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Achievement goals in educational contexts: A social psychology perspective
- Social and Personality Psychology Compass
, 2012
"... Abstract Research on achievement goals usually defines mastery goals as the desire to acquire knowledge, and performance goals as the desire to outperform (or not to underperform) others. Educational contexts are most of the time social contexts, involving various persons and groups, of various hie ..."
Abstract
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Abstract Research on achievement goals usually defines mastery goals as the desire to acquire knowledge, and performance goals as the desire to outperform (or not to underperform) others. Educational contexts are most of the time social contexts, involving various persons and groups, of various hierarchical positions, and various cultural and ideological contexts. Surprisingly, most research in the achievement goal field has been conducted at an individual level of analysis. In the present paper, we will review the social consequences and antecedents of goal endorsement. This research indicates that goals strongly affect the way one behaves with co-learners. Moreover, it suggests that more than merely individual dispositions, goals reflect the social relation students have with other persons, institutions, and with the society to which they belong. We conclude this paper by setting an agenda for future achievement goal research. Educational contexts are contexts in which competence is a highly valued outcome. When students work on an essay, a math problem, an exercise, or an exam, they might pursue several goals. Some of these goals relate to the search for competence, and they are often named ''achievement goals''. The kind of goals that pupils and students pursue and the consequences of such goal adoption for educational behaviors has been a topic that stimulated a great deal of research. However, less research has been devoted to the social origins of such goal adoption and the social outcomes that may come with the pursuit of these goals. The research on achievement goals 1 As an example, when doing a math exercise, one might be focused on the mastery of the task: trying to increase his or her math skills (mastery-approach goals) or not to forget what he or she has learnt in math (masteryavoidance goals). But one might also focus on how he or she will do at this math exercise as compared to other students, and then try to do better (performance-approach goals) or not worse (performance-avoidance goals) than them.
