Personal Conceptions of Competence: From Conceptual Integration to Psychopedagogical Intervention

Abstract

Personal conceptions of competence can be described as global and implicit theories about the personal competence that integrate motivational constructs, which are closely associated with students achievement behavior in the school context. In this article personal conceptions of competence are presented as a comprehensive model of students motivational characteristics (such as attributions and causal dimensions, personal conceptions of intelligence, self-concept and self-efficacy), assuming that success and failure experiences influence the development of personal conceptions of competence which determine the academic achievement. Finally, we evidence the role of psychologist’s intervention, supported by the model of personal conceptions of competence, in order to promote the understanding and the explanation of school failure towards a fruitful and more adapted psychopedagogical intervention.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17575/rpsicol.v18i2.432