Short Communication
Belief in stable and fleeting luck and achievement motivation

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2009.02.009Get rights and content

Abstract

The current work seeks to understand the relationship between luck beliefs and achievement motivation. We hypothesized and found evidence that belief in stable rather than fleeting luck positively relates to achievement motivation (Study 1). Furthermore, belief in stable luck affects achievement motivation via personal agency beliefs (Study 2). These findings add to our understanding of the causal beliefs associated with a sense of mastery and preference for challenging tasks.

Introduction

Achievement motivation is the desire for accomplishment and mastery of skills (Atkinson, 1957, McClelland et al., 1953, Murray, 1938). In trying to understand the drivers of achievement motivation, researchers have long focused on locus of control, the perceived contingency between one’s actions and outcomes (Rotter, 1966). According to this construct, an internal locus of control indicates a belief that one’s actions directly affect one’s outcomes. Internal locus of control is, thus, thought to positively predict achievement motivation, whereas external locus of control is thought to negatively predict achievement motivation. However, external locus of control encompasses a number of disparate attributions, such as task difficulty, chance, and supernatural agency such as luck or fate. And even the concept of luck is not a single belief per se, but it is in fact a word that encompasses several folk conceptions. For example, luck beliefs were originally categorized as attributions to unstable and thus uncontrollable forces (Heider, 1958, Weiner, 1974), but recent theorists (Karasawa, Little, Miyashita, Mashima, & Azuma, 1997) differentiated between luck beliefs that posit a somewhat stable force versus an unstable, fleeting force. Individuals may endorse one type of luck belief and not the other. The current research focuses on the possibility that the belief in luck as a somewhat stable force fosters achievement motivation, such that those who believe in this type of luck may have higher achievement motivation than those who believe in it as unstable.

Although belief in luck is traditionally thought of to be part of external locus of control, it may be positively related to achievement motivation through personal agency. Indeed, Young, Morris, Burrus, Krishnan, and Regmi (2008) found that attributions to supernatural agency are not incompatible with a sense of indirect personal control. And cross cultural studies (Leung & Bond, 2004) show that, across the countries of the world, objective measures of academic achievement in high school are correlated positively with the degree to which there is cultural belief in “Fate Control” (Zhou & Leung, 2008), the belief that there are supernatural agencies that one can work with to control outcomes. The current research investigates whether belief in luck, a type of fate control, fosters personal agency and thus achievement motivation.

We hypothesize that stable but not fleeting belief in luck is positively related to achievement motivation (Hypothesis 1), and that personal agency beliefs are an important means through which stable luck beliefs predict achievement motivation (Hypothesis 2). If people regard luck as a “somewhat stable force that tends to influence events in their own favor” (Darke & Freedman, 1997), luck is treated as a deployable personal force and can enhance the feeling of personal agency (Wohl & Enzle, 2002). This type of belief in luck thus motivates achievement behavior (Weiner, 1986). In contrast, if luck is perceived as fleeting and difficult to be capitalized on, personal agency is not enhanced and therefore cannot be counted on when striving for success.

Section snippets

Participants and procedure

The sample consisted of 185 students from a west-coast public university (84 males, 135 females, and one who did not report sex). Participants’ average age was 22.7 years old (SD = 7.38). The sample was primarily Caucasian (55) and Asian (110), with smaller numbers of Hispanic (6), African-American (5), and American Indian (5) participants. Ninety-one of the participants in the sample were social science majors, while 85 were natural science majors. Exact sample size varied slightly across

Participants and procedure

The sample consisted of 368 students from a west-coast public university (117 males and 251 females). Participants’ average age was 20.9 years old (SD = 2.84). The sample was primarily Caucasian (80) and Asian (245), with smaller numbers of Hispanic (23), African-American (12), and American Indian (4) participants. 234 of the participants in the sample were social science majors, and 113 were natural science majors. Like in Study 1, exact sample size varied slightly across analyses due to missing

General discussion

Both Study 1 and 2 show that belief in stable luck does relate to people’s desire for challenge and effort in the face of difficulties—a key characteristic of achievement motivation (McClelland, 1961). These findings suggest belief in stable luck is more effective than belief in fleeting luck in promoting the mastery aspect of achievement motivation.

The current research extends prior theory in attributions and achievement motivation. Original theorizing classified luck as an external, unstable,

Conclusion

The current research further encourages us to distinguish between belief in stable luck and belief in fleeting luck, as they are differentially associated with the drive to choose challenging tasks and persist at them. Belief in stable luck is associated with personal agency beliefs and achievement motivation, whereas belief in stable luck is not.

References (21)

  • P.R. Darke et al.

    The belief in good luck scale

    Journal of Research in Personality

    (1997)
  • K. Leung et al.

    Social axioms: A model for social beliefs in multicultural perspective

    Advances in Experimental Social Psychology

    (2004)
  • J. Atkinson

    Motivational determinants of risk-taking behavior

    Psychological Review

    (1957)
  • R.M. Baron et al.

    The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations

    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    (1986)
  • R. Beck et al.

    Erosion of belief and disbelief: Effects of religiosity and negative affect on beliefs in the paranormal and supernatural

    The Journal of Social Psychology

    (2001)
  • F. Heider

    The psychology of interpersonal relations

    (1958)
  • M. Karasawa et al.

    Japanese children’s action-control beliefs about school performance

    International Journal of Behavioral Development

    (1997)
  • W.L. MacDonald

    The effects of religiosity and structural strain on reported paranormal experiences

    Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

    (1995)
  • D.C. McClelland

    The achieving society

    (1961)
  • D.C. McClelland et al.

    The achievement motive

    (1953)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (0)

View full text