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Perceived Competence
Researchers have tried to understand the structure, content, and processes of perceived competence. In so doing, the understanding of a child’s beliefs about their abilities in an area such as sports can be gleaned. This is especially true due to the possible significant emotional and motivational responses to their lives.
"The terms perceived competence and perceived ability are typically defined in the research literature as individuals' perceptions of their competencies or abilities in specific domains" (Horn, 2003, p. 103).
Harter (1985a, 1988; Harter & Pike, 1984) and Horn (2003) have broken the research down into 3 interrelated ways:
- Fox (1997) describes perceived competence as "an assessment of ability that generalizes across a domain" (Fox, 1997, as cited in Whaley, 2004, p. 290).
"The terms perceived competence and perceived ability are typically defined in the research literature as individuals' perceptions of their competencies or abilities in specific domains" (Horn, 2003, p. 103).
Harter (1985a, 1988; Harter & Pike, 1984) and Horn (2003) have broken the research down into 3 interrelated ways: