Achievement goals and optimal motivation

Abstract

This chapter addresses the question of optimal motivation using an achievement goal approach. In general, goals can be defined as cognitive representations of what is hoped to be accomplished, and they give direction and energy to behavior. They also can vary in their level of specificity, ranging from concrete and task-specific goals to more general and broad goals. One particular class of goals, achievement goals, has emerged as the dominant framework for studying achievement motivation. Achievement goals reflect the purpose or reason for an individual's achievement pursuits in a particular situation, and theorists have converged on two general types of achievement goals. The chapter also reviews experimental work that reveals some of the conditions under which performance goals promote intrinsic motivation, as well as correlational work that reveals a positive association between performance goals and academic performance. Achievement goal theorists have reexamined the performance goal construct and argued that it confounds theoretically distinct components. The chapter describes a theoretical model that has guided experimental work on this topic and then presents experimental results that support the model. Following this, it presents some of the recent correlational work in classroom settings. The chapter then demonstrates how the findings, whether experimental or correlational, support a multiple goal perspective rather than the mastery goal perspective. Finally, it describes a set of studies designed to bridge existing experimental and correlational work and outlines four ways in which mastery and performance goals can work in concert to promote optimal motivation.