Jennifer Henderlong Corpus
Professor of Psychology
Email | 503-517-7475
Developmental psychology, academic motivation
Curriculum Vitae
The Academic Motivation Lab
Education and Professional Positions
1995, B.A., Psychology, University of Michigan
2000, Ph.D., Developmental Psychology, Stanford University
2000-2001, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Los Angeles
2001-2007, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Reed College
2007-2013, Associate Professor of Psychology, Reed College
2013-present, Professor of Psychology, Reed College
Teaching
I teach a number of courses in developmental psychology, which is the study of change in behavior, thinking, affect, and abilities from infancy through adulthood. Across these courses, I focus on the individual in social context and emphasize the reciprocal nature of socialization. I also teach a course in educational psychology that focuses on motivation in educational contexts, which is heavily informed by my own scholarly work on achievement motivation among elementary and middle school children. (Follow links to course description for additional details.)
PSY 122 Introduction to Psychology II
PSY 232 Socialization of the Child
PSY 323 Motivation in Educational Contexts
PSY 361 Developmental Psychology
Research
I study the developmental, situational, and dispositional factors that underlie students’ motivation to learn. More specifically, I examine the tension and synergy between intrinsic and extrinsic forms of motivation as well as the strategies that parents and teachers use (e.g., praise, reward systems) to enhance or unwittingly undermine such motivation. I focus largely on the elementary and middle school years – an important time of growth in self-understanding and skill development. It is also a time when children become increasingly pessimistic about their capabilities and the value of hard work, which makes it ideal for studying developmental change in motivational processes and resilience in the face of setbacks. My laboratory, the Academic Motivation Lab, combines experimental research to specify causal processes with school-based surveys and interviews to conceptualize motivation in context.
Visit the Academic Motivation Lab website
Selected Recent Publications
(Reed student co-authors bolded)
See CV for complete publications list
Corpus, J. H., Robinson, K. A., & Liu, X. (2022). Comparing college students’ motivation trajectories before and during COVID-19: A Self-Determination Theory approach. Frontiers in Education, 7:848643. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2022.848643
Corpus, J.H., & Good, K.A. (2021). The effects of praise on children’s intrinsic motivation revisited. In Brummelman, E. (Ed.), Psychological Perspectives on Praise (pp. 39-46). Abington, UK: Routledge.
Appelbaum, M.S., & Corpus, J. H. (2020). Assessing competing and combining motives to learn in college students: A Self-Determination Theory approach. Future Review: International Journal of Transition, College, and Career Success, 2, 15-28.
Corpus, J.H., Robinson, K.A., & Wormington, S. V. (2020). Trajectories of motivation and their academic correlates over the first year of college. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 63.
Corpus, J.H., Wormington, S.V. & Haimovitz, K. (2016). Creating rich portraits: A mixed methods approach to understanding profiles of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. The Elementary School Journal, 116, 365-390.
Corpus, J.H., & Wormington, S.V. (2014). Profiles of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in elementary school: A longitudinal analysis. The Journal of Experimental Education, 82, 480-501.
Haimovitz, K., Wormington, S.V., & Corpus, J.H. (2011). Dangerous mindsets: How beliefs about intelligence predict motivational change. Learning and Individual Differences, 21, 747-752.
Hayenga, A.O., & Corpus, J.H. (2010). Profiles of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: A person-centered approach to motivation and achievement in middle school. Motivation and Emotion, 34, 371-383.
Corpus, J.H., McClintic-Gilbert, M.S., & Hayenga, A.O. (2009). Within-year changes in children’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations: Contextual predictors and academic outcomes. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 34, 154-166.
Cooper, C.A., & Corpus, J.H. (2009). Learners’ developing knowledge of strategies for regulating motivation. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30, 525-536.
Recent Papers Presented to Professional Societies
Corpus, J.H., Robinson, K.A., & Wormington, S.V. (2020, April). Trajectories of motivation and their academic correlates over the first year of college. Paper submitted to the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. San Francisco, CA.
Martinez-Picazo, P., & Corpus, J.H. (2019, October). Self-efficacy and the regulation of motivation. Poster to be presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for the Study of Human Development. Portland, OR.
Naveed, T., & Corpus, J.H. (2019, October). Academic self-handicapping and its correlates in early adolescence. Poster to be presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for the Study of Human Development. Portland, OR.
Willson, J.S.G., & Corpus, J.H. (2019, October). Mindfulness, consent, gender identity, and sexual orientation: Health education in elementary school. Poster to be presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for the Study of Human Development. Portland, OR.
Koenka, A.C., Dent, A.L., & Corpus, J. H. (2019, May). Can a growth mindset intervention overcome messages about the stability of intelligence? Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Science of Motivation. Washington, D.C.
Corpus, J.H., & Biesanz, C.H. (2019, April). Shifts in motivation and belonging as predictors of college student retention: A mixed-methods approach. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, MD.