Lecture 6

• Achievement Goal Theory defines achievement as the attainment of a personally or socially valued goal in a physical activity context
• Central principles of Achievement Goal Theory:

  • Achievement goals reflect the purposes of people's achievement striving
  • People engage in achievement contexts to develop or demonstrate competence
• Achievement Goals: Goal Orientation includes Task goal (mastery goal) and Ego goal (performance goal)
• Task goal orientation:

  • Competence evaluated by self-referenced criteria
  • Feeling successful when improving
• Ego goal orientation:

  • Competence evaluated by other-referenced criteria
  • Feeling successful when outperforming others
• Motivational Responses in Achievement Goal Theory:

  • Effort
  • Enjoyment/Interest
  • Tension/Pressure
  • Performance
• Empirical findings suggest that approach goals are more adaptive, while avoidance goals are less adaptive
• Mastery-approach goals are more attainable for young adults, leading to less pressure, more enjoyment, and higher performance
• Mastery-avoidance goals can have benefits for older adults, resulting in less pressure, more enjoyment, and higher performance
• In general, avoidance goals are maladaptive, while approach goals are adaptive
• Achievement Goal Theory Summary:

  • Achievement goals reflect striving for competence
  • Goals are a strong predictor for psychological outcomes
  • Goals are 'orthogonal'
  • Multiple goal perspective
  • 2x2 model: Two competence dimensions - 'definition' and 'valence'
• Conceptual clarity:

  • Goal setting theory focuses on discrete goals and specifies objectives of specific tasks
  • Achievement goal theory evaluates sources of an individual's achievement behavior beyond discrete goals