The influence of mastery‐avoidance goals on performance improvement

Yperen, Nico W. Van; Elliot, Andrew J.; Anseel, Frederik

doi:10.1002/ejsp.590

Cited by 121 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 58 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

103

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Young adults perceived MAVO goals to be harder to attain than MAPP goals. This perception had enduring effects: the heightened goal difficulty intensified their feelings of performance pressure and, therefore, undermined their task interest, perceived competence, and performance when pursuing the MAVO goal.This pattern conceptually replicates the research on avoidance goals in general (e.g., Coats et al, 1996;Elliot & Sheldon, 1997) and for MAVO goals in particular (Van Yperen et al, 2009; for a meta-analytic review, see Baranik et al, 2010) -nearly all of which has relied on children or young adult samples.What about older adults? As hypothesized, they experienced MAVO goal pursuit quite differently.…”

supporting

confidence: 68%

“…To date, only one published study has tested MAVO goals experimentally and used the intrapersonal type of mastery goal (Van Yperen, Elliot, & Anseel, 2009). Consistent with the survey-based research, that study found that striving to avoid a decline in performance (MAVO) caused worse performance than striving to improve (MAPP) or a no-goal control group, both for college students doing a verbal skills test and for young and middle-aged workers doing a managerial task.…”

Section: Mastery-avoidance Goal Researchmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…But the bulk of research on MAPP goals since the theory's early years has excluded the intrapersonal type of mastery goal. That is beginning to change, as evidenced by an increase in studies using experimental Mastery-Avoidance Achievement Goals 5 manipulations (e.g., Poortvliet, Janssen, Van Yperen, & Van de Vliert, 2007) or measures (e.g., Elliot, Murayama, & Pekrun, 2011; Majdar, Kaplan, & Weinstock, 2011) of mastery goals that focus specifically on improvement.To date, only one published study has tested MAVO goals experimentally and used the intrapersonal type of mastery goal (Van Yperen, Elliot, & Anseel, 2009). Consistent with the survey-based research, that study found that striving to avoid a decline in performance (MAVO) caused worse performance than striving to improve (MAPP) or a no-goal control group, both for college students doing a verbal skills test and for young and middle-aged workers doing a managerial task.…”

mentioning

confidence: 72%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Are mastery-avoidance achievement goals always detrimental? An adult development perspective

Senko

Freund

2015

Motiv Emot

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Achievement goal research consistently reveals that mastery-avoidance goals (i.e., striving to avoid losses) are maladaptive, especially in comparison to mastery-approach goals (i.e., striving for gains). Nearly all of it has been done with children or young adults, however. Lifespan theories of motivation posit that people in late adulthood are more likely than young adults to strive toward maintenance and lossprevention rather than gains, and also that they sometimes profit from pursuing those goals. Integrating the two approaches, this experiment compared young and older adults' experience and performance on a laboratory task when pursuing either mastery-approach or mastery-avoidance goals. Results show that young adults perceived the mastery-approach goal to be more attainable and therefore felt less pressure, enjoyed the task more, and performed better with it, whereas older adults showed this pattern with the mastery-avoidance goal. This matching effect replicates recent research on adult development and has broader implications for achievement goal theory and avoidance motivation in general. Mastery-Avoidance Achievement Goals 2 AbstractAchievement goal research consistently reveals that mastery-avoidance goals (i.e., striving to avoid losses) are maladaptive, especially in comparison to mastery-approach goals (i.e., striving for gains). Nearly all of it has been done with children or young adults, however.Lifespan theories of motivation posit that people in late adulthood are more likely than young adults to strive toward maintenance and loss-prevention rather than gains, and also that they sometimes profit from pursuing those goals. Integrating the two approaches, this experiment compared young and older adults' experience and performance on a laboratory task when pursuing either mastery-approach or mastery-avoidance goals. Results show that young adults perceived the mastery-approach goal to be more attainable and therefore felt less pressure, enjoyed the task more, and performed better with it, whereas older adults showed this pattern with the mastery-avoidance goal. This matching effect replicates recent research on adult development and has broader implications for achievement goal theory and avoidance motivation in general.Key words: Achievement goals, mastery-avoidance, gains, losses, adult agedifferences Mastery-Avoidance Achievement Goals 3 Are Mastery-Avoidance Achievement Goals Always Detrimental?An Adult Development Perspective Achievement goal theory (Dweck, 1986;Nicholls, 1984) distinguishes two main types of goals often pursued in achievement situations: mastery goals, which focus on learning or developing one's ability, and performance goals, which instead focus on demonstrating one's ability by outperforming peers. Additionally, these goals separate into approach and avoidance forms (Elliot & McGregor, 2001;Pintrich, 2000). Mastery-approach goals entail striving to learn or improve, whereas mastery-avoidance goals entail striving to avoid failures to learn or decline in skill....

show abstract

supporting

confidence: 68%

Section: Mastery-avoidance Goal Researchmentioning

confidence: 72%

mentioning

confidence: 72%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Are mastery-avoidance achievement goals always detrimental? An adult development perspective

Senko

Freund

2015

Motiv Emot

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A large body of research has provided evidence of the important link between different individual achievement goal orientations and key outcome variables, such as work performance (Janssen & Van Yperen, 2004;Payne, Youngcourt, & Beaubien, 2007;Van Yperen, Elliot, & Anseel, 2009), feedbackseeking behavior (Porter, Webb, & Gogus, 2010;VandeWalle & Cummings, 1997), and helping behavior (Chiaburu, Marinova, & Lim, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organizational tenure and mastery-avoidance goals: the moderating role of psychological empowerment

Humborstad

Dysvik

2015

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mastery-avoidance (MAv) goals are recognized to be detrimental as they arouse counterproductive work-related behaviours. In the current literature, MAv goals are assumed to be more predominant among newcomers and longer tenured employees. The alleged relationship provides important implications but yet has received scant empirical attention. In response, this study examines the proposed U-shaped curvilinear relationship between organizational tenure and MAv goal orientation. In addition, the potential moderating role of psychological empowerment on this curvilinear relationship is investigated. Based on data from 655 certified accountants, the results support the existence of the hypothesized curvilinear relationship. Also, it revealed that for employees who experience higher levels of psychological empowerment, the Ushaped relationship between organizational tenure and MAv goal orientation becomes flattened.Implications and future research are discussed.

show abstract

“…Avoidance goals are associated with negative outcomes, for example, performance-avoidance and masteryavoidance goals have been linked to depression 16 and low grades on examinations. 17,18 In contrast, the masteryapproach goal has been associated with deep learning, 19 high individual interest, 20 high self-regulation, 21 and willingness to cooperate. 22 Yet, to the achievement theorists' surprise, the mastery-approach goal can rarely predict high academic achievement (ie, grades).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Relationship Between Pharmacy Students’ Achievement Goal Orientations and Preferred Teacher Qualities

Alrakaf

Sainsbury

Rose³

et al. 2014

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective. To investigate the relationships between pharmacy students' preferred teacher qualities and their academic achievement goal orientations. Methods. Participants completed an achievement goal questionnaire and a build-a-teacher task. For the latter, students were given a $20 hypothetical budget to purchase amounts of 9 widely valued teachers' qualities.Results. Three hundred sixty-six students participated. Students spent most of their budget on the traits of enthusiasm, expertise, and clear presentation style, and the least amount of money on interactive teaching, reasonable workload, warm personality, and intellectually challenging. In relation to achievement goals, negative associations were found between avoidance goals and preferences for teachers who encourage rigorous thinking and self-direction. Conclusion. These novel findings provide a richer profile of the ways students respond to their learning environment. Understanding the relationships between teachers' characteristics and pharmacy students' achievement goal orientations will contribute to improving the quality of pharmacy learning and teaching environments.

show abstract

The influence of mastery‐avoidance goals on performance improvement

Cited by 121 publications

References 58 publications

Are mastery-avoidance achievement goals always detrimental? An adult development perspective

Are mastery-avoidance achievement goals always detrimental? An adult development perspective

Organizational tenure and mastery-avoidance goals: the moderating role of psychological empowerment

Investigating the Relationship Between Pharmacy Students’ Achievement Goal Orientations and Preferred Teacher Qualities

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About