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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Goal orientation, goal difficulty, and incentive values of academic goals.

We examined relationships among goal attributes (difficulty and affective value) and goal types (mastery, performance, intrinsic, and extrinsic). Goal attributes of positive affect value and relative salience of positive value were higher for intrinsic goals, mastery goals, and more difficult goals, qualified by an interaction between difficulty and type of goal. Intrinsic goals were more affectively positive than extrinsic goals and mastery goals were more positive than performance goals, but these differences vanished if goals were also perceived as difficult. Results were consistent with goal-orientation theories and suggest the usefulness of integrating incentive-attribute concepts with goal-orientation theories.

Achievement↗
PubMed2003

Adaptive self-regulation of unattainable goals: goal disengagement, goal reengagement, and subjective well-being.

Three studies examined associations between goal disengagement, goal reengagement, and subjective well-being. In Study 1, 115 undergraduates reported on the extent to which they were able to abandon unattainable goals and reengage their efforts in alternative goals. Study 2 examined the importance of goal disengagement and goal reengagement in groups of young adults and older adults (N = 120). In Study 3, a sample of parents of children with cancer and parents of medically healthy children was examined (N = 45). The findings confirmed that goal disengagement and goal reengagement can be associated with ratings of high subjective well-being. In addition, the results showed that goal disengagement and goal reengagement can have interactive effects on subjective well-being. The importance of the findings for effective self-regulation and successful development are discussed.

Achievement↗
PubMed2006

An examination of multiple goals in children's physical education: motivational effects of goal profiles and the role of perceived climate in multiple goal development.

In this paper, I present data from two studies that sought to examine multiple achievement goals in the context of children's physical education (PE). Study 1 examined the links that multiple-goal profiles (i.e. mastery/performance-approach/performance-avoidance goals) for PE had with self-determined motivation, affective patterns and levels of extracurricular sporting activity in a sample of 193 Year 7 pupils. Results suggested that children endorsing high mastery/high performance-approach/high performance-avoidance, high mastery/high performance-approach/low performance-avoidance, or high mastery/ low performance-approach/low performance-avoidance profiles typically exhibited the most adaptive motivational responses. In contrast, children endorsing a low mastery/high performance-approach/high performance-avoidance profile typically experienced more maladaptive motivational outcomes. Study 2 examined the development of multiple achievement goals over two terms of PE in conjunction with retrospective perceptions of the motivational climate in the sample. The results of analysis of variance suggested that children exposed to a consistent high mastery/low performance climate experienced decreased performance-avoidance goals and maintained high levels of mastery goals for PE. In contrast, children exposed to a consistent low mastery/high performance climate experienced increased performance-avoidance goals and decreased mastery goals for PE.

Achievement↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Therapy goals, change of goals and goal attainment in the process of psychoanalytically oriented and behavior long-term therapy--a comparative study from the private practices of insurance-registered psychotherapists].

In a prospective naturalistic design 31 patients with long-term behavior therapy (average 63 treatment hours) and 31 patients with psychoanalytically-oriented long-term therapy (average 185 treatment hours) were compared. All patients were examined by extern interviewers with the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnosis (SCID) before they were included in the study. Only patients that showed DSM-III-R criteria of a depressive or anxiety disorder were included. At four times the patient goals in therapy and the actual state was examined: At the beginning of treatment, after 1, after 2,5 and after 3,5 years. At all times the patients could formulate new goals and release old ones. The symptoms were registered by SCL-90-R and the interpersonal problems were recorded by IIP-D. After 3,5 years a follow-up interview was conducted. Although all patients were comparable in their diagnoses the patients in behavior therapy and those in psychoanalytically-oriented therapy differed in a number of characteristics, for example by the way they gained access to therapy (doctors' subscription versus personal initiative for an appointment), the education, the consuming of psychotropic medication and the strain of symptoms. The patients did not differ remarkably in their goals in therapy. The symptoms as a goal did not have the highest priority in both groups, but the category "self-worth-problems" was found in both groups with a high priority. About one third of therapy goals were redefined by the patients in both groups within one year. After 2,5 years the number of goals in the category "interpersonal conflicts" increases remarkably in both treatment groups. For both groups we found the extent of reaching aimed goals in therapy (recorded by GAS) was significant over time. The results seem to prove that psychotherapy under naturalistic conditions aims more at improving the general level of functioning than at reducing the symptoms.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Personality and the goal-striving process: the influence of achievement goal patterns, goal level, and mental focus on performance and enjoyment.

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.

Achievement↗
PubMed1998

Daily goals, life goals, and worst fears: means, ends, and subjective well-being.

This study addressed the relations among personal strivings (daily goals) and future life goals and worst fears. Eighty undergraduate participants (62 women, 18 men) listed their daily goals, their ultimate life goals, and their worst fears, and completed questionnaire measures of subjective well-being. Daily goals were content-analyzed for relevance to attaining life goals or avoiding worst fears. Daily goals that were instrumental to life goals or that avoided worst fears were rated as more important but also more difficult by participants. Working on daily goals avoiding one's worst fears was negatively related to measures of subjective well-being, controlling for daily goal progress, difficulty, ambivalence, and importance. Working on daily goals that were instrumental to one's life goals only weakly predicted well-being. The avoidance of worst fears interacted with daily goal appraisals such that individuals who experienced little progress at daily goals that served to avoid their "worst case scenario" experienced the lowest levels of subjective well-being. In addition, progress at daily goals that were relevant to accomplishing one's life goals was significantly more strongly related to subjective well-being than progress at daily goals that were unrelated to one's life goals. Results indicate that daily goals are used to enact life goals and avoid worst fears and that these means--end relations have implications for well-being.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2005

Achievement goals, task performance, and interest: why perceived goal difficulty matters.

In field studies, mastery goals, which focus on developing skill, often predict task interest but not actual performance. Performance-approach goals, which focus on outperforming others, instead often predict strong performance but not interest. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that these distinct goal effects trace to goal difficulty perceptions. In each study, participants assigned to a performance-approach goal perceived their goal to be harder, and therefore felt more performance pressure, than those assigned to a mastery goal. Among participants low in dispositional achievement orientation, this experience translated into lower task interest when pursuing the performance-approach goal. However, participants in both studies also performed the activity better when pursuing this goal instead of a standard mastery goal, although this was not mediated by self-reported goal difficulty perceptions. Finally, further demonstrating the role of goal difficulty, a mastery goal manipulated to appear more difficult than a standard mastery goal produced effects matching the performance-approach goal.

Achievement↗
PubMed2006

Goal processes in relation to goal attainment: predicting health-related quality of life in myocardial infarction patients.

Goal theory suggests that both goal attainment and psychological processes concerning goal pursuit can influence a patient's (health-related) quality of life (HRQL) (e.g. Carver & Scheier, 1999). In the present longitudinal study, 46 MI patients completed questionnaires shortly after hospitalization and four months later, assessing a health, social and individual goal for the coming year, goal conflict, goal self-efficacy, goal attainment and HRQL. The results of a multiple regression analysis suggest that both goal conflict and goal self-efficacy predict goal attainment. Furthermore, goal self-efficacy appeared to be an independent predictor of physical and social HRQL. Goal attainment had a medium effect on social HRQL, but its effect was mediated by goal conflict and goal self-efficacy. A goal theory perspective seems to offer additional insights into HRQL after an MI.

Achievement↗
PubMed2005

[Perceptions of classroom goal structures, personal achievement goal orientations, and learning strategies].

We examined the relations among students' perceptions of classroom goal structures (mastery and performance goal structures), students' achievement goal orientations (mastery, performance, and work-avoidance goals), and learning strategies (deep processing, surface processing and self-handicapping strategies). Participants were 323 5th and 6th grade students in elementary schools. The results from structural equation modeling indicated that perceptions of classroom mastery goal structures were associated with students' mastery goal orientations, which were in turn related positively to the deep processing strategies and academic achievement. Perceptions of classroom performance goal stractures proved associated with work avoidance-goal orientations, which were positively related to the surface processing and self-handicapping strategies. Two types of goal structures had a positive relation with students' performance goal orientations, which had significant positive effects on academic achievement. The results of this study suggest that elementary school students' perceptions of mastery goal structures are related to adaptive patterns of learning more than perceptions of performance goal structures are. The role of perceptions of classroom goal structure in promoting students' goal orientations and learning strategies is discussed.

Child↗
PubMed1997

Goal confidence and difficulty as predictors of goal attainment in junior high school cross-country runners.

This study examined the influence of confidence in a goal and difficulty of the goal on the attainment of self-set goals regarding time and position. 63 junior high school cross-country runners (M age = 13.5 yr., SD = .5 yr.) completed a 6-item Race Goals Questionnaire approximately 24 hr. prior to a 2-km race. Attainability of a goal was assessed by categorizing runners into either a Performed to Expectation (Time, Position) or an Underperformed group (Time, Position). A 2 x 2 multivariate analysis of variance indicated significant differences between the two groups on Time for Confidence in goals and on Difficulty of Goals. There were no differences between the two groups on Position. Discriminant function analyses to predict time goal performance indicated that 47 (74.6%) participants could be correctly classified into the groups by Time on the basis of Confidence in Goals, and Difficulty of Goals. Discriminant function analyses to predict performance in terms of Position indicated 38 participants (60.3%) could be correctly classified on the basis of Confidence in Goals, and Difficulty of Goals. The results concur with previous proposals that goals regarding time and position have a differential influence on performance.

Achievement↗
PubMed2026

Self-selected goals outperform assigned goals in reducing mobile phone usage: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial.

Excessive smartphone use is increasingly recognized as a public-health concern, yet scalable approaches to help individuals regulate daily use remain limited. We examine whether allowing individuals to self-select reduction goals improves behavioral and psychological outcomes when incentives and average goal levels are held constant across conditions. In a twelve-week randomized controlled trial, (N = 149; over 9000 person-day observations), participants were assigned to (i) a self-selected condition (choosing a 10%, 20%, or 30% reduction in daily phone use), (ii) an assigned condition (assigned a 14% reduction goal), or (iii) a no-goal control condition. Participants who selected their own goals reduced phone use by 26 min more per day (73% larger reduction) and achieved their goals 11 percentage points more often than those assigned goals, despite identical incentives and average goal levels. Reductions in phone use and higher goal achievement were associated with improvements in perceived addiction, depressive, and anxiety symptoms. These psychological outcomes were secondary endpoints. Although the between-group estimates generally followed the same directional pattern as the behavioral outcomes, the sample size for these analyses was limited and the between-group differences were not statistically significant. These findings should therefore be interpreted with caution. Overall, the results provide causal field evidence that self-selection under this goal-setting design can improve behavioral outcomes. Allowing individuals to choose their own goals may strengthen engagement and support healthier digital behavior. Incorporating opportunities for goal-selection may represent a simple addition to digital-health and public-health interventions aimed at helping individuals moderate smartphone use and improve well-being.

Humans↗
PubMed2004

Goals in their setting: a normative analysis of goal setting in physical rehabilitation.

Goal setting is an important professional method and one of the key concepts that structure a practical field such as physical rehabilitation. However, the actual use of goals in rehabilitation practice is much less straightforward than the general acceptance of the method suggests as goals are frequently unattained, modified or contested. In this paper, I will argue that the difficulties of goal setting in day-to-day medical practice can be understood by unravelling the normative assumptions of goal setting, in this case three different tensions that come along with it. First, goals are developed for a future state that may require activities that clash with necessities of the present situation. Second, professionals in clinical rehabilitation centres elaborate goals for an environment that differs in terms of spatial and social characteristics from the environment in the centre, where people train for the accomplishment of goals. Finally, goal setting requires active patient participation and individual control that sometimes appears impossible, unrealistic, and undesirable. I will describe how professionals deal with these tensions in a creative and dynamic way. With my articulation of the assumptions of goal setting, I hope to contribute to the self-reflection of rehabilitation practitioners as well as to theoretical discussions of goal setting in contexts other than rehabilitation.

Persons with Disabilities↗
PubMed1997

Effect of goal difficulty, goal specificity and duration of practice time intervals on muscular endurance performance.

The aims of this study were to explore the relationships between goal specificity, goal difficulty and performance, and to determine if setting unrealistic goals would produce decreases in performance. The subjects were high school students from 15 schools and an attempt was made to control for the effects of social comparison. The schools were randomly assigned to one of 15 conditions representing five levels of goal conditions-namely, 'do' (no goals), 'do your best', 'improve by 10%' (easy), 'improve by 20%' (difficult/ realistic) and 'improve by 40%' (improbable/unattainable)-and three levels of practice duration (4, 6 and 8 weeks). This design consisted of nesting goal difficulty within practice duration, which enabled an examination of the goal specificity and goal attainability/difficulty hypotheses proposed by Locke and Latham (1985). A 5 x 3 factorial ANCOVA was applied to the post-baseline sit-up gain scores. The results indicated that all specific groups performed better than all non-specific groups. In addition, across practice durations the difficult/realistic group exhibited the greatest increase in performance, followed by the easy group. The performance gains of the improbable/unattainable group were substantially less compared with the difficult/ realistic group after 4 and 6 weeks, but not after 8 weeks of practice. These results are in line with both the goal specificity and goal difficulty hypotheses derived from the application of Locke's goal-setting theory to sport.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Goal-setting in rehabilitation: report of a workshop to explore professionals' perceptions of goal-setting.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the views of therapists, nurses and doctors working in a variety of rehabilitation settings on the goal-setting process. METHODS: Sixteen rehabilitation staff from three different settings attended a goal-setting workshop in which the difficulties associated with goal-setting were described with their potential solutions. RESULTS: Five difficulties with goal-setting were identified. (1) Formal goal-setting was felt to be an activity unusual for many of the patients although intrinsic to the activity of many professional groups. (2) Goal-setting is often insensitive to people's roles in the community. (3) Goal-setting in the hospital environment does not transfer easily to the community. (4) External factors (e.g. staff turnover) over which staff felt they had little control were important in the success of a goal-setting programme. (5) Goals tend to be formulated and owned by the team, rather than the patient. CONCLUSIONS: Goal-setting is a very satisfactory activity for the team but to be as successful for the patient their needs must be acknowledged. People with mild disability and a short inpatient stay have different needs to those with acute onset severe permanent disability and those with chronic or progressive disability admitted from the community. Comparison of both process and outcome effects of different types of goal-setting is an area for future study.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2001

Achievement goals and optimal motivation: testing multiple goal models.

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 critical test of the mastery versus multiple goal perspectives. In Study 1, a correlational approach was used to identify the optimal goals for college participants to adopt for a learning activity. In Study 2, an experimental approach was used 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.

Achievement↗
PubMed2001

Goal congruence in project teams: does the fit between members' personal mastery and performance goals matter?

Research on team goals rarely considers the impact of congruence in perceptions of personal goals of self versus other members. In this study of 324 members of 64 short-term project teams, polynomial regression analysis was used to explore how congruence in personal and perceived team mastery and performance goals affected individual outcomes. Results indicated that congruence in perceived performance goals elicited greater individual satisfaction and contributions, regardless of goal strength (i.e.. high or low personal performance goals). Conversely, perceived team mastery goals had a greater effect on individual outcomes than did perceived congruence in self-other mastery goals. Congruent self-actual team goals showed weaker but similar relationships to individual outcomes, but contrary to hypotheses, this effect was not mediated by congruence in perceived self-other goals.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Goal conflicts, attainment of new goals, and well-being among managers.

Researchers widely understand that conflicts among goals inhibit the attainment of these goals. However, this notion comes close to tautological reasoning. To avert this problem, this study examined whether preexisting goal conflict also inhibits success in newly set goals. Using the context of management training, in which managers collectively set new goals, the study variables were assessed at 3 testing periods covering 5 months. Results indicate that goal conflicts that persevere over time were associated with inhibited attainment of new goals but not with decreased subjective well-being (SWB). Goal attainment, however, was positively related to SWB. Interactions of residual changes in goal conflict and goal attainment were associated with positive affect.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Are mastery and ability goals both adaptive? Evaluation, initial goal construction and the quality of task engagement.

AIMS: The aims of this research were to examine the predictions that (a) the kind of evaluation pupils anticipate will influence their initial achievement goals and, as a result, the quality and consequences of task engagement; and (b) initial mastery goals will promote new learning and intrinsic motivation and initial ability goals will promote entity beliefs that ability is fixed. SAMPLE: Participants were 312 secondary school pupils at ages 13-15. METHODS: Pupils expected to receive normative evaluation, temporal evaluation (scores over time) or no evaluation. Mastery and ability goals were measured before pupils worked on challenging problems; intrinsic motivation and entity beliefs were measured after task completion. RESULTS: Anticipation of temporal evaluation enhanced initial mastery goals, anticipation of normative evaluation enhanced ability goals and the no-evaluation condition undermined both. Anticipation of temporal evaluation enhanced new learning (strategy acquisition and performance gains) and intrinsic motivation both directly and by enhancing initial mastery goals; anticipation of normative evaluation enhanced entity beliefs by enhancing ability goals. CONCLUSIONS: Results confirmed that evaluation conveys potent cues as to the goals of activity. They also challenged claims that both mastery and ability goals can be adaptive by demonstrating that these were differentially associated with positive versus negative processes and outcomes. Results have theoretical and applied implications for understanding and improving evaluative practices and student motivation.

Achievement↗