Do I Want This? Can I Do This? Expectancy-Value Theory

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Do I Want This? Can I Do This? Expectancy-Value Theory

Educational Psychology · Chapter 6: Motivation, Goals, and the Drive to LearnSection 6.5 · lesson 52 of 1008 min · free with a free account

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Earn 3 college credits for Educational PsychologyRecommended for credit by NCCRS · Psychology 120 · self-paced · one payment, lifetime access
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In this lesson

Two questions, four components of value, and three failures that look alike.

  • Define expectancy of success and task value
  • Name the four components of task value, including cost
  • Explain how sociocultural context shapes both factors
  • Diagnose disengagement as an expectancy, value or cost problem

Transcript

Everything said in the video, section by section (1,109 words). Read along, or search it.

Motivation, Goals, and the Drive to Learn

Do I Want This? Can I Do This? Expectancy-Value Theory

Ask a disengaged student why they are not doing the work. There are three possible answers, and they need different responses. This section covers Expectancy-Value Theory. It organizes motivation around two questions a student asks silently. Can I do this? And do I want to or need to do this? We will break value into its four components. Including cost, which is the one people forget. Then look at how expectancy is built, and how it is eroded. And we will end with a diagnostic. Because three very different problems look identical from the front of the room.

Two Questions

Expectancy and Value

Expectancy-Value Theory was developed by Jacquelynne Eccles and colleagues. In the nineteen eighties. It proposes that academic choices and performance rest on two factors. The first is expectancy of success. That is a student's belief about how well they will perform. Essentially their confidence in their ability in that domain. The second is value. How important, interesting, or useful the task appears to be. And the model predicts that sustained engagement needs both. Believing you can succeed but not caring produces indifference. Caring deeply while believing failure is inevitable produces something else. Anxiety, and avoidance.

Four Components

What Task Value Is Made Of

Eccles and colleagues broke value into four components. Attainment value is how important it is to do well. It is about relevance to self-concept, and to identity. A student who sees herself as a writer finds high attainment value in English. Intrinsic value is the inherent enjoyment of the task itself. That corresponds closely to intrinsic motivation. Utility value is perceived usefulness for future goals. I need statistics for my career in medicine. And the fourth component is cost, which is the negative side. Time, effort, anxiety, and opportunity costs. High cost can undermine engagement even when the rest is positive. A student can want something, believe they can do it, and still decline on price.

Key Idea

Two Yeses Are Required

Here is the key idea, in the form of two questions. For maximum engagement, a student must answer yes to both. Can I do this? That is expectancy. Do I want to, or need to, do this? That is value. Interventions that address only one component are less effective. Less effective than those targeting both. And this gives a teacher a genuinely useful diagnostic. When a student disengages, ask which of the two answers was no. Because the remedies are completely different. Encouragement helps a student with low expectancy. It does nothing at all for a student who simply does not care. And a great deal of motivational effort is spent on the wrong one.

Building Expectancy

Where Confidence Comes From

Where does expectancy of success come from? It is influenced by ability beliefs, and by perceptions of task difficulty. Compare two students with different ability beliefs. A student who holds a fixed view of intelligence has fragile expectancy. A single failure can collapse their confidence entirely. A student with growth-oriented beliefs holds up better. They maintain positive expectancy through temporary setbacks. The reason is in how each interprets the setback. Growth-oriented students attribute difficulty to effort or strategy. Rather than to the limit of their capacity. So the setback means something different to them. Which is why it costs them less.

Teacher Moves

Two Things That Build Expectancy Over Time

Two teacher moves build expectancy over time. The first is to communicate that academic skills are learnable. State it, and demonstrate it. The second is to structure initial tasks for early success. Engineer a win, deliberately, at the start. And those two work together rather than separately. The claim that skills are learnable is only an assertion. Until a student has evidence of having learned one. The early task is that evidence. Notice the word early doing work in that phrase. Success that arrives in week six is too late to set the expectancy. By then it merely confirms what was decided in week one.

The Wider Context

Expectancy and Value Are Socially Shaped

Eccles situated both expectancy and value in a wider context. A sociocultural context, which shapes both. Gender stereotypes. Cultural messages. Prior experiences. And socializer beliefs, from parents and from teachers. All of those shape two things. Which domains a student believes they can succeed in. And which domains they value. Neither of those beliefs is formed privately. A student does not decide in isolation that they are bad at mathematics. They arrive at it with considerable assistance.

A Consequence

Underrepresentation, Explained

That framing explains a persistent pattern. Underrepresentation in STEM among women and racial minorities. The model says this happens not primarily through individual choice. It happens through systematic erosion of expectancy and value. Three mechanisms do that erosion. Stereotype threat. Underrepresentation in curricula. And differential teacher treatment. Each one lowers either the belief that you can succeed, or the sense that this domain is for you. Which reframes two practices often filed under equity. Culturally responsive pedagogy and intentional representation are motivational interventions, operating directly on expectancy and value.

Raising Value

Four Components, Four Levers

Each value component has a lever. Raise utility value by making explicit connections. Connections to students' personal goals and future plans. Raise intrinsic value with tasks that are genuinely interesting. Tasks that contain some novelty. Raise attainment value by tying tasks to meaningful identities. Identities the student already holds, rather than ones you assign. And reduce cost. Manage workload. Offer choice. Provide scaffolding, and create low-stakes practice opportunities. That fourth lever is the one most often skipped. Reducing cost is often faster than raising the other three. And it requires no persuasion at all.

In Practice

Chemistry Before the First Lesson

Here is value being raised before any content is taught. A science teacher is beginning a unit on chemistry. She starts by asking students to explore chemical reactions. Specifically, how they relate to cooking, to cosmetics, and to sports performance. Those are domains students already value. She makes two connections explicit. Utility value. You will use this knowledge. Attainment value. Understanding this makes you scientifically literate. And the timing is the technique here. She raises task value before the first formal lesson. Which raises engagement even among students with low prior expectancy. Value is being built precisely where expectancy is weak.

Diagnosis

Which Answer Was No?

So here is the diagnostic to take away. When a student is not doing the work, ask which answer was no. If expectancy was no, they believe they cannot succeed. Build ability beliefs, engineer early wins, reduce perceived difficulty. If value was no, they do not care about it. Connect to identity and future goals, and add genuine interest. If cost was too high, something different is happening. They want it, and they believe they could do it. So reduce workload, add scaffolding, lower the stakes of practice. All three of those present identically from the front of the room. A student not doing the work. And applying the wrong remedy is why so much motivational effort fails.

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Universities that work with NCCRS

Educational Psychology carries a NCCRS credit recommendation. These universities work with NCCRS; some are UPI Study's signed partners. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.

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FAQ

Questions students ask us

About Do I Want This? Can I Do This? Expectancy-Value Theory

What is expectancy-value theory?
Expectancy-value theory, developed by Jacquelynne Eccles and colleagues in the 1980s, says academic choices and performance depend on two factors: expectancy of success, or how well students believe they will do, and task value, or how important, interesting or useful the task seems. Sustained engagement needs both. Confidence without caring produces indifference, while caring without confidence tends to produce anxiety and avoidance.
What are the four components of task value?
The four components of task value, described by Eccles and colleagues, are attainment value, intrinsic value, utility value and cost. Attainment value is the importance of doing well for one's identity; intrinsic value is enjoyment of the task itself; utility value is usefulness for future goals; and cost is the negative side, including time, effort, anxiety and lost opportunities. High cost can lead a student to decline a task even when the other components are strong.
How can a teacher tell whether a disengaged student has an expectancy, value or cost problem?
Ask which answer was no. If the student believes they cannot succeed, it is an expectancy problem, so build ability beliefs and engineer early wins. If they do not care, it is a value problem, so connect the work to identity, goals and genuine interest. If they want it and believe they could do it but the price feels too high, reduce workload, add scaffolding and lower practice stakes.
How do stereotypes and culture shape expectancy and value?
Eccles placed both expectancy and value in a sociocultural context shaped by gender stereotypes, cultural messages, prior experiences and the beliefs of parents and teachers. These influences affect which subjects students think they can succeed in and which they value. The model links underrepresentation of women and racial minorities in STEM to stereotype threat, missing representation in curricula and differential teacher treatment eroding both factors.

About the Educational Psychology course

How many college credits is Educational Psychology?
Educational Psychology (Psychology 120) carries a NCCRS credit recommendation for 3 semester credits. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.
How much does Educational Psychology cost and what is included?
$250, paid once, with lifetime access: all 100 video lessons, a practice quiz after each, the graded work and final exam, and an official transcript when you finish. Students who want several courses choose UPI Study PRO instead.
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UPI Study has signed partner agreements with universities such as Thomas Edison State University, University of the People and Charter Oak State College, and works with universities such as Penn State, SNHU and SUNY. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities. Use "Find my college" on this page to check yours.
How long does Educational Psychology take?
It is self-paced with no deadlines. The 100 lessons total about 15 hours of video; most students add reading and practice time and finish in a few weeks to a few months, on their own schedule.
How are the exams done?
Quizzes and assignments are online in the course. The final exam is taken online with proctoring; a person on the UPI Study team checks assignments, usually within two days.
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100 video lessons, a quiz after each one, and the graded work that earns the credit. Recommended for credit by NCCRS.

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