Chapter 5: Expectancy-Value Theory in Cross-Cultural Perspective: What Have We Learned in the Last 15 Years?

We introduced Jason in the 2004 version of this chapter, as a way to introduce the major constructs from expectancy-value theory (EVT) on which we focused in that chapter, and in the current one. Jason is a student starting 12th grade, his last year of high school, which means he had to decide which elective classes to take during his senior year. Ultimately, he made his decisions based on how well he expected to do in the classes available to him, his sense of the usefulness of the classes for his future endeavors, and his interest in the classes. He chose a history course because of an interest he developed in a previous engaging history class. And he chose an advanced math course because it would be useful to him in his chosen field of engineering, would strengthen his university applications, and would help him be ready for the engineering curriculum in college. Jason also expected to do well in these two courses based on his previous performance. In addition, Jason weighed the costs of taking these two advanced academic courses in his final year as opposed to less challenging courses offered at his high school. Taking these courses would mean that Jason could not work as many hours at a part-time job, thus giving up income. He also would have to do more studying, meaning less time for socializing and participating in some fun extracurricular activities. In the end, Jason decided (after talking it over with his parents) that the costs did not outweigh his interest and the utility he saw in the history and math courses.