e.g., insufficient effort, bad strategies) and maladaptive to ascribe them to uncontrollable causes (e.g., old age). This is supported by our prior research that showed a heightened risk of mortality when mobility challenges were attributed to old age. The present pilot study randomly assigned older adults (N=36) in a day hospital to either an attributional retraining (AR) intervention group that viewed a video intended to shift causal thinking regarding mobility challenges (uncontrollable→controllable causes), or to a comparison group (No-AR). Participants completed a Time1 survey, the AR intervention (one week later), and a Time2 follow-up survey two weeks later. A manipulation-check revealed that AR was effective in shifting causal thinking away from maladaptive causes; a decline in the endorsement of the old age attribution was observed in the AR group (Ms=2.61 vs. 2.06; p=.02), but not in the No-AR group (Ms=2.45 vs. 2.35, p=.30). The AR and No-AR groups were equivalent at Time 1 on two quality-of-life outcomes: helplessness and perceived control (PC) over health. However, helplessness declined (Time1-Time2) in the AR group (Ms=1.13 vs. 0.73, p=.03), whereas it was relatively stable in the No-AR group (Ms=1.42 vs. 1.26, p>.20). Moreover, PC increased marginally in the AR group (Ms=6.50 vs. 6.69; p=.06), but declined in the No-AR group (Ms=6.20 vs 5.45, p=.05). Together, these findings suggest that attributions can be shifted away from uncontrollable causes and that this shift can have a protective effect that benefits quality-of-life.

An Intervention to Retrain Attributions Using CBT: A Pilot Study

The role of affective and cognitive factors in learning have long been recognised as imperative determinants of the learning process. Maladaptive styles with which we perceive and explain accomplishments and failures in achievement outcomes have an important motivational impact upon approach and avoidance behaviours towards academic tasks. Interventions to change these maladaptive styles are well established, although they stand to gain via addition of cognitive behavioural therapy components. A pilot study attribution retraining intervention was implemented with eight secondary school students, and their results on academic performance, self-concept, and attributional styles were compared to a control group. With significant gains in some specific academic domains, the attributional retraining program is being substantiated for effective use within secondary schools. Implications suggest that this could be an effective tool to retrain students’ attributions, with some gains, as the reattribution technique is revisited and reinvigorated.