Legitimacy for what?

Asserts that J. Sawyer's (1970) plea for greater representativeness in the American Psychological Association (APA) membership attempts to change the purpose of the APA. The goals of a scientific-professional organization cannot be mixed with goals that would benefit a particular sex, race, creed, or political viewpoint. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

APA finances: Future prospects and plans.

Proposes that the American Psychological Association (APA) will face future deficits unless plans are made to avoid them. This proposal is based on a 5-yr forecast for 1972–1976. The Council of Representatives will be asked to establish financial goals and to assign responsibility for achieving goals to boards and committees of the APA. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internship selection: Inclusion and exclusion criteria.

As an internship applicant, do you know what internship agencies look for to select or exclude you from further consideration? In a survey, the authors examined exclusion and inclusion criteria used at 402 internship sites accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). The 249 respondents (62%) rated fit between applicant goals and site opportunities as the most important inclusion criteria. Four exclusion criteria (lack of completion of orals, lack of APA status of doctoral program, poor fit between applicant goals and site opportunities, and incomplete doctoral course work) were most commonly used to eliminate applicants from consideration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational Changes in Response to Blocked Goals and Foreshortened Time: Testing Alternatives to Socioemotional Selectivity Theory.

Socioemotional selectivity theory contends that when people perceive time as limited, they prioritize emotionally meaningful goals. Although empirical support for the theory has been found in several studies, 2 alternative explanations for the pattern of findings remain: (a) emotional goals are pursued by default because nonemotional goals are blocked, and (b) emotional goals are pursued in search of emotional support rather than emotional meaning. This study tested these alternatives by examining social goals in response to blocked goals and foreshortened time. Findings reveal distinct motivational patterns, as reflected in social preferences and self-reported social goals, in response to the 2 types of constraints. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors and consequences of achievement goals in the college classroom: Maintaining interest and making the grade.

The authors investigated personality predictors of achievement goals in an introductory psychology class, as well as the consequences of these goals for the motivation and performance of 311 undergraduates. Two dimensions of achievement motivation (workmastery and competitive orientations; J. T. Spence & R. L. Helmreich, 1983) predicted the goals endorsed. Individuals high in workmastery were more likely to adopt mastery goals and less likely to adopt work avoidance goals, whereas competitive individuals were more likely to endorse performance and work avoidance goals. Students adopting mastery goals were more interested in the class, but students adopting performance goals achieved higher levels of performance. These results suggest that both mastery and performance goals can lead to important positive outcomes in college classes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

APA and public policy: Should we change our tax-exempt status?

Presents statements of 6 distinguished psychologists, who consider the advantages and disadvantages of changing the American Psychological Association's (APA) tax-exempt status from 501 (c)(3) to 501 (c)(6), and an attitude questionnaire for members to return. 501 (c)(3) explicitly forbids participation in partisan politics, while 501 (c)(6) permits activities meant to influence state and federal legislation and allows more visible, active interaction between APA, its constituent bodies, and all government and social agencies. Contributions focus primarily on APA's goals, the manner in which such goals are determined and accomplished, and the role of APA and its constituent members in public affairs and policy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey.

The authors summarize 35 years of empirical research on goal-setting theory. They describe the core findings of the theory, the mechanisms by which goals operate, moderators of goal effects, the relation of goals and satisfaction, and the role of goals as mediators of incentives. The external validity and practical significance of goal-setting theory are explained, and new directions in goal-setting research are discussed. The relationships of goal setting to other theories are described as are the theory's limitations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of goal level to valence and instrumentality.

Eight experiments were conducted to explore the relationships between goal level, valence, and instrumentality. Valence, measured in terms of anticipated satisfaction across a range of performance levels, was strongly but negatively related to goal level. This finding was explained by showing that low goals entail using less stringent standards for self-evaluation than do high goals. Instrumentality was positively associated with goal level. Ss believed that trying for hard goals would be more likely to give them a sense of achievement, develop their skills, and prove them competent than would trying for easy goals. Ss also believed that high goals would lead to more practical (job and life) benefits, as well as more pride and self-respect, than would low goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Editorial.

Timothy B. Baker, of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology discusses his goals as editor of the journal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancy?×?value effects: Regulatory focus as determinant of magnitude and direction.

The authors propose that a promotion focus involves construal of achievement goals as aspirations whose attainment brings accomplishment. Commitment to these accomplishment goals is characterized by attempts to attain the highest expected utility. In contrast, a prevention focus involves construal of achievement goals as responsibilities whose attainment brings security. Commitment to these security goals is characterized by doing what is necessary. The different nature of commitment to accomplishment goals versus security goals is predicted to influence the interactive effect of goal expectancy and goal value on goal commitment, as evident in both task performance and decision making. Four studies found that the classic positive interactive effect of expectancy and value on goal commitment increases with a promotion focus and decreases with a prevention focus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sending memorable messages to the old: Age differences in preferences and memory for advertisements.

Socioemotional selectivity theory holds that people of different ages prioritize different types of goals. As people age and increasingly perceive time as finite, they attach greater importance to goals that are emotionally meaningful. Because the goals that people pursue so centrally influence cognition, the authors hypothesize that persuasive messages, specifically advertisements, would be preferred and better remembered by older adults when they promise to help realize emotionally meaningful goals, whereas younger adults would not show this bias. The authors also predict that modifying time perspective would reduce age differences. Findings provide qualified support for each of these predictions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Achievement goals, study strategies, and exam performance: A mediational analysis.

Two studies examined achievement goals as predictors of self-reported cognitive/metacognitive and motivational study strategies and tested these study strategies as mediators of the relationship between achievement goals and exam performance in the normatively graded college classroom. The results support hypotheses generated from the trichotomous achievement goal framework. Mastery goals are positive predictors of deep processing, persistence, and effort; performance-approach goals are positive predictors of surface processing, persistence, effort, and exam performance; and performance-avoidance goals are positive predictors of surface processing and disorganization and negative predictors of deep processing and exam performance. Persistence and effort mediate the relationship between performance-approach goals and exam performance, whereas disorganization mediates the relationship between performance-avoidance goals and exam performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Achievement goals and achievement during early adolescence: Examining time-varying predictor and outcome variables in growth-curve analysis.

The present study advances understanding of (a) the development of achievement goals, (b) the changing association of achievement goals and achievement over time, and (c) the implications of changes in achievement goals for changes in achievement over time. African American and European American adolescents' (N=588) achievement goals and subsequent achievement were assessed at 4 time points (fall and spring of 6th and 7th grades) and modeled using growth-curve analytic techniques. There was an overall decline in all 3 types of achievement goals (mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals), because of within-year rather than between-year decreases. The association between mastery goals and achievement was null at Time 1 and then positive at the following 3 time points. The association between performance-approach goals and achievement went from negative to null across time. Changes in students' goals, as well as their initial levels of goals, were particularly important in understanding how mastery goals foreshadow achievement. The implications of the findings for both theory and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interplay between personal goals and classroom goal structures in predicting student outcomes: A multilevel analysis of person-context interactions.

This study examined cross-level interactions between personal goals and classroom goal structures, as well as their additive contributions to predicting math achievement, engagement, interest, effort withdrawal, and avoidance coping, using a sample of 3,943 Grade 5 students from 130 classrooms. Results of hierarchical linear modeling showed that classroom performance goal structures exacerbated (a) the negative association between personal performance-avoidance goals and engagement and (b) the positive relations of personal performance-avoidance goals to effort withdrawal and avoidance coping. Moreover, both classroom performance goal structures and personal performance-avoidance goals had maladaptive patterns of relations to outcomes at their respective levels of analysis, whereas classroom mastery goal structures and personal mastery goals showed adaptive relations. Our findings underscore the importance of a multilevel interactionist perspective in understanding achievement motivation and making recommendations for educational practices. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Academic achievement and future time perspective as a cognitive–motivational concept.

251 male high school students made valence and instrumentality measurements of 23 general motivational goals (e.g., status, altruism, knowledge) classified in 3 time zones: near future, distant future, and open present. Ss with high GPAs and high study persistence attached significantly higher valence to goals in the distant future and perceived studying hard as more instrumental for reaching goals in the distant future and open present than Ss with low GPAs and low study persistence. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why women, Black people, students, and other interest groups should be represented in the APA.

In response to A. W. Melton's (1970) assessment of membership and the goals of the American Psychological Association (APA), J. Sawyer reiterates the need to include the young, Black, women, students, protest groups, and others affected by psychologists. Legitimacy of the APA depends on the inclusion of these previously disenfranchised groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Editor’s column—Success in Toronto.

Acknowledges some of the people responsible for the successful APA convention in Toronto, and presents some of the editorial goals and policies of the Consulting Psychology Journal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Growth Goals, Maturity, and Well-Being.

In 2 studies (125 college students and 51 adults), 2 forms of growth goals (exploratory and intrinsic) were compared with 2 forms of personality development (social-cognitive maturity and social-emotional well-being). Participants whose narratives of major life goals emphasized conceptual exploration were especially likely to have high levels of maturity (measured as ego development; J. Loevinger, 1976), whereas those whose goals emphasized intrinsic interests (K. M. Sheldon & T. Kasser, 1995) were especially likely to have high levels of well-being. Participants who had coherent hierarchies of growth goals on the levels of major life goals and everyday goals were especially likely to have high levels of personality development. Finally, growth goals accounted for some relationships between age and personality development. Growth goals are discussed in terms of intentional self-development and specific developmental paths. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The dilution model: How additional goals undermine the perceived instrumentality of a shared path.

Six experiments tested a dilution model of self-regulation, whereby increasing the number of goals (e.g., building muscles and losing weight) that a single means (e.g., exercising) can satisfy reduces the perception of its instrumentality with respect to each goal. The authors found that an increase in the number of simultaneous, salient goals that can be satisfied via a single means weakens the associative strength between that means and each individual goal, and as a result, individuals perceive the means as less effective for the attainment of each goal. Consequently, means that are connected to multiple (vs. single) goals are less likely to be chosen and pursued when only one of these goals is activated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

APA Visiting Psychologist Program.

The Visiting Psychologist Program, sponsored by the APA and supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, has two major goals: (a) to provide information on recent developments in the field to psychologists in service settings, and (b) to provide opportunities to visit and learn about field centers for psychologists with significant training, service, and research responsibilities. The specific goals of the program are to disseminate up-to-date knowledge of recent research findings and to demonstrate innovations in psychological procedures and techniques. This program is discussed in further detail in this article. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)