The More Interest, the Less Effort Cost Perception and Effort Avoidance

Juyeon Song; Sung-Il Kim; Mimi Bong

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02146

The More Interest, the Less Effort Cost Perception and Effort Avoidance

Front Psychol. 2019 Sep 24:10:2146. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02146. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Juyeon Song¹, Sung-Il Kim², Mimi Bong²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Education, Korea National University of Education, Cheongju, South Korea.
² Department of Education, Brain and Motivation Research Institute (bMRI), Korea University, Seoul, South Korea.

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate what factors determine students' engagement in mathematics. We examined the predictive relationships between interest, effort cost (i.e., the cost of making the effort), and three forms of academic engagement: persistence, cognitive engagement, and effort avoidance. In addition, we examined gender differences in these relationships. We recruited 546 8th and 9th graders for this study. Consistent with previous research, interest worked as a strong positive predictor of persistence and cognitive engagement, and it predicted effort avoidance negatively. Moreover, interest negatively predicted the perception of effort cost, which in turn positively predicted effort avoidance. Gender differences were found in the mean values of effort avoidance and in the prediction by interest of the perception of effort cost. Male students reported higher effort avoidance than female students, and the prediction by interest of the perception of effort cost was stronger among female students than among male students. These findings provide new insights into students' engagement in mathematics and the role of interest and effort cost in it.

Keywords: academic engagement; effort cost; gender difference; interest; mathematics.