Lesson 16
 Topic: Goals Theories in Learning

Goal theory is the label used in educational psychology to discuss research into motivation to learn. Goals of learning are thought to be a key factor influencing the level of a student's intrinsic motivation.

• Task/ego involvement

A student is described as task-involved when he is interested in the task for its own qualities. This is associated with higher intrinsic motivation. Task-involved students are less threatened by failure because their own ego is not tied up in the success of the task.^[1]

A student who is ego-involved will be seeking to perform the task to boost their own ego, for the praise that completing the task might attract, or because completing the task confirms their own self-concept (e.g. clever, strong, funny etc...) Ego-involved students can become very anxious or discouraged in the face of failure, because such failure challenges their self-concept.

• Approach/avoidance goals

  Not all goals are directed towards approaching a desirable outcome (e.g., demonstrating competence). Goals can also be directed towards avoiding an undesirable outcome (e.g., avoiding the demonstration of incompetence to others).

It is thought that approach goals contribute positively to intrinsic motivation whereas avoidance goals do not.
Most of human behavior is directed by goals and needs. Goals range from personal to professional, from being happy to doing well in school, from short-term to long-term and the list could go on and on. Needs can be objective and physical or subjective and psychological. This lesson will distinguish between the constructs of goals and needs. We will also discuss differing types of goals as they relate to academics and learning.

You may understand the definition of need to be anything necessary for an organism to survive. For example, a plant needs sunlight to survive, or a human needs food and water to survive. In psychology, however, the concept of need assumes a slightly different definition. To psychologists, a need is a psychological feature that drives a human or animal toward a goal or behavior. Examples of this definition include a need for achievement, a need for affiliation with others and a need for attention.

Let's move on to goals. Goal orientation theory is a social-cognitive theory of achievement motivation. Goal theory became a particularly important theoretical framework in the study of academic motivation in the late 1980s. Whereas other motivational theories examine students' beliefs about their successes and failures, goal orientation theory examines the reasons why students engage in their academic work.

A core goal is a long-term goal that drives much of what an individual does. These long-term goals help direct behavior toward achievement and success. Let's meet Jack. Jack is a freshman in college. Jack wants to go to medical school after completing his undergraduate degree. Jack's core goal is to get accepted into the most prestigious medical school in the country.

Short-term goals, referred to as proximal goals, are more concrete and can be accomplished within a short time period. One can think of proximal goals as a stepping stone toward a longer-range goal. Jack has many proximal goals in order to help him achieve his core goal of getting accepted into a prestigious medical school. He has a GPA goal of 4.0 for his first semester in college, a goal of taking the MCATs within two years and a goal of volunteering 50 hours a semester at the local hospital. All of these goals can be achieved in a short duration of time and will ultimately help Jack achieve his core goal.

Mastery vs. Performance Goals

The work of early goal theorists contrasted two types of goal orientations: mastery, which is a desire to acquire additional knowledge or master new skills, and performance, which is a desire to demonstrate high ability and make a good impression. Recent works of goal theorists have incorporated a second dimension of goal orientations: approach and avoidance.

Mastery-oriented goals are defined in terms of a focus on learning, mastering the task according to self-set standards or self-improvement. It also encompasses developing new skills, improving or developing competence, trying to accomplish something challenging and trying to gain an understanding or insight.

Performance-oriented goals represent a focus on demonstrating competence or ability and how ability will be judged relative to others. For example, trying to surpass normative performance standards, attempting to best others, using casual comparative standards or striving to be the best in a group or even avoiding judgments of low ability or appearing dumb are examples of performance-oriented goals.

Approach-oriented goals are goals in which individuals are positively motivated to look good and receive favorable judgment from others.

Avoidance-oriented goals are goals in which individuals can be negatively motivated to try to avoid failure and to avoid looking incompetent.

Let's explore these concepts and incorporate the second dimension of approach and avoidance. We are joining Jack in his freshman anatomy and physiology class.

For a mastery approach example, Jack's goal in the class is to learn all of the features of the human body because he is interested in anatomy and physiology and wants to be able to build his base knowledge of these principles.

For a mastery avoidance example, Ashley's goal in class is to avoid misunderstanding the features of a human body and principles of human physiology as presented to her by her teacher.

For an example of performance approach, Hillary's goal in class is to identify all of the bones, muscles and tissues in the human body more quickly and better than her classmates.

And for performance avoidance, Max's goal in class is to avoid appearing incompetent at identifying anatomy or applying principles of physiology.

It is important to note that students can hold multiple goals simultaneously; thus, it is possible for a student to be both mastery-approach-oriented and performance-approach-oriented. Such a student truly wants to learn and master the material but is also concerned with appearing more competent than others.

 MY REFLECTION

Everyone of us has its own goals on how we encountered this until we commit so that we have so many ways to achieve that different goals.