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Toward a clarification of the effects of achievement goals

Authors:
Céline Darnon at University of Clermont Auvergne
Céline Darnon
Fabrizio Butera at University of Lausanne
Fabrizio Butera
Judith M Harackiewicz at University of Wisconsin–Madison
Judith M Harackiewicz
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REVUE INTERNATIONALE DE PSYCHOLOGIE SOCIALE - INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
N° 1-2 2008
REVUE INTERNATIONALE
GDMEI
PSYCHOLOGIE SOCIALE
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW
GOMFI
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
GL
GLT
REVUE INTERNATIONALE
GDMEI
PSYCHOLOGIE SOCIALE
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW
GOMFI
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
GL
GLI
Numéro spécial: Vers un clarification des effets des buts
d’accomplissement
Special Issue: Toward a clarification of the effects of achievement goals
Sous la direction de/Guest Editors: Céline Darnon, Fabrizio Butera &
Judith M. Harackiewicz
2008
Presses universitaires de Grenoble ISSN 0992-986X
BP 47 – 38040 Grenoble Cedex 9 ISBN 978-2-7061-1492-2
Revue trimestrielle
Tome 21 - N° 1-2
9 782706 114922
SOMMAIRE/ CONTENT
Toward a clarification of the effects 55Céline Darnon
of achievement goals Fabrizio Butera
Judith M. Harackiewicz
When are Achievement Goal Orientations 1
199Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia
Beneficial for Academic Achievement? A Closer Diana F. Tyson
Look at Main Effects and Moderating Factors Erika A. Patall
Achievement Goal Systems: 7
711Shawn Bodmann
An Application of Goal Systems Theory Chris S. Hulleman
to Achievement Goal Research Judith M. Harackiewicz
On Goals and Strategies: How a Fit between 9
977Lennart J. Renkema
Performance Goals and Regulatory Strategies Nico W. Van Yperen
Affects Performance
Prospective Relations between 2 3 2 1
10099David E. Conroy
Achievement Goals and the Quality Camille M. Cassidy
of Sport Training Andrew J. Elliot
Mastery Goals and Contingent Self-Worth: 1
13355Yu Niiya
A Field Study Jennifer Crocker
Achievement Goals and Academic Cheating 1
15577Eric M. Anderman
Fred Danner
Academic Achievement Goal Structures and 1
18833Inbal Tossman
Young Adolescents’ Biased Preferences for Peers Avi Kaplan
as Cooperation Partners: A Longitudinal Study Avi Assor
Forced Choice Versus Open-Ended Assessments 2
21199Georgios D. Sideridis
of Goal Orientations: A Descriptive Study Athanasios Mouratidis
Achievement Goals and Social Judgment: 2
24499Benoit Dompnier
The Performance-Approach Goals Paradox Céline Darnon
Florian Delmas
Fabrizio Butera
Couv. RIPS 1-2008:Couv. RIPS 4-2007 30/06/08 10:29 Page 1
... Students committed with mastery goals focus on achievement activity per se, which in turn increases their sense of task controllability that predicts a positive subjective valuation of the task (see Sommet & Elliot, 2017, for a review). On the other hand, though these goals are assumed to enhance meta-cognitive strategies that should be beneficial for learning process and understanding the content of material, researchers struggled a great deal to establish whether or not they are actually beneficial for achievement itself (e.g., Darnon, Butera, & Harackiewicz, 2008;Harackiewicz et al., 1997;Linnenbrink-Garcia, Tyson, & Patall, 2011). Such inconsistency gave raise to some interesting and compelling explanations to account for such a discrepancy (Brophy, 2005;Senko & Miles, 2008). ...
... In sum, what might have appeared before like subtle nuance worthy of interest only for theorists and pedants alike plays a substantial role in performance goals' predictive validity on a plethora of outcomes. Importantly, the distinction between appearance and normative performance goals is likely to explain to a substantial degree why research produced so many inconsistent and contradictory findings over the past dozens of years regarding the effects of pursuing these goals (see Darnon et al., 2008;Hulleman & Senko, 2010;Senko & Dawson, 2017;Senko et al., 2011). ...
... Let alone their evidential value for the goal complex approach, these findings contribute substantially to solving some long-standing debates and controversies surrounding performance-approach goals. First, they contribute to accounting for the discrepancies the field has experienced when assessing the effects of these goals (e.g., Darnon et al., 2008;Senko, 2016;Senko et al., 2011): not only the distinction between appearance versus normative goals matters, but also the reasons for which individuals pursue them. On top of that, these findings also help to explain the divergence between the conclusions usually reached with correlational designs (i.e. ...
On “why” and “how” of competitive achievement goals: Toward a social psychological understanding of performance goals’ effects on achievement
Thesis
Full-text available
  • Mar 2019
Drawing from achievement goal theory, this thesis investigates the relationship between the pursuit of performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals and cognitive and academic achievement. Building on a social psychology perspective to achievement goals, the present research proposes to investigate how social value reasons underlying goal endorsement and regulatory focus shape the performance goals’ effects on students’ achievement. Across four lines of research involving 11 studies conducted in Switzerland, France, Belgium and the United States, we assessed the link between performance goals and achievement using four predictive models. The 1st line of research failed to replicate the traditional unconditional positive and negative effects of performance goals on achievement. The 2nd line of research provided strong evidence that endorsing performance-avoidance goals for social utility reasons (i.e. for genuine learning purposes) increased the negative impact of these goals on achievement. Some evidence was also found to suggest that social desirability reasons behind performance-avoidance goals reduce their negative impact on achievement. In the 3rd line of research, performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals’ effects on achievement varied as a function of regulatory focus. Pursuing the former was found to predict higher achievement when students were dominantly oriented toward promotion than prevention focus, while pursuing the latter predicted higher achievement when students were dominantly oriented toward prevention than promotion focus. Finally, the 4th line of research found some first evidence supporting the relevance of integrating both social utility reasons and regulatory focus moderators under a common framework. This thesis contributes to advance current debates on the role played by reasons underlying achievement goal pursuit and on the context of validity of some core predictions of achievement goal theory.
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... Cela suggère qu'un feedback proposant une évaluation de la progression de l'apprenant peut le conduire vers une orientation de maîtrise et donc une meilleure autorégulation de l'apprentissage. À l'inverse, un feedback proposant une évaluation basée sur la comparaison sociale peut le conduire vers une orientation de performance et donc une moins bonne autorégulation.Toutefois, bien que les effets positifs des buts de maîtrise et les effets négatifs des buts de performance aient fait consensus durant plusieurs années, cette conception est remise en cause et débattue dans la littérature depuis le début des années 2000(Darnon et al., 2008). ...
... Il s'agit pour l'étudiant d'apprendre l'ensemble des contenus, puis de démontrer ses compétences lors de l'examen en obtenant une note élevée. Cela est d'autant plus vrai que les facteurs contextuels universitaires, à travers le processus de sélection et les classements, favorisent l'adoption de buts de performance et orientent les étudiants vers la démonstration des compétences(Darnon et al., 2008). De même, un chercheur ou un doctorant tentera de maîtriser l'ensemble de la 134 littérature portant sur son sujet d'étude souvent dans l'optique d'être performant lors de la présentation de son travail ou en publiant beaucoup d'articles.On peut alors se demander, commeHarackiewicz et ses collègues (2002), si des feedbacks centrés à la fois sur le progrès personnel et la performance normative ne seraient pas plus bénéfiques à l'autorégulation de l'apprentissage et à la performance académique que des feedbacks centrés uniquement sur l'un ou l'autre critère d'évaluation ? ...
Motivation et apprentissage autorégulé en formation à distance : quel type de feedback fournir ?
Thesis
  • Sep 2021
L’auto-évaluation est un processus essentiel de l’autorégulation permettant à l’apprenant de détecter l’écart entre l’état actuel de ses connaissances et l’état souhaité. Le produit de cette estimation lui permet de prendre la décision de poursuivre ou non son activité, mais aussi de la réguler ou non. Cependant, la littérature sur le sujet démontre que cette auto évaluation est souvent imprécise. Ainsi, les apprenants ne s’autorégulent pas efficacement et ont besoin d’un feedback externe. Fournir à l’apprenant un feedback évaluant son travail peut alors devenir un « outil puissant » pour promouvoir un apprentissage autorégulé de qualité et favoriser les performances académiques. Toutefois, le contenu d’un feedback est susceptible d’influencer l’autorégulation notamment en modifiant l’orientation des buts d’un apprenant. Aussi, l’objectif de ce travail est de déterminer quel contenu est le plus à même de favoriser la motivation, l’autorégulation et la performance dans un dispositif écologique d’entraînement en ligne. Nous avons réalisé trois études pour mener à bien cet objectif. La première étude visait à valider la traduction française d’un questionnaire évaluant les stratégies d’autorégulation misent en œuvre dans des environnements d’apprentissage en ligne et hybride, l’OSLQ. La seconde étude visait la validation de la traduction française d’un questionnaire mesurant les buts d’accomplissement, l’AGQ-R. Enfin, l’objectif de la troisième étude était de tester différents types de feedback à fournir aux apprenants pour favoriser la motivation, l’autorégulation de l’apprentissage et la performance académique. Plus précisément, nous avons comparé l’effet de trois types de feedbacks (classique, autoréférencés, à la fois autoréférencés et normatif) sur la performance à l’examen, les stratégies d’autorégulation auto-rapportées et tracées ainsi que sur l’orientation des buts dans le cadre d’un enseignement à distance.Les résultats de l’étude 1 indiquent que le modèle à trois facteurs que nous proposons s’ajuste mieux à nos données que les deux autres modèles testés. Les qualités psychométriques de l’OSLQ-Fr sont satisfaisantes pour la validité interne mais peuvent être améliorées pour la validité externe. Cette traduction a été utilisée dans l’étude 3 et se compose de trois sous-échelles évaluant les compétences de planification, de gestion de l’environnement et d’autoréflexion.Pour l’étude 2, les résultats montrent que le modèle à trois facteurs que nous proposons s’ajuste mieux à nos données que les sept autres modèles testés. De plus, les qualités psychométriques de l’AGQ-R-Fr sont satisfaisantes en termes de validité interne et externe. Cette traduction a été utilisée dans l’étude 3 et mesure les buts de maîtrise-approche, les buts de performance-approche et les buts de performance-évitement. Enfin, les résultats de l’étude 3, contrairement à nos attentes, ne montrent pas d’effet du type de feedback sur la performance à l’examen, ni sur les comportements autorégulés. Toutefois, bien que les buts de maîtrise des apprenants chutent dans le temps, seule la condition proposant un feedback autoréférencé semble réduire cette baisse. Les analyses supplémentaires montrent un écart de trois points entre la moyenne obtenue à l’examen en faveur des utilisateurs du dispositif d’entrainement comparativement aux autres étudiants.Ces résultats suggèrent que modifier le contenu d’un feedback, dans un contexte d’entraînement en ligne, n’est peut-être pas suffisant pour influencer l’orientation des buts, l’autorégulation de l’apprentissage et la performance académique. Néanmoins, l’étude 3 laisse penser qu’un dispositif d’entraînement en ligne conçu en s’appuyant sur la théorie de l’apprentissage multimédia et proposant des supports à la régulation peut favoriser la performance académique indépendamment du feedback proposé à la fin de l’exercice.
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... Ce faisceau de réponses adaptatives liées au but de maîtrise, pourrait laisser imaginer que le but de maîtrise-approche aurait systématiquement une influence positive sur la performance académique, et, pour les raisons inverses, les buts de performance pourraient être associés à une baisse de cette performance. Les liens entre les buts d'accomplissement et les résultats académiques s'avèrent pourtant assez complexes (Darnon, Butera, & Harackiewicz, 2008 (Harackiewicz, Barron, Tauer, & Elliot, 2002). Dans les deux études, les buts d'approche de la maîtrise prédisent l'intérêt pour la matière mais pas la performance à l'examen et les buts de performance prédisent la performance à l'examen et pas l'intérêt pour la matière. ...
Les facteurs qui influencent la réussite académique dans la filière technologique de l'université française.
Thesis
Full-text available
  • Jul 2017
L'objet de ce travail de thèse est l'exploration des facteurs qui influencent la réussite académique des étudiants (n= 1447) dans les Instituts Universitaires de Technologie (IUT) tout au long des deux années que dure la préparation du diplôme universitaire de technologie (DUT). La réussite dans l'enseignement supérieur en France semble très liée au baccalauréat obtenu et à son niveau deréussite (Duru-Bellat & Kieffer, 2008), les IUT présentent de ce point de vue une double singularité intéressante pour explorer cette question. Comparés aux autres filières de l'Université française, les bacheliers technologiques y sont proportionnellement plus nombreux et y réussissent mieux. Ces instituts sont en cela fidèles à leur rôle institutionnel. Néanmoins, la proportion des bachelierstechnologiques décroît sur le long terme et ils y réussissent moins bien que leurs homologues des baccalauréats généraux.Cette exploration des facteurs de réussite passe par une modélisation statistique de la moyenne de fin de semestre, à la fois intégrative et longitudinale. L'objectif est alors de discerner les facteurs ayant le plus d'influence sur la performance et la progression durant un semestre. Le cadre théorique retenu contient quatre familles de variables. La première rassemble les caractéristiques personnelles des individus lors de leur entrée à l'IUT, la deuxième porte sur leur perception du contexte académique, la troisième et la quatrième sont respectivement constituées de leur motivation et de leur engagement dans l'apprentissage. Ces familles de variables sont introduites par bloc pour la première année suivant un schéma global préétabli.Cette spécification a mis en évidence l'importance du passé scolaire parmi les caractéristiques personnelles en début d'IUT. Dans le contexte académique, l'implication enseignante perçue est la variable la plus influente. Pour la motivation, le Sentiment d'Efficacité Personnel possèdel'influence la plus marquée. Enfin, les dimensions cognitives et comportementales de l'engagement ont émergé avec l'apprentissage en surface et la régulation des ressources disponibles respectivement. Exception faite de l'implication enseignante, les dimensions psychosociales perdent de leur influence au fur et à mesure que le temps passe, phénomène assimilable à une élasticité décroissante de la moyenne avec le temps. Enfin, le constat le plus massif est l'effet des variables du passé scolaire, notamment le type de baccalauréat et la mention. Ces variables ne sont quasiment pas médiatisées par les autres variables sauf s'il s'agit d'indicateurs de la performance académique comme la moyenne d'un semestre par exemple. L'écart en fin de première année entre bacheliers technologiques et scientifiques est très important, il équivaut à environ deux niveaux de mention au baccalauréat. De plus, la progression des bacheliers technologiques s'avère plus difficile que celle des scientifiques au second semestre et l'écart entre ces types de bacheliers tend à diminuer en fin de deuxième année. Même si un surcroît de motivation, une meilleure orientation de l'engagement sont des leviers pour favoriser la réussite des bacheliers technologiques, la grandeur des effets attendus ne permet pas de penser qu'il s'agit de solutions suffisantes pour combler le fossé observé. Cette explication des différences par l'amont, bien que convaincante, n'est toutefois pas suffisante pour expliquer les observations conditionnées aux différents cursus : il semble bien exister des établissements ou des cursus plus ou moins favorables aux bacheliers technologiques.
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... Ce faisceau de réponses adaptatives liées au but de maîtrise, pourrait laisser imaginer que le but de maîtrise-approche aurait systématiquement une influence positive sur la performance académique, et, pour les raisons inverses, les buts de performance pourraient être associés à une baisse de cette performance. Les études récentes (Darnon, Butera, & Harackiewicz, 2008) suggèrent que le lien entre les buts de maîtrise ou de performance et les résultats académiques sont plus complexes. Bon nombre d'études ne font pas de lien positif entre but de maîtrise et performance académique et beaucoup n'établissent pas non plus de lien négatif entre buts de performance et performance académique, certains établissent même un lien positif entre ces deux variables (Huang, 2012). ...
Factors influencing students’ academic success in a technological university course: A freshman year study
Article
  • Jan 2016
Cet article explore les facteurs qui influencent la réussite académique des étudiants (N = 243) dans les Instituts universitaires de technologie au terme de la première année. Le cadre conceptuel retenu intègre trois familles de variables : des variables motivationnelles, des variables comportementales relevant du « métier d’étudiant » et des variables indiquant les trajectoires sociodémographiques et académiques des étudiants. Les résultats montrent un impact positif de la motivation mesurée par le sentiment d’efficacité personnelle et une progression des bacheliers technologiques moins favorable que celle des bacheliers généraux, notamment scientifiques.
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... Ce faisceau de réponses adaptatives liées au but de maîtrise pourrait laisser imaginer que le but de maîtrise-approche aurait systématiquement une influence positive sur la performance académique, et, pour les raisons inverses, les buts de performance pourraient être associés à une baisse de cette performance. Les études récentes (Darnon, Butera, & Harackiewicz, 2008) suggèrent que le lien entre les buts de maîtrise ou de performance et les résultats académiques est plus complexe. Bon nombre d'études ne font pas de lien positif entre but de maîtrise et performance académique et beaucoup n'établissent pas non plus de lien négatif entre buts de performance et performance académique, certains établissent même un lien positif entre ces deux variables (Huang, 2012). ...
Les facteurs qui influencent la réussitedes étudiants dans une filière universitaire technologique : le cas de la première année d’études en DUT GEA
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 2015
This article aims to explore factors influencing students’ (n = 243) academic achievement in the freshman year of a technological university. The framework contains three families of variables: motivational variables, behavioural variables, and variables indicating students’ academic and sociological background. The results show a positive impact of motivation, as measured by self-efficacy, and a lesser performance by students with a technological high school diploma than that of those with a general scientific high school diploma.
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... However, the selection processes through which the students have to go through in their university career implicitly indicate that, in order to succeed, they not only have to improve knowledge but also get better grades than other students. Thus, not only mastery goals but also performance goals are seen by students as effective tools to succeed at university (Darnon et al., 2009; Dompnier et al., 2008). ...
Learning from Conflict
Chapter
Full-text available
  • Jan 2011
Socio-Cognitive ConflictTwo Forms of Conflict RegulationsTwo Goals Predicting Conflict RegulationsTwo Functions of Educational OrganisationsConclusions AcknowledgementsReferences
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نمذجة العلاقات السببية بين التوجهات الهدفية ومعتقدات الكفاءة الذاتية الأكاديمية والتحصيل الدراسي بسلطنة عمان │ Causal Relationship Modeling of achievement goal orientations, academic self-efficacy beliefs and academic achievement in the Sultanate of Oman
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 2021
This study aims to examine the mutual effects between students’ academic self-efficacy beliefs and their achievement goal orientations when both are examined in relation to academic achievement. The sample consisted of 376 tenth-grade students from the Sultanate of Oman. The participants responded to two questionnaires examining academic self-efficacy beliefs and achievement goal orientations. To examine the best model that can explain the direct and indirect effects between the two predicting variables, the researchers utilized the AMOS25 software. The results indicated the existence of reciprocal effects between students’ academic self-efficacy beliefs and their achievement goal orientations in their relationship to academic achievement. Both proposed models obtained good fit indices and both explained relatively equal percentages of variance in academic achievement. That is, the model that had achievement goal orientation as a mediating variable explained 27% of variance in academic achievement. Similar amount of variance (26%) was obtained by the model where academic self-efficacy beliefs acted as a mediator. هدف البحث للكشف عن التأثيرات المتبادلة بين التوجهات الهدفية ومعتقدات الكفاءة الذاتية الأكاديمية في علاقتهما بالتحصيل الدراسي لدى (376) طالبًا وطالبة من طلبة الصف العاشر بسلطنة عمان، والتوصل لأفضل نموذج يفسر التأثيرات المباشرة وغير المباشرة بين المتغيرات الحالية، وباستخدام مقياس معتقدات الكفاءة الذاتية الأكاديمية والتوجهات الهدفية. توصلت النتائج باستخدام برنامج AMOS25 عن وجود تأثيرات تبادلية بين معتقدات الكفاءة الذاتية الأكاديمية والتوجهات الهدفية في علاقتهما بالتحصيل الدراسي، حيث أشارت النتائج إلى أن النموذجين المقترحين قد حقق كل منهما المؤشرات الخاصة بحسن المطابقة، كما بينت النتائج أن نسبة التباين المفسر في التحصيل الدراسي كان متقاربا بين النموذجين؛ إذ تم تفسير 27% من التباين باستخدام التوجهات الهدفية كمتغير وسيط، بينما تم تفسير 26% من التباين في النموذج الذي كانت فيه معتقدات الكفاءة الذاتية الأكاديمية وسيطا.
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Who benefits from mastery-approach and performance-approach goals in college? Students’ social class as a moderator of the link between goals and grade
Article
  • Oct 2017
Although approach forms of achievement goals (mastery and performance goals) have been shown to predict academic achievement in college, recent research underscores that these associations are rather weak and not consistently observed. The present study tests students’ social class (in the present research, generational status) as a moderator of the relationships between both mastery-approach goals and performance-approach goals and final grade. One hundred students (45 first-generation students and 55 continuing-generation students, Mage = 18.9, SD = 1.52) answered an achievement goal scale related to one of their classes at the beginning of the year. Their final grade for this class was obtained three months later. As expected, performance-approach goals positively predicted final grade only for upper-class students, while mastery-approach goals tend to do so for lower-class students, supporting the idea that different kinds of motivation could predict students’ achievement depending on their social class.
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Learning Context and Undergraduate Students’ Needs for Autonomy and Competence, Achievement Motivation and Personal Growth Initiative
Article
Full-text available
  • May 2013
This study aims to identify the learning context (public vs. private university, regular vs. distance programs, year of study) differences and relations between undergraduate university students’ needs for autonomy and competence, achievement motivation and personal growth initiative. The participants in this study were 400 undergraduate university students, from two universities in Bucharest, Romania (a public and a private one), aged 19 to 40 (M = 24.48, SD = 5.926). Data were collected with 3 self-report scales. The research results contribute to the development of an empirical database for a better understanding of nowadays university student populations.
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Revision of achievement goal theory: Necessary and illuminating
Article
Full-text available
  • Sep 2002
C. Midgley et al. (2001) raised important questions about the effects of performance-approach goals. The present authors disagree with their characterization of the research findings and implications for theory. They discuss 3 reasons to revise goal theory: (a) the importance of separating approach from avoidance strivings, (b) the positive potential of performance-approach goals, and (c) identification of the ways performance-approach goals can combine with mastery goals to promote optimal motivation. The authors review theory and research to substantiate their claim that goal theory is in need of revision, and they endorse a multiple goal perspective. The revision of goal theory is underway and offers a more complex, but necessary, perspective on important issues of motivation, learning, and achievement.
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Predicting success in college: A longitudinal study of achievement goals and ability measures as predictors of interest and performance from freshman year through graduation
Article
Full-text available
  • Sep 2002
The authors examined the role of achievement goals, ability, and high school performance in predicting academic success over students' college careers. First, the authors examined which variables predicted students' interest and performance in an introductory psychology course taken their first semester in college. Then, the authors followed students until they graduated to examine continued interest in psychology and performance in subsequent classes. Achievement goals, ability measures, and prior high school performance each contributed unique variance in predicting initial and long-term outcomes, but these predictors were linked to different educational outcomes. Mastery goals predicted continued interest, whereas performance-approach goals predicted performance. Ability measures and prior high school performance predicted academic performance but not interest. The findings support a multiple goals perspective.
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Short-term and Long-term Consequences of Achievement Goals: Predicting Interest and Performance over Time
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 2000
Why do some students excel in their college classes and develop interest in an academic discipline? The authors examined both the short-term and long-term consequences of students' achievement goals in an introductory psychology course. Mastery goals positively predicted subsequent interest in the course, but not course grades. Performance goals positively predicted grades, but not interest. Three semesters later, the authors obtained measures of continued interest in the discipline and long-term performance. Mastery goals predicted subsequent enrollment in psychology courses, whereas performance goals predicted long-term academic performance. These positive and complementary effects of mastery and performance goals on different measures of academic success are consistent with a multiple-goals perspective in which both goals can have beneficial consequences in college education.
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Achievement goals and optimal motivation: Testing multiple goal models
Article
Full-text available
Currently, there is a debate about which types of achievement goals promote optimal motivation. A number of theorists argue for a mastery goal perspective focusing on the adaptive consequences of mastery goals and the maladaptive consequences of performance goals. Others endorse a multiple goal perspective in which both mastery and performance goals can be beneficial. The purpose of the present investigation was to review why this debate has emerged and to offer a comprehensive test of the mastery vs. multiple goal perspectives. In Study 1, a correlational approach was employed to identify the optimal goals for college participants to adopt for a learning activity. In Study 2, an experimental approach was employed to identify the optimal goals to assign for the same activity. Each study revealed benefits of both mastery and performance goals, providing support for the multiple goal perspective.
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Achievement goals and optimal motivation
Chapter
Full-text available
  • Dec 2000
This chapter addresses the question of optimal motivation using an achievement goal approach. In general, goals can be defined as cognitive representations of what is hoped to be accomplished, and they give direction and energy to behavior. They also can vary in their level of specificity, ranging from concrete and task-specific goals to more general and broad goals. One particular class of goals, achievement goals, has emerged as the dominant framework for studying achievement motivation. Achievement goals reflect the purpose or reason for an individual's achievement pursuits in a particular situation, and theorists have converged on two general types of achievement goals. The chapter also reviews experimental work that reveals some of the conditions under which performance goals promote intrinsic motivation, as well as correlational work that reveals a positive association between performance goals and academic performance. Achievement goal theorists have reexamined the performance goal construct and argued that it confounds theoretically distinct components. The chapter describes a theoretical model that has guided experimental work on this topic and then presents experimental results that support the model. Following this, it presents some of the recent correlational work in classroom settings. The chapter then demonstrates how the findings, whether experimental or correlational, support a multiple goal perspective rather than the mastery goal perspective. Finally, it describes a set of studies designed to bridge existing experimental and correlational work and outlines four ways in which mastery and performance goals can work in concert to promote optimal motivation.
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Perceptions of classroom environment, achievement goals, and achievement outcomes
Article
  • Mar 2001
Two studies examined the relationship between undergraduates' perceptions of their classroom environment, their adoption of achievement goals for the course, and their graded performance and intrinsic motivation. Results revealed a distinct antecedent profile for each goal in the trichotomous framework: Mastery goals were linked to the presence of lecture engagement and the absence of an evaluation focus and harsh evaluation, performance-approach goals were linked to the presence of evaluation focus, and performance-avoidance goals were linked to the presence of evaluation focus and harsh evaluation. When the perceived classroom environment and achievement goal variables were tested together as predictors of graded performance and intrinsic motivation, the results clearly demonstrated that the influence of the perceived classroom environment on these outcomes measures was indirect; the perceived classroom environment influenced achievement goal adoption, and achievement goal adoption, in turn, directly influenced graded performance and intrinsic motivation.
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Mastery goals and contingent self-worth: A field study
Article
  • Jan 2008
Academic failure lowers self-esteem among students whose self-esteem is contingent on academics; laboratory experiments show that learning orientations reduce this vulnerability. To test whether mastery goals reduce ego-involvement or simply alter the circumstances under which failure lowers self-esteem, we examined students' vulnerability to poor grades in the classroom. One week prior to receiving grades on a term paper, 142 college students completed measures of baseline trait self-esteem, mastery goals, and academic contingency of self-worth; after receiving their grade, they completed a measure of state self-esteem. Controlling for trait self-esteem, we found a Mastery Goal X Contingency X Grade interaction on posttest state self-esteem. Among highly contingent students, mastery goals predicted greater self-esteem vulnerability to grades and ability-validation goals fully mediated the Mastery Goal X Grade interaction. This study suggests that mastery goals do not always create resilient self-esteem among highly contingent students.
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Academic achievement goal structures and young adolescents' biased preferences for peers as cooperation partners: A longitudinal study
Article
  • Jan 2008
This study integrated understand-ings from Achievement Goal Theory and Social Identity Theory in order to investigate the relations between perceived teachers' emphasis on mastery and performance goals - achievement goal structures - and students' bias towards cooperating with peers who are similar to them. The study followed 100 students as they made the transition from elementary to Junior High School. Perceived mastery goals structure in Junior High was negatively related to biased preferences for cooperation partners, and perceived performance goals structure in Junior High was positively related to these biased preferences, over and beyond prior biased preferences for cooperation partners, achievement goal structure, personal achievement goals, and academic efficacy assessed in elementary school. These relations were found also after controlling for students' preferences for cooperating with peers with similar level of academic ability, thus providing support to hypotheses concerning the social identity processes that are triggered by academic achievement goal structure.
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The relation between goal orientation and students´ motivational beliefs and self-regulated learning
Article
  • Dec 1996
  • LEARN INDIVID DIFFER
The relations between three goal orientations and students' motivational beliefs and self-regulated learning were examined in a correlational study of 434 seventh and eighth grade students. Data were collected over two time points (fall and spring) within one school year with self-report questionnaires. Regression analyses revealed that adopting a learning goal orientation and a relative ability goal orientation resulted in a generally positive pattern of motivational beliefs including adaptive levels of task value, self-efficacy, and test anxiety, as well as cognition including higher levels of cognitive strategy use, selfregulation, and academic performance. Results showed that adopting an extrinsic goal orientation led to more maladaptive motivational and cognitive outcomes. These findings were replicated across three different academic subject areas of English, math, and social studies. Results are discussed in terms of the implications for goal theory.
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Prospective relations between 2x2 achievement goals and the quality of sport training
Article
  • Jan 2008
Athletes will ideally plan their training to ensure physical readiness for their next training bout and competition; however, different self-regulatory strategies may lead to different behaviors during training (e.g., using mental training strategies vs. using alcohol). Drawing on a contextual perspective, this study investigated whether athletes' 2 X 2 achievement goals predicted the quality of their training over the following six weeks. Female track and field athletes (N = 71) rated their 2X2 achievement goals at the beginning of their indoor season, completed bi-weekly behavior surveys, and maintained daily diaries for six weeks. Pre-season mastery-approach achievement goals predicted consistently beneficial training processes, whereas performance-based goals were unrelated to training processes. Mastery-avoidance goals were positively associated with daily sport-related distress, whereas mastery-approach goals were negatively associated with daily sport-related distress. These findings suggest that defining competence in mastery-based terms is generally valuable for sport training provided that those goals are oriented toward the positive possibility of competence and not away from the aversive possibility of incompetence.
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