Level of aspiration, or probability of success.

Level of aspiration (LA) may be valid index of S's feelings of success or failure in a situation where he is free to change his goal from one trial to the next; but if the goal he is trying to achieve is established and maintained by agencies over which he has no control, his estimate of the probability of success (Ps) is the prefered criterion of his feelings of success or failure. In the latter situation LA may rise continuously (usually taken to indicate feelings of success) but with a low rate of improvement or a rapidly approaching deadline Ps may decline. ? the Ss (24) in the experiment were told that the experimental task was a preliminary screening test to determine their fitness for a special science training program (high motivated—HM). The other 24 (low motivated—LM) were told only that the Es were interested in the task. All Ss volunteered in response to 1 of these announcements, all attempted to achieve the same level of performance within 10 trials, and were given controlled information about their "performance curves," which increased. HM Ss set higher overall LAs and lower Ps than did LM Ss. For both HM and LM conditions, the trends of LA and Ps were in opposite directions over the 10 trials: while LA increased, Ps declined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)