Raymond P Perry

University of Manitoba | UMN · Department of Psychology

Novel and unpredictable learning conditions encountered during school-to-college transitions undermine students’ agentic control, emotional resilience, and academic outcomes (Perry, 2003; Schneider & Preckel, 2017). Though motivation treatments can offset these perils (Perry et al., 2005, 2014), boosting motivation-treatment efficacy remains undere...

We present a three-dimensional taxonomy of achievement emotions that considers valence, arousal, and object focus as core features of these emotions. By distinguishing between positive and negative emotions (valence), activating and deactivating emotions (arousal), and activity emotions, prospective outcome emotions, and retrospective outcome emoti...

Novel and unpredictable learning environments are a feature of school-to-college transitions that erode students’ academic control, emotional resilience, and achievement (Perry, Hall, & Ruthig, 2005). Although motivation interventions can benefit college students (Koenka, 2020), few studies have examined treatment efficacy for students of varying s...

This study used latent transition analysis (LTA) to examine stability and change in the emotion profiles of university students during a two-semester course. Three positive emotions (i.e., hope, pride, and happiness) and five negative emotions (i.e., guilt, helplessness, anger, shame, and regret) derived from Weiner’s attribution theory of emotion...

Research suggests that when dealing with personal setbacks, secondary control (SC) adjustment and acceptance beliefs can foster psychological wellbeing. However, little research has examined these beliefs, in combination, and how they impact students in their academic development. We conducted secondary analysis using an eight-month longitudinal st...

Older adults make up the largest portion of the population of physically inactive individuals. Health challenges, and psychological barriers (e.g., maladaptive causal attributions), contribute to reduced activity engagement and low perceived control. This pilot study tested an attributional retraining (AR) intervention designed to increase control-...

Background: In post-secondary settings, student athletes are required to balance achievement goals and pursue success in two different domains (academic, sport). Although student athlete achievement goals have received much attention in sport settings, this does not appear to be the case in academic settings. Methods: Our longitudinal study exami...

Student-athletes in their first-year transition to university experience many psychological and social stressors as they balance multiple commitments. Our study examined whether a student-athlete social identity affected psychosocial adjustment as students transition to postsecondary, and whether it acted by reducing stress to foster academic adjus...

Control-value theory (CVT) posits that cognitive appraisals and emotions govern motivation and learning in achievement settings. Within this framework, we used latent profile analysis to identify multifaceted motivation profiles involving academic control and value appraisals and achievement emotions (boredom, anxiety, enjoyment). Three motivation...

Weiner’s attribution theory posits that it is adaptive to ascribe challenges to controllable causes (e.g., insufficient effort, bad strategies) and maladaptive to ascribe them to uncontrollable causes (e.g., old age). This is supported by our prior research that showed a heightened risk of mortality when mobility challenges were attributed to old a...

Despite the salience of achievement emotions in educational theory and research, critical assumptions regarding the antecedents of emotion remain untested. The current study combines perspectives of achievement goal theory (Elliot et al., 2011) and control-value theory (CVT; Pekrun, 2006), to test CVT’s assumption that cognitive appraisals of contr...

First-generation college students face unique obstacles that can erode their psychological well-being, academic motivation, and educational development during school-to-college transitions. Although research shows attribution-based interventions foster academic attainment among at-risk students (Hamm et al., 2020, Perry and Hamm, 2017), little is k...

Considerable evidence shows that cell phone use (CPU) is detrimental to students’ academic achievement. However, researchers have yet to consider whether or not perceived academic control (PAC) and anxiety can mediate this effect. In this two-semester study, we examined the role of PAC and learning-related anxiety in affecting the relationship betw...

Academic adjustment during the school-to-university transition can be particularly challenging for student athletes who have to balance multiple commitments. Evidence shows an individual’s social identity (sense of group membership) can benefit various psychosocial outcomes (Haslam et al., 2006, 2008). Our study explores the impact of student athle...

Despite increased emphasis on educating students in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM disciplines), nearly half of U.S. college students who enroll in these programs fail to graduate with STEM degrees (Chen & Soldner, 2013). Using archival data from the Motivation and Academic Achievement Database, the present study (n =...

Objectives: Although forecasting a positive future can be adaptive, it may not be when expectations are unmet. Our study examined whether such inaccurate expectations about future health status (overestimation) were maladaptive for older adults who commonly experience late life declines in physical functioning. Method: We analyzed data from the n...

Objectives: Although physical activity is recognized as a health-promoting behaviour for older adults, notable barriers exist that may reduce physical activity in this age group. Limited research has explored causal beliefs (attributions) as a barrier to physical activity. Our study assessed associations between older adults’ attributions about phy...

Rationale and Objectives: Whether expectations about future health are adaptive or maladaptive in late life likely depends on the extent to which they conform to or defy a future reality of declining health. Our premise was that, when adults face a downward spiral in health, it can be adaptive to realistically expect poorer future health and malada...

Motivation treatments to enhance goal engagement can improve academic outcomes for college students with single academic risk factors (Hamm et al., 2016), but their efficacy remains unexamined for students with multiple risk factors in online learning environments. In a pre-post, randomized treatment study (n = 628), a theory-based goal engagement...

Although an active pursuit of health goals is typically adaptive, there may be circumstances in very late life when it is not. Our 10-year study of community-dwelling individuals (n = 220, 79- 98 years-old) examined whether investing substantial effort into personal health (high selective primary control) in the absence of help-seeking strategies (...

Objectives Student athletes encounter significant challenges during school-to-college transitions that can increase stress and undermine academic adjustment (Heelis & Shields, 2015). An attribution-based motivation treatment (Perry et al., 2014) was administered to student athletes who differed in perceived stress to improve short- and long-term ac...

Attribution-based motivation treatments can boost performance in competitive achievement settings (Perry & Hamm, 2017), yet their efficacy relative to mediating processes and affect-based treatments remains largely unexamined. In a two-semester, pre-post, randomized treatment study (n = 806), attributional retraining (AR) and stress-reduction (SR)...

Perceived control (PC) and boredom are academic risk factors that undermine motivation and performance in competitive achievement settings (Pekrun et al., 2010; Perry et al., 2001). Attribution-based motivation treatments (attributional retraining: AR) can assist students who exhibit single risk factors, but AR efficacy remains unexamined for stude...

Simple beliefs about our ability to influence life events are powerful. Perceived control acts as a cognitive resource to preserve and promote resilience and goal engagement. It cultivates overall quality of life, protecting us when adversity strikes and it plays a self-regulatory role when pursuing goals. In this chapter, we discuss key developmen...

Objectives. Appraising health as controllable is typically thought to be adaptive, but recent evidence suggests the paradoxical possibility that perceived control (PC) can be detrimental. We considered the premise that high PC should have a survival benefit when it is part of an adaptive mindset involving high value (importance) for health, but it...

Although theory-driven control striving treatments may sustain motivation for individuals navigating life course transitions, their efficacy during these challenging junctures remains unexamined. In a pre-post randomized field study (n = 316), a novel control striving treatment based on Heckhausen et al.’s (Psychol Rev 117:32–60, 2010) motivational...

Competitive student athletes who experience the typical challenges inherent in high school-to-university transitions must also overcome sport-related difficulties which can undermine their academic motivation and class attendance due to competitions, fatigue, injuries, identity issues, and novel training environments (MacNamara & Collins, 2010; Sim...

Research has established the health benefits of psychological factors, including the way individuals appraise outcomes. Although many studies confirm that appraising outcomes as controllable is adaptive for health, a paradoxical possibility is largely ignored: Perceived control may be detrimental under some conditions. Our premise was that appraisi...

This study assessed the extent to which older adults attribute a recent heart attack/stroke to "old age," and examined consequences for subsequent lifestyle behavior and health-care service utilization. Community-dwelling adults (N = 57, ages 73-98 years) were interviewed about their heart attack/stroke, and an objective health registry provided da...

Developmental transitions are experienced throughout the life course and necessitate adapting to consequential and unpredictable changes that can undermine health (Adlaf et al., 2001; Perry, 2003). Our six-month study (n = 239) explored whether selective secondary control striving (motivation-focused thinking) protects against the elevated levels o...

Purpose: This chapter presents empirical evidence on the effects of attributional retraining (AR), a motivation-enhancing treatment that can offset maladaptive explanatory mind-sets arising from adverse learn- ing experiences. The evidence shows that AR is effective for assisting col- lege students to adapt to competitive and challenging achievemen...

Our quasi-experimental, longitudinal treatment study examined whether Attributional Retraining (AR) facilitated adjustment among young adults (n = 324) making the challenging school-to-university transition. An AR by performance orientation group 2 x 4 design showed AR primarily benefited high-risk students: Failure-ruminators (high failure preoccu...

Pursuing health goals in very old age is a challenging task that may be undermined by conflicted goal engagement involving mismatched primary (behavior-focused) and secondary (motivation-focused) control striving. Our study explored whether one potentially detrimental combination of control strategies (low primary control/high secondary control) co...

A theoretical model linking boredom and academic achievement is proposed. Based on Pekrun’s (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions, the model posits that boredom and achievement reciprocally influence each other over time. Data from a longitudinal study with college students (N = 424) were used to examine the hypothesized effects. The...

Background and Aims. The literature documents fewer classroom mastery goal structures in secondary school compared to elementary. However, little is known about how personal achievement goals may influence classroom goal structures. This is especially true at the level of pre-service teachers. Our objective was to investigate if pre-service teacher...

Transitions to novel achievement settings are often accompanied by unfamiliar learning conditions and unanticipated failure that undermine how individuals adapt to such situations. For first‐year students, the transition to college is imbued with adverse learning conditions that can result in decreased motivation and academic performance. This stud...

In the area of achievement motivation, students’ beliefs pertaining to achievement goals and perceived control have separately guided a large amount theoretical and empirical research. However, limited research has considered the simultaneous effects of goals and control on achievement. The purpose of this study was to examine primary and secondary...

Developmental transitions are imbued with ubiquitous uncertainties that undermine goal striving in many otherwise committed individuals. Our seven-month study examined whether cognitive selective secondary control strategies (motivation-focused thinking) facilitate the enactment of achievement goals among young adults experiencing the landmark scho...

Previous research has found perceived academic control (PAC) to be a better predictor of first-year college students' grades than self-esteem; however, it is uncertain which construct is more important for students' well-being. The current study compared PAC and self-esteem on first-year college students' emotions, perceived stress, and self-report...

Previous research has found perceived academic control (PAC) to be a better predictor of first-year college students' grades than self-esteem; however, it is uncertain which construct is more important for students' well-being. The current study compared PAC and self-esteem on first-year college students' emotions, perceived stress, and self-report...

The perception of control (or lack thereof) is central to human cognition, motivation, behavior, and well-being. In this article, the section on ‘Historical Development of Perceived Control’ provides a brief history of perceived control, summarizing the theoretical developments and the classic concepts and definitions. The second section deals with...

Believing that one can influence outcomes presumably fosters a psychological sense of control. So too, however, might adaptive ways of thinking known as secondary control (SC) processes that operate when outcomes are believed to be unattainable. Using a 5-year prospective design and a representative sample of adults (ages 79-98), folk beliefs (e.g....

Stereotypic beliefs about older adults and the aging process have led to endorsement of the myth that 'to be old is to be ill.' This study examined community-dwelling older adults' (N = 105, age 80+) beliefs about the causes of their chronic illness (ie, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc.), and tested the hypothesis that attributing the onset of...

As educators and mentors, we often focus on helping undergraduate students make career decisions. However, there is also value in helping alleviate career anxiety and indecision, both of which impede decision-making and are not automatically resolved once a decision is made. This research examined the role of individual differences (age, gender, an...

It has been theorized that students are most likely to ask why following unexpected, negative, and/or important events (Weiner, 1985); however, the unique contribution of these precursors to causal search and the resultant cognitions, emotions, and behaviors remain largely unclear. In the current study we examined causal search regarding test outco...

Failing a course is an acutely negative event for first-year university students, and a major contributor to high attrition rates at North American universities. Despite its prevalence, course failure receives relatively little research attention. What can be done to reduce course failure and help first-year students remain in university? This stud...

In a novel approach to initial teacher education, we combined a program review perspective and a psychological perspective. First, we assessed the extent to which student teachers (n=137) felt that components of their BEd program prepared them for teaching and whether these components represented meaningful program dimensions. Through content analy...

Aside from test anxiety scales, measurement instruments assessing students’ achievement emotions are largely lacking. This article reports on the construction, reliability, internal validity, and external validity of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ) which is designed to assess various achievement emotions experienced by students in acad...

The linkages of achievement-related boredom with students’ appraisals and performance outcomes were examined in a series of 5 exploratory, cross-sectional, and predictive investigations. Studies 1 and 2 assessed students’ boredom in a single achievement episode (i.e., state achievement boredom); Studies 3, 4, and 5 focused on their habitual boredom...

Transitions to new achievement settings are often accompanied by unfamiliar learning conditions wherein individuals experience unanticipated failures and engage in dysfunctional explanatory thinking. To counter these developments, attributional retraining (AR) was presented to 457 first-year students following an initial test in a two-semester cour...

The present longitudinal study of 143 older adults (73-98 years) with serious health problems (arthritis, heart disease, heart attack, stroke) examined the effects of goal engagement, disengagement, and self-protection control strategies on self-rated physical health (condition severity, functional status) and subjective well-being (life satisfacti...

The perception of control (or lack thereof) is central to human cognition, motivation, behavior, and well-being. In this article, the section on ‘Historical Development of Perceived Control’ provides a brief history of perceived control, summarizing the theoretical developments and the classic concepts and definitions. The second section deals with...

Affect and emotions are frequently seen as outcomes of mastery and performance goals, but affective experiences may also predict goal adoption. In a predictive study (N = 669 first-year college students), the authors used structural equation modeling to estimate relationships from 2 initial affective experiences to mastery and performance-approach...

Loneliness can be seen as a social failure subject to causal search: Why am I lonely? Why do I lack friends? According to attribution theory, answers to these questions can influence emotions, motivation, and behaviours. This study examined the relationships between various affiliative causal beliefs (i.e., beliefs about loneliness and friendship d...

The first year of college presents numerous challenges experienced as overwhelming by some freshmen who may become overly stressed and depressed. This longitudinal study examined perceived academic control (PAC) as a mediator of optimism and social support’s buffering effects on freshman students’ psychological health. Multiple regressions assessed...

Pursuing a university degree intermixes intellectual ability, content knowledge, emotional stamina, unflagging motivation, and goal striving with diverse learning environments. The academic aspirations of students, however, often belie the realities of unanticipated obstacles along the way that thwart eventual success. Motivation and performance ca...

As people move into advanced old age, they face increasing levels of age-related activity restriction. It becomes important that older adults adjust their goal-striving to age-related control restrictions in order to optimize physical and psychological well-being in this advanced and final stage of life. Older adults may use a variety of different...

Valuable insights about emotional well-being can be learned from studying older adults who have wrestled with differentiating and regulating their emotions while they navigate through the many joys and traumas of a lifetime. Our objective was to document the underlying reasons for older adults' (n = 353, ages 72 -99) emotional experiences. Using a...

The present study examined what older people regret, and the relationships between regret, health and life satisfaction. The study also explored the role of secondary interpretive control beliefs in relation to regret. Participants (N= 228; 79-98 years old) were asked to report on the content and frequency of their regret, secondary interpretive co...

Overestimating one's own health risks is associated with negative affect and decreased well-being. To identify psychosocial factors that reduce pessimistic risk estimates, the authors examined global perceived (primary and secondary) control as a predictor of health risk (hip fracture) estimates among 222 community-dwelling older adults. To determi...

Researchers have recently claimed that there are substantial differences in the psychosocial dispositions and academic achievement of male and female college students. To test this proposition, a sample of 854 undergraduate students were selected from a major Canadian Research-1 university. Multiple regression analyses assessed the effects of gende...

Attributional (explanatory) thinking involves the appraisal of factors that contribute to performance and is instrumental to motivation and goal striving. Little is understood, however, concerning attributional thinking when multiple causes are involved in the transition to new achievement settings. Our study examined such complex attributional thi...

Within achievement goal theory debate remains regarding the adaptiveness of certain combinations of goals. Assuming a multiple-goals perspective, we used cluster analysis to classify 1002 undergraduate students according to their mastery and performance-approach goals. Four clusters emerged, representing different goal combinations: high mastery/pe...

Objective. This study examines the extent to which optimism, control beliefs and motivation, and downward social comparison contribute independently to the maintenance of older adults positive self-evaluations in a functional domain. Method. Adaptive resources/strategies and life satisfaction were measured in personal interviews with 164 community-...