Handbook of Competence and Motivation

Front Cover
Andrew J. Elliot, Carol S. Dweck
Guilford Publications, Apr 4, 2005 - Psychology - 704 pages

This important handbook provides a comprehensive, authoritative review of achievement motivation and establishes the concept of competence as an organizing framework for the field. The editors synthesize diverse perspectives on why and how individuals are motivated in school, work, sports, and other settings. Written by leading investigators, chapters reexamine central constructs in achievement motivation; explore the impact of developmental, contextual, and sociocultural factors; and analyze the role of self-regulatory processes. Focusing on the ways in which achievement is motivated by the desire to experience competence and avoid experiencing incompetence, the volume integrates disparate theories and findings and sets forth a coherent agenda for future research.

About the author (2005)

Andrew J. Elliot, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the University of Rochester, and is currently an associate editor of the "Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin" and a section editor of" Social and Personality Psychology Compass." Dr. Elliot has published approximately 100 scholarly works, has received research grants from public and private agencies, and has been awarded four different early- and mid-career awards for his research contributions. His research areas include achievement and affiliation motivation; approach-avoidance motivation; personal goals; subjective well-being; and parental, teacher, and cultural influences on motivation and self-regulation. Carol S. Dweck, PhD, is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, and has published significant work in the area of achievement motivation since the early 1970s. Dr. Dweck is one of the first researchers linking attributions to patterns of achievement motivation, an originator of achievement goal theory, and a pioneer in the area of self-theories of motivation. Her recent books include "Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development"; "Motivation and Self-Regulation across the Lifespan" (coedited with Jutta Heckhausen); and "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success." Her research is extensively cited in social, developmental, personality, and educational psychology.

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