Goals and related constructs are ubiquitous in psychological research and span the history of psychology. Research on goals has accumulated sporadically through research programs in cognition, personality, and motivation. Goals are denned as internal representations of desired states. In this article, the authors review the theoretical development of the structure and properties of goals, goal establishment and striving processes, and goal-content taxonomies. They discuss affect as antecedent, consequence, and content of goals and argue for integrating across psychological content areas to study goal-directed cognition and action more efficiently. They emphasize the structural and dynamic aspects of pursuing multiple goals, parallel processing, and the parsimony provided by the goal construct. Finally, they advocate construct validation of a taxonomy of goals.The pursuance of future ends and the choice of means for their attainment are the mark and criterion of the presence of mentality in a phenomenon. (James, 1890, p. 8) William James's words, written over a century ago, foreshadowed a science of goal-and plan-directed behavior that is beginning to see fruition (Ajzen, 1991;Bargh & Gollwitzer, 1994;Locke & Latham, 1990a;Pervin, 1989a). In the interval since that statement, and despite the hegemony of behaviorism, the study of goal constructs has expanded to consider (a) the interplay between persons, behavior, and environments (e.g., Bandura, 1986); (b) situated versus symbolic accounts of cognition (e.g., Vera & Simon, 1993); (c) goal-behavior gaps (e.g., Lord & Levy, 1994); (d) self-regulation (e.g., Karoly, 1993); (e) volition (e.g., Corno & Kanfer, 1993); and (f) agentic behavior (e.g., R. M. Ryan, 1992). The breadth of psychological inquiry is apparent from the list of theories that incorporate goal constructs (see Table 1). Yet, the sheer magnitude of this body of research is associated with a certain danger. Heterogeneous perspectives can generate a large body of facts, an excess of vocabulary, and numerous microtheories (Cacioppo & Berntson, 1995). Organizing this knowledge of goals across domains is as vital as understanding each domain in isolation (Spaulding, 1994). In this review, we consider the structural, process, and

The common interpretation of the positive correlation among self-efficacy, personal goals, and performance is questioned. Using self-efficacy theory (A. Bandura, 1977), it was predicted that cross-sectional correlational results were a function of past performance's influence on self-efficacy, and using control theory (W. T. Powers, 1973), it was predicted that self-efficacy could negatively influence subsequent performance. These predictions were supported with 56 undergraduate participants, using a within-person procedure. Personal goals were also positively influenced by self-efficacy and performance but negatively related to subsequent performance. A 2nd study involving 185 undergraduates found that manipulated goal level positively predicted performance and self-efficacy positively predicted performance in the difficult-goal condition. The discussion focuses on conditions likely to affect the sign of the relationship among self-efficacy, goals, and performance.

Although hundreds of studies have found a positive relationship between self-efficacy and performance, several studies have found a negative relationship when the analysis is done across time (repeated measures) rather than across individuals. W. T. Powers (1991) predicted this negative relationship based on perceptual control theory. Here, 2 studies are presented to (a) confirm the causal role of self-efficacy and (b) substantiate the explanation. In Study 1, self-efficacy was manipulated for 43 of 87 undergraduates on an analytic game. The manipulation was negatively related to performance on the next trial. In Study 2, 104 undergraduates played the analytic game and reported self-efficacy between each game and confidence in the degree to which they had assessed previous feedback. As expected, self-efficacy led to overconfidence and hence increased the likelihood of committing logic errors during the game.

Recent reviews of the training literature have advocated directly manipulating self-efficacy in an attempt to improve the motivation of trainees. However, self-regulation theories conceive of motivation as a function of various goal processes, and assert that the effect of self-efficacy should depend on the process involved. Training contexts may evoke planning processes in which self-efficacy might negatively relate to motivation. Yet the typical between-persons studies in the current literature may obscure the effect. To examine this issue, 63 undergraduate students completed a series of questionnaires measuring self-efficacy and motivation before 5 class exams. Self-efficacy was negatively related to motivation and exam performance at the within-person level of analysis, despite a significant positive relation with performance at the between-persons level.

Relationships between organization members’agreement on organizational goats and their attitudes and intentions regarding the organization were investigated in this study. A constituency approach was used to operationalize the organization into meaningful units as the basis for comparison between organizational members. Specifically, the congruence between hierarchical levels (supervisor‐subordinate) and within a level (member‐constituency) was examined. Both types of congruence were hypothesized to relate positively to job satisfaction and organizational commitment and negatively to intention to quit. The hypotheses were tested using data from 356 principals and 14,721 teachers, each rating the importance of goals for their school. The results confirmed the hypotheses regarding goal congruence among members of a constituency (teachers) and between hierarchical levels (principals and teachers), with member‐constituency congruence having the greater impact on teachers’attitudes and intention to quit.