Goal Engagement Research Articles

Task engagement and the relationships between the error-related negativity, agreeableness, behavioral shame proneness and cortisol

Previous results suggest that both cortisol mobilization and the error-related negativity (ERN/Ne) reflect goal engagement, i.e. the mobilization and allocation of attentional and physiological resources. Personality measures of negative affectivity have been associated both to high cortisol levels and large ERN/Ne amplitudes. However, measures of positive social adaptation and agreeableness have also been related to high cortisol levels and large ERN/Ne amplitudes. We hypothesized that, as long as they relate to concerns over social evaluation and mistakes, both personality measures reflecting positive affectivity (e.g. agreeableness) and those reflecting negative affectivity (e.g. behavioral shame proneness) would be associated with an increased likelihood of high task engagement, and hence to increased cortisol mobilization and ERN/Ne amplitudes. We had female subjects perform a flanker task while EEG was recorded. Additionally, the subjects filled out questionnaires measuring mood and personality, and salivary cortisol immediately before and after task performance was measured. The overall pattern of relationships between our measures supports the hypothesis that cortisol mobilization and ERN/Ne amplitude reflect task engagement, and both relate positively to each other and to the personality traits agreeableness and behavioral shame proneness. We discuss the potential importance of engagement-disengagement and of concerns over social evaluation for research on psychopathology, stress and the ERN/Ne.

The Importance of Goal Disengagement in Adaptive Self-Regulation: When Giving Up is Beneficial

This paper develops the argument that goal disengagement forms an essential aspect of effective self-regulation. The argument derives from a consideration of processes inherent in the life-span development of the individual, as well as processes inherent in the moment-to-moment regulation of action. Evidence is reviewed to support the idea that goal disengagement can be beneficial to psychological well-being. In addition, the article addresses the nature of disengagement. It is argued that disengagement requires a person to withdraw not only effort but also commitment from unattainable goals, and is most adaptive if it leads to pursuing new meaningful goals. The paper also discusses the manner in which various aspects of the self might support or hinder the disengagement process. The paper closes by addressing the break point between goal engagement and disengagement and suggesting several directions for future research.

Psychopathic attributes and achievement dispositions in a college sample

A poverty of studies have addressed the relationship between psychopathic attributes and dispositions contributing to individual differences in achievement motivation. The current investigation focused on the relationships among these constructs in a noninstitutionalized population. Multiple regression analyses indicated that hypercompetition (+), personal development competition (−), and self-handicapping (−) were the strongest predictors of primary psychopathy . In contrast, self-handicapping (+), goal engagement (−), and cooperation (−) significantly predicted secondary psychopathy. These findings extend the distinction between primary and secondary psychopathy to achievement dispositions and contribute to an understanding of these attributes as representing dimensions related to successful and unsuccessful achievement outcomes.

On the Self-Regulation of Behavior

1. Introduction and plan 2. Principles of feedback control 3. Discrepancy reducing feedback processes in behavior 4. Discrepancy enlarging loops, and three further issues 5. Goals and behavior 6. Goals, hierarchicality, and behavior: further issues 7. Public and private aspects of the self 8. Control processes and affect 9. Affect: issues and comparisons 10. Expectancies and disengagement 11. Disengagement: issues and comparisons 12. Applications to problems in living 13. Hierarchicality and problems in living 14. Chaos and dynamic systems 15. Catastrophe theory 16. Further applications to problems in living 17. Is behavior controlled or does it emerge? 18. Goal engagement, life and death.

Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Motivation

Evolutionary and comparative perspectives on motivation and emotion are almost absent from contemporary social and behavioral sciences. The history of psychology, particularly the relation between motivational, comparative, and learning psychology has made the phylogeny of motivation a largely ignored topic. The author briefly reviews the extent to which these perspectives are influential in the history and present state of motivational psychology, and discusses how motivational and emotional mechanisms might provide the missing link to the environment-need fit in the activation and deactivation of behavioral and cognitive modules. In this way, behavioral regulation by motivation may be part of a multilevel architecture of the mammal and the human mind. A number of basic motivational modules that might be involved in processes of goal engagement and disengagement in humans are proposed, which together may favor an overall preference for controlling the environment and maximizing one's resources and capacities for control.