Based on optimal foraging theory, we propose a metric that allows evaluating the goodness of goal systems, that is, systems comprising multiple goals with facilitative and conflicting interrelations. ...This optimal foraging theory takes into account expectancy and value, as well as opportunity costs, of foraging. Applying this approach to goal systems provides a single index of goodness of a goal system for goal striving. Three quasi-experimental studies (N = 277, N = 145, and N = 210) provide evidence for the usefulness of this approach for goal systems comprising between 3 to 10 goals. Results indicate that persons with a more optimized goal-system are more conscientious and open to new experience, are more likely to represent their goals in terms of means (i.e., adopt a process focus), and are more satisfied and engaged with their goals. Persons with a suboptimal goal system tend to switch their goals more often and thereby optimize their goal system. We discuss limitations as well as possible future directions of this approach.
The present investigation examined the role of teachers' instructional support (student reports of relevance, organization and clarity, feedback-feedforward) in predicting students' growth goal ...setting and, in turn, the roles of instructional support and growth goal setting in predicting students' academic engagement (perseverance, aspirations, school attendance, homework behavior). Also examined was the question of whether the relationship between students' background attributes and engagement is moderated by their growth goal setting (e.g., whether growth goal setting attenuates negative effects of low socioeconomic status). The sample comprised N = 61,879 students in grades 7-10 from schools across New South Wales, Australia. The results of structural equation modeling showed that perceived instructional relevance and feedback-feedforward from teachers positively predicted students' growth goal setting; that growth goal setting predicted gains in students' perseverance, aspirations, and homework behavior; and that growth goal setting significantly mediated the relationship between perceived instructional support and engagement. Additionally, growth goal setting appeared to significantly bolster some outcomes for low achieving students and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. These findings add to the growing body of literature about the positive role of growth goal setting in students' outcomes and provide direction for educational practice.
Educational Impact and Implications StatementThis study investigated growth goal setting among a large statewide sample of high school students. Growth goal setting refers to the pursuit of specific, challenging, and competitively self-referenced targets that match or exceed a previous best effort or performance. Findings demonstrated that perceived instructional support (student reports of teachers' feedback-feedforward and instructional relevance) was associated with students' growth goal setting and that students' growth goal setting was associated with significant gains in their academic engagement (perseverance, aspirations, and homework behavior). Importantly also, growth goal setting reduced the potential negative effects of low socioeconomic status and low prior achievement on some engagement outcomes. These findings provide important direction for enhancing students' growth goal setting and engagement. Accordingly, practical suggestions for enhancing instructional support and growth goal setting are provided.
Self-regulation has been conceptualized as the interplay between controlled and impulsive processes; however, most research has focused on the controlled side (i.e., effortful self-control). The ...present studies focus on the effects of motivation on impulsive processes, including automatic preferences for goal-disruptive stimuli and subjective reports of temptations and obstacles, contrasting them with effects on controlled processes. This is done by examining people's implicit affective reactions in the face of goal-disruptive "temptations" (Studies 1 and 2), subjective reports of obstacles (Studies 2 and 3) and expended effort (Study 3), as well as experiences of desires and self-control in real-time using experience sampling (Study 4). Across these multiple methods, results show that want-to motivation results in decreased impulsive attraction to goal-disruptive temptations and is related to encountering fewer obstacles in the process of goal pursuit. This, in turn, explains why want-to goals are more likely to be attained. Have-to motivation, on the other hand, was unrelated to people's automatic reactions to temptation cues but related to greater subjective perceptions of obstacles and tempting desires. The discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for self-regulation and motivation.
Objective
Management practice commonly assumes that the value of a work‐goal dictates the nature of motivation processes. We investigate instead how individuals invest resources from the perspective ...of their own value system. Drawing from Conservation of Resources theory, we explore the valuation process by testing a reciprocal model between work‐goal attainment, goal commitment, and personal resources, including self‐efficacy, optimism, and subjective well‐being.
Method
Data were collected in a two‐wave longitudinal study among sales professionals (n = 793) from France (F), Pakistan (P), and the United States (U).
Results
Multi‐group cross‐lagged path analysis confirmed the reciprocal model across all three countries. Time 1 resources and goal commitment predicted work goal attainment (F = 0.24; P = 0.37; U = 0.39) and (F = 0.31; P = 0.40; U = 0.36) respectively. T1 level of goal attainment also fuelled T2 resources and goal commitment (F = 0.30; P = 0.29; U = 0.34) and (F = 0.33; P = 0.32; U = 0.29).
Conclusions
Our reciprocal findings suggest a revised approach on the nature of targets and goals. They indicate an alternative to linear path modeling, as the role of goal commitment is not necessarily that of an intermediary stage linking antecedent resources to attainment purposes. Furthermore, cultural values play a differentiating role in the goal‐attainment process.
•We identified an array of academic, social, and well-being goals within a course.•We used data visualization to illustrate the interrelations of goals.•The interrelations of goals predicted course ...outcomes via motivational regulation.
Much attention has been given to investigating specific self-regulatory processes within a single goal context, yet little is known about how students manage to pursue multiple goals. We adopted a multi-method approach to examine the content of college students’ (N = 365) multiple goals, interrelations of goals in a goal network, and the role of self-regulatory processes during multiple goal pursuit. First, using thematic coding of qualitative data, we identified different types of academic, social, and well-being goals that students pursue within a particular college course. Second, using data visualization, we illustrated how these goals are dynamically connected to each other within a goal network. Finally, using mediation analysis of quantitative data, we found that students’ perceptions of the interrelations of goals were associated with academic, social, and well-being outcomes, either directly or indirectly through the use of motivational regulation strategies.
The study examines the
effects of a quasi-experimental classroom goal condition (mastery, performance-approach,
combined mastery/performance-approach) and entering personal goal orientations on
...motivation, emotional well-being, help seeking, cognitive engagement, and achievement for
237 upper elementary students during a 5-week math unit emphasizing small groups. The
classroom goal condition had a significant effect on help seeking and achievement, with
the combined condition showing the most beneficial pattern. Personal mastery goals were
beneficial for 11 of 12 outcomes including achievement; personal performance-approach
goals were detrimental for achievement and test anxiety and unrelated to the remaining
outcomes. The effect of the classroom goal condition did not vary on the basis of entering
personal goal orientations. Implications for the current achievement goal theory debate
regarding multiple goals are discussed.
The challenge of convincing people to change their eating habits toward more environmentally sustainable food consumption (ESFC) patterns is becoming increasingly pressing. Food preferences, choices ...and eating habits are notoriously hard to change as they are a central aspect of people's lifestyles and their socio-cultural environment. Many people already hold positive attitudes toward sustainable food, but the notable gap between favorable attitudes and actual purchase and consumption of more sustainable food products remains to be bridged. The current work aims to (1) present a comprehensive theoretical framework for future research on ESFC, and (2) highlight behavioral solutions for environmental challenges in the food domain from an interdisciplinary perspective. First, starting from the premise that food consumption is deliberately or unintentionally directed at attaining goals, a goal-directed framework for understanding and influencing ESFC is built. To engage in goal-directed behavior, people typically go through a series of sequential steps. The proposed theoretical framework makes explicit the sequential steps or hurdles that need to be taken for consumers to engage in ESFC. Consumers need to positively value the environment, discern a discrepancy between the desired versus the actual state of the environment, opt for action to reduce the experienced discrepancy, intend to engage in behavior that is expected to bring them closer to the desired end state, and act in accordance with their intention. Second, a critical review of the literature on mechanisms that underlie and explain ESFC (or the lack thereof) in high-income countries is presented and integrated into the goal-directed framework. This contribution thus combines a top-down conceptualization with a bottom-up literature review; it identifies and discusses factors that might hold people back from ESFC and interventions that might promote ESFC; and it reveals knowledge gaps as well as insights on how to encourage both short- and long-term ESFC by confronting extant literature with the theoretical framework. Altogether, the analysis yields a set of 33 future research questions in the interdisciplinary food domain that deserve to be addressed with the aim of fostering ESFC in the short and long term.
Shifting priorities Gere, Judith; Impett, Emily A.
Journal of social and personal relationships,
07/2018, Letnik:
35, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
We investigated whether partners in newly developing romantic relationships adjust their goals when they experience conflict with the goals of their partner, and the consequences of goal conflict and ...goal adjustment. Fifty-nine newly dating couples (N = 118) reported on their goals at an initial session and again 3 months later. Multilevel models indicated that when people reported higher conflict between a goal and their partner’s goals, they were more likely to stop pursuing as well as to devalue the importance of that particular goal over time. Furthermore, goal devaluing was associated with increases in relationship commitment over time but decreases in women’s relationship satisfaction when their partners devalued conflicting goals. Overall levels of goal conflict were associated with marginal decreases in relationship satisfaction. These results indicate that romantic partners try to adjust their goals to reduce goal conflict even in developing relationships, and that these adjustments have consequences for relationship satisfaction and commitment.
Decision‐making styles and goal striving Bavolar, Jozef; Kacmar, Pavol; Lovas, Ladislav ...
Journal of behavioral decision making,
January 2024, 2024-01-00, 20240101, Letnik:
37, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
While previous research has demonstrated the role of decision‐making styles in attaining various real‐life outcomes, it has neglected to explore the underlying goal‐related processes in terms of goal ...dimensions (ways in which people appraise their goals during goal striving). The present study examines whether the most studied decision‐making styles are related to self‐reported effort, goal progress, and action crisis as well as other goal dimensions. We conducted 14 studies (mutual conceptual replications) with Ntotal = 2574 (70% females) which included the General Decision‐Making Styles questionnaire and various goal‐related scales. The results from the mini meta‐analysis showed that the rational and intuitive styles were positively related to the goal dimensions associated with successful goal pursuit (e.g., goal commitment, goal attainability, positive emotions, and goal progress), while the avoidant style was mainly related to various difficulties associated with goal striving (e.g., controlled motivation, negative emotions, and action crisis). The dependent and especially spontaneous styles were found to be very weakly associated with the selected goal dimensions. When the separate studies were analyzed in the regression analyses and more process‐oriented goal dimensions were accounted for, decision‐making styles were only minor predictors of self‐reported effort expenditure, goal progress and action crisis. The study highlights the need and usefulness of a more nuanced processual approach in the research of individual decision‐making differences in goal‐directed behavior.
Using two experience sampling studies, we examined the relationship between affect fluctuations (i.e., affect spin) and goal orientation on psychological well-being and venture goal progress of ...early-stage startup entrepreneurs. We found that the entrepreneur's affect spin negatively related to well-being (Study 1) and venture goal progress (Study 2). Goal orientation moderated these relationships. Specifically, high performance-approach goal orientation weakened the negative relationship between affect spin and psychological well-being (Study 1) and venture goal progress (Study 2); high learning goal orientation strengthened the negative impact of affect spin on well-being (Study 1) but not on venture goal progress (Study 2). We discussed the theoretical and practical implications of our study to affect in entrepreneurship research.
•Entrepreneurs' affect spin negatively related to well-being and venture progress.•Performance-approach goal orientation weakened the affect spin to well-being link.•Performance-approach goal orientation weakened the affect spin to progress link.•Learning goal orientation strengthened the affect spin to well-being link.
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