The "practical significance" of Locke's theory of goal setting.

Assessed the practical significance of E. Locke's theory (see record 1968-11263-001) of goal setting, using a time series design. Data were collected on the net weight of 36 logging trucks in 6 logging operations for 12 consecutive months. Results show that performance improved immediately upon the assignment of a specific hard goal. Company cost accounting procedures indicated that this same increase in performance without goal setting would have required an expenditure of a quarter of a million dollars on the purchase of additional trucks alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

General processes, rather than "goals," explain imitation errors.

The goal-directed theory of imitation (GOADI) states that copying of action outcomes (e.g., turning a light switch) takes priority over imitation of the means by which those outcomes are achieved (e.g., choice of effector or grip). The object     

Expectancy theory predictions of academic effort and performance.

Used expectancy theory models to predict the academic effort and performance of 60 male undergraduates. Rating scales completed by Ss support the theory that effort is related to the degree to which the behavior (or job) is seen as leading to various outcomes weighted (multiplicatively) by the evaluation of these outcomes. The predictability of effort increased when extensions of the effort model were included by adding others' expectations and perceived influence. Ss' self-reports of effort and GPA and college entrance exam records were used to test the job performance model, which suggests that effort and ability combine to predict performance. Neither the additive nor the multiplicative models found support in this setting. The extensions and modifications of the theory are discussed in detail. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

Influence of ability, assigned goals, and normative information on personal goals and performance: A challenge to the goal attainability assumption.

58 undergraduates were assigned randomly to 1 of 6 experimental conditions representing 2 levels of goal difficulty (easy vs very hard) and 3 levels of normative information, indicating that the goal had been achieved by 95, 50, or 5% of students previously tested. Ss then set their own performance goals for a creativity task, which they performed over 10 repeated trials. Following Trial 10, Ss were allowed to choose to continue working on from 0 to 5 more trials. As hypothesized, personal performance goals were strongly influenced by assigned goals, but ability, as measured by pretest performance, had no relation to personal goals. Normative information did not influence personal goals directly but did, unexpectedly, interact with assigned goals. Both assigned goals and ability had significant and independent effects on performance, as hypothesized. The results of a path analysis revealed that assigned goals influenced performance both indirectly, through their influence on personal goals, and directly, due to the fact that most Ss assigned very difficult goals set personal performance goals at or above their ability ceiling. Ss assigned goals beyond their immediate reach did not evidence any decrement in intrinsic motivation when compared with those assigned easier goals. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MMPI performance, response set, and the "self-concept hypothesis."

The MMPI can be viewed as communicating information about the self to a tester or institution. It is suggested that self-information is organized by self-concepts and that these more abstract self-concepts mediate specific responses to inventory items. This self-concept hypothesis provides an alternative to explanations emphasizing acquiescence response set, social desirability response set, or deviation set. In Study 1, replicated self-concept scales were constructed to index varied content dimensions of the MMPI. These scales, as well as the MMPI and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, were administered to 83 neuropsychiatric (NP) patients and the results factor analyzed. Inclusion of self-concept markers produced an unusually differentiated factor solution, with self-concept dimensions accounting for two-thirds of the explained MMPI variance. In Study 2 these procedures were replicated with a larger (201 Ss) and more heterogeneous group of respondents (NP patients, participants in alcoholism programs, and college students) and additional self-concept measures. Results support the conclusions that no evidence exists for additional and important self-concept dimensions within the MMPI item pool and that the MMPI acts mainly as a medium for the transmission of self-concept information and that self-concepts mediate and organize specific item responses. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of information, choice and task complexity upon goal acceptance, performance, and personal goals.

Tested the hypothesis that information about a goal and/or task, choice in setting a strategy to achieve a goal, and task complexity interact to influence goal acceptance, personal goals, and performance. A laboratory experiment with 96 college students working on a class-scheduling task was used to test the hypothesis. The task consisted of producing mock class schedules consisting of 5 nonredundant classes. The Ss were assigned to either high-information, choice manipulation, or task-complexity conditions. Ss were administered a questionnaire assessing goal acceptance, personal goals, and performance prior to and on completion of the task. Results of 3-way ANOVA conducted on measures of goal acceptance, personal goals, and performance supported the hypotheses that choice in goal-setting and the provision of information interact as do information and task complexity. A 2nd study conducted to generalize these findings also supported the hypotheses. In the 2nd study, 40 animal caregivers (average age 28 yrs) were participants in a replication of the laboratory experiment with task complexity as a repeated-measures factor. Findings are discussed as a means of expanding the position of participation within the goal-setting model. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pretense and representation: The origins of "theory of mind."

Presents a theoretical analysis of the representational mechanism underlying a child's ability to pretend. This mechanism extends the power of the infant's existing capacity for (primary) representation, creating a capacity for "metarepresentation." It is this, developing toward the end of infancy, that underlies the child's new abilities to pretend and to understand pretense in others. There is a striking isomorphism between the 3 fundamental forms of pretend play and 3 crucial logical properties of mental state expressions in language. This isomorphism points to a common underlying form of internal representation that is here called metarepresentation. A performance model, the "decoupler," is outlined embodying ideas about how an infant might compute the complex function postulated to underlie pretend play. This model also reveals pretense as an early manifestation of the ability to understand mental states. Aspects of later preschool development, both normal and abnormal, are discussed in the light of the new model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A model of statistics performance based on achievement goal theory.

Structural equation modeling techniques were used to test a model of statistics performance based on achievement goal theory. Data were collected after the midterm and final examinations in an introductory statistics course, and models were fit at each time point. Learning goals were positively related to the use of deep-processing strategies and to self-efficacy and were negatively related to test anxiety. Performance goals were positively related to disorganization in study strategies and to test anxiety. Both learning and performance goals affected achievement indirectly through study strategies, self-efficacy, and test anxiety. Use of deep-processing strategies was positively related to effort but displayed an unexpected negative relationship to achievement. Disorganization was a positive predictor of test anxiety. Implications of these findings for teaching and learning statistics are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychoanalytic theory: "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

Discusses 2 independent ongoing research programs investigating the relationship between psychopathology and unconscious libidinal and aggressive wishes. In the 1st program conducted by the author (see record 1971-31262-001) laboratory experiments using a "subliminal psychodynamic activation"with 39 groups of from 26-8 clinical Ss supported the hypothesis that presentation (tachistoscopic) of wish-related stimuli (vs presentation of neutral stimuli) affected the level of manifest psychopathology. Additional support came from 16 experiments (using a similar design) with over 400 persons with primary process ego pathology, depression, homosexuality, or stuttering: subliminal exposure of stimuli led to intensification of pathology on a variety of psychological tests. Another series of studies with over 200 Ss led to decreased primary process ego pathology in schizophrenics by reducing conflict through activating a fantasy of symbiotic gratification. The 2nd major research program was developed by J. Reyher (1958 and 1967) and his associates and used hypnotic suggestion with "normal" college students to confirm that activation of aggressive and subliminal mental contents can stimulate pathology. Overall results illustrate theory validation by converging operations and pose a substantive challenge to critics of psychoanalytic theory. (2 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Effect of previously assigned goals on self-set goals and performance": Correction to Locke, Frederick, Buckner, and Bobko.

Reports an error in "Effect of previously assigned goals on self-set goals and performance" by Edwin A. Locke, Elizabeth Frederick, Elizabeth Buckner and Philip Bobko (Journal of Applied Psychology, 1984[Nov], Vol 69[4], 694-699). 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." (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1985-08583-001.) 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)     

The "I," the "we," and the "when": A meta-analysis of motivational primacy in self-definition.

What is the primary motivational basis of self-definition? The authors meta-analytically assessed 3 hypotheses: (a) The individual self is motivationally primary, (b) the collective self is motivationally primary, and (c) neither self is inherently primary; instead, motivational primacy depends on which self becomes accessible through contextual features. Results identified the individual self as the primary motivational basis of self definition. People react more strongly to threat and enhancement of the individual than the collective self. Additionally, people more readily deny threatening information and more readily accept enhancing information when it pertains to the individual rather than the collective self, regardless of contextual influences. The individual self is the psychological home base, a stable system that can react flexibly to contextual influences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The dynamic goal theory of marital satisfaction.

Marital satisfaction is gaining increasing concern in modern society. The current review proposes the dynamic goal theory of marital satisfaction to integrate previous findings about marital satisfaction from a life span developmental perspective. The theory argues that people have multiple goals to achieve in their marriage. These marital goals can be classified into three categories: personal growth goals, companionship goals, and instrumental goals. The priority of the three types of marital goals is under dynamic changes across adulthood. Generally speaking, young couples emphasize the personal growth goals, middle-aged couples prioritize the instrumental goals, and old couples focus on the companionship goals. Whether the prioritized marital goals are achieved in marriage determines marital satisfaction. Other factors influencing marital satisfaction can be linked with marital goals in two ways. Some factors, such as life transitions and cultural values, can affect the priority of different marital goals; while other factors, such as communication pattern, problem solving, and attribution, can facilitate the achievement of the prioritized marital goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

"She," "He," Coexistence, and Bastardy.

Before proposing a solution for the sex bias problems inherent in the generic use of the pronoun he, Spencer (see record 1990-58427-001) reviews some efforts to solve the problem. The attempted solutions are evaluated as "not an improvement ... awkward... jarring ... disturbing" (p. 782), In one case, Spencer notes that coauthors of a book "slip up" twice. To avoid the difficulties and the accompanying unpleasant experiences, Spencer suggests the use of co: "The form is derived from an old Indo-European common form for both male and female English pronouns" (p. 783). While arguing for the "goodness of fit" (p. 783) of co. Spencer acknowledges that "there is currently one exception in our language to this meaning of co-coed, in which the form has been bastardized and debased from its source" (p. 783). A clinical psychologist is assuredly not an expert in psycholinguistics, but one could reasonably argue the following: The concept of bastardy with all of its connotative meaning, including debased, derives from patriarchal, patrilineal, male primary societies and history. In short, it is a sexist concept. Ours is a difficult language to use and avoid the expression of bias. Perhaps we ought to be gentler with those who are trying. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response bias: Characteristics of detection theory, threshold theory, and "nonparametric" indexes.

Models of discrimination based on statistical decision theory distinguish sensitivity (the ability of an observer to reflect a stimulus–response correspondence defined by the experimenter) from response bias (the tendency to favor 1 response over others). Measures of response bias have received less attention than those of sensitivity. Bias measures are classified here according to 2 characteristics. First, the distributions assumed or implied to underlie the observer's decision may be normal, logistic, or rectangular. Second, the bias index may measure criterion location, criterion location relative to sensitivity, or likelihood ratio. Both parametric and "nonparametric" indexes are classified in this manner. The various bias statistics are compared on pragmatic and theoretical grounds, and it is concluded that criterion measures have many advantages in empirical work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancy theory and alcohol: The situational insensitivity hypothesis.

Examines the role of alcohol-related expectancies as predictors of adult and adolescent problem drinking and offers a hypothesis as to why expectancy factors lacking in situational specificity predict problem drinking so successfully. It is argued that problem drinkers rely excessively on alcohol to obtain reinforcers, failing to employ different behaviors as a function of different stimulus contexts. Problem drinkers are seen as showing situational insensitivity in this overreliance. Thus, the situation-general nature of the expectancy factors may account for their success in predicting the situation-general behavior of problem drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multiple goals, multiple pathways: The role of goal orientation in learning and achievement.

Mastery goals have been linked to adaptive outcomes in normative goal theory and research; performance goals, to less adaptive outcomes. In contrast, approach performance goals may be adaptive for some outcomes under a revised goal theory perspective. The current study addresses the role of multiple goals, both mastery and approach performance goals, and links them to multiple outcomes of motivation, affect, strategy use, and performance. Data were collected over 3 waves from 8th and 9th graders (N?=?150) in their math classrooms using both self-report questionnaires and actual math grades. There was a general decline in adaptive outcomes over time, but these trends were moderated by the different patterns of multiple goals. In line with normative goal theory, mastery goals were adaptive; but also in line with the revised goal theory perspective, approach performance goals, when coupled with mastery goals, were just as adaptive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancy versus absorption in the prediction of hypnotic responding.

Administered the absorption scale of the Differential Personality Questionnaire, a measure of imaginative involvement, to 64 undergraduates in the context of a hypnosis experiment and to an additional 64 Ss in a context unrelated to hypnosis. Expectancies of responding to hypnotic suggestions were assessed both before trance induction and after trance induction but before administration of hypnotic test suggestions. Hypnotic depth was assessed on a self-report scale (SRS) before the administration of test suggestions and on an inventory of hypnotic depth (IHD) after the hypnosis session. Absorption was correlated with hypnotic responsivity and expectancy, but only when assessed in the hypnotic context. Completing the Absorption scale in a hypnotic context appeared to affect hypnotic responsiveness by altering Ss' expectancies. Only postinduction expectancies were uniquely predictive of response to hypnotic test suggestions, and all variables except the SRS were predictive of IHD scores. Path analysis supported the hypothesis that trance inductions alter expectancies for responding to hypnotic suggestions and that these altered expectancies determine subsequent hypnotic behavior. (51 ref) (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)     

Achievement goal promotion at university: Social desirability and social utility of mastery and performance goals.

The present research examines the ambivalence of achievement goal promotion at university, and more specifically in the psychology curriculum. On the one hand, psychology teachers explicitly encourage mastery but not performance (neither approach nor avoidance) goals. On the other hand, the selection process encourages the endorsement of not only mastery but also performance-approach goals. In fact, it would seem that both performance-approach and mastery goals are valued in a university context. Two pilot studies verified the above assumptions. Subsequently, Experiments 1, 2, and 3 showed that each of these goals corresponds to different aspects of social value. Indeed, high endorsement of mastery goals was associated with being judged as both likable (social desirability) and likely to succeed (social utility). High endorsement of performance-approach goals enhanced social utility judgments but reduced perceived likability. Performance-avoidance goals only enhanced perceived likability. The discussion focuses on the 2 functions of university, namely education (apparent in the official discourse of teachers) and selection (apparent in the university structure), and on the perceived value of achievement goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)