Goal Orientation Theory
EDU 330: Educational Psychology
Daniel Moos, PhD
Goal Orientation: Introduction
“Whereas other motivational
theories (e.g., attribution theory)
examine students' beliefs about
their successes and failures, goal
orientation theory examines the
reasons why students engage in
their academic work.”
Goal Orientation: Mastery
Mastery: Goal is to truly understand or master the task at
hand; students who are mastery-oriented are:
1. Interested in self-improvement
2. Tend to compare their current level of achievement to
their own prior achievement
 Approach: Interested in truly mastering an academic task
 Avoidance: Interested in avoiding misunderstanding the
task
Goal Orientation: Performance
Performance: Goal is to demonstrate their ability compared
to others. Students who are performance-oriented:
1. Are interested in competition
2. Are interested in demonstrating their competence, and
outperforming others
3. Tend to use other students as points of comparison,
rather than themselves.
 Approach: Interested in demonstrating that they are more
competent than other students (i.e., have more ability than
others
 Avoidance: Interested in avoiding appearing incompetent
or stupid
Goal Orientation:
Mastery/Performance
Mastery
Performance
Approach
Interested in truly
mastering an
academic task
Interested in
demonstrating that
they are more
competent than other
students (i.e., have
more ability than
others)
Avoidance
Interested in avoiding
misunderstanding the
task
Interested in avoiding
appearing
incompetent or stupid
• Can hold multiple goals simultaneously
• Individual differences
• Gender differences?
Goal Orientation:
Mastery/Performance




Brady’s goal in Spanish class is to become fluent in the language
because he is interested in the language and wants to be able to
converse with others and read Spanish literature.
Mastery approach
Allie’s goal in Science class is to avoid appearing incompetent
Performance avoid
Sam’s goal in Math class is to demonstrate to his teacher and to
other students that he is the best in the class
Performance approach
Amanda’s goal in Language Arts class is to avoid misunderstanding
the grammatical lessons presented by her teacher.
Mastery avoid
Goal Orientation: Effect on
learning (I)


Performance-avoidance goals result in few
benefits
Performance-approach goals may have
adaptive value (positively associated with
task value, academic self-concept, effort, and
achievement)
Goal Orientation: Effect on
learning (II)
•
•
•
•
Students who adopt higher levels of performance-approach goals
more likely to earn a higher grade
•
BUT: they also have less interest by the end of the semester
Students who adopt mastery goals tend to demonstrate
increased interest.
Results suggest that it could be that performance-approach and
mastery goals serve two ends for the student—achievement and
interest.
Others have questioned the benefits of encouraging
performance-approach goals
•
If students are encouraged to evaluate their performance
against norms, then inevitably some will be left out. For every
student who achieves above the norm, one falls below it.
Goal Orientation: Effect on
learning (III)
What classrooms practices do you think
promote performance goals?
(avoidance/approach)
Mastery goals?
(avoidance/approach)