Students’ Self-Efficacy, Causal Attribution Habits and Test Grades

Grade prediction in the middle east: a post-pandemic case study of the optimism bias

Evidence exists that the pandemic has brought about stress, and altered study habits and academic performance. No evidence exists regarding whether metacognition has also been altered. The present field study examined the accuracy and confidence with which college students make grade predictions in a general education course after the pandemic. It tested whether one of three types of biases affected students' predictions as a way to cope with the uncertainty of a final exam's outcome: illusion-of-knowing, optimism, and pessimistic bracing. Students made predictions both before and after completing the final exam (summative assessment) to determine the impact of each of the hypothesized biases on estimates made in a context of varying uncertainty. Accuracy was computed as the difference between expected and actual grades on the final exam. Confidence in the predictions made was measured on a Likert scale. Exam performance was categorized as good, poor, or inadequate. In this study, less-than-desirable performance was accompanied by overestimations. However, overestimations were made with little confidence and benefited from the information acquired from completing the exam. This pattern of results suggests that students who are not doing well are not under the spell of the illusion-of-knowing phenomenon. Indeed, their optimistic predictions are punctured by the awareness of a likely undesirable outcome (as indicated by their weak confidence in the predictions made). Implications and applications of these findings are discussed.

Battling Unawareness of One's Test Performance: Do Practice, Self-Efficacy, and Emotional Intelligence Matter?

The "Dunning-Kruger effect" refers to the tendency of poor performers to overestimate test outcomes. Although a widespread phenomenon, questions exist regarding its source and sensitivity to countermeasures. The present field study aimed to (a) examine whether practice with tests used in previous classes can enhance students' ability to estimate test outcomes, (b) determine the main source of the effect (i.e., is it unawareness of one's readiness or wishful thinking?), and (c) assess the extent to which particular individual differences can be used as predictors of test performance. In this study, participants practiced with old tests and then completed the final exam. Before and after the exam, they predicted their grades and indicated their subjective confidence in the predictions made. Furthermore, participants' emotional intelligence and self-efficacy about their academic abilities were surveyed. Results suggested that poor performers were not unaware of their test preparation, but rather engaged in wishful thinking. In fact, although they overestimated their test grades, their estimates not only improved after completing the final test but also were regarded with little confidence. Overall, estimation bias was a good predictor of students' final test performance, whereas subjective confidence and emotional intelligence only weakly predicted such performance. Thus, if proactive interventions are to be developed for at-risk students, performance-estimation tasks may offer valuable information regarding such students' future performance in a course much more than emotional intelligence and self-efficacy measures.

Effects of Personal Hygiene Habits on Self-Efficacy for Preventing Infection, Infection-Preventing Hygiene Behaviors, and Product-Purchasing Behaviors

Since there is no cure for the COVID-19 pandemic yet, personal hygiene management is important for protecting oneself from the deadly virus. Personal hygiene management comes from personal hygiene habits. Thus, this study investigated the association between personal hygiene habits, consumers’ infection-prevention behaviors, and the effects of social support on the latter. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire survey of 620 Korean adults. An online survey agency was used to conduct the questionnaire over eight days, from 18 May to 25 May 2020. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results were as follows. First, personal hygiene habits positively affected self-efficacy for infection prevention (β = 0.123, p < 0.01). Moreover, personal hygiene habits indirectly affected virus spread-prevention behaviors (β = 0.457, p < 0.000) and product-purchasing behaviors for infection prevention (β = 0.146, p < 0.01) through self-efficacy for infection prevention. Second, informational support for infection prevention increased self-efficacy influence for infection prevention on the virus spread prevention behaviors among the public (composite reliability: −2.627). Thus, continued education of the public is imperative to ensuring compliance with personal hygiene practices. Furthermore, timely dissemination of relevant information on infection-prevention practices through various media during an infection outbreak is critical.