Achievement-related Goals Research Articles

Achievement Motivation and Achievement of Higher Secondary Students of Kanyakumari District

Motivation is imperative because it affects our lives every day. Motivation is the innate drive for all of our activities. All of our behaviors, actions, hope, and beliefs are altered by our inner drive to flourish. Our motives for achievement can range from living needs to satisfying creative needs or realizing success in competitive endeavors. These basic physiological motivational drives alter our natural behavior in different environments. Motivation refers to the dynamics of our practice, which involves our needs, desires, and ambitions in life. It can be well-defined as the driving force trailing all the actions of an individual. The influence of an individual’s needs and enjoy both have a substantial impact on the direction of their behavior. It is placed on your feelings and achievement-related goals. There are different forms of motivation, including external, intrinsic, physiological, and achievement motivation. There are also more adverse forms of motivation. Attainment motivation is based on reaching success and achieving all of our desire in life. It has been imagined in many diverse ways. It can be forwarded as the need for progress or the attainment of quality. Individuals will fill their needs through different means and are driven to succeed for varying reasons, both internal and external. Achievement motives include the need for success and the fear of failure. These are the more predominant reasons that direct our behavior towards positive and negative consequences. The goals of the study were to find the levels, to find the significant association of achievement motivation and achievement based on locality, type of management, type of family and monthly income and to see the correlation between Achievement Motivation and Achievement. Survey Method was used for the present study. 300 higher secondary students were accepted by casual sampling technique from the more senior secondary schools of Kanyakumari district. Percentage Analysis, Mean, Standard Deviation, Chi-square, and Correlation were the statistical techniques used. SPSS analyst zed data and the results arrived. Based on the findings, suggestive measures for improvement were provided.

A Randomized Controlled Pilot Intervention Study of a Mindfulness-Based Self-Leadership Training (MBSLT) on Stress and Performance

The present randomized pilot intervention study examines the effects of a mindfulness-based self-leadership training (MBSLT) specifically developed for academic achievement situations. Both mindfulness and self-leadership have a strong self-regulatory focus and are helpful in terms of stress resilience and performance enhancements. Based on several theoretical points of contact and a specific interplay between mindfulness and self-leadership, the authors developed an innovative intervention program that improves mood as well as performance in a real academic setting. The intervention was conducted as a randomized controlled study over 10 weeks. The purpose was to analyze the effects on perceived stress, test anxiety, academic self-efficacy, and the performance of students by comparing an intervention and control group (n = 109). Findings demonstrated significant effects on mindfulness, self-leadership, academic self-efficacy, and academic performance improvements in the intervention group. Results showed that the intervention group reached significantly better grade point averages than the control group. Moreover, the MBSLT over time led to a reduction of test anxiety in the intervention group compared to the control group. Furthermore, while participants of the control group showed an increase in stress over time, participants of the intervention group maintained constant stress levels over time. The combination of mindfulness and self-leadership addressed both positive effects on moods and on objective academic performance. The effects demonstrate the great potential of combining mindfulness with self-leadership to develop a healthy self-regulatory way of attaining achievement-related goals and succeeding in high-stress academic environments.

Learning-Related Values in Young Children’s Storybooks: An Investigation in the United States, China, and Mexico

This research examined the prevalence of learning-related values in children’s storybooks in the United States, China, and Mexico. Storybooks ( N = 157) were randomly selected from government-recommended booklists in each country. Trained coders assessed the prevalence of learning-related beliefs (e.g., malleability of ability), motivated cognitions (e.g., achievement orientation), and behaviors (e.g., effort) in the storybooks. A set of MANOVAs revealed that Chinese (vs. American and Mexican) storybooks contained more instances of learning-related beliefs and behaviors. For example, Chinese storybooks included more instances of achievement-related goals and behaviors, relative to storybooks in the United States and Mexico. With the exception of achievement goals and helplessness, the prevalence of learning-related qualities was largely similar in the United States and Mexico.

How Do Young Adults Orchestrate Their Multiple Achievement-Related Goals? Associations of Achievement Goal Orientations With Identity Formation and Goal Appraisals

Young adults strive for multiple achievement goals. Frameworks for achievement goal orientations, personal goals, and identity formation have emphasized the role of goal-specific exploration and commitment in the interpretation of goals. However, researchers have yet to combine these different perspectives in an empirical study. Therefore, to explore the processes involved in the selection of multiple goals, the present study investigated the associations of young adults’ achievement goal orientations (mastery-intrinsic, mastery-extrinsic, performance-approach, performance-avoidance, and work-avoidance orientations) with distinct styles of exploring and committing to goals, by considering different dimensions of identity formation (commitment making, identification with commitment, exploration in breadth, exploration in depth, and ruminative exploration) and achievement-related personal goal appraisals (commitment, effort, and progress). Latent change score models were applied to a longitudinal sample of 577 young Finns followed from age 23 to 25 to investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal associations with achievement goal orientations. The analyses revealed significant associations of identification with commitment and exploration in breadth and goal effort with the initial levels of mastery-intrinsic and mastery-extrinsic orientations. Notably, these dimensions of identity formation, goal effort, and mastery goal orientations accentuate motives for self-development and self-improvement. Although the associations were not supported by the longitudinal analyses, it seems fruitful to integrate different theoretical frameworks to further the understanding of the underlying processes in the pursuit of multiple goals.

Have You Set Your Life Priorities Straight?: Intergenerational Differences in Life Goals among European and East Asian Americans College Students and their Mothers

We examined ethnic differences in (a) the life goals of college-enrolled youth as well as their mothers’ goals for them, (b) intergenerational similarity in life goals, and (c) the association between intergenerational similarity in life goal priorities and parent-adolescent relationships and psychological adjustment. East Asian American youth and their mothers (EA-Ams) and European American youth and their mothers (Euro-Ams) rated the importance of life goals and reported upon their depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, and relationship quality. Results indicated that family and mate selection goals were more important for EA-Ams. Intergenerational similarity in achievement-related goals was higher for Euro-Ams whereas similarity in family-related goals was higher for EA-Ams. Intergenerational similarities in life goal priorities were differentially correlated with select outcomes.

Differences on adolescent life goal profile scale between a clinical and non-clinical adolescent sample

Objective. This study aimed to determine similarities and differences on perceived importance and perceived attainability of life goals between a clinical and non-clinical adolescent sample. Method. 244 students and 54 adolescent patients completed the Adolescent Life Goal Profile Scale (ALGPS). The ALGPS measures perceived importance and perceived attainability of four main life goal categories: Relations, Generativity, Religion, and Achievements. As a control, we used five measures of mental health, quality of life, and personality. Results. There were no differences on perceived importance on the Generativity, Religion, and Achievement life goal factor, but patients perceived relation-oriented goals less important than non-patients. Perceived attainability of life goals factors was lower for patients on all life goals except for Generativity. Compared to non-patients, patients were less happy and satisfied and had lower sense of coherence and self-efficacy. Patients were also less emotionally stable, had lower conscientiousness, but higher intellect. Conclusions. Though patients appear less content with life in general than non-patients, chances are that they uphold their concern and care for others, remain devoted in their religious stand, and stay committed to their achievement-related goals. The lower perceived importance of relations within the patient group should be awarded clinical attention.

Testing Models of Change in Life Goals After a Cancer Diagnosis

This study analyzes goals of 159 cancer patients before the start of therapy and goals of 160 healthy controls. Follow-up data were collected at about 9 and 18 months after the first assessment. Patients reported fewer achievement-related goals and leisure goals than controls and had a shorter time perspective for their goals; these differences persisted over the study interval. Whereas the number of health-related goals was similar in both groups at the Time 1, patients showed an increase in this goal category thereafter. In addition, patients reported more health-related barriers to goal pursuit than their healthy peers at Time 1, but this difference declined over time. We conclude that cancer influences loss-based goal selection in the first days after being diagnosed and that the changed goal perspective is widely maintained for one and a half years.

Associations of Age and Cancer With Individual Goal Commitment

This article investigated how age and cancer are associated with goal commitment in recently diagnosed cancer patients and healthy controls. One hundred and thirty-two cancer patients and 132 healthy control group members generated a list of present goals and assessed perceived difficulty of goals, effort for goal attainment, influence of health on goal attainment, and anticipated time of goal attainment. In regression analyses, main effects of cancer status on life goals were found, indicating among cancer patients a lower total number of goals; a focus on social, transcendental, and health-related rather than achievement-related goals; higher perceived difficulty of goals; lower effort to attain one's goals; stronger perceived negative health effects on goal attainment; and a stronger focus on short-term rather than long-term goals. In addition, main effects of age indicated an age-associated reduction in the number of goals and a shift away from achievement-related goals toward easier and short-term goals and higher effort for goal attainment. Further, age differences in goal variables were stronger in healthy controls than in cancer patients.

Women's and men's personal goals during the transition to parenthood.

To investigate how women's and men's personal goals change during the transition to parenthood, the authors studied 348 women (152 primiparous and 196 multiparous) and 277 of their partners at 3 times: early in pregnancy, 1 month before the birth, and 3 months afterward. At each measurement, participants completed the Personal Project Analysis questionnaire (B. R. Little, 1983). The results showed that during pregnancy women became more interested in goals related to childbirth, the child's health, and motherhood and less interested in achievement-related goals. After the birth women were more interested in family- and health-related issues. These changes were more substantial among the primiparous than among the multiparous mothers. Although the men's personal goals changed during the transition to parenthood, these changes were less substantial than those found among the women.

Agency in young adulthood: Intentional self-change among college students

Life course research assumes that development and change depend partly on individual agency, but often fails to elaborate. We posit that individuals exercise agency by pursuing self-related goals, specifically by trying to change themselves in ways that they believe will generate more favorable self-conceptions. Drawing upon sociological theories about self and identity, gender, stress and coping, and the life course, and upon psychological theories about goals, we analyze survey data on 376 college students to explore the process of self-change. More men than women pursue achievement-related goals, whereas more women than men seek to increase their self-confidence and to improve their appearance. Aspects of the extant self-conception (positive self-worth, self-deprecation, and self-efficacy) selectively influence individuals' motivations for self-change and their perceptions of their progress toward self-change. Self-deprecation is positively related to changing in order to raise one's self-esteem and to avert the danger of becoming a “feared” self, whereas self-efficacy is positively related to changing in order to increase authenticity and bring one closer to one's ideal self. Self-deprecation increases the perceived difficulty of self-change, whereas positive self-worth and self-efficacy increase expectations of success. Emotion-focused, cognitive strategies for self-change increase expectations of success, but emotion-focused, behavioral strategies decrease it.

Children's self-assessment of performance and task-related help seeking

The present research examined the role of self-assessment of performance on children's use of help-seeking as an achievement strategy. In two experiments, third- and fifth-grade children were blocked into low and high verbal skill groups. Children performed a multitrial verbal task in which they were required to indicate their confidence in the correctness of their tentative solution and then were given the opportunity to seek help before providing a final solution on each trial. The second experiment differed from the first in that subjects were provided with a common motivation for seeking help. Subjects' confidence in the correctness of their solution was found to influence both the frequency and type of help sought. High task-related skill was associated with the discriminating use of help-seeking as an achievement strategy, especially among boys. Also, both the frequency and type of help sought varied with self-assessments for older children more than for younger children. Findings are discussed in terms of grade and sex differences in the use of internally based cues for performance evaluation. The importance of accounting for the interplay of children's age and task specific skill with achievement-related goals is stressed.

Motivation and the Recall of Completed and Incompleted Achievement Items

On the basis of previous research and theoretical considerations, the recall of completed and incompleted items in an examination situation was studied as a function of individual differences in repression-sensitization tendencies and resultant achievement motivation (need-for-achievement minus fear-of-failure). The Zeigarnik effect, that is, the greater recall of incompleted over completed tasks was found to be significantly more frequent in Ss of high than low resultant achievement motivation, but no difference was found between repressors and sensitizers in this effect. Results supported Atkinson's theoretical analysis of achievement motivation and task recall but did not sup port a repression analysis. No significant level-of-aspiration differences were obtained between Ss high or low in resultant achievement motivation or between repressors and sensitizers. THE ZEIGARNIK effect refers to the phe nomenon of greater recall of interrupted or in completed tasks than uninterrupted or completed tasks reported by Zeigarnik (9). The subject in the Zeigarnik paradigm is given a number of tasks to perform and is interrupted before finish ing some of them, and is subsequently admin istered an unexpected test of recall for both the incompleted (I) and completed (C) tasks. Al though Zeigarnik reported greater recall of I than C tasks, not all investigators have obtained com parable results. Atkinson (1) partially resolved the reported differences by pointing out that im portant sample differences between studies may have been producing the divergent results. He demonstrated that in achievement-oriented con texts individuals high in need-for-achievement recall more I than C tasks, whereas, persons low in need-for-achievement but relatively high in fear of failure recall more C than I tasks. An analysis of the samples used in prior conflicting research suggested that anxiety differences were signifi cant. Atkinson's argument for greater I than C recall by high need-for-achievement Ss was that the recall of I tasks is seen by the high need-for achievement S as important to the attainment of achievement-related goals. The opposite result is expected for persons low in need-for-achievement as they avoid achievement-related goals. Weiner, Johnson, Mehrabian (8) investigated the hypothesis that the recall of completed and in completed tasks is a function of achievement motivation, but rather than use laboratory-type tasks, they utilized the real-life situation of a final examination, which they argued should maximize aroused achievement motivation and task involvement, and therefore magnify previous findings . (8:181-182). Following the final exam, Ss were tested unexpectedly for recall of the exam items. They had at a previous time been administered measures of resultant achievement motivation, that is, need-for-achievement minus anxiety or fear-of-failure. It was found that Ss high in resultant achievement motivation recalled a greater percentage of I (failed) than C (passed) items on the test, and also demonstrated a greater Zeigarnik effect than Ss low in resultant achieve ment motivation. The recall differences were at tributed to the greater recall of failed items by the high motivation Ss. Level of aspiration on the test was also measured and was found to be a function of resultant achievement motivation only when this variable was measured by a pro jects ve test rather than a self-report question naire.