Goal orientation and ability: Interactive effects on self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge.

This study examined the direct relationship of goal orientation--and the interaction of goal orientation and cognitive ability--with self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge in a learning context. The authors argue that whether a particular type of goal orientation is adaptive or not adaptive depends on individuals' cognitive ability. Consistent with previous research, learning orientation was positively related to self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge, whereas performance orientation was negatively related to performance only. The interactions between goal orientation and ability also supported several hypotheses. As expected, learning orientation was generally adaptive for high-ability individuals but had no effect for low-ability individuals. In contrast, the effects of performance orientation were contingent on both individuals' level of cognitive ability and the outcome examined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Goal setting, achievement orientation, and intrinsic motivation: A mediational analysis.

Investigated the interactive effects of achievement orientation and evaluative focus of assigned, task-specific goals on intrinsic motivation for an enjoyable pinball game. Regression analyses revealed that the effect of performance or mastery-focused goals on intrinsic motivation varied as a function of achievement orientation. Specifically, the provision of task-specific standards with a performance focus enhanced intrinsic motivation for achievement-oriented individuals, whereas the assignment of such goals proved deleterious to the intrinsic motivation of those low in achievement orientation. Individuals low in achievement orientation displayed the highest levels of intrinsic motivation when provided with mastery-focused goals. A similar pattern of effects was obtained on competence valuation and task involvement, both of which were additionally validated as mediators of the direct effects on intrinsic motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Feedback valence, feedback style, task autonomy, and achievement orientation: Interactive effects on creative performance.

This study examined the interactive effects of 3 contextual variables (feedback valence, feedback style, and task autonomy) on creative performance. Data were collected from participants who performed a role-playing task in a laboratory setting (N?=?210). Results demonstrated that the 3 contextual variables interacted to affect creative performance such that individuals who received positive feedback delivered in an informational style, and who worked in a high task autonomy work environment, generated the most creative ideas. This 3-way interaction held regardless of the participants' differences in achievement orientation. Implications of these results for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Goal setting and task performance: 1969–1980.

Results from a review of laboratory and field studies on the effects of goal setting on performance show that in 90% of the studies, specific and challenging goals led to higher performance than easy goals, "do your best" goals, or no goals. Goals affect performance by directing attention, mobilizing effort, increasing persistence, and motivating strategy development. Goal setting is most likely to improve task performance when the goals are specific and sufficiently challenging, Ss have sufficient ability (and ability differences are controlled), feedback is provided to show progress in relation to the goal, rewards such as money are given for goal attainment, the experimenter or manager is supportive, and assigned goals are accepted by the individual. No reliable individual differences have emerged in goal-setting studies, probably because the goals were typically assigned rather than self-set. Need for achievement and self-esteem may be the most promising individual difference variables. (3? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Achievement motivation: Conceptions of ability, subjective experience, task choice, and performance.

Achievement behavior is defined as behavior directed at developing or demonstrating high rather than low ability. Ability can be conceived either with reference to the individual's own past performance or knowledge, a context in which gains in mastery indicate competence, or as capacity relative to that of others, a context in which a gain in mastery alone does not indicate high ability. To demonstrate high capacity, one must achieve more with equal effort or use less effort than do others for an equal performance. The conditions under which these different conceptions of ability function as individuals' goals and the nature of subjective experience in each case are specified. Different predictions of task choice and performance are derived and tested for each case using data from previously published studies. The effects of task and ego involvement, task choice, and self-perceptions are discussed. (125 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Goal setting, conditions of practice, and task performance: A resource allocation perspective.

Hypotheses regarding the influence of goal assignments on performance of a novel, complex task under varying conditions of practice were derived from a cognitive resource allocation model. Goals and type of practice interacted in their effects on two key performance measures. In the massed-practice conditions, trainees assigned specific, difficult goals tended to perform poorer than trainees in the control (do your best goal) condition. In the spaced-practice conditions, goal trainees performed marginally better than control trainees. Self-report measures of goal commitment, and on-task, off-task, and affective thoughts during breaks and task performance provide additional evidence for the independent and interactive effects of goals and practice conditions on motivation and performance. Results provide further support for the resource allocation framework. Implications for research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does intrinsic motivation theory explain the adverse effects of rewards on immediate task performance?

In an effort to answer the question posed in the title, we assessed the effects of rewards on the immediate task performance of preschool children in two studies. Both studies had within-subjects, repeated measures designs, and both yielded highly consistent results showing a detrimental effect of reward on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and on the Goodenough-Harris Draw-a-Man test. Performance decrements were confined to sessions in which subjects were rewarded; when rewarded subjects were shifted to nonreward, their performance improved dramatically. Although these studies were not concerned with the effects of reward on intrinsic motivation, the findings appear to present theoretical difficulties for current cognitive-motivational explanations of the adverse effects of material rewards on immediate task performance. An alternative viewpoint that material rewards can produce a temporary regression in psychological functioning is suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Additive effects of task difficulty and goal setting on subsequent task performance.

Notes that the setting of difficult goals has been consistently found to improve performance in both laboratory and field settings; however, the setting of difficult goals has sometimes been confounded with the difficulty of the task especially in field studies where the difficulty of goals and more complex tasks often co-vary. The present study investigated the relative contribution of goal setting and task difficulty to performance on chess problems. Employing a 3 * 3 factorial design, 82 chess-playing undergraduates attempted to solve either easy, moderately difficult, or difficult chess problems, after accepting either an easy, moderately difficult, or difficult goal. Results show that both goals and task difficulty contributed additively to task performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of work task cues and play task cues on information processing, judgment, and motivation.

Explored how task cues affect cognition, attitudes, and behavior in this laboratory study with 82 MBA students. Linguistic analysis of responses to the same puzzle task, cued as either work or play, revealed that task cues influenced how information was perceived and was used to form judgments and to shape behavioral responses. Ss performing work tasks attended more to information about the quantity of their performance and made more streamlined, goal-directed responses. Ss performing play tasks attended more to information about the quality of their performance; made more elaborated, image-laden responses; and were more intrinsically motivated. Links among task cues, cognitive processes, and performance were explicated through path analysis. Task cues affected performance outcomes indirectly by instantiating associated cognitive orientations: a means orientation in play and an ends orientation in work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work attitudes, motivation, and performance.

Discusses motivational variables both as determinants of performance by the individual in an organization, and as ingredients of work attitudes, such as job satisfaction. Motivation studies have included motivational traits (relatively enduring predispositions), motivating environments, expectancies, and equity theory. Research on job satisfaction and job involvement reveals few consistent relationships to job performance, but they do predict absenteeism and turnover. A few studies of motivational traits suggest possible utility in predicting role performance in managerial or sales positions. Motivating environments seem to have significant relations to job satisfaction and effectiveness. After reviewing several categories of programs aimed at improving motivation, the author expresses a cautiously optimistic view about the success of these programs in improving worker attitudes and/or worker performance. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of electronic performance monitoring on personal control, task satisfaction, and task performance.

A laboratory study was conducted to assess effects of electronic performance monitoring on individuals working on computers in an officelike environment. Participants (N ?=?108) worked on a computerized data correction task under 6 experimental conditions that varied the amount of control over performance monitoring and knowledge concerning specific monitoring events. Results confirmed and extended a model proposed by D. B. Greenberger and S. Strasser (1986) to relate personal control, satisfaction, and performance. Participants with the ability to delay or prevent electronic performance monitoring indicated higher feelings of personal control and demonstrated superior task performance. Participants with exact knowledge of the occurrence of monitoring expressed lower feelings of personal control than those from whom specific knowledge of monitoring was hidden. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of goal difficulty on physiological arousal, cognition, and task performance.

Conducted 2 laboratory experiments with 117 undergraduates to examine (1) the effect of assigned goal difficulty on arousal (self-report and heart rate), cognition (perceived norm, self-efficacy strength, and personal goal), and behavioral (task performance) measures and (2) the role of heart rate as a mediator of the goal-difficulty–performance relation. All Ss performed a task requiring cognitive and physical responses. Results of both experiments demonstrate that assigned goal difficulty affected heart rate, cognition, and task performance and that heart rate change was positively related to the cognitive and behavioral measures. Regression analyses suggested that a cognitive–affective mechanism may mediate the goal-difficulty–performance relation. Discussion is focused on the theoretical and practical implications of integrating an arousal concept within goal-setting theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of self-esteem, success–failure, and self-consciousness on task performance.

Research has demonstrated that task performance of low self-esteem individuals (low SEs) suffers in the presence of self-focusing stimuli (e.g., a mirror). The present study determined if such stimuli must inevitably have adverse effects on low SEs. It was reasoned that if low SEs were provided with success feedback from a previous task, then the nature of their self-consciousness would be altered on a subsequent task. Specifically, low SEs should attend more to positive and less anxiety-provoking aspects of themselves than would low SEs who received failure feedback from the previous task. Under the former condition, low SEs' subsequent task performance was expected to improve. For high SEs, who typically perform well, success–failure feedback was expected to have little effect on subsequent performance. 90 undergraduates high and low in chronic self-esteem received false success or failure feedback from a task and completed a concept formation task in either the presence or absence of a mirror. Whereas high SEs performed equally well following success or failure, low SEs in the success condition performed significantly better than low SEs in the failure condition. This Self-Esteem?×?Prior Feedback interaction was significant in the presence of the mirror but not its absence. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of self-efficacy, goals, and task strategies on task performance.

Manipulated self-efficacy and task strategies in the training of 209 undergraduates under high strategy, low strategy, and control conditions. Ss underwent 5 trials and were administered a self-efficacy scale after each trial. Results show that ability, past performance, and self-efficacy were the major predictors of goal choice. Ability, self-efficacy, goals, and task strategies were related to task performance. Self-efficacy was more strongly related to past performance than to future performance but remained a significant predictor of future performance even when past performance was controlled. Self-efficacy ratings for moderate to difficult levels of performance were the best predictors of future performance; a reanalysis of 2 previous goal-setting studies by the first author confirms this finding. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of reward contingency and performance feedback on intrinsic motivation.

93 high school students were offered performance or task-contingent rewards or no reward for doing hidden-figures puzzles. Ss offered performance-contingent rewards all received positive feedback concerning performance, and half the Ss in task-contingent and no-reward conditions received the same positive feedback. Performance-contingent rewards were found to undermine intrinsic motivation more than task-contingent ones, which produced decrements relative to control conditions of no reward, supporting E. Deci's (1972, 1975) control model. Positive feedback enhanced intrinsic motivation; this effect was independent of reward effects. A recall measure indicated that Ss receiving performance-contingent rewards remembered fewer performance-irrelevant details about the task, suggesting that rewards may affect the process of task involvement as well as its motivational outcomes. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The beneficial effects of additional task load, positive affect, and instruction on the attentional blink.

The attentional blink reflects the impaired ability to identify the 2nd of 2 targets presented in close succession--a phenomenon that is generally thought to reflect a fundamental cognitive limitation. However, the fundamental nature of this impairment has recently been called into question by the counterintuitive finding that task-irrelevant mental activity improves attentional blink performance (C. N. L. Olivers & S. Nieuwenhuis, 2005). The present study found a reduced attentional blink when participants concurrently performed an additional memory task, viewed pictures of positive affective content, or were instructed to focus less on the task. These findings support the hypothesis that the attentional blink is due to an overinvestment of attentional resources in stimulus processing, a suboptimal processing mode that can be counteracted by manipulations promoting divided attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance evaluation and intrinsic motivation: The effects of evaluative focus, rewards, and achievement orientation.

Most studies of intrinsic motivation under reward and evaluative contingencies have used social comparison criteria to evaluate subjects' performance. In those studies evaluation tended to reduce intrinsic interest. This study contrasted normative evaluation against a more task-focused evaluation of subjects' performance on an interesting word game and examined the role of achievement motivation in moderating reactions to performance evaluation. Focus differences were implemented under conditions of performance-contingent reward, anticipated evaluation, and control conditions in which subjects received performance feedback at task conclusion. We predicted that evaluation would reduce interest relative to reward and feedback control groups under a normative focus but not under a task focus and also that a process of competence valuation (Harackiewicz & Manderlink, 1984) would mediate the effects of reward and achievement on interest, especially in normative conditions. The data conformed to these expectations with one exception: Evaluation under a task focus increased intrinsic interest. These results were interpreted in the context of a general model that considers the separate effects of situational contingencies, personality factors, performance and motivational processes, and evaluative outcomes on intrinsic motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Goal orientation and goal content as predictors of performance in a training program.

The antecedents and consequences of content goals for 252 participants in a complex skill-training program were examined in a longitudinal study. Using LISREL 8 to test a mediated model, it was found dispositional goal orientation was related to the content of goals that individuals adopted for the training program. Not all content goals were related to training performance; only content goals with a skill improvement focus had a positive relationship with performance. Results provide a richer understanding of the antecedents of content goals and their relationship to performance and have implications for managers and for the administration of training programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Team versus individual training, training task fidelity, and task organization effects on transfer performance by three-man teams.

Transfer performance of teams was measured in a simulated radar-controlled aerial intercept task. Superior performance occurred after training on an independently organized task (as compared to that after training which required verbal interaction among controllers), and superior performance occurred in an independently organized transfer task. However, these 2 variables interacted such that performance on an interaction condition of the transfer task was equivalent to that on an independently organized task if prior training was under the independent task organization. Training task fidelity influenced performance only on the interaction transfer task, with superior performance following a high-fidelity training situation in which controllers could acquire the same skills to be required in transfer for communication to interceptor pilots. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)