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Velocity as a Predictor of Performance Satisfaction, Mental Focus, and Goal Revision
Applied Psychology
Abstract
In a longitudinal study, the authors examined the role of students' rate of progress, or velocity, in goal‐striving over one semester of a college‐level Introductory Psychology course. At both mid‐course and near end‐of‐course time periods, results demonstrated that velocity uniquely contributed to the prediction of students' performance satisfaction, mental focus, and goal revision, above and beyond the influence of performance‐goal discrepancies and ability. Specifically, velocity demonstrated main effects on performance satisfaction and mental focus. Velocity significantly interacted with goal importance in the prediction of goal revision. The authors call for increased attention to the role of velocity in self‐regulation.
Dans une étude longitudinale, les auteurs examinent le rôle du taux de progrès des étudiants ou leur rapiditéà atteindre des buts sur un semestre pour un cours d'introduction à la psychologie en faculté. Deux mesures ont été faites: l'une à la moitié du semestre et l'autre à la fin de ce même semestre. Les résultats montrent que uniquement la rapidité contribue à prédire la satisfaction de la performance des étudiants, la concentration, et la révision de l'objectif quels que soient les écarts entre le but de la performance et les capacités. Plus spécifiquement, la rapidité a des effets importants sur la satisfaction de la performance et la concentration. La rapidité interagit significativement avec l'importance des buts dans le cas où l'on envisage leur révision. Les auteurs soulignent le rôle de la rapidité sur l'auto‐régulation.
... Although the link between feedback and goal revision has been proposed in goal-setting and self-regulation theories (cf. Bandura, 1991;Carver & Scheier, 1990), the current literature is limited, as most studies have been conducted in achievement or health contexts (e.g., learning, sports performance, weight loss) and, thus, were focused on performance feedback and specific, short-term goal adjustment (e.g., Elicker et al., 2010;Taing, Smith, Singla, Johnson, & Chang, 2013). Very few studies have investigated the role of feedback in longer-term, higher-order goal setting and revision processes, such as examining career goal pursuit, which, is a much more extended and complex process than that of managing short-term goal achievement. ...
... Additionally, scholars have only recently integrated affect into goal-setting and self-regulation models as a key explanatory variable in goal management (Ilies, Judge, & Wagner, 2010). As a result, affect has received limited attention in across-time studies, even in general, short-term, achievement contexts (Elicker et al., 2010;Ilies et al., 2010). ...
... The effect of feedback on goal revision has been demonstrated with both university students and working adults from Western populations. Negative and positive feedback on academic exam performance led to lowering and raising of goals for later exams, respectively (Elicker et al., 2010;Ilies et al., 2010), while negative and positive feedback on job performance was associated with lower levels of affective commitment (Belschak & Den Hartog, 2009) and reduced turnover intentions (Voigt & Hirst, 2015), respectively. However, we found little direct evidence of these relationships in the career domain, although there was an implicit assumption made regarding the relationships between feedback and goal revision in some studies. ...
We tested a model based on goal-setting and self-regulation theories of the cross-lagged relationships among negative career-related feedback, negative affect (career-related stress), and career goal revision (downward goal revision and goal disengagement). Participants were 409 Chinese university/college students (Mage 19 years; 58% female), who completed a survey at 2 time points approximately 6 months apart. Consistent with our hypotheses, negative career-related feedback at T1 was related to more career goal disengagement and greater downward goal revision at T2. Career-related stress partially mediated the relationship between negative career-related feedback and downward goal revision. In addition, there were reverse relationships between negative career-related feedback and career-related stress, and between career-related stress and goal disengagement. These findings highlight important roles for negative career-related feedback and negative affect in young peoples’ career goal pursuit.
... Whereas discrepancy feedback determines the direction of behavior, velocity feedback determines the intensity of behavior (Carver & Scheier, 1998 ). While recent work has highlighted the role of velocity in self-regulation (e.g., Chang et al., 2010; Elicker et al., 2010; Johnson, Taing, Chang, & Kawamoto, in press), the concept of velocity is not new. Over twenty years ago, researchers linked velocity to affect (i.e., fast velocity rates were proposed to elicit positive affect while slow rates elicit negative affect and average rates elicit no affect; Carver & Scheier, 1990 ). ...
... The nature of the interaction is such that discrepancy feedback has a weaker effect on outcomes when velocity is fast versus slow—in other words, fast velocities compensate for large discrepancies (Chang et al., 2010). In addition, there is evidence that task importance may moderate the relationship between velocity and task satisfaction such that the relationship is stronger for more important goals (Elicker et al., 2010). This finding is consistent with affective events theory (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996), which predicts that affective responses vary in intensity as a function of goal importance, though the theory does not discuss the role of velocity explicitly. ...
... It is only because of the structured and relatively frequent progress assessment inherent in the experimental design that one can infer the role of velocity in the findings. In addition, while not conducted in an explicit multiple goal context, other research in this domain has found that explicitly measured velocity perceptions are positively associated with the mental focus devoted to a particular task, presumably at the expense of other tasks competing for limited attentional resources (Elicker et al., 2010). While the research in this domain is less mature compared to the other streams, initial findings indicate that velocity influences goal striving in multiple goal contexts, but the nature of these effects may vary as a function of time and environmental constraints. ...
Theory and research on self-regulation emphasizes the importance of goals for guiding human behavior. Critical phenomena within the self-regulation literature are discrepancies between actual states and goal states. When such discrepancies are detected, they capture attention and effort is mobilized to move actual states closer to goal states (or in some cases align the latter with the former). While discrepancy feedback, or the distance between actual and goal states, is important, so too is velocity feedback, or the rate at which actual–goal discrepancies are decreasing. Unfor-tunately, research has mostly ignored the role played by velocity in the self-regulation process. To redress this limitation, we review the concept of velocity, the empirical studies that have examined this concept, and how velocity is commonly measured. We then discuss the role of velocity as it pertains to three self-regulatory functions at work: achieving performance goals, satisfying belong-ing needs, and satisfying esteem needs.
... Goal importance moderated goal revision, but only after failure (Elicker et al., 2010). ...
... One moderator of this link is the value of the goal or task. Highly important or valued goals or tasks should generally promote upward goal revision, whereas low goal importance or extrinsic task value should generally promote downward goal revision (see Figure 4, e.g., Elicker et al. 2010;Wang & Mukhopadhyay, 2012). For example, students who intrinsically value a task should be more persistent and self-regulated in their goal pursuit (Eccles & Wigfield, 2020;Wigfield et al., 2011). ...
Revising one's goal in response to feedback about goal success or failure is a central but poorly understood self-regulatory process. Specifically, a theoretical model that specifies how and how much people revise their goal following goal success or failure is lacking. Therefore, we synthesized previous empirical studies on goal revision to shed light on the processes and individual differences in goal revision. The 28 studies that met the inclusion criteria revealed a clear pattern: People raised their goals after success and lowered them after failure. Results of a meta-analysis further showed that the discrepancy between goal and performance predicted the strength of upward goal revision after success and downward goal revision after failure (r = .51). Moreover, a narrative summary of previously tested moderators revealed two mechanisms by which moderators might influence the direction and strength of goal revision, namely by affecting (1) the direct link between goal-performance discrepancy and goal revision or (2) self-efficacy, which emerged as a central mediating variable between goal-performance discrepancy and goal revision. Based on these findings, we developed the Triple-A Model (Assessment, Appraisal, Adjustment) of Goal Revision, which allows deriving directional hypotheses about how much people revise their goals after goal successes and failures.
... Several studies have shown rapid goal progress to be associated with a general sense of pleasantness and satisfaction, whereas slow progress is associated with negative emotions and dissatisfaction with one's progress (Chang et al., 2009;Elicker et al., 2010;Lawrence et al., 2002;Wilt et al., 2017). Other research has demonstrated similar effects on discrete emotional states like frustration and enthusiasm (Beck et al., 2017a;Phan & Beck, 2020;Phan et al., 2023). ...
... Carver and Scheier (1990, 1998, 2011 theorized that greater-than-referent velocity results in positive emotions, such as excitement and enthusiasm. To this end, there is empirical evidence that fast velocity is associated with satisfaction and positive affect (e.g., Chang et al., 2009;Elicker et al., 2010). Yet, as reviewed above, previous velocity research has not sufficiently differentiated actual velocity from velocity discrepancies. ...
Previous research has found a consistent trade-off between speed and accuracy. Whereas completing work tasks quickly is generally associated with increased mistakes, slowing down allows individuals to work in a more careful and accurate manner. However, this previous work has not considered the implications that subjective speed perceptions have for accuracy. To this end, we draw on control theory accounts of goal progress velocity, which predict that feeling slow is associated with negative emotional experiences. We argue that slow perceived progress is frustrating, and that this frustration can hinder accuracy. We tested our hypotheses using an experiment in which participants (N = 92) completed a work simulation. Importantly, actual speed was held constant across conditions, and instead we manipulated participants’ subjective interpretations of their rate of progress. As expected, feeling slow was associated with increased frustration, which in turn was negatively associated with accuracy. The results of this study imply that, contrary to the typical finding of a trade-off between speed and accuracy, there are situations in which slowing down can actually hinder accuracy. Therefore, the current research adds important nuance to the literature on speed-accuracy trade-offs. Additionally, this research provides the most direct test of control theory predictions regarding velocity to date. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these results for both theory and practice.
... The scholarly discourse surrounding velocity (Elicker et al., 2010;Hsee et al., 1991) can be instrumental in discerning between contract breach and change. Specifically, this corpus of literature delineates between one's perceived position or the perceived variance between the actual outcome and the anticipated outcome (resembling contract breach) and velocity, denoting the rate of change in the actual outcome over time (resembling contract alteration). ...
... Specifically, this corpus of literature delineates between one's perceived position or the perceived variance between the actual outcome and the anticipated outcome (resembling contract breach) and velocity, denoting the rate of change in the actual outcome over time (resembling contract alteration). Furthermore, this body of scholarship has revealed that both one's position and velocity independently influence cognitive, affective, and behavioral reactions, underscoring the significance of investigating the role of change as it conveys distinct information (Chang et al., 2010;Elicker et al., 2010;Hsee et al., 1991). ...
This paper examines the issue of change in the relational level of employer-based psychological contracts. Based on prior research in Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB), Social Exchange Theory, and the Norm of Reciprocity, a dynamic model is developed to explain how contract-level changes take place within the relationship. The model also identifies subsequent employee attitudes and behaviors and offers two new relational modalities, “at risk” and “mercenary,” to explicate relational conditions that had not previously been recognized. We conclude by examining the various issues surrounding employee-employer relations and their importance to firm performance and job satisfaction.
... This task performance satisfaction 1 is not only important in and of itself but also represents an essential part of the greater construct of job satisfaction (Spector, 1997). Furthermore, it forms the basis for adjusting individual goal-setting (Elicker, Lord, Ash, Kohari, Hruska, et al., 2010;Locke, Cartledge, & Knerr, 1970) and determines the individual's motivation to continue with this behavior (Bandura & Cervone, 1983;Cervone, Jiwani, & Wood, 1991;Locke & Latham, 2002). For example, sales employees who are dissatisfied with their sales of a certain product might as a result reduce their sales target (i.e., the goal) for that product in the following period. ...
... Although in organizational behavior the satisfaction construct has been used most commonly in the context of job evaluations, task satisfaction can be seen as sub-facet of job satisfaction. Furthermore, previous research in the goal-setting literature has shown that increased dissatisfaction with an outcome leads either to an adjustment of the goal itself (Elicker et al., 2010;Locke et al., 1970;Podsakoff & Farh, 1989) or to an increased motivation to engage further in the task or behavior (Bandura & Cervone, 1983;Cervone et al., 1991;Locke & Latham, 2002). In simpler terms, feeling dissatisfied with one's performance on a task is more likely to make one adjust one's goal (i.e., to make it either more difficult or easier to achieve) and/or to further perform in order to achieve one's goal than one is inclined to go on without making any adjustments. ...
When striving to meet goals, individuals monitor their progress towards achieving them. The discrepancy between their current performance and their goal determines task (dis)satisfaction, and thus whether they will make greater effort. We propose and test a theoretical extension of goal-setting theory, namely that different types of goal standards (minimal or maximal) fundamentally change this monitoring process. Through four experiments we demonstrate that with maximal goals (“ideal” standards), individuals experience greater task satisfaction the nearer their current performance comes to the goal. In contrast, with minimal goals (“at least” standards), their satisfaction level remains low, regardless of how close their performance is to the goal. When goals are exceeded, the reverse applies: with maximal goals, satisfaction remains high regardless of the level of overperformance, while with minimal goals, satisfaction is determined by the level of overperformance. We also demonstrate that task satisfaction levels influence subsequent decisions on goal striving.
... For instance, Lawrence et al. (2002) experimentally manipulated velocity and found fast velocity led to more positive affect compared to slow velocity. Likewise, velocity has been linked with affective outcomes in naturalistic settings, including among students pursuing academic goals (Elicker et al., 2010;Wilt et al., 2017) and adults pursuing goals in the workplace (Chang, Johnson, & Lord, 2009). More so, in the studies conducted by Elicker et al. and Chang et al., velocity was an important predictor of affect even after controlling for the amount of goal progress made. ...
... This represents an important departure from much of the past theory and research on velocity, which indicate that fast velocities feel better than slow velocities in general (Carver & Scheier, 1998;Johnson et al., 2013). However, Elicker et al. (2010) found this relationship to be stronger among individuals who attach a great deal of importance to the goal compared to individuals who attached little importance to the goal. Thus, their work suggests that perceptions regarding the current task may act as a boundary condition of the relationship between velocity and affect. ...
Past research has identified velocity (i.e., rate of goal progress) as a determinant of individuals’ affective experiences during goal pursuit. Specifically, rapid progress is a pleasant experience, whereas slow progress is unpleasant. However, past work has emphasized situations in which individuals are unsure of whether or not they will meet their goal. This is problematic because many tasks are simple and routine, leaving little doubt that they can be accomplished in the time allotted. Is velocity related to affect in situations in which success is assured? And if so, why? To answer these questions, we conducted two experimental studies (N = 147 and 179) in which participants completed two simulated work tasks for which success was practically assured. Across both studies, velocity while performing the current task resulted in greater expected time available (ETA) to work on the next task. Downstream, ETA predicted happiness, but only if the next task was expected to be enjoyable (S1) or financially rewarding (S2). These studies indicate that velocity can impact affect by shaping expectations regarding the amount of time available for the next task. Nonetheless, the current studies also suggest that fast velocity may not universally result in positive affect; instead, fast velocity may only be met with positive affect if the next task is anticipated to be pleasant or rewarding.
... In laboratory studies (e.g., Brown & McConnell, 2011), negative feedback was associated with greater effort expenditure, which is consistent with goal-oriented theories. In university and college students, negative feedback on academic performance has been associated with elevated levels of negative affect (e.g., more anger and frustration) and downward goal revision, while positive feedback was associated with higher positive affect (e.g., greater satisfaction), higher self-efficacy, and upward goal revision (i.e., higher performance goals for subsequent exams; Elicker et al., 2010;Ilies et al., 2010). Ilies et al. (2010) found that positive and negative affect and self-efficacy mediated the relationship between feedback and goal revision. ...
... However, according to goal-oriented theories, positive feedback elicits positive emotions, such as satisfaction and pride, higher levels of self-efficacy, and increasing goals (Bandura, 1991). This has been demonstrated in the educational domain (Elicker et al., 2010;Ilies et al., 2010), but not in the career domain. Accordingly, positive career-related feedback should be associated with greater satisfaction with one's occupational choice, career self-efficacy, career commitment, career goal certainty and clarity, and with lifting the career goal. ...
The working world has been undergoing a continuous and gradual process of flexibility, heterogeneity, and complexity of the regulatory mechanisms of work, something which has generated significant impacts and deep changes on many dimensions, revealing new scenarios, in addition to generating precariousness and vulnerability of a large part of the population in all countries. In that sense, the knowledge and strategies developed in the Latin American researches and practices in the career counseling field are potentially important in today's working world, because Latin America is a region in the world where this situation has always been present due to contexts and situations of socioeconomic inequality and psychosocial vulnerability, which often produces discontinuous, fragmented and intermittent work trajectories, despite the recent development of some countries like Brazil. Besides, some countries in the northern hemisphere, which have been under a welfare state for decades, are nowadays living under precarious work conditions with high rates of unemployment, and with an increasing demand of theories and strategies to face flexible and unstable situations. Thus, based on research and practices systematically developed in recent decades, inspired on the Life Design paradigm and grounded on the social constructionist perspective, the main objective of this chapter is to highlight general principles to career counseling in order to deal with situations of psychosocial vulnerability and flexicurity. To this end, the chapter will present and discuss: (a) The challenges that the working world have generated for contemporary workers, mainly through situations of flexicurity and psychosocial vulnerability; (b) The challenges for the career counseling field to face these situations; (c) The general principles of social constructionism, in terms of ontology, epistemology, methodology and ethical-political project, in dealing with the contemporary challenges; (d) The basic concepts of the proposed career counseling (psychosocial approach, psychosocial reality, psychosocial relation, practices, narratives, discourses, decent work, psychosocial vulnerability and psychosocial career); (e) A proposal for a theoretical and technical framework, in addition to an ethical-political project, for the career counseling inspired on the Life Design paradigm and based on social constructionism with some examples of practices with groups of people in situations of flexicurity and psychosocial vulnerability, among them, young people who are institutionalized, people with mental diseases, disabled people and unemployed. As a conclusion, it must be stated that the heterogeneity and the complexity of the current working world have required assumptions that ought to help in the understanding of it, and, at the same time, it might give support in the construction of analysis categories of the psychosocial phenomena of this working world, mainly for the ones who live in a vulnerable situation and have to face instability their entire lives.
... These goal-performance discrepancies stimulate changes in cognitive (e.g., lowering or raising career-related outcome expectations and self-efficacy in response to negative/positive feedback; Lent & Brown, 2013), affective (e.g., feeling disappointed/happy in response to negative/positive feedback; Elicker et al., 2010;Ilies, Judge, & Wagner, 2010), and behavioural processes (e.g., engaging in career planning and persistence or disengaging from a goal in response to negative feedback; reducing effort or pursuing a more prestigious career in response to positive feedback; Ilies et al., 2010;Lent & Brown, 2013;Wang & Mukhopadhyay, 2012), all of which are aimed at addressing discrepancies and improving progress towards the career goal. In line with this, studies in the career domain indicate that negative career feedback is related to greater progress-goal distance, discrepancies between self-identities and goal requirements (e.g., perceptions of being ill-suited to the career goal), goal revision (e.g., goal disengagement and reengagement), and lower well-being (Anderson & Mounts, 2012;Creed, Wamelink, & Hu, 2015;Hu, Creed, & Hood, 2016). ...
... For example, in a cross-lagged study with a sample of Chinese university students, Hu et al. (2017) found that students who perceived that they received more negative career feedback at Time 1 showed greater disengagement likelihood from their career goals six months later. Similar relationships have been found in organizational behaviour and academic domains: negative feedback on job performance is associated with lower affective commitment and higher turnover intentions (i.e., goal disengagement; Belschak & Den Hartog, 2009), and negative feedback on academic performance is related to mental disengagement in university students (Elicker et al., 2010). ...
Based on self-regulatory theories, this study examined the cross-sectional relationship between negative career feedback and the likelihood of career goal disengagement, and tested whether implicit theories about work moderated this relationship, using a sample of 184 young adults (MAGE = 19.44 years). We found that negative feedback was associated positively with goal disengagement, and consistent with our hypotheses, also found that this relationship was weaker for those with stronger growth beliefs and stronger for those with stronger destiny beliefs. These findings highlight important roles for career feedback and implicit theories of work in young peoples' career goal pursuit.
... Chang, Johnson, and Lord (2010) presented a field study showing that participants preferred higher perceived velocity toward desired job characteristics (e.g., scenarios in VELOCITY 8 which they perceived rapid progress toward their professional goals) was related to higher satisfaction with those characteristics, as well as an experimental study showing that higher actual velocity on task performance (e.g., high rate of success feedback on an ambiguous task) contributed to higher satisfaction with one's task performance. Finally, Elicker et al. (2010) presented a longitudinal study of students showing that higher perceived velocity toward a desired class goal (e.g., perception that one's performance on exams was increasing at a rapid rate) was related to satisfaction with performance in the class. Taken together, these studies suggest that people much prefer experiencing high velocity toward goals as compared with low velocity. ...
... The dynamic mediation models in our studies also provided critical tests of control theories of self-regulation (e.g., Carver & Scheier, 1990;1998). Whereas most previous studies examined velocity in relation to preferences (Hsee & Abelson, 1991) or satisfaction (Chang et al., 2010;Elicker et al., 2010), our results link velocity to positive and negative affect. This is important because control theories of self-regulation detail how perceived velocity toward a goal should be related to affective states (Carver & Scheier, 1990). ...
The present research examined whether perceived rate of progress toward a goal (velocity) mediated the relationships between personality states and affective states. Drawing from control theories of self-regulation, we hypothesized (i) that increased velocity would mediate the association between state extraversion and state positive affect, and (ii) that decreased velocity would mediate the association between state neuroticism and state negative affect. We tested these hypotheses in 2 experience sampling methodology studies that each spanned 2 weeks. Multilevel modeling analyses showed support for each of the bivariate links in our model, and multilevel path analyses supported our mediation hypotheses. We discuss implications for understanding the relations between personality states and affective states, control theories of self-regulation, and goal striving.
... Thus, individuals who feel imperfect tend to engage in excessive cognitive contemplation and unfavorable social comparisons and therefore experience adverse effects on their well-being [44]. Above and beyond the perceived progress in performance, the influence of performance-goal discrepancies also appeared to predict performance satisfaction and goal revision [45]. Self-critical perfectionism was also linked to dissatisfaction with academic performance [46]. ...
In the ever-growing exploration of using neural implants beyond therapeutic contexts, researchers are turning their focus to the intriguing connection between the pursuit of perfection and the desire to embrace these technologies. Applying self-discrepancy theory, this study integrates the mediating influence of dissatisfaction with imperfection, while introducing free will and fatalistic determinism as enthralling moderators. Engaging 402 digitally native higher education students from Austria, Spain, Netherlands, and Portugal, the results illuminate a positive link between the quest for perfection and the inclination to adopt neural implants, with dissatisfaction with imperfection acting as a pivotal mediator. Moreover, the findings unveil nuances in the mediation effect based on one’s belief in free will and fatalistic determinism, highlighting a more pronounced association for those with a robust belief in free will compared to their counterparts with a diminished belief in fatalistic determinism. These outcomes not only enrich the literature on psychological predictors but also provide insights into the intricate motivations and mechanisms shaping individuals’ readiness to embrace neural implants. The implications extend to those championing the concept of a human-machine hybrid and to those voicing concerns about the trajectory of neural implant technologies.
... In the following section we argue that perceptions regarding the utility of engaging in SCBs are also driven by emotions, above and beyond the cognitive process described above. Scheier (1990, 1998) argued that experiencing slower-than-referent velocity is emotionally unpleasant, and several studies have linked slow velocity to dissatisfaction and negative emotions (Beck, Scholer, & Hughes, 2017;Chang et al., 2010;Elicker et al., 2010;Lawrence et al., 2002;Phan & Beck, 2020;Wilt et al., 2017). Prior research suggests that frustration is a particularly relevant emotion linking velocity and SCBs. ...
Employees often have a great deal of work to accomplish within stringent deadlines. Therefore, employees may engage in shortcut behaviors, which involve eschewing standard procedures during goal pursuit to save time. However, shortcuts can lead to negative consequences such as poor-quality work, accidents, and even large-scale disasters. Despite these implications, few studies have investigated the antecedents of shortcut behaviors. In this research, we propose that employees engage in shortcut behaviors to regulate their velocity (i.e., rate of progress). Specifically, we predict that when individuals experience slower-than-referent velocity, they will (a) believe that the goal is unlikely to be met via standard procedures and (b) experience feelings of frustration. In turn, we expect these psychological states to be related to the perceived utility of shortcuts, especially when shortcuts are perceived as viable means to achieve the goal. Finally, we predict that the perceived utility of shortcuts will be positively related to actual shortcut behaviors. We tested these predictions using a laboratory experiment in which we manipulated velocity and unobtrusively observed shortcuts (Study 1, N = 147), as well as a daily diary study in which employees reported their velocity and shortcut behaviors over 5 consecutive workdays (Study 2, N = 395). Both studies provided support for our predictions. In sum, this research provides evidence to suggest that the experience of slow progress can lead to shortcuts not only by casting doubt on employees’ perceived likelihood of meeting the goal but also by producing feelings of frustration.
... These findings are in line with theory and research within the self-regulation literature on goal progress velocity (i.e., rate of progress; Johnson et al., 2013). Briefly, slow progress can lead to negative emotions and feelings of doubt vis-à-vis success (Beck et al., 2017a(Beck et al., , 2017bPhan & Beck, 2020) even after accounting for workload (Chang et al., 2009;Elicker et al., 2009). Moreover, in response to slow progress individuals may engage in behaviors to increase velocity, such as exerting more effort (Huang & Zhang, 2011) or taking shortcuts (Phan et al., in press). ...
Although breaks can help employees stay energized and maintain high levels of performance throughout the day, employees sometimes refrain from taking a break despite wanting to do so. Unfortunately, few studies have investigated individuals’ reasons for taking and for not taking a break at work. To address this gap, we developed a model for predicting employees’ break-taking behaviors. We developed hypotheses by integrating theories of work stress, self-regulation, and the results of a qualitative survey conducted as part of the current research (Study 1). Specifically, we predicted that high workloads would be positively related to the desire to detach from work, but that at the same time, high workloads would also deter employees from actually taking breaks. Furthermore, we predicted that employees would be less likely to act upon their desire to take a break within an environment where breaks are frowned upon by supervisors and coworkers, relative to an environment where breaks are allowed and encouraged. The results of a daily diary study of full-time employees (Study 2) provided general support for these predictions. Altogether, this research provides insights into the manner in which employees’ psychological experiences and characteristics of the work environment combine to predict break-taking.
... The Emotional Pathway: Slow Progress Is Frustrating Scheier (1990, 1998) argued that experiencing slowerthan-referent velocity is emotionally unpleasant, and several studies have linked slow velocity to dissatisfaction and negative emotions (Beck, Scholer, & Hughes, 2017;Chang et al., 2010;Elicker et al., 2010;Lawrence et al., 2002;Phan & Beck, 2020;Wilt et al., 2017). Prior research suggests that frustration is a particularly relevant emotion linking velocity and SCBs. ...
Employees often have a great deal of work to accomplish within stringent deadlines. Therefore, employees may engage in shortcut behaviors, which involve eschewing standard procedures during goal pursuit to save time. However, shortcuts can lead to negative consequences such as poor-quality work, accidents, and even large-scale disasters. Despite these implications, few studies have investigated the antecedents of shortcut behaviors. In this research, we propose that employees engage in shortcut behaviors to regulate their velocity (i.e., rate of progress). Specifically, we predict that when individuals experience slower-than-referent velocity, they will (a) believe that the goal is unlikely to be met via standard procedures and (b) experience feelings of frustration. In turn, we expect these psychological states to be related to the perceived utility of shortcuts, especially when shortcuts are perceived as viable means to achieve the goal. Finally, we predict that the perceived utility of shortcuts will be positively related to actual shortcut behaviors. We tested these predictions using a laboratory experiment in which we manipulated velocity and unobtrusively observed shortcuts (Study 1, N = 147), as well as a daily diary study in which employees reported their velocity and shortcut behaviors over 5 consecutive workdays (Study 2, N = 395). Both studies provided support for our predictions. In sum, this research provides evidence to suggest that the experience of slow progress can lead to shortcuts not only by casting doubt on employees’ perceived likelihood of meeting the goal but also by producing feelings of frustration.
... Research suggests that individuals who receive feedback about their outcomes (how they are doing relative to past results) can experience higher motivation and performance (Elicker 2010;Johnson et al. 2013), even when the velocity is negative (i.e., condition worsening at a faster rate than before) (Carver and Scheier 1990). Meta-analysis results suggest that outcome feedback helps direct attention to the task, provides a clear feedback standard discrepancy, and motivates people to work hard on reducing the discrepancy (Kluger and DeNisi 1996). ...
... They require awareness but can operate in an automatic manner [10]. During goal pursuit, individuals move through discrepancy reduction loops [11] [12], with the help of cognitive and neuropsychological mechanisms that energize behaviour and sustain goal directed action [13]. Goal pursuit involves effort and persistence, especially when goals are difficult to attain [7]. ...
This article discusses evidence linking power to purpose: that of having an impact in the social environment and carrying out individual or collective aims and desires. First, it highlights the role of goals during the emergence and the exercise of power. Accordingly, it suggests that typical power's mission is to strive for social or personal objectives in social contexts. This includes social influence goals, organizational or personal agendas. Secondly, the article describes how power affects goal-related strategies and cognitive inclinations. Evidence suggests that power triggers prioritization and facilitates the pursuit of any salient goals, filtered by personal values and inclinations of the powerholder. Thirdly, the article examines powerholders' effectiveness of goal pursuit, including their performance on tangible social tasks. Finally, the article ends with a discussion on non-intended consequences of the power-goal links in particular in the social domain.
... These comparisons inevitably reveal discrepancies between the two states (known as a perceived goal-performance discrepancy; Bandura, 1991), which then stimulate individuals to adjust their behaviors and/or goals in an attempt to reduce that discrepancy (Bandura, 1991;Carver & Scheier, 1990). Studies in learning and organizational settings have shown that people who perceive higher levels of negative feedback (i.e., indicating a negative goal-performance discrepancy where the current state is not consistent with meeting the goal) increase their effort to improve their current state (Brockner, Paruchuri, Idson, & Higgins, 2002) and/or lower (Elicker et al., 2010;Ilies et al., 2010) or abandon their goals (e.g., Belschak & Den Hartog, 2009). ...
Based on goal-setting theory, this study examined the relationship between negative career goal feedback and career-related stress, tested whether career goal?performance discrepancy operated as a mediator in this relationship, and assessed whether career goal importance strengthened the indirect effect of negative feedback on stress via discrepancy. Using a sample of 317 health profession university students (mean age = 19.5 years), we found that negative feedback was associated positively with stress and that discrepancy mediated this relationship. Consistent with goal-setting theory, we also found that discrepancy was higher at higher levels of negative feedback for those with higher goal importance, and the indirect effect of negative feedback on stress through discrepancy increased with increasing goal importance. These findings highlight important roles for career goal feedback and career goal importance in young peoples? career goal pursuit.
... Experiment 3 replicated and extended the findings of Experiment 2. Participants in the enhancing condition were more satisfied than those in the improving condition at time 1, 2, and 3, but not 4 or 5. Also, participants in the enhancing condition found feedback more useful than those in the improving condition at time 1, but not at times 2, 3, 4, or 5. From a different vantage point, participants found the feedback more satisfying over time in the improving condition but not in the enhancing condition (Elicker et al., 2010;Hsee & Abelson, 1991), and found it less useful over time in the enhancing condition but not in the improving condition. In addition, Experiment 3 expanded the range of psychological consequences of enhancing and improving feedback. ...
Three experiments examined subjective perceptions, psychological consequences, and behavioral outcomes of enhancing versus improving feedback. Across experiments, feedback delivery and assessment were sequential (i.e., at each testing juncture) or cumulative (i.e., at the end of the testing session). Although enhancing feedback was seen as more satisfying than useful, and improving feedback was not seen as more useful than satisfying, perceptions differed as a function of short-term versus long-term feedback delivery and assessment. Overall, however, enhancing feedback was more impactful psychologically and behaviorally. Enhancing feedback engendered greater success consistency, overall satisfaction and usefulness, optimism, state self-esteem, perceived ability, and test persistence intentions; improving feedback, on the other hand, engendered greater state improvement. The findings provide fodder for theory development and applications.
... Experiment 3 replicated and extended the findings of Experi- ment 2. Participants in the enhancing condition were more satisfied than those in the improving condition at time 1, 2, and 3, but not 4 or 5. Also, participants in the enhancing condition found feedback more useful than those in the improving condition at time 1, but not at times 2, 3, 4, or 5. From a different vantage point, participants found the feed- back more satisfying over time in the improving condition but not in the enhancing condition (Elicker et al., 2010;Hsee & Abelson, 1991), and found it less useful over time in the enhancing condition but not in the improving condition. In addition, Experiment 3 expanded the range of psycho- logical consequences of enhancing and improving feedback. ...
... Aside from the influence of this perceived gap between the current state and the goal, the tensions or dissatisfactions endured also depend on the speed of achieving the goal and the importance of the goal for the individual. Elicker et al. (2010) have shown that, for young adults, a low perceived speed toward achieving an academic goal is a source of dissatisfaction. In addition, the importance of the goal is likely to exacerbate the negative effect of the low perceived speed. ...
The present study focuses on quality of life in children survivors of cancer through the filter of self-regulation by goals. In this respect, the model of Dupuis and its operationalization by Missotten through the Child Quality of Life Systemic Inventory (QLSI-C©) makes it possible to identify the regulation processes (state, goal, speed, rank), in order to distinguish between children survivors of cancer and their healthy peers, as well as identifying the impact of these processes on anxiety and depression symptoms. Fifty children survivors of cancer, aged 8 to 12 years, answered three questionnaires: the QLSI-C©, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory – Child (STAI-C), and the Child Depression Inventory (CDI). Their responses were compared with those obtained from 50 healthy children of the same age. Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) was used to show that the process that best differentiated the two groups pointed to a regulation through goals and priorities. Results revealed too that these processes were particularly apparent in 8 of the 20 life domains examined. Moreover, of the four processes, state is the best predictor of depressive symptoms. Children survivors of cancer do not view their lives and plans in the same manner as their healthy peers. However, their different strategies of regulating goals and priorities do not result in more depressive symptoms than in their healthy peers. The question of whether more demanding goals and priorities are necessarily a source of well-being remains to be determined. Acknowledgment: We sincerely thank the Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer [French National League against Cancer] for its financial support.
... Negative affect can persist or even be amplified when discrepancy reduction is slower than the standard. Low velocity and its associated negative affect can lead to withdrawal from the situation through reduced attention and downwardly revised goals (Elicker, Lord, Kohari, et al., 2010). In the present model, what we will refer to in the following as resolution velocity has a salient effect on the victim's beliefs about the progress being made toward violation resolution and the establishment of a post-violation psychological contract. ...
Organizations may fail to keep their commitments to their employees, at times leading to psychological contract violation. Although many victims of violation remain with their employer despite such adverse experiences, little research exists on their responses in the aftermath of violation. This paper develops a post-violation model to explain systematically how violation victims respond to and cope with violation and the effects this process has on their subsequent psychological contract. Central to post-violation are the victims' beliefs regarding the likelihood of violation resolution and the factors affecting it. The model specifies how the victim engages in a self-regulation process that results in an array of potential psychological contract outcomes. Possible outcomes include reactivation of the original pre-violation contract, the formation of a new contract that may be more or less attractive than the original, or a state of dissolution wherein the victim fails to form a functional psychological contract with the employer. The research and practical implications of this model are discussed.
... Negative affect can persist or even be amplified when discrepancy reduction is slower than the standard. Low velocity and its associated negative affect can lead to withdrawal from the situation through reduced attention and downwardly revised goals (Elicker, Lord, Kohari, et al., 2010). In the present model, what we will refer to in the following as resolution velocity has a salient effect on the victim's beliefs about the progress being made toward violation resolution and the establishment of a post-violation psychological contract. ...
Organizations may fail to keep their commitments to their employees, at times leading to psychological contract violation. Although many victims of violation remain with their employer despite such adverse experiences, little research exists on their responses in the aftermath of violation. This paper develops a post-violation model to explain systematically how violation victims respond to and cope with violation and the effects this process has on their subsequent psychological contract. Central to post-violation are the victims' beliefs regarding the likelihood of violation resolution and the factors affecting it. The model specifies how the victim engages in a self-regulation process that results in an array of potential psychological contract outcomes. Possible outcomes include reactivation of the original pre-violation contract, the formation of a new contract that may be more or less attractive than the original, or a state of dissolution wherein the victim fails to form a functional psychological contract with the employer. The research and practical implications of this model are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
... The articles found do not leverage velocity effects as a marketing tool: Improving outcomes was used as a diagnostic metric within firms and in the supply chain (Bronnenberg and Sismeiro 2002;Groves et al. 2011;Sandoh and Larke 2002), studied for its effect on goal striving (Chang, Johnson, and Lord 2009;Elicker et al. 2009) and evaluated for its effect on a firm's satisfaction with logistics service providers (Briggs, Landry, and Daugherty 2010). Although parallels to the retail domain exist (e.g. in the study by Briggs, Landry, and Daugherty 2010, the logistics provider can be seen as the product which the firmsthe customerhave to choose between), we see that there is a research gap in evaluating this phenomenon in the retail domain. ...
In an increasingly crowded marketplace, retailers need innovative ways of promoting products to their consumers. E-commerce retailers have utilized to great effect lists of top ranked products to promote product sales; the higher the sales rank, the more likely consumers buy that product. This influence to buy, based on observing what others bought is known as observational learning (OL). Prior OL research assumed that OL arises from observing a static outcome, such as the current sales rank of a product. However, prior research on intertemporal choice showed that people prefer outcomes with increasing trends over stable or decreasing trends. This suggests that observing an increasing sales rank, denoted as sales velocity, would have a positive effect on purchase likelihood. We conducted three studies to test the sales velocity effect. Results show that sales velocity has a significant effect on likelihood of purchases, reversing even participant preferences for a product with a higher sales rank. This effect is consistent across four broad products tested. For researchers, by joining the two previously disparate branches of research in OL and intertemporal choice, we addressed a gap in OL research which previously ignored the velocity dimension of OL. For retailers, the study demonstrated the impact of the sales velocity metric on making choices, and thus they could use sales velocity data as a cost-effective marketing tool for specific products.
... Outre l'influence de cet écart perçu entre Etat et But, les tensions ou les insatisfactions ressenties dépendront aussi de la vélocité de réalisation du But et de l'importance du but pour l'individu selon Elicker et al. (2010). Ainsi, chez le jeune adulte, les auteurs montrent qu'une faible Qu'en est-il chez l'enfant ? ...
This study examines the processes and the life domains of the Child Quality of Life Systemic Inventory (ISQV-E in French - Missotten, Etienne & Dupuis, 2007), involved in the suffering
of depressed children, assessed with the CDI. These questionnaires were administered to 453 to school age children (8-12 years old) and they all spoke French (273 French, 180 Belgian). An initial analysis was undertaken to verify the nature of the model, additive vs multiplicative, underlying the ISQV-E. Five factors were tested: the Goal, the Discrepancy (distance between State and Goal), Speed, Rank and the Gap. Regression analysis revealed that only the Goal and the Discrepancy are significantly related to suffering depression (additive model). From these two factors, a second analysis was performed to account for domains of life most involved in suffering from depression. The results dealt with a PLS path modeling helped to update the 10 domains of life, of the twenty-evaluated by the ISQV-E, likely to predict depressive suffering of children. The specific contribution of the ISQV-E is discussed in relation to depressive affect assessed with the CDI.
... Carver and Scheier (1990) further discuss a metamonitoring function, which involves monitoring the progress or velocity of discrepancy reduction. Recent research (Chang, Johnson, & Lord, 2010; Elicker et al., 2010) suggests that velocity, or the rate at which individuals move towards their goals, positively impacts cognitive (e.g., mental focus) and affective reactions (e.g., satisfaction), independent of goal–performance discrepancies. Wanberg et al. (2010) highlighted the importance of goal progress in job search self-regulation, demonstrating its relationship with daily affect, reemployment efficacy, and job search effort. ...
Job seeking is an important aspect throughout people’s careers. Extant theory and research has focused on one particular dimension of job search, that is, intensity/effort (i.e., job search quantity), posing that intensity/effort importantly affects employment success. The present conceptual paper extends job search theory by arguing for the importance of job search quality in explaining job search and employment success. We conceptualize job search quality as consisting of process quality and product/behavior quality, and propose that high-quality job search products/behaviors are more likely with a high-quality job search process. A four-phased cyclical self-regulatory model is presented, specifying the components of job search process quality. We build theory regarding the interrelations between quality components, the antecedents and outcomes of job search quality, and the moderators of these relations. This theory offers new and more detailed explanations for previous findings, directions for future research, and practical guidelines regarding (re)employment success and services.
Purpose
Integrating social comparison and social identity theories, this study aims to examine students’ emotional and behavioral responses to the use of ChatGPT in academic settings, focusing on intrinsic motivation, dissonance, envy, schadenfreude and artificial intelligence (AI) usage intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design consisted of two sequential survey-based studies with undergraduate business students. Study 1, analyzed with SmartPLS, measured students’ intrinsic motivation, cognitive engagement, dispositional envy, emotional dissonance and schadenfreude experienced in response to academic dishonesty related to ChatGPT. Study 2 explored the motivations behind students’ future use of AI tools, examining ethical considerations and emotional responses.
Findings
Study 1 determined that higher levels of cognitive engagement reduce dissonance and envy among highly motivated students. Nevertheless, driven by cognitive engagement, dissonance and envy, it was established that highly motivated students experience schadenfreude when others are caught misusing ChatGPT. In contrast, low-motivated students only feel schadenfreude as a product of dissonance and envy. The focus of Study 2 was on the adoption of ChatGPT. Results indicate that future usage is driven by ethical considerations for highly motivated students, whereas less dissonance is key for low-motivated students.
Originality/value
The study’s originality lies in its exploration of schadenfreude in the context of AI use among students, highlighting how cognitive engagement and motivation influence emotional responses. Drawing on social comparison and social identity theories, it sheds new light on the dynamics of academic integrity and the emotional landscape surrounding AI tools like ChatGPT, thus filling a research gap in understanding student behavior and perceptions in higher education.
Although temporal conceptualizations of motivational processes have not held center stage in motivation science, the situation is currently changing. Drawing on work in the subfield of language learning motivation, where the motivational endurance needed to master a second language has been a major concern, the aim of this article is to contribute to the body of work currently exploring motivational persistence. After outlining the broader academic context of motivation and time, and describing the disciplinary trajectory of research into language learning motivation, we present two interrelated and multifaceted frameworks that seek to explain long-term motivation and motivational persistence: (a) the notion of a “directed motivational current,” which refers to a period of intense, enduring, and self-sustaining engagement within an activity-sequence, and which is phenomenologically akin to an extended flow experience, and (b) a multicomponent framework of long-term motivation that offers a general account of sustained effort in learning. This framework integrates diverse components, such as self-concordant vision, habitual actions, progress checks, and affirmative feedback, and references a motivational process that is characterized by positive emotional loading and passion, and is supported by self-control capacity and self-regulatory skills.
Theories are the core of any science, but many imprecisely stated theories in organizational and management science are hampering progress in the field. Computational modeling of existing theories can help address the issue. Computational models are a type of formal theory that are represented mathematically or by other formal logic and can be simulated, allowing theorists to assess whether the theory can explain the phenomena intended as well as make testable predictions. As an example of the process, Locke’s integrated model of work motivation is translated into static and dynamic computational models. Simulations of these models are compared to the empirical data used to develop and test the theory. For the static model, the simulations revealed largely strong associations with robust empirical findings. However, adding dynamics created several challenges to key precepts of the theory. Moreover, the effort revealed where empirical work is needed to further refine or refute the theory. Discussion focuses on the value of computational modeling as a method for formally testing, pruning, and extending extant theories in the field.
We surveyed 413 Chinese university/college students (57.9% female; mean age = 19.01 years, SD = 1.13) and tested a self-regulation model. We hypothesized that three types of negative career feedback (on progress, on goal suitability, and on improvements needed) would relate to greater career exploration and career goal shifting via cognitive (self-efficacy), affective (career stress), and motivational (goal commitment) self-regulatory processes. As expected, perceiving more negative feedback on goal suitability and improvements needed was related to higher career goal shifting via higher career stress and lower goal commitment. In contrast to our hypotheses, more negative feedback on progress was related to lower career goal shifting via higher goal commitment, and related to lower career exploration via lower career self-efficacy. These findings highlight the important role of career feedback in young adults’ career self-regulation and career outcomes.
Research on self-regulation has tended to focus on goal-related performance, with limited attention paid to individuals' affect and the role it plays during the goal-striving process. In this chapter we discuss three mechanisms to integrate affect within a control theory-based selfregulation framework, and how such integrations inform future research concerning employee stress and well-being. Specifically, affect can be viewed as a result of velocity made toward one's desired states at work. Fast progress results in positive affect, which enhances employee wellbeing and reduces the detrimental effects associated with exposure to occupational stressors. On the other hand, slow or no progress elicits negative affect, which induces employee distress. Second, affect can also be considered an input of self-regulation, such that employees are required to regulate their emotional displays at work. Employees who perform emotional labor compare their actual emotional display against the desired display prescribed by display rules. Third, affect can function as a situational disturbance, altering employees' perceptions or assessments of the input, comparator, and output for other self-regulatory processes. © 2013 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
Workers often identify understaffing as a major stressor in their work lives. Despite this, relatively little conceptual and empirical work on understaffing exists. This paper describes a new, multidimensional conceptualization of understaffing, specifying that there are three dimensions underlying the understaffing domain: severity of (under)staffing, type of resource shortage, and length of exposure. Drawing upon theory and research on workplace demands and self-regulation, we further argue that different types of understaffing are differentially related to workplace outcomes. After specifying what understaffing is, we then compare and contrast understaffing with conceptually similar or related constructs in the industrial-organizational/organizational behavior (IO/OB) literature to assist in explaining what understaffing is not. Finally, we address practical issues in the study and measurement of understaffing. Implications for future research and theory are discussed.
Purpose
This study examines the issue of change in newcomers’ employer-based psychological contract obligations over time, viewing change as a potentially important determinant of perceived contract breach and subsequent employee attitudes and behaviors.
Design/Methodology/Approach
Data were collected using a three-wave longitudinal design from newly hired faculty members (N = 106).
Findings
Newcomers’ perceptions of employer-based relational obligations significantly decreased during their first year on the job. Newcomers reacted negatively to these changes, subsequently reporting increased contract breach and more negative work attitudes (i.e., increased turnover intentions and reduced job satisfaction and organizational loyalty).
Implications
This study provides evidence of the negative effects of perceived changes to a newcomer’s psychological contract. Practitioners should implement interventions to ensure a realistic set of psychological contract obligations are developed from the start in order to minimize the likelihood that newcomers will modify these obligations downward; and, therefore, experience these negative attitudes toward the organization.
Originality/Value
Drawing from the realistic job preview and socialization literatures, this study examines a topic that has received little empirical attention in the extant psychological contract research, yet has important implications to the management of employees’ psychological contracts. Using both a three-wave longitudinal field design and a more rigorous statistical analysis for assessing change (i.e., latent growth curve modeling), we add a unique contribution to the extant research by identifying the negative consequences of psychological contract change on newcomers’ subsequent work perceptions and attitudes.
Although hundreds of studies have found a positive relationship between self-efficacy and performance, several studies have found a negative relationship when the analysis is done across time (repeated measures) rather than across individuals. W. T. Powers (1991) predicted this negative relationship based on perceptual control theory. Here, 2 studies are presented to (a) confirm the causal role of self-efficacy and (b) substantiate the explanation. In Study 1, self-efficacy was manipulated for 43 of 87 undergraduates on an analytic game. The manipulation was negatively related to performance on the next trial. In Study 2, 104 undergraduates played the analytic game and reported self-efficacy between each game and confidence in the degree to which they had assessed previous feedback. As expected, self-efficacy led to overconfidence and hence increased the likelihood of committing logic errors during the game.
Tested the prediction that feedback and goals would be interactively related to performance. This prediction complements the findings of Locke that knowledge alone is not a sufficient condition for effective performance. It was also hypothesized that feedback would facilitate the display of individual differences in goal setting and hence the goal setting–performance relationship. 38 undergraduates in a feedback group and 48 in a no-feedback group were evaluated on a number comparison task. Results support the hypotheses by indicating that (a) the individual differences in self-set goals were significantly higher in the feedback group than in the no-feedback group, and that (b) the relationship between goals and performance was significantly higher in the feedback condition than in the no-feedback condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The question of how affect arises and what affect indicates is examined from a feedback-based viewpoint on self-regulation. Using the analogy of action control as the attempt to diminish distance to a goal, a second feedback system is postulated that senses and regulates the rate at which the action-guiding system is functioning. This second system is seen as responsible for affect. Implications of these assertions and issues that arise from them are addressed in the remainder of the article. Several issues relate to the emotion model itself; others concern the relation between negative emotion and disengagement from goals. Relations to 3 other emotion theories are also addressed. The authors conclude that this view on affect is a useful supplement to other theories and that the concept of emotion is easily assimilated to feedback models of self-regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Goals and related constructs are ubiquitous in psychological research and span the history of psychology. Research on goals has accumulated sporadically through research programs in cognition, personality, and motivation. Goals are defined as internal representations of desired states. In this article, the authors review the theoretical development of the structure and properties of goals, goal establishment and striving processes, and goal-content taxonomies. They discuss affect as antecedent, consequence, and content of goals and argue for integrating across psychological content areas to study goal-directed cognition and action more efficiently. They emphasize the structural and dynamic aspects of pursuing multiple goals, parallel processing, and the parsimony provided by the goal construct. Finally, they advocate construct validation of a taxonomy of goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Social scientists have found that satisfaction with an outcome is positively related not just to the position (i.e., actual level) of the outcome, but also to the displacement (i.e., directional difference) between the current level and a reference level. Extending the displacement notion, the present research hypothesized that satisfaction is positively related to the velocity (i.e., rate) at which the outcome changes over time, and tested this hypothesis by using hypothetical outcomes presented in questionnaires (Study 1) and displayed on a computer screen (Study 2). Results from both studies supported the hypothesis. The findings are discussed with regard to their implications for a formal model of the outcome-satisfaction relationship and for a dynamic analysis of human behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Since the beginning of the century, feedback interventions (FIs) produced negative--but largely ignored--effects on performance. A meta-analysis (607 effect sizes; 23,663 observations) suggests that FIs improved performance on average (
d = .41) but that over one-third of the FIs decreased performance. This finding cannot be explained by sampling error, feedback sign, or existing theories. The authors proposed a preliminary FI theory (FIT) and tested it with moderator analyses. The central assumption of FIT is that FIs change the locus of attention among 3 general and hierarchically organized levels of control: task learning, task motivation, and meta-tasks (including self-related) processes. The results suggest that FI effectiveness decreases as attention moves up the hierarchy closer to the self and away from the task. These findings are further moderated by task characteristics that are still poorly understood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Based on R. G. Lord and P. E. Levy (1994), this study investigated the roles of conscious and unconscious suppression processes in self-regulation. As hypothesized, both action-state orientation (reflecting conscious suppression processes) and negative priming (reflecting unconscious suppression processes) had significant positive relationships with perceived self-regulatory success across multiple life domains. The results suggest that individuals who can effectively initiate action toward goals (action-oriented) and better block out non-goal-relevant information (high negative priming) have higher levels of perceived self-regulatory success. Findings are discussed in terms of self-regulation at both conscious and unconscious levels with implications for everyday goal-directed behavior and motivational research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Vancouver et Day (2005) font une analyse critique de l’état d’avancement des recherches sur l’autorégulation en psychologie industrielle/organisationnelle (IO). Ils soulèvent des problèmes de validité interne et de construction pour certains concepts clés, tels que le nivcau du but, l’efficacité personnelle, le feedback et la divergence; ils mentionnent aussi qu’il est difficile de préciser quelles sont les facteurs à l’origine des résultats obtenus par les interventions relevant des principes de l’autorégulation. Leurs suggestions concernant les élaborations théoriques, la mesure et la structuration des études sont pertinentes et, si on les met en œuvre, elles permettront à la psychologie IO d’échapper aux problèmes qu’est susceptible de soulever l’élaboration, sur des bases insuffisantes, d’un corpus de connaissances appliquées. A travers leur approche critique, Vancouver et Day font nécessairement un choix dans la littérature qu’ils analysent et ils ne proposent pas de schéma d’ensemble des recherches sur l’autorégulation en psychologie IO.
Vancouver and Day (2005) present a critical analysis of the current state of self-regulation research within IO psychology. Their analysis identifies problems of construct and internal validity for certain key constructs, including goal level, self-efficacy and feedback discrepancy, and difficulties in detecting the sources of effects in studies of interventions based on self-regulatory principles. Their suggestions regarding theory development, measurement, and study design are timely and, if implemented, will help IO psychology avoid the potential problems of building a body of applied knowledge based on weak foundations. In their critical approach, Vancouver and Day are necessarily selective in the literature they discuss and they do not provide a comprehensive framework of self-regulation research in IO psychology.
This article addresses the convergence and complementarity between self-regulatory control-process models of behavior and dynamic systems models. The control-process view holds that people have a goal in mind and try to move toward it (or away from it), monitoring the extent to which a discrepancy remains between the goal and one's present state and taking steps to reduce the discrepancy (or enlarge it). Dynamic systems models tend to emphasize a bottom-up self-organization process, in which a coherence arises from among many simultaneous influences, moving the system toward attractors and away from repellers. We suggest that these differences in emphasis reflect two facets of a more complex reality involving both types of processes. Discussion focuses on how self-organization may occur within constituent elements of a feedback system—the input function, the output function, and goal values being used by the system—and how feedback processes themselves can reflect self-organizing tendencies.
Over the past three decades, industrial/organisational (I/O) research on goals md self-regulation has flourished. Beginning with the seminal work by Locke, Latham, and their colleagues showing the positive influence of difficult and specific goals on task performance, multiple streams of research have emerged to investigate both the determinants and consequences of goals and self-regulation processes on work-related behaviors and outcomes (see, e.g. Locke, Shaw, Saari, & Latham, 1981; Vancouver, 2000, for reviews). In a review of this work, Vancouver and Day (2005) suggest that although organisational researchers have sought evidence for external and criterion-related validity, less attention has been given to the construct and internal validity of key variables and concepts, such as goals, self-efficacy, feedback, discrepancy, and self-efficacy. In a related vein, Vancouver and Day (2005) conclude that although I/O intervention studies based on the goal/self-regulation perspective show generally positive effects, such studies are insufficient for understanding how specific aspects of the goal/self-regulation process relate to enhanced performance. In this short note, I consider these concerns about goal/self-regulation research in I/O psychology from three perspectives: (1) scientific progress, (2) applications, and (3) the goals of I/O research.
The common interpretation of the positive correlation among self-efficacy, personal goals, and performance is questioned. Using self-efficacy theory (A. Bandura, 1977), it was predicted that cross-sectional correlational results were a function of past performance's influence on self-efficacy, and using control theory (W. T. Powers, 1973), it was predicted that self-efficacy could negatively influence subsequent performance. These predictions were supported with 56 undergraduate participants, using a within-person procedure. Personal goals were also positively influenced by self-efficacy and performance but negatively related to subsequent performance. A 2nd study involving 185 undergraduates found that manipulated goal level positively predicted performance and self-efficacy positively predicted performance in the difficult-goal condition. The discussion focuses on conditions likely to affect the sign of the relationship among self-efficacy, goals, and performance.
Six studies explore the role of goal shielding in self-regulation by examining how the activation of focal goals to which the individual is committed inhibits the accessibility of alternative goals. Consistent evidence was found for such goal shielding, and a number of its moderators were identified: Individuals' level of commitment to the focal goal, their degree of anxiety and depression, their need for cognitive closure, and differences in their goal-related tenacity. Moreover, inhibition of alternative goals was found to be more pronounced when they serve the same overarching purpose as the focal goal, but lessened when the alternative goals facilitate focal goal attainment. Finally, goal shielding was shown to have beneficial consequences for goal pursuit and attainment.
The purpose of this study is to examine the mechanisms by which personality traits influence performance and satisfaction. Specifically, the authors examined how 3 personality characteristics derived from self-determination theory (autonomy, control, and amotivated orientations) influence performance and enjoyment through achievement goal patterns, goal level, and mental focus. Data were collected from 284 students at 5 points in time. In particular, mental focus emerged as an important aspect of the self-regulation process. The results suggest that global personality traits can help researchers to understand and predict the motivational strategies that people use while working toward goals in achievement settings.
Control theories claim that information about performance is often used by multiple goal systems. A proposition tested here was that performance information can create discrepancies in self-concept goals, directing cognitive resources away from the task goal system. To manipulate performance information, 160 undergraduates were given false positive or false negative normative feedback while working on a task that did or did not require substantial cognitive resources. Half of the participants were then given an opportunity to reaffirm their self-concepts following feedback, whereas half were not. Feedback sign positively related to performance only for those working on the cognitively intense task and not given a chance to reaffirm. Otherwise, feedback sign was negatively related to performance, albeit weakly.
A longstanding debate has recently re-erupted in the self-regulation literature around the concept of self-efficacy. This article presents an argument that the debate emerges from a lack of understanding of the history of control theories within both the social and physical sciences and the various levels of explanation to which phenomena can be subjected. This history, coupled with the issues of determinism, materialism, and empiricism evoked by the deeper level of explanation that some versions of control theory provide, has led some critics to misapply nonpsychological properties to control theories and obscure their usefulness. Here, the usefulness of a deeper control theory level of explanation is illustrated using comparisons with explanations found in goal-setting theory and social cognitive theory.
This research focused on the processes individuals use to regulate their goals across time. Two studies examined goal regulation following task performance with 6 samples of participants in a series of 8-trial task performance experiments. The experiments involved: (a) 3 task types, (b) 2 goal types, and (c) actual or manipulated performance feedback referring to the focal participant's own performance or to the participant's performance compared with others' performance. Applying multilevel methods, the authors examined (a) how performance feedback influences subsequent goals within individuals across both negative and positive performance feedback ranges, and (b) the mediating role of affect in explaining the relationship between feedback and subsequent goal setting. Results showed that participants adjusted their goals downwardly following negative feedback and created positive goal-performance discrepancies by raising their goals following positive feedback. In each sample, affect mediated substantial proportions of the feedback-goals relationship within individuals.
This study examined how perceived position and velocity regarding approach and avoidance in romantic relationships relate to affective experiences. The authors hypothesized that perceived progress toward intimacy would predict positive affect and that perceived movement toward conflict would predict anxious affect. Ninety-two romantic couples recorded perceived levels of, and perceived changes in, both intimacy and conflict twice daily throughout 10 consecutive days using electronic palm-top devices. Multilevel modeling demonstrated that perceived increase in intimacy related to positive affect above and beyond perceptions of intimacy, conflict, and changes in conflict, for both male and female partners. Perceived increase in conflict related to anxious affect above and beyond perceptions of conflict, intimacy, and changes in intimacy, but only among male partners. Findings support a dual-process view of these feelings in romantic relationships and suggest that increases in positive feelings in close relationships depend on enhancing intimacy rather than on decreasing conflict.
In 1994, R. G. Lord and P. E. Levy proposed a variant of control theory that incorporated human information processing principles. The current article evaluates the empirical evidence for their propositions and updates the theory by considering contemporary research on information processing. Considerable support drawing from diverse literatures was found for propositions concerning the activation of goal-relevant information, the inhibition of goal-irrelevant information, and the consequences of goal completion. These effects were verified by meta-analytic analyses, which also supported the meaningfulness of such effects on the basis of their unstandardized magnitudes. The authors conclude by proposing new directions for this version of control theory by invoking recent theorizing on goal emergence and the importance of velocity and acceleration information for goal striving and by reviewing research in cognitive neuroscience.
The authors conducted 2 studies of subconscious goal motivation. First, the authors ran a pilot study to establish the effects of priming of subconscious goals on a performance task frequently used in goal setting research. Second, the authors conducted the main study in which the authors examined the effects of both priming of subconscious goals and assigned conscious goals on the same performance task. The authors found significant main effects of both manipulations and a significant interaction between subconscious and conscious goals. The effects of conscious difficult and do-best goals were enhanced by subconscious goals, although conscious easy goals were not affected. All effects from the main study still held after 1 day.
Working memory is currently a 'hot' topic in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Because of their radically different scopes and emphases, however, comparing different models and theories and understanding how they relate to one another has been a difficult task. This volume offers a much-needed forum for systematically comparing and contrasting existing models of working memory. It does so by asking each contributor to address the same comprehensive set of important theoretical questions on working memory. The answers to these questions provided in the volume elucidate the emerging general consensus on the nature of working memory among different theorists and crystallize incompatible theoretical claims that must be resolved in future research. As such, this volume serves not only as a milestone that documents the state-of-the-art in the field but also as a theoretical guidebook that will likely promote new lines of research and more precise and comprehensive models of working memory.
This book presents a thorough overview of a model of human functioning based on the idea that behavior is goal-directed and regulated by feedback control processes. It describes feedback processes and their application to behavior, considers goals and the idea that goals are organized hierarchically, examines affect as deriving from a different kind of feedback process, and analyzes how success expectancies influence whether people keep trying to attain goals or disengage. Later sections consider a series of emerging themes, including dynamic systems as a model for shifting among goals, catastrophe theory as a model for persistence, and the question of whether behavior is controlled or instead 'emerges'. Three chapters consider the implications of these various ideas for understanding maladaptive behavior, and the closing chapter asks whether goals are a necessity of life. Throughout, theory is presented in the context of diverse issues that link the theory to other literatures.
Six studies explore the role of goal shielding in self-regulation:by examining how the activation of focal goals to which the individual is committed inhibits the accessibility, of alternative goals. Consistent evidence was found for such goal shielding, and a number of its moderators were identified: Individuals' level of commitment to the focal goal, their degree of anxiety and depression, their need for cognitive closure, and differences in their goal-related tenacity. Moreover, inhibition of alternative goals was found to be, more pronounced when they serve the same overarching purpose as the focal goal, but lessened when the alternative goals facilitate focal goal attainment. Finally; goal shielding was shown to have beneficial consequences for goal pursuit and attainment.
This chapter explores the mechanisms underlying motivation and self-regulation from a functional-design perspective. Traditional approaches emphasize the mediating role of beliefs and other cognitive contents. An example of this approach is classical expectancy–value theory according to which a student's motivation to invest time and effort depends on his or her expectation of success and on the perceived value of good achievement. Learned helplessness is a practical example that illustrates the difference between content-based and functional explanations: After exposure to uncontrollable failure, many people lose their motivation and show impaired performance just as depressed patients do in response to adverse life conditions. According to traditional theorizing, those motivational and cognitive deficits are attributable to negative beliefs, such as pessimistic beliefs about one's own abilities. In contrast, according to a functional account, pessimistic beliefs and motivational deficits are consequences rather than causes of performance deficits that occur when people are confronted with uncontrollable failure: Experimental evidence shows that generalized pessimistic control beliefs typically occur after, not before, people develop symptoms of helplessness and depression. According to these findings, learned helplessness and depression cannot be remedied through making people believe in their abilities as attempted in cognitive therapy until one has established the necessary abilities. Specifying the mechanisms that underlie self-regulatory abilities is the target of functional approaches to self-regulation.
Social scientists have found that satisfaction with an outcome is positively related not just to the position (i.e., actual level) of the outcome, but also to the displacement (i.e., directional difference) between the current level and a reference level. Extending the displacement notion, the present research hypothesized that satisfaction is positively related to the velocity (i.e., rate) at which the outcome changes over time, and tested this hypothesis by using hypothetical outcomes presented in questionnaires (Study 1) and displayed on a computer screen (Study 2). Results from both studies supported the hypothesis. The findings are discussed with regard to their implications for a formal model of the outcome-satisfaction relationship and for a dynamic analysis of human behavior.
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It is believed that behavior is goal directed and feedback controlled, and that the goals underlying behavior form a hierarchy of abstractness. In thinking about the structure of self-regulation, one draws on ideas from disparate sources. The focus on goals that translate into behavior is very much in line with a growing reemergence of goal constructs. A variety of labels are used in this chapter: for example, current concern, personal strivings, life task, and personal project. In all these theories, there is room for individualization; that is, a life task can be achieved in many ways. People choose paths that are compatible with other aspects of their life situations and other aspects of their personalities. Two goal constructs that differ somewhat from those named thus far are the possible self and the self-guide. These constructs are intended to bring a dynamic quality to conceptualization of the self-concept. In contrast to traditional views, but consistent with other goal frameworks, possible selves are future oriented. They concern how people think of their unrealized potential, the kind of person they might become. Self-guides similarly reflect dynamic aspects of the self-concept.
To encourage the use of computational modeling in organizational behavior research, an example computational model is developed and rigorous tests of it presented. Specifically, a computational model based on control theory was created to test the theory’s explanation of the goal-level effect (e.g., higher goals lead to higher performance). Data from simulations of the model were compared with the behavior of 32 undergraduate students performing a scheduling task under various within-subject manipulations and across time. Correlational analyses indicated that the model accounted for most of the participants’data, with coefficients between the model and each participant’s behavior mostly in the high 90s.
Satisfaction N~ith n desired outcome depends both on it.sposition li.e., the actual value of the outcomel and on it.svelocityli.e.,the change in the slue) .In u yrre.stionncrire .study,sve in- vesti,~>ated _/iuuorsthat in/lnetrceNre rel- ative x~eikhtinyof position crud relocitr In satisfawtion and found that the rela- tive weight of relocity loomed larker x~hen the outcome was lu) framed in terms of change Iratl:er than in terms of overall position),Ibl related to corr.snnt- mutory (rather than instrumental) be- haviors, or Ic)internally(rather than ex- ternally) controlled . Tlre findings .srrk- kest that the relative importance of position and velocity in satisfactionvar- ies,dependink on the condition and na- ture of the outcome .
The task performance-satisfaction relationship was examined from a control- theory perspective. We hypothesized that performance and satisfaction would be more highly related when goals were used as predictors than when per- formance alone was used to predict satisfaction, because goal-performance discrepancies rather than absolute performance should affect satisfaction. To test this hypothesis, data from two studies were analyzed using hierarchical regression analyses. Results strongly support the hypothesis, showing that performance and satisfaction are strongly related in a positive manner when goal level is considered. Practical implications and the extension of this ap- proach to understanding satisfaction with other job facets were discussed.
This chapter defends the view that for effective self-regulation to develop, students should be allowed to work in a learning context in which they can create their own learning episodes according to their own goals. Self-regulation is a system concept that refers to the overall management of one's behavior through interactive processes between different control systems: attention, metacognition, motivation, emotion, action, and volition control. A central message throughout the chapter is that self-regulated learning (SRL) is not a unitary construct. Rather, it is presented as a generic term used for a number of phenomena, each of which is captured by a different control system. The chapter argues that identification, interpretation, and appraisal processes are the gateways to self-regulation. In light of present conceptualizations of goal processes, the model of adaptable learning was extended to include an identification process, two interpretation processes (task-focused interpretation and self-focused interpretation), and primary and secondary appraisal processes.
Adopting a control theory framework, the authors tested a dynamic perspective which suggests that satisfaction and motivation during goal-striving depends not only on discrepancies (i.e., differences between current and desired states) but also on velocities (i.e., rates at which discrepancies change over time). Two studies with different approaches and methodologies were conducted and support was found for the primary hypothesis that velocity information predicts affective and cognitive reactions incremental to discrepancy information. In addition, a Discrepancy × Velocity interaction influenced task satisfaction, success expectancy, and goal commitment. Results are discussed in relation to the broader context of self-regulation.
Flow is a state of peak enjoyment, energetic focus, and creative concentration experienced by people engaged in adult play, which has become the basis of a highly creative approach to living. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This chapter introduces basic issues of self-regulation, including goal setting, goal hierarchy, goal conflict, and regulatory processes, based on M. E. Ford's motivational system theory. The health behavior goal (HBG) model is then described, which incorporates both self-regulation constructs and predictors from earlier health behavior models. The HBG model (1) assumes that goal approximation is influenced at all stages by the personal goal structure of the individual, (2) includes predictors from the health behavior change models, (3) differentiates between health- and affect-related cognitions, and (4) represents a process of change that takes into account personal and environmental sources. As such, the HBG model integrates aspects of expectancy–value, stage, and goal theories. Empirical evidence in the domain of exercise behavior and smoking is briefly reported to illustrate the application of the model. Finally, conclusions and directions for future research are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
La littérature sur l’autorégulation est couramment accusée de faiblesse théorique. Il est possible que les avancées dans les recherches sur la personnalité puissent ouvrir des horizons dans ce secteur. Notre objectif est double. Nous rappelons d’abord des distinctions conceptuelles qui, bien que parfois négligées, sont essentielles dans les études contemporaines sur la personnalité et incontournables pour accéder au niveau théorique dans la littérature sur l’autorégulation. Nous disons ensuite que ceux qui font des études fondamentales et appliquées sur l’autorégulation auraient intérêt à assimiler les progrès récents concernant la dynamique et la structure de la personnalité intra-individuelle. Nous passons en revue la théorie de base et les recherches sur l’architecture des systèmes de la personnalité intra-individuelle, ainsi que les retombées de ce travail dans trois domaines d’application: la psychologie du travail/industrielle/organisationnelle, la psychologie clinique et la santé.
The self-regulation literature commonly is said to lack theoretical order. This paper explores the possibility that advances in personality science may foster clarity in this literature. Our goals are two-fold. We remind readers of conceptual distinctions that are central to contemporary personality science, that are necessary to the attainment of theoretical order in the self-regulation literature, yet that sometimes are overlooked. Secondly, we suggest that basic and applied students of self-regulation would profit by capitalising on recent advances in personality science that explore intra-individual personality structure and dynamics. We review theory and research on the architecture of intra-individual personality systems and applications of this work to three domains: health, clinical, and work/industrial/organisation psychology.
The self-regulation perspective is currently well received in the industrial and organisational psychology literature. Theoretical and empirical work span processes ranging from organisation entry to exit and reentry. Key self-regulation constructs and interventions in work contexts are reviewed with a focus on construct and internal validity. Some constructs, such as self-efficacy and goal commitment, have received substantial psychometric attention and seem important targets for interventions. Nonetheless, potentially unwarranted assumptions remain regarding these constructs. Other constructs, particularly feedback and discrepancy, have acquired substantially different meanings within the self-regulation literature that inhibit understanding and communication among scholars and practitioners. Interventions based on self-regulatory principles have been developed, and rigorous tests of these interventions have been conducted. These interventions were found to influence a range of organisationally relevant outcomes such as increasing performance and reducing absenteeism. Unfortunately, studies of comprehensive interventions are rare and often lacked controls, making it difficult to draw conclusions regarding what aspects of the interventions are causally relevant. Discussion focuses on the gaps in the field's knowledge and understanding regarding self-regulatory processes in organisational settings and how the field might attempt to fill those gaps.
Behavior as Goal Directed and Feedback ControlledRelated Motivation-Emotion ModelsConfronting AdversityScaling Back Aspirations and Recalibration of the Affect SystemRestraint and ConflictConcluding Comment
Cet article rapproche des réflexions récentes tirées des sciences de la cognition, du contrôle de l'action et de la théorie du contrôle pour montrer que des mécanismes connectionnistes reliés à l'activation et à l'inhibition participent à la sélection de l'information indispensable à l'orientation des comportements et à la continuité de la pensée. Nous rapprochons la notion de contrôle de processus dans l'architecture cognitive humaine de la volition et des différences individuelles dans les capacités d'attention sélective. Nous montrons également qu'un tel système est reliéà la motivation, aux théories de l'action, à l'apprentissage, à l'affectivité et à diverses données relevant des applications. Cette conceptualisation de la théorie du contrôle permet de réduire le hiatus entre la cognition et l'action grâce à des boucles de contrôle hiérarchisées. Nous notons cependant que le contrôle hiérarchique de sommet à la base doit être associéà un contrôle réversible et divergent pour que les systèmes puissent survivre ou s'adapter à des environnements changeants.
This paper integrates recent thinking from cognitive science, action control, and control theory to show that connectionist level mechanisms related to activation and inhibition help select the information needed to guide actions and provide continuity in thoughts. We integrate the notion of process control in the human cognitive architecture with issues of volition and individual differences in selective attention capacities. We also show how such a system relates to motivation, action theories, learning, affect, and several applied issues. This conceptualisation of control theory helps bridge the gap between cognition and action through hierarchically organised control loops. However, we note that top-down hierarchical control must be coupled with discrepancy-based bottom-up control for systems to survive or adjust to changing environments.
L’autorégulation peut être définie comme un processus d’orientation vers un objectif visant l’atteinte et le suivi de buts personnels. Dans cet article, on distingue trois phases dans ce processus: 1) le choix d’un objectif, l’organisation et la représentation/interprétation; 2) la poursuite active du but; 3) l’atteinte et le suivi ou, au moment opportun, l’abandon du but. Ces trois phases servent de fil conducteur à ce texte. On présente pour chaque phase des outils d’évaluation et des interventions. L’article se termine par la description d’orientations pour de futures recherches concernant l’évaluation de l’autorégulation et les interventions, en retenant quinze principes d’intervention qui peuvent être exploités comme régles générales pour la mise en œuvre d’interventions dans la prise en charge des maladies chroniques et le développement d’une politique de santé.
Self-regulation can be defined as a goal-guidance process aimed at the attainment and maintenance of personal goals. In this article three phases are distinguished in this process: (a) goal selection, setting and construal/representation; (b) active goal pursuit; and (c) goal attainment and maintenance or, when appropriate, goal disengagement. These phases are used as a structure for the present review. For each phase, assessment instruments and interventions are described. The article concludes with directions for future research concerning self-regulation assessment and interventions, including 15 intervention principles which can be used as rules of thumb for the development of interventions in chronic illness management and in health promotion.
There is no simple and straightforward definition of the construct of self-regulated learning. Theorists in educational psychology have narrowed the scope of students' capability to self-regulate through a focus on the academic side of education, namely on learning and achievement goals. However, the messy world of classroom learning creates a situation in which different goals compete for students' attention. Boekaerts' dual processing self-regulation model describes how learning goals interact with well-being goals. We propose that when students have access to well-refined volitional strategies manifested as good work habits, they are more likely to invest effort in learning and get off the well-being track when a Stressor blocks learning. Shifting definitions of SRL have led to changing measurement procedures; researchers moved away from decontextualised measures of SRL to domain-specific measures and then on to context-sensitive measures. The validity and reliability of the first generation of SR assessment has been limited and several issues remain. Recently, researchers have designed assessment packages including new instruments that better capture self-regulation as a process (including for example traces of mental events, situational manipulations, and records of student work strategies). A combination of instruments is preferable over a single instrument for assessing self-regulation as a process and the effects of interventions to improve students' self-regulatory capacity. At present, many sound SRL interventions exist and some general lessons can be learned about classroom intervention research.
An experiment tested a model in which affect reflects rate of movement (velocity) toward one's behavioral goal. Participants responded to an ambiguous task and received false feedback regarding their performance. The pattern of feedback either remained fairly constant at 50% correct, went from low incidence of correct to 50% correct across trials, or went from high incidence of correct to 50% correct across trials. Self-reported mood change (from before the task to the point at which all groups received 50% correct) took the following pattern: Participants moving from frequent correct to 50% correct (low velocity) changed to less positive mood, whereas those moving from infrequent correct to 50% correct (high velocity) tended to change to more positive mood. Discussion centers on convergence between these findings and those of previous research.
In organizational research, difference scores and profile similarity indices are often used as dependent variables in studies predicting the congruence (i.e., fit, match, similarity, agreement) between two constructs. Unfortunately, this practice introduces serious conceptual and methodological problems that render results ambiguous and potentially misleading. This article proposes an alternative procedure that avoids these problems but fully captures the effects of one or more independent variables on the congruence between two dependent variables. This procedure is illustrated by reanalyzing data from a study of feedback seeking and rating accuracy (Ashford & Tsui, 1991), and the results of this study are reinterpreted in light of these analyses. Limitations and areas for further development of the procedure are discussed.
Most of the research on goal setting has focused on the relationship between goals and subsequent performance. Much less research has been directed at explaining why goal setting works or at integrating it with other motivational theories. In this paper a control systems model of motivation is developed in which a goal is considered a referent or desired state to which performance is compared. Any discrepancy (error) between goals and performance creates a corrective motivation. Predictions based on this model are tested in a classroom situation using a longitudinal research design involving 188 college students. Results support many aspects of the proposed model. It is concluded that goal setting should be viewed as a dynamic process in which both self-set goals and environmental feedback are incorporated into a system that monitors performance relative to a desired state and adjusts subsequent goals, behaviors, and strategies.
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▪ Abstract Episodic memory is a neurocognitive (brain/mind) system, uniquely different from other memory systems, that enables human beings to remember past experiences. The notion of episodic memory was first proposed some 30 years ago. At that time it was defined in terms of materials and tasks. It was subsequently refined and elaborated in terms of ideas such as self, subjective time, and autonoetic consciousness. This chapter provides a brief history of the concept of episodic memory, describes how it has changed (indeed greatly changed) since its inception, considers criticisms of it, and then discusses supporting evidence provided by (a) neuropsychological studies of patterns of memory impairment caused by brain damage, and (b) functional neuroimaging studies of patterns of brain activity of normal subjects engaged in various memory tasks. I also suggest that episodic memory is a true, even if as yet generally unappreciated, marvel of nature.
Although hundreds of studies have found a positive relationship between self-efficacy and performance, several studies have found a negative relationship when the analysis is done across time (repeated measures) rather than across individuals. W. T. Powers (1991) predicted this negative relationship based on perceptual control theory. Here, 2 studies are presented to (a) confirm the causal role of self-efficacy and (b) substantiate the explanation. In Study 1, self-efficacy was manipulated for 43 of 87 undergraduates on an analytic game. The manipulation was negatively related to performance on the next trial. In Study 2, 104 undergraduates played the analytic game and reported self-efficacy between each game and confidence in the degree to which they had assessed previous feedback. As expected, self-efficacy led to overconfidence and hence increased the likelihood of committing logic errors during the game.