Self-Concept of Academic Ability and the Adult College Student

Adults' self-concept of academic ability is discussed within the larger context of self-concept theory, the presence of adults in college, and the sparse research on adult self-concept. The operation of adult self-concept was explored with data gathered from 480 undergraduate students age 25 or older. Adult self-concept of academic ability appeared to operate much as predicted by the theory. It was shaped from past academic activities (credits earned and GPA), and it affected subjective academic outcomes such as "how well one feels he/she is doing in college" and "whether one's goals are being met by the college experience." It also affected objective outcomes such as current credit load carried and grades attained. Self-concept did not vary by race, gender, or income, though it did vary by age. Subdomains of self-concept were explored, and the most important appeared to be interaction skills within the classroom. Relating academic self-concept to other psychological variables showed that it is unrelated to motivation, positively related to global self-esteem, and negatively related to depression, stress, and external attributions for academic success.     

A test of generalized expected utility theory

In two experiments we test Machina's Hypothesis II (fanning-out). In each experiment we analyze patterns of responses to hypothetical lottery choice questions within a Marschak-Machina triangle. One set of questions involves lotteries on the border of the triangle, an the other set of questions involves lotteries in the interior of the triangle (off the border). Our results show that a large proportion of the observed patterns in the on-border treatment support Hypothesis II, with a considerable amount of fanning-out behavior observed. The patterns observed in the off-border treatment are significantly different from those in the on-border treatment. Hypothesis II performs well in the off-border treatment because expected utility theory itself, which satisfies the restrictions of Hypothesis II, performs well.This is an expanded version of a paper originally prepared for presentation at the Fifth International Conference on the Foundation and Applications of Utility, Risk, and Decision Theories, held June 9–13, 1990 at Duke University, Durham, NC. We acknowledge helpful comments made by participants at that conference, especially those of Mark Machina.     

Leader as performer; leader as human: A discursive and retrospective construction of crisis leadership

The study of crisis in higher education remains an important area of research for scholars and a relevant area of interest for higher education leaders who must anticipate and effectively address the ever-increasing and wide-ranging crisis situations. Using Weick’s notion of retrospective sensemaking, this project attempts to theoretically reframe crisis as a discursive opportunity for university leaders to engage in identity construction. By approaching issues of crisis leadership through a communicative framework, this article proposes four discursive themes and two tensions related to academic leadership identity during times of crisis based on interviews with college and university presidents.     

Role-Related Conflicts,Strains and Stresses of Older-Adult College Students

Abstract

The negative effects of role conflict, role strain and stress among non-traditional-aged college students are widely assumed but little studied. This paper examines how role conflict and role strain in older-adult students affect stress and, in turn, how strain, conflict and stress affect academically important outcomes such as depression, perceived value of college, grades, subsequent course load and retention. Data come from 355 students age 25 or older at a large, comprehensive, open-admissions, urban university. Regression analyses, controlling for demographics and self-efficacy, show that while older-adult students report wide-ranging role strain and conflict, only a few of these strains and conflicts promote stress. In particular, financial strains, work conflicts and university-caused strains are the main stressors. While stress does not affect any of the academic outcomes, role conflicts and role strains do have an effect. In addition, universities and colleges can do little to improve the retention rate of older-adult students.     

The conflict between naive and sophisticated choice as a form of the ‘liberal paradox’

Pareto-inefficient perfect equilibria can be represented by the liberal paradox approach of Sen, appropriately reconfigured to model intertemporal decision-making by an individual. We show that the preference profile used by Grout (1982) to construct a case in which naive choice Pareto-dominates sophisticated choice can be so represented, if tastes change and if the individual can make decisions at time t, which restrict or determine opportunities available in period t + 1 and beyond. This ability to make a decision that binds oneself in the future is a form of rights assignment. We also show how two resolutions of the liberal paradox work out in the individual decision framework.     

Intransitive cycles: Rational choice or random error? An answer based on estimation of error rates with experimental data

The paper presents results from two new experiments designed to test between the rational choice hypothesis and the random error hypothesis for intransitive choice. Error probabilities and population shares for transitive and intransitive preference types are estimated from data collected in the first experiment. An unrestricted model (which treats intransitive patterns as true patterns) performs no better than a model that is restricted to transitive patterns. Analysis of the conditional distributions of choice patterns, using data from the second experiment, confirms more directly the main results of the first experiment: that observed intransitive choice patterns are due to random error.     

Analysis of Intertemporal Choice: A New Framework and Experimental Results

This paper reports the results of a series of experiments examining intertemporal choice. The paper makes three contributions: First, it presents a new analytic device, the intertemporal choice triangle, which is analogous to the Marschak--Machina choice triangle used in the analysis of choice under risk. Second, we have developed a new experimental design based on the intertemporal choice triangle which allows subjects greater flexibility in making choices, and which allows the researcher to make more subtle inferences, than are possible with designs previously employed. Subjects are able to create their most-preferred outcome in each choice situation by choosing a constrained linear combination of two extreme options. Third, our results show that while subjects do not typically maximize present value, they are significantly influenced break by present value considerations. We refer to this finding as it present value-seeking behavior. We find only weak evidence of several previously documented intertemporal choice anomalies in our framework.