At the dawn of the 21st century, many educational and psychological re-
searchers are seeking to move beyond scientific understanding of human in-
tellectual functioning based on correlations between motivational constructs
and academic outcomes to a deeper understanding based on analyses of the
causal interdependence of specific learning experiences, motivational beliefs,
and academic outcomes. As research on strategy training has shown
(Pressley, Borkowski, & Schneider, 1987), instructional efforts that lead to
positive learning outcomes do not always produce sustained motivation, and
conversely, instructional efforts to boost motivation of students without si-
multaneously improving their learning processes or competencies do not al-
ways produce sustained achievement (Schunk, 1991). Solving the reciprocity
issue between learning and motivation is thus crucial to the advancement of
educational practice.
The need to explain the interdependence of learning and motivational
processes within an encompassing model of intellectual functioning has been
a particular interest of social cognitive researchers studying students’ aca-
demic self-regulation. Self-regulation has been defined formally as self-gen-
erated thoughts, feelings, and actions for attaining academic goals (Schunk &
Zimmerman, 1994). A social cognitive perspective envisions learning and
motivation from a triadic model wherein personal cognitive and affective
processes are reciprocally influenced by behavioral and environmental
events. According to this triadic formulation (which will be described in de-
tail below), learning and motivation are linked by a sense of personal agency

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Self-Regulating Intellectual

Processes and Outcomes:

A Social Cognitive Perspective

Barry J. Zimmerman
Graduate School and University Center
City University of New York

Dale H. Schunk
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

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