Abstracts - Earli

Maria Luisa Pedditzi, University of Cagliari, ItalyDolores Rollo, University of Cagliari, ItalySeveral studies of motivation have suggested that students’engagement in achievement activities ismotivated by a complex set of goals (Elliot, Dweck, 1988). Several sets of goals orientations havebeen proposed to explain differences in students’achievement behaviour. A distinction indicatesmastery versus ability goals (Ames and Ames, 1984). It is possible to study the learning goals alsoconsidering the "perceived school goal dimension" (Roeser, Midgley, Urdan, 1996). Thisdimension includes "ability goal structure" and "task goal structure", and it can condition theperception of school psychological environment (Roeser, Midgley, Urdan, 1996). Teachers,through their systems and performances, can emphasize mastery progresses (task-mastery goals)or social competition (relative ability goals). Meece, Blumenfeld and Hoyle (1988) demonstratethat goal orientations are important mediators of students’engagement patterns in the classroom.We defined active cognitive engagement by students’ reported use of metacognitive and selfregulationstrategies. This study analyzes the relationship between perceived academic goalsstructures and cognitive engagement in classroom activities. We assume that perceived academicgoal structures predict personal goal adoption and cognitive engagement in classroom activities.The instrument used consists in a selection of some items of different questionnaires elaborated byRoeser et al (1996) and by Meece et al (1988). The students who participated in this study are 680,attending to high school. Findings show that perceived academic goal structures predict personalgoal adoption: specifically task goal structure predict personal task-mastery goals (R³ =,213, F(1,675) =183.221, p(1, 675) =162.155, p(1, 675) =174.608, pThe function of basic psychological needs in motivational processKiho Tanaka, Doshisha University, JapanSelf-determination theory identified three psychological needs: need for competence, need forautonomy, and need for relatedness, and proposes that social contexts such as autonomy supportinfluence people’s basic need satisfaction. In this study, the effects of autonomy support and thefunctions of three psychological needs are discussed. The results from two researches onmotivational process suggested that autonomy supportive environment enhances the satisfaction ofbasic psychological needs, but it is needed to consider not only about autonomy support fromperson in higher position but also about mutual autonomy support. The results also suggested thedifferent function of three psychological needs: the satisfaction of need for autonomy acts on thebehavioral aspects, whereas the satisfaction of need for competence and relatedness acts on theemotional aspects of the participants.– 446 –