目标概念的辨析及其对决策的影响

目标对决策的影响过程包含了明晰目标的决策过程和在目标的动机作用下完成后续决策任务的过程。目标是个体期望实现的多个未来结果相互之间竞争动机作用的结果。依据对未来结果的渴望性和可行性等特征的认知, 个体抉择出某个未来结果作为自己的目标, 使其具有了动机作用。在明晰目标的过程中, 解释水平、自我控制的人格特质和成功经验都会产生重要影响。在明确了目标以后, 目标通过改变个体对有利于目标实现的决策备择方案的态度和选择性注意来影响个体的决策。未来研究可以从目标的意识程度对决策负面结果的影响, 对决策的心理过程进行直接测量等角度来探讨目标对决策的影响。     

Achievement goals, task performance, and interest: why perceived goal difficulty matters

In field studies, mastery goals, which focus on developing skill, often predict task interest but not actual performance. Performance-approach goals, which focus on outperforming others, instead often predict strong performance but not interest. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that these distinct goal effects trace to goal difficulty perceptions. In each study, participants assigned to a performance-approach goal perceived their goal to be harder, and therefore felt more performance pressure, than those assigned to a mastery goal. Among participants low in dispositional achievement orientation, this experience translated into lower task interest when pursuing the performance-approach goal. However, participants in both studies also performed the activity better when pursuing this goal instead of a standard mastery goal, although this was not mediated by self-reported goal difficulty perceptions. Finally, further demonstrating the role of goal difficulty, a mastery goal manipulated to appear more difficult than a standard mastery goal produced effects matching the performance-approach goal.     

Inspired to get there: The effects of trait and goal inspiration on goal progress

The present investigation examined the effects of trait and goal inspiration on goal progress. Undergraduate students reported three goals they intended to pursue throughout the semester and completed measures of trait and goal inspiration as well as measures of personality traits. Participants then reported on goal progress three times at monthly intervals throughout the semester. Result showed that trait inspiration predicted goal progress, and that this effect was fully mediated by goal inspiration and held after controlling for the Big Five personality traits. Additional within-person analyses of goal inspiration showed that most of the variance in goal inspiration was due to between-person individual differences. Furthermore, analyses of the direction of causality between goal inspiration and goal progress revealed a bi-directional relationship. Discussion focused on the implications and future directions for research on inspiration.     

A meta-analytic examination of the goal orientation nomological net

The authors present an empirical review of the literature concerning trait and state goal orientation (GO). Three dimensions of GO were examined: learning, prove performance, and avoid performance along with presumed antecedents and proximal and distal consequences of these dimensions. Antecedent variables included cognitive ability, implicit theory of intelligence, need for achievement, self-esteem, general self-efficacy, and the Big Five personality characteristics. Proximal consequences included state GO, task-specific self-efficacy, self-set goal level, learning strategies, feedback seeking, and state anxiety. Distal consequences included learning, academic performance, task performance, and job performance. Generally speaking, learning GO was positively correlated, avoid performance GO was negatively correlated, and prove performance GO was uncorrelated with these variables. Consistent with theory, state GO tended to have stronger relationships with the distal consequences than did trait GO. Finally, using a meta-correlation matrix, the authors found that trait GO predicted job performance above and beyond cognitive ability and personality. These results demonstrate the value of GO to organizational researchers.     

Disentangling achievement orientation and goal setting: effects on self-regulatory processes

H. Heckhausen and J. Kuhl's (1985) goal typology provided the conceptual foundation for this research, which examined the independent and integrated effects of achievement orientation and goal-setting approaches on trainees' self-regulatory activity. Using a complex computer-based simulation, the authors examined the effects of 3 training design factors--goal frame, goal content, and goal proximity--cutting across these 2 theoretical domains on the nature, focus, and quality of the self-regulatory activities of 524 trainees. Results revealed that all 3 factors had a significant influence on self-regulation, with goal content exhibiting the greatest influence. In line with expectations, congruent learning frame and content compared with congruent performance frame and content was beneficial for trainees' self-regulatory activity, incongruent combinations of goal frame and content were better than congruent performance frames and content, and effects for the incongruent combinations cutting across the domains were asymmetrical. Theoretical extensions for further disentangling these distinct domains and training design implications are discussed.     

An Examination of Instrumental and Expressive Traits on Performance: The Mediating Role of Learning,Prove, and Avoid Goal Orientations

Instrumental and expressive (I/E) traits represent stereotypical masculine and feminine personality characteristics that are exhibited at varying levels in both genders, with instrumentality representing masculine traits and expressiveness representing feminine traits (Jolson and Comer 1997). The authors propose and empirically test a theoretical model that identifies salesperson learning, prove, and avoid goal orientations as mediators of I/E traits and performance. Findings indicated that goal orientation fully mediated the instrumental to performance relationship and partially mediated the expressiveness to performance relationship. It was also found that salespeople who have high levels of both instrumental and expressive traits (termed androgynous) were high in learning and prove orientations and low in avoid orientation. In turn, learning and prove orientations had a positive influence on performance, while avoid orientation was not significantly related to performance. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

The role of working memory in achievement goal pursuit

The present research examined the role of working memory in the pursuit of qualitatively different achievement goals. Pursuit of a mastery-approach goal entails a focus on developing self-referential competence while a performance-approach goal entails a focus on demonstrating normative competence. Across two experiments it was found that, when working memory is loaded, individuals pursuing a mastery-approach goal experienced larger performance decrements than individuals pursuing a performance-approach goal or those in a no-goal control. It was also found that reliance upon working memory intensive strategies (explicit strategies) was more evident for those in a mastery-approach condition, whereas reliance upon less working memory intensive strategies (implicit strategies) was more evident for those in the performance-approach condition. Results suggest that a motivated focus on developing self-referential skill relies heavily on working memory, facilitated by the use of deliberative, ‘step-by-step’ strategies during goal pursuit. Conversely, a focus on demonstrating normative skill depends less on working memory, facilitated by the use of more heuristic ‘short-cut’ strategies during goal pursuit. These findings show, for the first time, that working memory plays an important, but selective, role in achievement goal pursuit.     

The relationship between implicit and explicit motives, goal pursuit, and autobiographical memory content during a diary study

This online diary study investigated how motives interact with goal pursuit to predict daily autobiographical experiences. Participants (N = 141) completed measures of implicit and explicit achievement, provided daily memories and reports of their goal pursuit during a 3-week diary period. A stronger implicit achievement motive at the onset of the study was associated with more agentic (and fewer communal) autobiographical content. Goal progress was linked with using more agentic words, while goal attainability was related to using more communal words. Interactions between motives and goal pursuit on autobiographical memory suggests a trade-off: Favorable goal pursuit conditions may prompt people not motivated for achievement to shift their focus from agentic to communal themes, while individuals motivated for achievement maintain their priorities.     

创造性人格与员工创造力:一个被调节的中介模型研究

本文基于动机行动和成就动机理论,构建一个被调节的中介模型以检验创造性人格对员工创造力产生的作用机理。以251套来自主管-下属配对的问卷数据为样本,实证分析结果表明:创造性人格可预测员工创造力产生,学习目标导向与绩效证明目标导向在两者之间起部分中介作用;内在动机能够强化个体目标导向对创造力的作用,并显著正向调节创造性人格对员工创造力的间接效应。最后,论文讨论了研究发现对员工创造力产生的理论和实践意义。     

The influence of monetary incentives on goal choice,goal commitment,and task performance

This study was designed to investigate the mechanism by which monetary incentives influence goal choice, goal commitment, and task performance. It is hypothesized that the explanation for incentive effects on goals and performance is in their influence on mediating events. A model attempting to explain the process of goal choice, work motivation, and performance in terms of cognitions is presented. Subjects were recruited for 5 days of part-time employment in a simulated organization to perform a clerical data transfer task. The 130 subjects were assigned randomly to 7 experimental conditions differing in terms of the magnitude of incentive offered for various levels of performance. The quantity and quality of performance was recorded daily and research questionnaires were administered at different times during their employment. Results provide support for the model presented and therefore suggest that the process of goal choice and commitment is central to understanding how incentives influence goals, motivation, and performance. The model provides a useful basis for investigating the relationships between organizational context and employee cognitions and for integrating goal setting with expectancy theory. The findings and future research issues are discussed.     

Homeless mothers: is there a relationship between coping strategies,mental health and goal achievement?

This study examined the relationship between coping, mental health and goal achievement among homeless mothers. Seventy-two women took part and 44 were re-interviewed 4 months later. The Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scales (F-COPES) were used to identify their coping strategies at the time of homelessness; the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) measured mental health problems; and a semi-structured questionnaire identified their goals. Outcome measures at follow-up were goal achievement and mental health. A variety of coping strategies were used, with some differences ascertained according to reason for homelessness and age of respondent. Lower use of problem-focussed coping was associated with poorer mental health at the time of homelessness. Mental health problems improved over time, but levels of psychopathology remained high at follow-up. Most women had achieved their primary goal of resettlement, and this was associated with use of problem-focussed coping. Lower use of problem-focussed coping, in particular, acquiring social support, was associated with continuation of mental health problems at follow-up, however the greatest predictor of mental health at follow-up was mental health status whilst homeless. Despite exposure to major stressors and poor mental health, mothers experiencing homelessness can maintain their ability to cope effectively, in order to achieve their goals. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Automatic goal inferences

The social psychological literature on automatic social inferences has focused on one construct that helps explaining human behavior—traits (e.g., Gilbert, Pelham, & Krull, 1988; Trope, 1986; Winter & Uleman, 1984). The dispositional roots of behavior, however, go beyond relatively stable constructs such as traits to include more transient causes such as one’s intentions and goals. Evidence from young infants and adult chimpanzees, knowledge acquired in the text-comprehension literature and hypotheses derived from the Automatic Causal Inferences framework (Hassin, Bargh, & Uleman, 2002), seems to converge: they all suggest that perceivers may automatically infer goals from behaviors. This paper reports four studies that examine this hypothesis. The first two use surprise cued-recall, and look at goal inferences when the road to goal achievement seems straightforward and when it seems blocked. Studies 3 and 4 use on-line methodologies—probe recognition task and lexical decision—to examine whether these inferences are made at encoding.     

Personality and Politics: Values, Traits, and Political Choice

Voters' political choices have presumably come to depend more on their personal preferences and less on their social characteristics in Western democracies. We examine two aspects of personality that may influence political choice, traits and personal values, using the Five Factor Model of personality traits and the Schwartz (1992 ) theory of basic personal values. Data from 3044 voters for the major coalitions in the Italian national election of 2001 showed that supporters of the two coalitions differed in traits and values, largely as hypothesized. Center-left voters were higher than center-right voters in the traits of friendliness and openness and lower in energy and conscientiousness. Regarding values, center-left voters were higher than center-right voters in universalism, benevolence, and self-direction and lower in security, power, achievement, conformity, and tradition. Logistic regressions revealed that values explained substantial variance in past and future voting and in change of political choice, trumping personality traits. We discuss explanations for the primacy of values and implications for the social cognitive view of personality.     

Understanding the emergence of state goal orientation in organizational work groups: the role of leadership and multilevel climate perceptions

This article attends to a broad range of practically significant employee motivations and provides insight into how to enhance individual-level performance by examining individual-level state goal orientation emergence in organizational work groups. Leadership and multilevel climate processes are theorized to parallel each dimension of state goal orientation to cue and ultimately induce the corresponding achievement focus among individual work group members. It is argued that the patterns of leader behavior, which elucidate the leader's achievement priority, shape group members' psychological and work group climate to embody this priority. Resulting multilevel climate perceptions signal and compel group members to adopt the ascribed form of state goal orientation. The quality of the leader-member exchange relationship is viewed as a means to clarify leader messages in the formation of group members' psychological climate and internalize these cues in the emergence of state goal orientation. Considerations for future research and practice are discussed.     

The social-cognitive model of achievement motivation and the 2 x 2 achievement goal framework

Two studies examined hypotheses drawn from a proposed modification of the social-cognitive model of achievement motivation that centered on the 2 x 2 achievement goal framework. Implicit theories of ability were shown to be direct predictors of performance attainment and intrinsic motivation, and the goals of the 2 x 2 framework were shown to account for these direct relations. Perceived competence was shown to be a direct predictor of achievement goals, not a moderator of relations implicit theory or achievement goal effects. The results highlight the utility of attending to the approach-avoidance distinction in conceptual models of achievement motivation and are fully in line with the hierarchical model of achievement motivation.     

Integrating concepts from goal theories to understand the achievement of personal goals

The aim of this research was to integrate concepts from goal theories to understand the factors that distinguish between successful versus unsuccessful achievement of a personal goal. In two studies participants completed a questionnaire that measured 17 constructs identified from research on goals in relation to a recent situation in which they either succeeded or failed to see a task through to the end (Study 1) or in relation to their performance on an undergraduate course (Study 2). Factor analyses of the responses revealed 12 factors underlying self‐regulatory efforts. Discriminant analysis showed that self‐regulatory success was associated with high levels of motivation and task‐focus, and with forming an implementation intention. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of component participation and role models on goal acceptance, goal satisfaction, and performance

The present investigation examined the effects of different types of participation (choice) and role models in goal setting on goal acceptance, goal satisfaction, and performance. It was hypothesized that choice in setting a goal and a strategy to achieve the goal would positively benefit goal acceptance, performance, and goal satisfaction. In addition, it was predicted that a role model would differentially influence an individual's goal acceptance, goal satisfaction, and performance. One hundred twenty male college students working on a class scheduling task were exposed to either a high- or low-performing role model and given various amounts of choice in the goal-setting process. The results of two-way analyses of variance demonstrated that goal acceptance, goal satisfaction, and performance were highest for individuals given choice over their goal and their strategy to achieve the goal. In addition, the results demonstrated that an individual exposed to a high-performing role model outperformed and had higher goal acceptance and satisfaction than an individual exposed to a low-performing model. The results are discussed as a means for clarifying the effects of different types of choice in the goal-setting process and the importance of role-provided information in influencing an individual's performance.     

Vocational Personality Traits in Counselor Education and School Psychology Students

We assessed the vocational personality of 104 graduate students in school counseling, mental health counseling, and school psychology programs using Holland's ( 1997 ) theory of personality and career choice. The correlational findings confirmed the importance of vocational personality traits in relation to the academic performance of graduate students. Among the Self‐Directed Search–Revised vocational personality types, the Investigative type emerged as a consistent predictor of performance on all sections of the Graduate Record Examination. The participants from 3 graduate programs predominantly identified Social as their primary vocational personality type, with variability in the secondary and tertiary code positions. The student group with the highest degree of congruence, defined as the degree of fit between one's personality and the environment, had the highest graduate grade point average, indicating the relationship between the degree of congruence and achievement. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Personality,psychopathology, and aging

The interplay of personality and psychopathology has been of substantial interest since the beginning of medicine and continues to be a clinically significant yet highly challenging focus of investigation. There is considerable empirical support for the important contributions that personality traits provide to the development of and resilience to psychopathology within mixed-age populations. However, the relationship of personality to mental health and psychopathology within the aging population is only just beginning to be studied. The purpose of this paper is to stimulate and to hopefully further the development of informative research on the interaction of personality and psychopathology within the aging community.     

Personality Predictors of Behavioral Self‐Regulation: Linking behavioral self‐regulation to five‐factor model factors,facets, and a compound trait

This study examined relationships between a composite of several facet‐level traits within the five‐factor model (FFM) of personality and outcomes across 3 phases of behavioral self‐regulation. The goal of this research was to investigate the potential of the compound trait approach as an alternative to predicting self‐regulatory outcomes based on the full FFM, conscientiousness or other FFM factor‐level traits, or any individual facet‐level trait within the FFM. These relationships were investigated using a sample of 312 participants completing both goal‐related questionnaires and a decision task designed to simulate aspects of self‐regulated performance within organizations. Consistent with hypotheses, the collection of traits within the composite – assertiveness, activity, achievement striving, deliberation, dutifulness, self‐discipline, and ideas – performed as well or better than any single factor or facet of the FFM. The future research and practice implications for goal propensity, a compound trait related to all phases of behavioral self‐regulation, are discussed.