Abstract of a dissertation submitted to the Council of the College of Education for Human Sciences at the University of Wasit as part of the requirements for obtaining a PhD in Educational Psychology

The current research aims to identify: This research addresses learning motivation, moral understanding, and associative thinking. The importance of the research stems from the significance of its variables and the scarcity of Arabic and local studies on them, as well as the importance of the research sample—university students, who represent a crucial academic stage in society. In light of this, the researcher sought to identify the relationship between learning motivation, moral understanding, and associative thinking among university students, through the objectives and to identify: 1. The degree of learning motivation among university students. 2. The degree of moral understanding among university students. 3. The degree of associative thinking among university students. 4. The correlation between learning motivation and moral understanding among university students 5. Differences in the correlation between learning motivation and moral understanding according to gender. and expertise 6. The correlation between learning motivation and associative thinking among university students. 7. Differences in the correlation between learning motivation and associative thinking according to gender. and expertise 8. The degree of contribution of both moral understanding and associative thinking to learning motivation among university students. To achieve the objectives of the current research, the researcher followed the descriptive approach to correlational studies. The research population sample was selected using stratified random sampling with proportional distribution. The sample size for the current research was (400) male and female university students The researcher adopted tools to measure the variables of his research. He used the Learning Motivation Scale developed by Al-Marsoumi (2018), which consisted of (30) items in its final form, distributed across three domains: competence, independence, and belonging. To measure the variable of moral understanding, the researcher constructed a Moral Understanding Scale according to the scientific steps for constructing psychological scales and based on Lawrence Kohlberg's theory (1958). This scale also consisted of (30) items in its final form, distributed across four domains: moral awareness, moral reasoning, moral intention, and moral behavior To measure the associative thinking variable, the researcher adopted the associative thinking scale developed by Al-Marsoumi (2018), based on the cognitive association theory (1963). The scale consists of (30) items in its final form, distributed across five domains: associating diverse concepts, associating study subjects, associating learning with real life, associating chronological and sequential events, and creative association. After verifying the validity of the two scale items, they were administered to the sample for statistical analysis to extract their psychometric properties and statistically analyze their items. To analyze the data for the current research, the researcher used a set of appropriate statistical methods, including the second test for one sample, the second test for two independent samples, Pearson's correlation coefficient, Cronbach's alpha coefficient, the Zany test, simple regression analysis, and two-way ANOVA. The researcher reached the following conclusions: 1. University students possess a high degree of learning motivation. 2. University students possess a good degree of moral understanding 3. University students possess a high degree of associative thinking. 4. There is a significant and positive correlation between learning motivation and moral understanding among university students 5. There are no differences in the correlation between learning motivation and moral understanding according to the gender variable. and expertise 6. There is a moderate positive correlation between learning motivation and associative thinking among university students. 7. There are no differences in the correlation between learning motivation and associative thinking according to the gender and specialization variables. 8. Moral understanding and associative thinking each contribute (24%) to learning motivation among university students. Based on the results of the current research, the researcher has put forward a number of recommendations and suggestions that will be mentioned in Chapter Four