Utility Value Interventions: Why and How Instructors Should Use Them in College Psychology Courses

• Published in: Scholarship of teaching and learning in psychology 2023-06, Vol.9 (2), p.196-215
• Main Authors: Soicher, Raechel N., Becker-Blease, Kathryn A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: College Students; Experimenter Expectations; Human; Intervention; Motivation; Psychology Education; Reading; Teachers
• ISSN: 2332-2101; 2332-211X
• DOI: 10.1037/stl0000240

According to expectancy-value models of achievement motivation, a core component of increasing student motivation is utility value. Utility value refers to the importance that a task has in one's future goals. Utility value interventions provide an opportunity for students to make explicit connections between course content and their own lives. A large body of literature suggests that utility value interventions are effective for a wide range of students (e.g., both adolescent and adult learners) in a variety of courses (e.g., introductory psychology, introductory biology, and physics). This review provides (1) an overview of an expectancy value model of achievement motivation, (2) a comprehensive review of the experimental studies of utility value interventions in psychology, (3) concrete pedagogical recommendations based on the evidence from over 30 studies of the utility value intervention, and (4) suggestions for future research directions. After reading this review, college-level psychology instructors should be able to decide whether the utility value intervention is appropriate for their own course and, if so, implement the intervention effectively.