title: Boring but important: a self-transcendent purpose for learning fosters academic self-regulation.
abstract: Many important learning tasks feel uninteresting and tedious to learners. This research proposed that promoting a prosocial, self-transcendent purpose could improve academic self-regulation on such tasks. This proposal was supported in 4 studies with over 2,000 adolescents and young adults. Study 1 documented a correlation between a self-transcendent purpose for learning and self-reported trait measures of academic self-regulation. Those with more of a purpose for learning also persisted longer on a boring task rather than giving in to a tempting alternative and, many months later, were less likely to drop out of college. Study 2 addressed causality. It showed that a brief, one-time psychological intervention promoting a self-transcendent purpose for learning could improve high school science and math grade point average (GPA) over several months. Studies 3 and 4 were short-term experiments that explored possible mechanisms. They showed that the self-transcendent purpose manipulation could increase deeper learning behavior on tedious test review materials (Study 3), and sustain self-regulation over the course of an increasingly boring task (Study 4). More self-oriented motives for learning--such as the desire to have an interesting or enjoyable career--did not, on their own, consistently produce these benefits (Studies 1 and 4).
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin.
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Yeager
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin.
authors.forename: Marlone D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Stanford University.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Paunesku
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Stanford University.
authors.forename: Gregory M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Walton
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Sidney
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: D'Mello
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Psychology, New York University.
authors.forename: Brian J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Spitzer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Angela Lee
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Duckworth
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004521:Educational Measurement; D004522:Educational Status; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics / Q000193:education; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology*; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D012574:Schools; D012586:Science / Q000193:education; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult