The power of perception: early adolescents’ perceived mastery after a novel math task

Self-efficacy, the beliefs learners hold about what they can do, develops largely from whether learners perceive and interpret their experiences as successful (i.e., perceived mastery). In mathematics, the relationship between perceived mastery and self-efficacy has been well established. Less is known about the factors that may influence perceptions of mastery. The purpose of this study was to investigate how performance-related factors on a math task (i.e., number of correct responses, perceived effort, perceived difficulty) are related to learners’ perceived mastery and how perceived mastery, in turn, is related to math self-efficacy, engagement, intrinsic motivation, and performance. Adolescent students (N = 286; grades 4–8) completed two sets of online activities involving brief questionnaires and three novel algebraic math puzzles. Path analyses revealed that when students perceived tasks as difficult, they felt less successful. Conversely, when students reported exerting a high level of effort, they felt more successful. Perceived mastery was directly and positively associated with task-specific math self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and performance on subsequent puzzles. Task-specific math self-efficacy was positively associated with intrinsic motivation, but negatively associated with subsequent performance. Findings from this study contribute to what is known about how early adolescents evaluate success in math and how those perceptions affect self-efficacy development. Implications for practice are discussed.