Achievement goals, self-handicapping, and performance: a 2 x 2 achievement goal perspective.
Elliot and colleagues (2006) examined the effects of experimentally induced achievement goals, proposed by the trichotomous model, on self-handicapping and performance in physical education. Our study replicated and extended the work of Elliot et al. by experimentally promoting all four goals proposed by the 2 x 2 model (Elliot & McGregor, 2001), measuring the participants' own situational achievement goals, using a relatively novel task, and testing the participants in a group setting. We used a randomized experimental design with four conditions that aimed to induce one of the four goals advanced by the 2 x 2 model. The participants (n = 138) were undergraduates who engaged in a dart-throwing task. The results pertaining to self-handicapping partly replicated Elliot and colleagues' findings by showing that experimentally promoted performance-avoidance goals resulted in less practice. In contrast, the promotion of mastery-avoidance goals did not result in less practice compared with either of the approach goals. Dart-throwing performance did not differ among the four goal conditions. Personal achievement goals did not moderate the effects of experimentally induced goals on self-handicapping and performance. The extent to which mastery-avoidance goals are maladaptive is discussed, as well as the interplay between personal and experimentally induced goals.
School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. n.ntoumanis@bham.ac.uk
Nikos
N
Ntoumanis
Cecilie
C
Thøgersen-Ntoumani
Alison L
AL
Smith
D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000523:psychology*; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010806:Physical Education and Training; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D020377:Self Efficacy; D013177:Sports / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult