No Evidence for a Mediating Role of Hyperfocus in the Relationship Between Motivation and Academic Performance

Hartwig, Nele (2024) No Evidence for a Mediating Role of Hyperfocus in the Relationship Between Motivation and Academic Performance. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.

Text BAThesis_NHartwig_s4382463.pdf Restricted to Repository staff only Download (1MB)

Abstract

Background: Hyperfocus (HF), a state of intense prolonged focus that is associated with the diminished perception of the environment and time passing, has been suggested to occur in the context of intrinsically motivating activities and to enhance performance. Aims: 1) To replicate previous findings that show that intrinsic motivation (IM) predicts academic performance and establish whether HF predicts academic performance as well. 2) To investigate whether IM predicts HF. 3) To test whether HF mediates the relationship between IM and academic performance. Method: A sample of 742 undergraduate psychology students filled in self-reports of academic IM and HF. Academic performance was measured by accessing students’ grades and calculating their grade point average (GPA). Results: IM positively predicted GPA and HF. No evidence was found that HF could predict academic performance or that HF mediates the relationship between IM and academic performance. Conclusion and implications: Our findings support the theory suggesting that HF occurs in the context of intrinsically motivating activities but challenge the idea that HF enhances academic performance. Future research should explore the different components that define HF, such as losing track of time or getting stuck on details, separately in regard to academic performance. Investigating these associations within diverse contexts (e.g., in regard to different measures of academic performance such as exam performance vs. essay writing) and populations (e.g., ADHD vs. neurotypical populations) can put the presence or absence and direction of such associations into context. Keywords: hyperfocus, intrinsic motivation, academic performance, university students

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor)
Supervisor name:	Garcia Pimenta, M.
Degree programme:	Psychology
Differentiation route:	None [Bachelor Psychology]
Date Deposited:	25 Jan 2024 14:07
Last Modified:	25 Jan 2024 14:07
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3034

Actions (login required)

View Item