Travis Is Teaching a Course of Average Difficulty

Essay

Travis is teaching a course of average difficulty. On the first day he informs his class that the course is very hard and that very few students earn grades higher than C. He knows that this is an exaggeration. He expects that the grades will be distributed just as they are in any other course, but he thinks that this introduction will improve his teacher evaluations at the end of the course. Given what you know about acquired motivation, what do you think Travis is up to? What would Crespi think the students will experience at the end of the course?