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Moderators of the Relationship Between Cognitive Ability and Performance: General Versus Context–Specific Achievement Motivation 1
Author(s) -
Hirschfeld Robert R.,
Lawson Lucinda,
Mossholder Kevin W.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2004.tb01983.x
Subject(s) - psychology , trait , cognition , context (archaeology) , proposition , need for achievement , cognitive psychology , multiplicative function , social psychology , computer science , epistemology , paleontology , philosophy , neuroscience , biology , programming language , mathematical analysis , mathematics
Despite positing a multiplicative model of performance, 3 recent studies failed to find support for a theoretically meaningful interaction between cognitive ability and trait motivation in predicting performance. We suggest that it is important to consider that these studies used trait–motivation constructs that are general in nature, rather than context–specific. Yet, existing theory and research suggests that it may be beneficial to use trait–motivation constructs that are expressly contextual, especially when investigating a multiplicative performance model. This study, therefore, compared general versus context–specific achievement motivation as moderators of the relationship between cognitive ability and performance. The proposition that only context–specific achievement motivation should interact with cognitive ability in predicting performance was supported. Implications are discussed.