An International Meeting of the American Accounting Association 2005 Annual Meeting August 7–10, 2005 San Francisco, California Come to the City by the Bay!

Effective Learning Strategies Forum
Tuesday, August 9, 2005

Session 12
Improving Performance in Introductory Accounting: Why Did I Do Poorly on That Exam?

Presenter:
Erick Valentine, Kansas State University
Stacy Kovar, Kansas State University

Description:
The session will apply psychology research related to the use of counterfactual reasoning to the problem of motivating students who do poorly in introductory accounting exams to do the right things to improve their performance in the future. Individuals engage in counterfactual reasoning when they imagine alternative situations that would have led to better outcomes or worse outcomes than the one that actually resulted. Upward counterfactuals occur when one examines factors that could have resulted in better performance; downward counterfactuals occur when one examines factors that could have resulted in worse performance. Research further suggests that directing individuals to generate upward counterfactuals, especially when done in the context of self-improvement rather than self-enhancement, can improve future performance. Thus, this session will discuss how these techniques can be used by instructors in introductory accounting, where giving up can be a real problem, to improve performance. Additionally, this session will discuss the effects of personal self-image on exam performance and how directed counterfactual generation may moderate that effect. Finally, the session will present results of a study currently being drafted examining these techniques in an accounting context.

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