ABSTRACT
The past decade has witnessed an explosion of interest in expectancy-value perspectives on achievement motivation. In this article, we review the development of expectancy-value theory over nearly a century of research, with a specific focus on issues of dimensionality and multiplicative relations. We begin by briefly tracing the evolution of expectancy-value theory, beginning with Lewin and Tolman in the 1930s and extending to Eccles’ modern expectancy-value theory. Next, we discuss critical issues of dimensionality in key expectancy-value constructs. We then provide an overview of the reemergence of the multiplicative perspective of expectancy and value beliefs, and use this as the basis for advancing a person-centred perspective on expectancy-value theory. The entry concludes with recommendations for future research in the expectancy-value tradition.
