The goals behind performance goals.

Despite decades of research on achievement goals, there is still relatively little known about differences among individuals in their conceptualizations of performance goals and reasons for pursuing them in academic settings. The purpose of the present investigation was to use participants' own words, rather than survey measures or experimental manipulations, to examine the variety of reasons students gave for pursuing performance goals. Fifty-three high school seniors with relatively high scores on a survey measure of performance-avoidance goals were interviewed. Analysis of the interviews revealed that students' reasons for pursuing performance goals could be divided into 4 categories: appearance-approach, appearance-avoidance, competition-approach, and competition-avoidance. Within each of these 4 categories, students mentioned a wide variety of purposes behind their goal pursuits such as wanting to please parents, to silence nay-saying peers, and to prove something to one's self. Implications for achievement goal theory and research methodology are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of previously assigned goals on self-set goals and performance.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 70(2) of Journal of Applied Psychology (see record 2008-10965-001). The third line was left out on p. 696, top right column. The entire section should read as follows: "Figure 1 compares the goals on T-1 with the mean goals chosen on T-2 by the same groups of subjects (i.e., grouped according to T-1 goals). On T-2 the mean goal levels of the seven original groups ranged from 4.8 to 12.9, in contrast with the T-1 range of 2 to 26."] 231 undergraduates were asked to list from 2–26 uses for common objects depending on the level of difficulty of the section (1 of 7) to which they were assigned. Ss were given a 1-min practice trial after task explanations and were then administered 2 experimental trials. Ss were told they were free to change their goals to a higher or lower level for the 2nd trial if they did not like the goal they had been assigned. Results show that Ss chose more difficult goals, if the assigned goals had been easy, and easier goals, if the assigned goals had been difficult. Ss were heavily influenced in their self-set goals by their previously assigned goals. The performance of Ss with impossible goals did not drop on the 2nd trial. A goal–expectancy interaction was found on the 2nd trial that was due to expectancy being positively related to performance at the higher but not the lower goal levels. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental phases in self-regulation: Shifting from process goals to outcome goals.

The effects of goal setting and self-monitoring during self-regulated practice on the acquisition of a complex motoric skill were studied with 90 high school girls. It was hypothesized that girls who shifted goals developmentally from process to outcome goals would surpass classmates who adhered to only process goals who, in turn, would exceed classmates who used only outcome goals in posttest dart-throwing skill, self-reactions, self-efficacy perceptions, and intrinsic interest in the game. Support for all hypotheses derived from the developmental model was found. The girls' self-reactions to dart-throwing outcomes and self-efficacy perceptions about dart skill were highly correlated with their intrinsic interest in the game. It was also found that self-recording, a formal form of self-monitoring, enhanced dart-throwing skill, self-efficacy, and self-reaction beliefs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Addressees of performance goals.

As performance goals aim to both procure acknowledgment of one's abilities and to avoid revealing a lack of one's abilities, the authors hypothesized that students hold specific performance goals for different addressees and that there are specific correlational patterns with other motivational constructs. They analyzed a data set of 2,675 pupils (1,248 boys and 1,426 girls) attending Grades 8 and 9 (mean age=15.0, SD=0.97). The students completed a questionnaire consisting of 12 items measuring performance approach goals and 12 items measuring performance avoidance goals. In each subset, 4 groups of addressees were differentiated: parents, teachers, peers, and the acting individual him/herself. Additionally, several external criteria were measured. The authors concurrently tested theory-driven, structural equation models. Incorporating all 24 items, the best-fitting model was a multitrait-multimethod model, which posited 2 factors for approach and avoidance goals and 4 addressee factors. While performance goals addressing parents showed relationships to maladaptive motivational and learning patterns, performance goals addressing classmates and self showed relationships to adaptive motivational and learning patterns. The relationships between performance goals addressing teachers and external criteria were rather weak and unsystematic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual goals in evolving organizations.

Comments on S. M. Colarelli's (see record 1998-10886-003) discussion of the social-evolutionary perspective of psychological interventions in organizations. The authors clarify and elaborate on Colarelli's argument that the nature of organizational goals makes the relationships between interventions and organizational outcomes problematic and that what may work on one level of hierarchy may not be functional at others. The authors argue that this is true, but it fails to specify a social-evolutionary insight that has profound consequences: Inventions intended to promote organizational goals will be successful only when these interventions also promote the goals of the individuals working within the organization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Achievement goals and intrinsic motivation.

Two experiments investigated the effects of achievement goals on intrinsic motivation for an enjoyable pinball game. Exp 1 manipulated Ss' performance (demonstrating ability) and mastery (developing one's skills) achievement goals and contrasted them with a neutral control group. Exp 2 replicated Exp 1 and extended it by additionally providing (or not) Ss with positive, goal-relevant feedback. Results were consistent across studies, indicating that individual differences in achievement orientation moderated the influence of achievement goals on intrinsic motivation. Specifically, performance goals enhanced intrinsic motivation for achievement-oriented individuals, whereas mastery goals enhanced interest for those low in achievement orientation. The results were discussed in the context of J. M. Harackiewicz and C. Sansone's (1991) model of intrinsic motivation processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Life goals and vocational choice.

Factor analyses of 56 life-goal and self-rating items were performed on separate samples of 250 male and 250 female college seniors of high ability. 7 identifiable factors were replicated in the 2 analyses: Self-Esteem and Scholarship (primarily associated with self-ratings); Personal Comfort, Prestige, and Altruism (primarily associated with life goals); and Artistic Motivation and Science-Technology (associated both with self-ratings and with life goals). Analyses of 4 life-goal factor scores using 5495 high aptitude students divided into 36 career field groups revealed great differences in the life goals of students pursuing different careers. Results with an open-ended question about life goals supported this finding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Abstract and concrete self-evaluative goals.

Assuming that people often hold the abstract goal of acquiring accurate feedback but recognize that acquiring favorable feedback can make the self-evaluative process more comfortable, the authors posited that low-level construals (of how action is performed) would elicit greater self-enhancement motivation than would high-level construals (of why action is performed). Individuals chronically using low-level construals had greater interest in downward social comparison (DSC) and less interest in negative feedback (NF; Studies 1 and 3). Decreases in temporal distance (which foster low-level construals) also elicited greater interest in DSC and less interest in NF (Studies 2 and 4). The latter effect was explained by participants' aversion to inconvenience (Study 5) and not by approach–avoidance conflict (Study 6). These results suggest that the level of abstraction at which people construe self-evaluative situations can influence their feedback preferences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Daily goals, life goals, and worst fears: means, ends, and subjective well-being

This study addressed the relations among personal strivings (daily goals) and future life goals and worst fears. Eighty undergraduate participants (62 women, 18 men) listed their daily goals, their ultimate life goals, and their worst fears, and completed questionnaire measures of subjective well-being. Daily goals were content-analyzed for relevance to attaining life goals or avoiding worst fears. Daily goals that were instrumental to life goals or that avoided worst fears were rated as more important but also more difficult by participants. Working on daily goals avoiding one's worst fears was negatively related to measures of subjective well-being, controlling for daily goal progress, difficulty, ambivalence, and importance. Working on daily goals that were instrumental to one's life goals only weakly predicted well-being. The avoidance of worst fears interacted with daily goal appraisals such that individuals who experienced little progress at daily goals that served to avoid their "worst case scenario" experienced the lowest levels of subjective well-being. In addition, progress at daily goals that were relevant to accomplishing one's life goals was significantly more strongly related to subjective well-being than progress at daily goals that were unrelated to one's life goals. Results indicate that daily goals are used to enact life goals and avoid worst fears and that these means--end relations have implications for well-being.     

Preference and the specificity of goals.

In this study, the authors examined (a) the effect of changes in the need to eat on expressed preferences for foods that are appropriate for different times of day and (b) whether that need is directed toward food in general or foods contextually appropriate to the time of day. Previous findings suggest that, when the goal is active relative to when it is inactive, items relevant to satisfying a goal increase in value but items unrelated to that goal decrease in value. The authors observed that, when people needed to eat, they sought foods that are contextually appropriate to the time of day of the study. Hence, the goal they sought to fulfill was narrower than seeking foods in general. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability and change in achievement goals.

The present research examined the nature of stability and change in achievement goal endorsement over time, using 4 complementary data-analytic approaches (differential continuity, mean-level change, individual-level change, and ipsative continuity). Three longitudinal studies were conducted in college classrooms; in each study, achievement goals were assessed prior to a series of 3 course examinations. All 3 studies yielded evidence for consistent patterns of both stability and change in each achievement goal under consideration. Fear of failure was linked to greater change in individuals' achievement goal clusters over time. Implications of the present findings for understanding the important and overlooked issue of achievement goal stability and change are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problems, responsibility and goals in dermatopathology

This article is a review of the evidence suggesting a unique relationship between the varicella-zoster virus (as a possible antigen or antigen mimic) and multiple sclerosis (MS). Both MS and varicella have increased prevalences in temperate zones and both are rare in countries closer to the equator. Migration studies suggest an infectious agent acquired prior to age 14 plays a role in the risk of subsequent MS. Hutterites, who educate their children at home, have less varicella, MS, and herpes zoster than their neighbors and have the appropriate reduced varicella-zoster seropositivity matching these clinical observations. Paradoxically, patients with MS report more herpes zoster, and at an earlier age and more often, than a group of non-MS patients.     

Getting student action on guidance goals.

Considers that the effects of the counselor's work ought to be visible in terms of specific activities and changes in a school and that a counselor's recommendations regarding specific environmental changes should reflect consideration for long-range guidance goals and for the individual characteristics and needs of students. In a study with 47 male and 61 female 9th-11th graders, reinforcement counseling techniques, written communication with the students, written communication with students' parents, and standard laboratory procedures were compared. The personal interviews were more effective in encouraging Ss to assume responsibility and initiate action on the recommendations generated in counseling (p     

Linking analytic performance goals to medical outcome

As laboratorians relate analytic performance to medical goals, they face complex choices among competing subjective and objective criteria for the assessment of acceptable analytic error. Defining desirable performance as some fraction of physiologic variability provides potentially excessive benchmarks for quality. More important than the recognition of health are the clinical decisions which deal with diseases, particularly the latters' degrees of severity and the different medical actions these prompt. It is equally essential to take into account the reasoning by which physicians arrive at these decisions, since their mental processes condition desirable performance goals. Considering these modalities, a universal model of analytic performance requirements uniformly applicable to all measured parameters clearly cannot be devised. Rather, tolerance limits for analytic error must be tailored to specific medical problems. To facilitate this seemingly Herculean task, this paper develops concepts and principles derived from operation research, and illustrates their application by three examples. The generic conclusion evidenced by the latter is that the linkage between analytic performance goals and medical strategies is reciprocal, namely that outcome can just as well be optimized by tailoring medical strategy to existing analytic performance as by adapting analytic performance to medical strategy.