Autonomous and controlled regulation of performance-approach goals: Their relations to perfectionism and educational outcomes

Self-based goals, underlying reasons, performance and discrete emotions among parkrunners

Introduction

A temporal sequence of hypothesized relationships was tested between self-based goals and their underlying reasons → stress appraisals → performance and emotions, among UK parkrunners. A conditional process model was also examined to ascertain the potential moderating role of self-determined reasons in explaining the indirect relationship of self-based goals predicting performance and emotions via stress appraisals.

Methods

Utilizing a prospective design, 324 parkrunners (Mage = 45.27; SD = 10.73 years) completed online measures of self-based goals, their underlying reasons at 7 days (T1), and stress appraisals at 24 h (T2), prior to their next UK parkrun. Performance data and discrete emotions (pride and shame) were reported 24 h post-parkrun (T3).

Results

Structural Equation Modeling revealed partial support for the hypothesized model. More specifically, findings suggested that: (1) T1 self-determined reasons underpinning a self-approach goal positively predicted T2 challenge appraisals and T3 pride, (2) T1 self-determined reasons for pursuing a self-avoidance goal corresponded to reduced T3 performance and shame, (3) T2 challenge and threat appraisals were found to positively relate to T3 pride, and (4) the slower parkrunners ran, the more shame they felt post-event. T2 challenge and threat appraisals were found to mediate the relationship between T1 self-determined reasons underlying a self-approach goal and T3 pride. Further analysis failed to support a conditional process model.

Discussion

Our findings suggest the intensity of pursuing a self-based goal does not matter at all, but underlying self-determined reasons are a key driver influencing stress appraisals, performance and subsequent emotions among parkrunners.

When Insecure Self-Worth Drains Students' Energy: Academic Contingent Self-Esteem and Parents' and Teachers' Perceived Conditional Regard as Predictors of School Burnout

Whereas both the family and school environment have been suggested to affect school burnout risks, the role of conditionally regarding parenting or teaching, in which affection is granted conditional on student achievement, in the development of school burnout has not yet been examined. This longitudinal study investigated students' academic contingent self-esteem and parental and teacher conditional regard as antecedents of school burnout. The study sample consisted of Flemish early adolescents (n = 3409; M_age = 12.4 years (SD = 0.49) at the first measurement occasion; 50.3% males), which were surveyed twice (start of Grade 7 and Grade 8). Using Latent Change Modeling, academic contingent self-esteem was found to predict school burnout. Parental and teacher conditional regard both contributed to school burnout, partly through academic contingent self-esteem. Whereas negative conditional regard had the strongest implications for school burnout, positive conditional regard contributed most strongly to contingent self-esteem. Associations were systematically found both at the between-student level (i.e., high levels of antecedents were related to high levels of school burnout) and at the within-student level (i.e., increases in antecedents over time were related to concomitant increases in school burnout). These findings emphasize that communicating conditional approval to adolescents may increase school burnout risks, thus jeopardizing their healthy academic development.

The influence of achievement goals on objective driving behavior

Investigating psychological characteristics through self-reported measures (e.g., anger, sensation seeking) and dynamic behaviors through objective measures (e.g., speed, 2D acceleration, GPS position etc.) may allow us to better understand the behavior of at-risk drivers. To assess drivers' motivation, the theoretical framework of achievement goals has been studied recently. These achievement goals can influence the decision-making and behaviors of individuals engaged in driving. The four achievement goals in driving are: seeking to improve or to drive as well as possible (mastery-approach), to outperform other drivers (performance-approach), to avoid driving badly (mastery-avoidance), and to avoid being the worst driver (performance-avoidance). Naturalistic Driving Studies (NDS) provide access to the objective measurements of data not accessible through self-reported measurements (i.e., speed, accelerations, GPS position). Three dynamic criteria have been developed to characterize the behavior of motorists objectively: driving events, time spent above acceleration thresholds (longitudinal and transversal), and the extent of dynamic demands. All these criteria have been measured in different road contexts (e.g., plain). The aim of this study was to examine the predictive role of the four achievement goals on these objective driving behaviors. 266 drivers (96 women, 117 men) took part in the study, and 4 242 482 km was recorded during 8 months. Simultaneously, they completed the Achievement Goals in Driving Questionnaire. The main results highlighted that mastery-approach goals negatively predicted hard braking and the extent of dynamic demands on plain and hilly roads. Mastery-approach goals seem to be the most protective goals in driving. Future research on the promotion of mastery-approach goals in driving may be able to modify the behavior of at-risk drivers.

The Moderating Effect of Learning Experience on Learning Motivation and Learning Outcomes of International Students

With the increasing level of internationalization in higher education, the number of international students in mainland China is rapidly increasing. However, limited research has considered that student results may be affected by a reduced motivation to learn. Therefore, the aim of this research is to explore the effect of the learning motivation on the learning outcomes of international students and the moderating role of learning experience. A sample of 130 international students from 23 countries studying in mainland China was analyzed. The study found a significant correlation between the learning motivations and international students' learning outcomes. It was also determined that learning experience has significantly enhances the relationship between learning motivation and the learning outcomes of international students. This study contributes to the higher education literature on learning motivation by students and learning outcomes.

Understanding and shaping the future of work with self-determination theory

Self-determination theory has shaped our understanding of what optimizes worker motivation by providing insights into how work context influences basic psychological needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness. As technological innovations change the nature of work, self-determination theory can provide insight into how the resulting uncertainty and interdependence might influence worker motivation, performance and well-being. In this Review, we summarize what self-determination theory has brought to the domain of work and how it is helping researchers and practitioners to shape the future of work. We consider how the experiences of job candidates are influenced by the new technologies used to assess and select them, and how self-determination theory can help to improve candidate attitudes and performance during selection assessments. We also discuss how technology transforms the design of work and its impact on worker motivation. We then describe three cases where technology is affecting work design and examine how this might influence needs satisfaction and motivation: remote work, virtual teamwork and algorithmic management. An understanding of how future work is likely to influence the satisfaction of the psychological needs of workers and how future work can be designed to satisfy such needs is of the utmost importance to worker performance and well-being.

Technology is changing the nature of work by enabling new forms of automation and communication. In this Review, Gagné et al. describe how self-determination theory can help researchers and practitioners to shape the future of work to ensure that it meets the psychological needs of workers.

The type of motivation does matter for university preparation

Abstract Using Self-Determination Theory, the relationship between motivation (autonomous and controlled), academic self-efficacy, test anxiety, life satisfaction and academic achievement was studied in a group of pre-university students from Lima-Peru. A total of 252 students of both sexes with ages between 16 and 30 years (Mage = 17.69) were assessed. Correlational analyses showed the expected relationships among the studied variables. The path analysis performed gave evidence of the fulfillment of the hypotheses proposed for this study since academic self-efficacy mediated the relationship between autonomous motivation and academic achievement and life satisfaction; also test anxiety mediated the relationship between controlled motivation and academic achievement and life satisfaction. The implications of these empirical findings are discussed in relation to pre-university education in Peru.

Mediating Mechanisms of Perfectionism: Clinical Comorbidity of OCD and ED

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and eating disorders (ED) share common causal factors and often represent similar entities. Studies on obsessive-compulsive disorders and eating disorders reveal a significant correlation between maladaptive perfectionism. The objective of this study is to evaluate the predictive variables of perfectionism in patients diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and OCD using a structural equation model (SEM). The sample consisted of 187 participants (60.9% women, 39.1% men) with a mean age of 26.68 (SD = 10.97). The findings reveal that the model is the same in all the disorders evaluated, achieving an adequate fit: χ2 = 7.95 (p = 0.000), RMSEA = 0.087 (95% confidence interval: 0.00 to 0.02), CFI = 0.991, TLI = 0.951 and with an overall predictive capacity of around 30% (CD = 0.318). It is recommended that future studies address the subtypes of disorders evaluated using longitudinal designs.

The Mediating Effect of Social Problem-Solving Between Perfectionism and Subjective Well-Being

This study examined the relationship between perfectionism and subjective well-being (SWB) and dimensions of social problem-solving ability. The Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R), Social problem-solving Inventory-Revised (SPSI-R) and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) were used to conduct a questionnaire survey of 202 Chinese adults. The results found that: (1) Subjective well-being was significantly negatively correlated with the discrepancy dimension of perfectionism and was also significantly negatively correlated with the negative problem orientation of social problem-solving. (2) The discrepancy dimension reflected in maladaptive perfectionism was significantly positively correlated with the negative aspects of social problem solving (Negative Problem Orientation, NPO; Impulsivity-Carelessness Style, ICS; and Avoidance Style, AS). (3) The negative problem orientation (NPO) dimension in SPSI-R, as a partial mediator, mediated the negative correlation between maladaptive perfectionism and subjective well-being. In conclusion, perfectionism and social problem-solving ability had different degrees of influence on the SWB of Chinese adults, and attention could be paid to dealing with discrepancy and how to reduce negative problem-solving tendency in education and clinical practice.

Relationships Between Achievement Goal Orientations, Learning Engagement, and Academic Adjustment in Freshmen: Variable-Centered and Person-Centered Approaches

Academic adjustment is a principal determining factor of undergraduate students' academic achievement and success. However, studies pay little attention to freshmen's antecedent variables of academic adjustment. This study aimed to examine the mechanisms underlying the relationship between achievement goal orientations and academic adjustment in freshmen using variable- and person-centered approaches. A sample of 578 freshmen (aged 18.29±1.04years, 58.5% female) completed questionnaires on achievement goal orientations, learning engagement, and academic adjustment. Latent profile analysis of achievement goal orientations revealed four groups: low-motivation (11.1%), approach-oriented (9.5%), average (52.8%), and multiple (26.6%). In the mediating analysis, results of the variable-centered approach showed that learning engagement mediated the effects of the mastery-approach and performance-avoidance goals on academic adjustment. For the person-centered approach, we selected the average type as the reference profile, and the analysis revealed that compared with the reference profile, learning engagement partially mediated the link between the approach-oriented profile and academic adjustment. The current study highlights the important role that achievement goal orientations and learning engagement play in academic adjustment. We discuss the implications and limitations of the findings.

How Can Students Feel More Vital Amidst Severe Restrictions? Psychological Needs Satisfaction, Motivational Regulation and Vitality of Students during the Coronavirus Pandemic Restrictions

During the pandemic restrictions imposed in spring 2020, many aspects of students' living and learning environments changed drastically. From the perspective of Self-Determination Theory, changes in social context interact with the satisfaction or frustration of basic psychological needs and, as a result, with study-related motivational regulation and vitality. In this study, we investigate the relationships between the contextual factors of online-based distance learning, basic psychological needs, forms of motivational regulation and subjective vitality in a sample of N = 1849 university students across eight universities in Austria and Germany. Based on structural equational modelling, the results stress the relevance of satisfaction with technological resources in regard to higher levels of satisfaction in all three basic psychological needs, while perceived overload is linked to lower levels of needs satisfaction and increased basic psychological needs frustration. Further, the estimated workload difference before and during the pandemic is not related to the motivational outcomes of the model. All relationships have been tested for mediation effects between basic psychological needs and the different forms of motivational regulation on subjective vitality: for the need for relatedness, no mediation is found, while the effect of the need for autonomy is fully mediated by autonomous regulation styles. The need for competence was associated with several mediating interactions with regulation styles. The results offer insight into students' perceptions of their study-related experiences during the pandemic and can help to develop effective methods in online-based and blended learning settings in the future.

When pursuing bad goals for good reasons makes it even worse: a social value approach to performance-avoidance goal pursuit

Consistently in achievement goal research, pursuing performance-avoidance goals has been associated with a decrease in achievement. Less is known to what extent this effect depends on the reasons underlying these goals' endorsement. The present research uses a social value approach to assess how do performance-avoidance goals' effects on achievement depend on the reasons anchored in social utility (goal endorsed in order to succeed) and in social desirability (goal endorsed in order to please one's teachers). Based on five correlational samples meta-analyzed in Study 1, results showed that perceiving performance-avoidance goals as socially useful increased the negative effect of these goals on achievement. This moderating effect was replicated experimentally in Study 2. These findings support the relevance of studying achievement goal complexes and illustrate that performance-avoidance goals may lead to deleterious consequences even when endorsed for seemingly good reasons.

Internalization of Mastery Goals: The Differential Effect of Teachers' Autonomy Support and Control

Two linked studies explored whether students’ perceptions differentiate between teachers’ autonomy support and control when presenting mastery goals, and the outcomes of these two practices, in terms of students’ internalization of mastery goals and their behavioral engagement. In two phases, Study 1 (N = 317) sought to validate a new instrument assessing students’ perceptions of teachers’ autonomy support and control when presenting mastery goals. Study 2 (N = 1,331) demonstrated that at both within- and between-classroom levels, perceptions of teachers’ autonomy support for mastery goals were related to students’ mastery goals’ endorsement and behavioral engagement. These relations were mediated by students’ autonomous reasons to pursue learning activities. Perceptions of teachers’ control predicted disengagement through controlled reasons for learning, but only at the within-classroom level. This research joins a growing body of work demonstrating that combining achievement goal theory with SDT can further our understanding of the underpinnings of achievement motivation. It suggests that if teachers want their students to endorse mastery goals (and be more engaged), they need to use more autonomy supportive practices and less controlling ones.

Is intelligence related to perfectionism? Multidimensional perfectionism and parental antecedents among adolescents across varying levels of cognitive ability

OBJECTIVE

Although intellectually gifted individuals are often portrayed as perfectionists, evidence for an association between cognitive ability and perfectionism is inconclusive. This study investigates the relations between cognitive ability and two distinct dimensions of perfectionism and addresses the role of parental antecedents of perfectionism in adolescents at different levels of cognitive ability.

METHOD

In a community sample of 3,168 adolescents and their parents, cognitive ability was assessed and perfectionism levels and parenting practices were surveyed.

RESULTS

Adolescents higher in cognitive ability reported higher levels of Personal Standards (i.e., setting ambitious objectives) but lower levels of Concern over Mistakes (i.e., worrying excessively about mistakes). Parental criticism, high parental expectations, and conditionally regarding parenting were associated positively with Concern over Mistakes, and high parental expectations were related positively to Personal Standards. These associations were generally independent of adolescents' cognitive ability. Parents of adolescents higher in cognitive ability relied less on parenting practices associated with the development of perfectionism.

CONCLUSION

Cognitive ability is related to a higher pursuit of personal standards, yet does not constitute a risk factor for excessive concerns about mistakes. Parental antecedents were related similarly and in theoretically meaningful ways to adolescent perfectionism across different levels of cognitive ability.

Under Pressure to Achieve? The Impact of Type and Style of Task Instructions on Student Cheating

Combining principles of Achievement Goal Theory, which maintains that performance goals play a key role in individuals' likelihood of cheating, and Self-Determination Theory, which highlights the importance of autonomy support and autonomous motivation underlying achievement goals, we examined whether the combination of experimentally inducing a mastery-approach (relative to performance-approach) goal with an autonomy-supportive manner (instead of controlling) may attenuate cheating. In two experiments carried out with university students, one classroom based (N = 164) and one laboratory (N = 160), we manipulated the type of induced goal (performance- vs. mastery-approach) and style of introducing the goal (i.e., controlling vs. autonomy-supportive) by taking also into consideration participants' values. We hypothesized that the least behaviorally observed cheating would occur in a context promoting mastery-approach goals in an autonomy-supportive way and among individuals low in self-enhancement value adherence. The dependent variables in both studies consisted of two set of exercises, both including questions that could only be solved by cheating. Results of Poisson regression analyses revealed that in both studies the least cheating in the first set of exercises occurred in the autonomy-supportive/mastery-approach condition, indicating that this induced goal complex has the greatest potential to restrain academic dishonesty in the short-term. Interaction effects with self-enhancement value adherence revealed that the cheating inhibitory effects of this induced goal complex was less effective for those who value power and achievement.

User’s feedback contribution to enhance professional online community: a motivational process

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the motivational process underlying users’ intention to provide feedback on user-contributed knowledge in professional online communities. User feedback can serve as a means of indicating the credibility of the online content, which can help community members in their knowledge-seeking process. Adopting such a user feedback mechanism is beneficial for users to identify relevant and credible content efficiently and for an online community to sustain itself.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on self-determination theory, an integrated model is proposed. In this model, behavioural intention is defined as the consequence of motivational orientations whose antecedences include various social factors. The model is empirically tested using survey data collected online and the structural equation modelling techniques.

Findings

The results show that users’ intention to provide feedback is primarily influenced by autonomous motivation. Autonomous motivation is in turn affected by social factors, including reciprocity, online reputation, trust in the user involvement mechanisms and affective and normative community commitments.

Originality/value

This study adds value to prior studies by stressing the significance and feasibility of user feedback in helping members of professional online communities with their knowledge-seeking process. It also contributes to the literature on user participation in these communities by showing the efficacy of a motivational process perspective and the role of motivational orientations, in particular, in explaining users’ behavioural intention.

Effects of performance goals and social norms on academic dishonesty in a test

BACKGROUND

Previous research has shown that achievement goals affect the frequency of academic dishonesty. However, mixed findings suggest that especially the effect of performance goals might depend on contextual factors.

AIMS

We wanted to investigate whether crucial aspects of the achievement situation influence the magnitude of the effect of performance goals (here: focused on appearance) on dishonesty. Specifically, we propose that social norms regarding the acceptance of dishonesty moderate the positive effect of performance goals on academic dishonesty.

SAMPLE

We sampled 105 German university students. They were teacher trainees, mostly in their first year at university and on average 20.6 (SD = 3.6) years old (72.4% female).

METHOD

We conducted a 2 (induced appearance goals vs. no goal induction) × 2 (cheating confederate vs. no observable cheating behaviour by this person) experiment. A manipulation check confirmed that the manipulation of appearance goals was successful. Cheating behaviour was observed by a confederate student and subsequently classified by two raters. Additionally, participants' dishonesty in self-presentation questions was measured using deviations from baseline measures.

RESULTS

The induction of appearance goals only led to increased cheating when the social norm suggested that cheating behaviour was an acceptable way to increase performance (i.e., cheating confederate condition). For deceiving, we found a positive main effect of appearance goals. Appearance goals mediated these effects from goal manipulation on academic dishonesty.

CONCLUSIONS

Taken together, our results highlight that the mixed findings on the effect of performance goals on academic dishonesty might be due to uninvestigated moderators such as social norms. Future research should build on these findings to identify additional moderators.

Reflections on self-determination theory as an organizing framework for personality psychology: Interfaces, integrations, issues, and unfinished business

OBJECTIVE

This special issue focuses on self-determination theory (SDT) as an integrative framework for the wider field of personality research. In this commentary our aims include: reflecting on the utility and strengths of SDT as such a general framework and responding to the various contributions in this issue regarding their use of SDT as a guiding, complementary, or contrasting framework.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We describe how SDT has developed organically and conservatively from "within" based on the emerging patterns of evidence, as well through the ongoing challenges from other models and frameworks. We then discuss each of the various contributions to this special issue, addressing themes that include SDT's breadth of methods, and its relevance to topics such as narcissism, wisdom, individual differences, Big-Five traits, and the neuropsychology of motivation, among others. Across these discussions, we highlight fruitful avenues for research and cross-fertilization across the fields of personality, development, motivation, and neuroscience. At the same time, we counter some claims made about SDT, and forward certain cautions regarding the integration of SDT and other personality frameworks and models.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude by revisiting the value of broad theory, and SDT in particular, for coordinating complex research findings concerning motivation, personality development and wellness across multiple levels of analysis and, perhaps more importantly, for pointing researchers to the right questions within today's prolific empiricism.

Internal medicine residents' achievement goals and efficacy, emotions, and assessments

BACKGROUND

Achievement goal theory is consistently associated with specific cognitions, emotions, and behaviours that support learning in many domains, but has not been examined in postgraduate medical education. The purpose of this research was to examine internal medicine residents' achievement goals, and how these relate to their sense of self-efficacy, epistemic emotions, and valuing of formative compared to summative assessments. These outcomes will be important as programs transition more to competency based education that is characterized by ongoing formative assessments.

METHODS

Using a correlational design, we distributed a self-report questionnaire containing 49 items measuring achievement goals, self-efficacy, emotions, and response to assessments to internal medicine residents. We used Pearson correlations to examine associations between all variables.

RESULTS

Mastery-approach goals were positively associated with self-efficacy and curiosity and negatively correlated with frustration and anxiety. Mastery-approach goals were associated with a greater value for feedback derived from annual ACP exams, end-of-rotation written exams, and annual OSCEs. Performance-approach goals were only associated with valuing ACP exams.

CONCLUSION

Mastery-approach goals were associated with self-efficacy and epistemic emotions among residents, two constructs that facilitate autonomous learning. Residents with mastery-approach goals also appeared to value a wider range of types of assessment data. This profile will likely be beneficial for learners in a competency-based environment that involves high levels of formative feedback.

Feeling Interpersonally Controlled While Pursuing Materialistic Goals: A Problematic Combination for Moral Behavior

We created a life-goal assessment drawing from self-determination theory and achievement goal literature, examining its predictive power regarding immoral behavior and subjective well-being. Our source items assessed direction and energization of motivation, via the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic aims and between intrinsic and extrinsic reasons for acting, respectively. Fused source items assessed four goal complexes representing a combination of direction and energization. Across three studies ( Ns = 109, 121, and 398), the extrinsic aim/extrinsic reason complex was consistently associated with immoral and/or unethical behavior beyond four source and three other goal complex variables. This was consistent with the triangle model of responsibility's claim that immoral behaviors may result when individuals disengage the self from moral prescriptions. The extrinsic/extrinsic complex also predicted lower subjective well-being, albeit less consistently. Our goal complex approach sheds light on how self-determination theory's goal contents and organismic integration mini-theories interact, particularly with respect to unethical behavior.

Effects of achievement goals on perceptions of competence in conditions of unfavourable social comparisons: The mastery goal advantage effect

BACKGROUND

Previous prospective studies have documented that mastery-approach goals are adaptive because they facilitate less negative psychological responses to unfavourable social comparisons than performance-approach goals.

AIMS

This study aimed to confirm this so-called 'mastery goal advantage' effect experimentally.

METHODS

A 2 × 3 design was adopted where achievement goals (mastery vs. performance) and normative information (favourable vs. no-normative information vs. unfavourable) were manipulated as between participant factors.

SAMPLE

Participants were 201 undergraduates, 57 males and 144 females, ranging in age from 17 to 55 years (M_age  = 22.53, SD = 6.51).

RESULTS

Regression analyses pointed out that experimentally induced mastery-approach goals facilitated higher levels of competence and happiness with task performance than experimentally induced performance-approach goals in conditions of unfavourable social comparisons. In contrast, although performance-approach goals yielded the highest levels of happiness with task performance in conditions of favourable social comparisons, this positive effect of performance-approach goals did not extend to perceptions of competence.

CONCLUSION

Current findings broaden understanding of the adaptive nature of mastery-approach goals and suggest that it is possible to modulate aversive responses to unfavourable social comparisons by focusing attention on mastery-approach goals.

Students’ possible selves and achievement goals: Examining personal and situational influences in Thailand

This survey study conducted in vocational and academic secondary schools investigated the association of 1,060 Thai students’ self-reports of mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goal orientations with the salience and content of their hoped-for possible selves reflecting existence, relatedness, and growth needs. Results of mixed-design MANCOVA indicated mastery orientation to be higher for students identifying possible selves reflecting growth or relatedness needs than existence needs as most salient, and performance-approach orientation to be higher for students identifying possible selves reflecting existence rather than growth needs as most salient. Also, school type interacted with students’ most salient possible selves reflecting existence, relatedness, or growth needs to relate to their achievement goal orientations. The results are discussed in terms of the classic person versus situation approach to the study of achievement goals in schools, and their implications for classroom and school administration.

Performance Goals and Task Performance

Abstract. Recent years have seen an increased interest in understanding how high-stakes evaluative contexts, which are pervasive in the academic arena, may influence crucial outcomes such as performance and achievement. The salience of grades, as well as the importance to distinguish oneself in the eyes of teachers to have access to valued diplomas, encourages the adoption of performance-approach goals (i.e., the desire to outperform others). Consistent with literature documenting the cognitive costs of high-pressure situations, recent findings have highlighted the detrimental consequences of performance-approach goals on availability of working memory resources, pointing at distraction as the cause of this phenomenon. We review and discuss this result in the light of the achievement goal literature. We then present both methodological and theoretical arguments to clarify and reconcile the apparent contradictions between this emerging evidence and the well-documented positive impact of performance-approach goal pursuit on achievement in the classroom. Throughout, we highlight how the study of performance-approach goal-related interference has the potential to enrich our understanding of how evaluative contexts do generate distraction.

‘Why do I study and what do I want to achieve by studying?’ Understanding the reasons and the aims of student engagement

This study seeks to understand the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of student engagement by investigating the ‘aims’ that students pursue through engagement (i.e., their achievement goals) and the ‘reasons’ driving such engagement (i.e., their motivation). Self-report instruments measuring students’ motivational reasons, achievement goals, and engagement in the context of their mathematics classes were administered to a sample of 491 Singapore elementary students (54% girls; Mage = 11 years). Mediational path analysis showed that achievement goals, collectively, played a significant mediating role in almost all the links connecting motivational reasons to different engagement outcomes. Specifically, whilst autonomous motivation (AM) was associated with greater effort/persistence, heightened elaboration, and lower anxiety, controlled motivation (CM) was associated with higher anxiety. Although self-based goals strengthened the positive direct effects of AM on effort/persistence and elaboration, and channeled the adaptive effects of CM on these two engagement outcomes, this goal type also heightened the effect of CM on anxiety and cancelled out the benefits of AM in reducing anxiety. Taken together, findings pointed to the more adaptive role of AM relative to CM, and the apparently double-edged-sword effects of self-based goals on student engagement. Key findings and their implications for teaching and school psychology practices are discussed.

Building on the Enriched Hierarchical Model of Achievement Motivation: Autonomous and Controlling Reasons Underlying Mastery Goals

Two motivational theories - the Achievement Goal Theory and Self-Determination Theory - have recently been combined to explain students' motivation, making it possible to study the "what" and the "why" of learners' achievement strivings. The present study built on this approach by (a) investigating whether the distinction between autonomous or volitional and controlling or pressuring reasons can be meaningfully applied to the adoption of mastery-avoidance goals, (b) investigating the concurrent and prospectiverelations between mastery-avoidance goals and their underlying reasons and learning strategies when mastery-approach goals and their underlying reasons were also considered, and by (c) incorporating psychological need experiences as an explanatory variable in the relation between achievement motives (i.e., the motive to succeed and motive to avoid failure) and both mastery goals and their underlying reasons. In two Turkish university students samples (N = 226, M_age = 22.36; N = 331, M_age = 19.5), autonomous and controlling reasons appeared applicable to mastery-avoidance goals and regression and path analysis further showed that mastery-avoidance goals and their underlying autonomous reasons fail to predicted learning strategies over and above the pursuit of mastery-approach goals and their underlying reasons. Finally, need experiences were established as mediators between achievement motives and both mastery goals and their underlying reasons.

Achievement Goals and their Underlying Goal Motivation: Does it Matter Why Sport Participants Pursue their Goals?

This study examined whether the good or bad outcomes associated with mastery-approach (MAP) and performance-approach (PAP) goals depend on the extent to which they are motivated by autonomous or controlled motivation. A sample of 515 undergraduate students who participated in sport completed measures of achievement goals, motivation of achievement goals, perceived goal attainment, sport satisfaction, and both positive and negative affect. Results of moderated regression analyses revealed that the positive relations of both MAP and PAP goals with perceived goal attainment were stronger for athletes pursuing these goals with high level of autonomous goal motivation. Also, the positive relations between PAP goals and both sport satisfaction and positive affect were stronger at high levels of autonomous goal motivation and controlled goal motivation. The shape of all these significant interactions was consistent with tenets of Self-Determination Theory as controlled goal motivation was negatively associated with positive affect and sport satisfaction and positively associated with negative affect. Overall, these findings demonstrated the importance of considering goal motivation in order to better understand the conditions under which achievement goals are associated with better experiential and performance outcomes in the lives of sport participants.

Intrapersonal Achievement Goals and Underlying Reasons among Long Distance Runners: Their Relation with Race Experience, Self-Talk, and Running Time

In a sample of long distance runners, we examined the role of type of intrapersonal achievement goals (i.e., approach versus avoidance) and type of underlying reasons (i.e., autonomous and controlled), assessed prior to the race, as predictors of both pre-race (e.g., race appraisals) and post-race (e.g., flow experience) outcomes. Of 221 (62.4% males) runners, 111 reported pursuing an intrapersonal-approach goal (i.e., doing better than before) as their dominant or preferred achievement goal for the race, while 86 prioritized intrapersonal-avoidance goals (i.e., avoiding to perform worse than before). Regression and path analyses showed that the type of achievement goals predicted none of the outcomes except for running time, with approach goals predicting better performance when compared to avoidance goals. Path analyses revealed that autonomous reasons underlying intrapersonal goal pursuit related positively to pre-race challenge appraisals, performance and, via need satisfaction, to flow experience. Interestingly, controlled reasons positively related to pre-race threat appraisals and positively predicted both positive and negative self-talk, with both yielding opposing relations with flow. These findings complement past research on the intersection between the Achievement Goal Approach and Self-Determination Theory and highlight the value of studying the reasons underlying intrapersonal achievement goals.