Introspection Through an Authoritative, Authoritarian, Permissive Lens: Implications for Self-Efficacy, Affect, and Motivation

<p>Introspection plays a critical role in motivation, achievement, and well-being. However, little research has investigated how introspection may mirror Baumrind’s (1967) parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive), suggesting that the ways individuals were parented could be internalized and later reflected in their inner dialogue. The present study investigates how distinct introspection styles influence self-efficacy, affect, and motivation following failure feedback. Participants received experimentally induced failure feedback following an intelligence test and then completed a guided self-reflection task designed to elicit one of the three induced introspection styles. A one-way between-subjects ANOVA was conducted with 180 undergraduate students randomly assigned to one of four conditions: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, or control introspection. Results revealed a significant main effect of induced authoritarian introspection on negative affect, compared to the permissive and control conditions. No significant main effects were found for self-efficacy, positive affect, or motivation. However, exploratory moderation analyses demonstrated that the effects of induced introspection styles depended on the participant’s baseline introspection style. Authoritative baseline introspection produced stable effects across conditions, authoritarian baseline introspection showed increased motivation under critical and rigorous structure at the cost of higher negative affect, and permissive baseline introspection benefited most from structured, yet supportive introspection. The findings suggest that the effectiveness of self-reflection following failure depends on individual differences in baseline introspection styles. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Year dc:date.available

2026

Author dc:creator

• Pigg, Jesi

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Kenji Noguchi
• Dr. Lin Agler
• Dr. Elena Stepanova

• Introspection
• Parenting Styles
• Self-Efficacy
• Affect
• Motivation
• Social Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/1199

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-2293