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14 - Predicting Academic Effort

The Conscientiousness × Interest Compensation (CONIC) Model

from Part III - Interest and Internal Motivation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2019

K. Ann Renninger  and
Suzanne E. Hidi
By
Ulrich Trautwein ,
Benjamin Nagengast ,
Brent Roberts  and
Oliver Lüdtke
K. Ann Renninger
Affiliation:
Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania
Suzanne E. Hidi
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Summary

Academic effort is a key construct in research on motivational variables such as interest and in research on conscientiousness, one of the Big Five domains of human personality. Surprisingly, the two lines of research have rarely been brought together. In this chapter, we describe the differences and similarities in the theoretical foundation of the two constructs and review research on their predictive power for academic effort. We then introduce the Conscientiousness × Interest Compensation (CONIC) model which postulates that conscientiousness and interest (partly) compensate for each other in predicting academic effort. Subsequently, we present empirical evidence for the model. In the final section of the chapter, we formulate some next steps in a research program on conscientiousness and interest.

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The Cambridge Handbook of Motivation and Learning , pp. 353 - 372
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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