The effects of goal setting on rugby performance

Goal-setting effects on selected performance behaviors of 5 collegiate rugby players were assessed over an entire competitive season using self-generated targets and goal-attainment scaling. Results suggest that goal setting was effective for enhancing task-specific on-field behavior in rugby union.     

The effects of individual differences and goal origin on goal setting and performance

The purpose of this study is to clarify the roles played by individual differences and goal origin in the goal setting process. In order to accomplish this objective this study (a) briefly reviews the existing empirical evidence on individual differences in the goal setting literature, (b) develops a model of the goal-setting process that specifies different roles for individual differences depending upon goal origin, and (c) tests hypotheses generated by this model in a laboratory setting. The results indicate that under self-set conditions variables associated with self-perceptions of task-specific ability, but not generalized self-esteem, are related to the difficulty of the goals selected, with more difficult goals being set by individuals high in task-specific ability perceptions. Furthermore, when goals are self-set, regardless of individual differences, the expectancy and valence of goal attainment tends to be high and invariant relative to assigned conditions (i.e., the motivation to pursue the goal is high), and a strong goal difficulty-performance relationship is in evidence for all subjects. Under assigned goal conditions, individual differences determine the reaction to the assigned goal. Individuals high in task-specific self-esteem have stronger expectancies for attaining the goal relative to those low in this trait; and, individuals high in generalized self-esteem exhibit higher valence for goal attainment than those low in generalized self-esteem. In assigned conditions, there was a positive goal difficulty-performance relationship only for individuals high in generalized self-esteem. Some evidence actually suggested that for subjects low in generalized self-esteem, it is better to assign low goals. Low goals seem to increase the self-perceived task-specific ability of these subjects which relates positively with performance.     

Perceptual set induction in young children

Perceptual set induction was studied among Indian children from Mysore, ages 4 and 5 years. The method of perceptual-set induction involved a procedure of contrastive classification that had been attempted only once before with an American sample of subjects. Findings of the present study were positive, demonstrating the formation of perceptual sets in preschool age children. Taken together with data from the American sample, the results provide a firmer basis for conceptualization, and for explaining the failure of other studies to find evidence for susceptibility to perceptual sets among young children. The findings are also considered in connection with contemporary ideas about symbolic mediation and production deficiencies in children's memory and thinking.     

The relationship between learning goal orientation,goal setting,and performance: a longitudinal study

In an educational setting, we examined the relationship of learning goal orientation with goal setting and performance over time. At the first time point, we assessed levels of trait learning goal orientation and asked participants to set performance goals. At each follow‐up time point, we reported to participants their current course grade and allowed them to revise their goals. Learning goal orientation was associated with both setting higher goals and maintaining higher performance over time. Additionally, the relationship of learning goal orientation and performance was found to be mediated by goal setting.     

Managing time: the effects of personal goal setting on resource allocation strategy and task performance.

One key to understanding motivated behavior is examining the behavior of individuals as they work on multiple tasks under a time constraint. This article is an exploration of the influence of self-set goals on subsequent resource allocation to different tasks. Participants were given a variety of tasks from which they were to choose how to allocate their time and effort. Results indicated that the use of self-set goals structured the work pattern, with less switching between tasks relative to the work pattern of a group of participants who did not set goals. In addition, those who set goals reported less task-related cognitive interference, indicating that they were not as distracted while they worked. Participants who did not set goals, however, performed at a higher level on some of the tasks. It is suggested that self-set goals may often be chosen at an easily attainable level, creating a structured and focused work environment but not necessarily eliciting the motivational properties typically associated with goal setting.     

Memory performance and beliefs as a function of goal setting and aging

This research examined the impact of goals on memory and memory beliefs. Older and younger adults completed memory beliefs questionnaires and list recall at baseline. After additional recall trials, the questionnaires were repeated. In Experiment 1, participants were assigned to low challenge or high challenge goals. In Experiment 2, moderate challenge goals were compared to control. In both studies, participants were given a specific goal based on their own performance and received positive feedback for memory gains. Both older and younger adults responded to the goals, showing improved performance across trials, with little change in the control condition. Memory beliefs changed in the moderate and low challenge goal conditions, showing more striking changes for the older groups. These results confirmed that self-regulatory processes related to goal setting can have considerable impact on memory across the adult life span.     

Combined effect of goal setting and self-talk in performance of a soccer-shooting task

To examine the combined effect of goal setting and self-talk, 41 professional and semiprofessional soccer players from four different teams were tested on a soccer-shooting task. Teams were assigned to one of four conditions: (a) self-talk, (b) goal setting, (c) goal setting plus self-talk, and (d) do your best control. Subjects performed one baseline measurement and three experimental sessions. Analysis showed that performance, compared to the do your best condition, in the combined condition is immediately enhanced, whereas self-talk and goal-setting effects were significant from Session 3. No significant differences in performance were observed among experimental groups, except in Session 2, during which the combined group scored significantly better than the goal-setting group. It seems that, whereas both goal setting and self-talk are effective in enhancing performance, some advantage may be derived from a combined intervention. Findings are discussed in the perspective of past research efforts on goal setting and self-talk.     

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.     

Motivational control of motor performance by goal setting in a dual-task situation

Summary The goal-setting approach to task motivation is applied to examine the way in which subjects control their performance on two concurrently performed tasks under the guidance of different goals in a dual-task situation. The tasks were a simple auditory-manual reaction time (RT) task and a visual-manual pursuit-tracking task. The goal conditions assigned alternatively to the tasks differed with respect to goal specificity and feedback information (KR) given after the trials. It is shown that the improvement of performance in the task with hard, specific goals is achieved in both cases at the cost of the concurrently performed other task which, on the basis of a lack of feedback and a rather unspecific goal instruction, should have a lower priority. The data reveal some strategies hidden behind these overall changes of the average performance at both tasks. For the RT task, the adjustment to the different goals is mainly achieved by changes in the temporal control or preparatory processes as can be inferred from the RT distributions as well as from the analysis of some typical errors. For the tracking task, changes in the tracking accuracy within the overlapping RT intervals are the best indicators for the performance control under the different goal conditions.This research was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Kl 408/4-2)     

The effect of goal setting on group performance: a meta-analysis

Updating and extending the work of O'Leary-Kelly, Martocchio, and Frink (1994), with this meta-analysis on goal setting and group performance we show that specific difficult goals yield considerably higher group performance compared with nonspecific goals (d = 0.80 ± 0.35, k = 23 effect sizes). Moderately difficult and easy goals were also associated with performance benefits relative to nonspecific goals, but these effects were smaller. The overall effect size for all group goals was d = 0.56 ± 0.19 (k = 49). Unexpectedly, task interdependence, task complexity, and participation did not moderate the effect of group goals. Our inventory of multilevel goals in interdependent groups indicated that the effect of individual goals in groups on group performance was contingent upon the focus of the goal: "Egocentric" individual goals, aimed at maximizing individual performance, yielded a particularly negative group-performance effect (d = -1.75 ± 0.60, k = 6), whereas "groupcentric" goals, aimed at maximizing the individual contribution to the group's performance, showed a positive effect (d = 1.20 ± 1.03, k = 4). These findings demonstrate that group goals have a robust effect on group performance. Individual goals can also promote group performance but should be used with caution in interdependent groups. Future research might explore the role of multilevel goals for group performance in more detail. The striking lack of recent field studies in organizational settings that emerged from our brief review of trends in group goal-setting research should be taken into account when designing future studies in this domain.     

Effects of cognitive heuristics and goals on negotiator performance and subsequent goal setting

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a situational constraint —an externally set goal — and related cognitive variables — outcome expectancies, perceived self-competency, and goal commitment — on the performance and goal setting of 79 novice negotiators. Expectancy judgments affected goal commitment but not performance or goal choice. Subjects assigned difficult goals were more profitable and set harder new goals than subjects assigned easier goals. Machiavellianism had a powerful effect on performance and exerted more causal influence on self-set goals than actual performance or prior goals. Unexpectedly, role assignment proved to be an important determinant of performance. A decision science perspective was utilized to explain the results.     

The effects of empathic instructions upon donating behavior: Sex differences in young children

First-grade children were given either empathy instructions (in which they were told to imagine themselves in the target person's place) or neutral instructions (in which they were told to listen to what the target person did). For half the subjects, the target person was of the same sex; for the other half, the target person was of the opposite sex. Subjects were then given a chance to anonymously donate money to the target child, who was presented as being in need. Liking for the target child, subject's perceptions of the target child's emotional state, and subjects' report of their own emotional states were also assessed. Empathic instructions increased donating behavior for males, but not for females. Accuracy of perception of the target person's state was generally high. Self-reports of emotional states congruent with that of the target tended to be associated with increased donating behavior only for males, but these self-reports were greater for females than males, and greater for both sexes with same-sex target persons. Liking also was enhanced by gender similarity. These results are discussed in terms of a proposed relationship among empathy, prosocial behavior, sex, and age.We wish to express our gratitude to the staff and students of Wannamaker and North Fairview Elementary Schools of Topeka, Kansas, for their assistance in carrying out this research, and also thank C. Daniel Batson for his helpful suggestions and comments.     

Relationship of core self-evaluations to goal setting, motivation, and performance.

A newly developed personality taxonomy suggests that self-esteem, locus of control, generalized self-efficacy, and neuroticism form a broad personality trait termed core self-evaluations. The authors hypothesized that this broad trait is related to motivation and performance. To test this hypothesis, 3 studies were conducted. Study 1 showed that the 4 dispositions loaded on 1 higher order factor. Study 2 demonstrated that the higher order trait was related to task motivation and performance in a laboratory setting. Study 3 showed that the core trait was related to task activity, productivity as measured by sales volume, and the rated performance of insurance agents. Results also revealed that the core self-evaluations trait was related to goal-setting behavior. In addition, when the 4 core traits were investigated as 1 nomological network, they proved to be more consistent predictors of job behaviors than when used in isolation.     

Tower of Hanoi performance of retarded young adults and nonretarded children as a function of solution length and goal state

Three experiments were conducted with the Tower of Hanoi task to assess problem solving ability in 6-, 7-, 8-, and 10-year-old nonretarded children and mentally retarded young adults of varying maturational ages. In Experiment 1 we gradually reduced the number of moves required for solution until subjects could solve the 3-disk tower-ending problem. Although all groups experienced difficulty with the standard 7-move problem, all but the trainable retarded group readily solved the 6-move problem. The trainable group did not reach a comparable level of success until the 4-move problem. On the 7-move problem the retarded groups performed at the level of nonretarded groups that were maturationally $\text{1}\text{1}\text{2}$ to 3 years younger. An analysis of first moves indicated that subject groups differed in the strategies they used to solve the problems. In Experiment 2, practice effects were ruled out as a source of the superior performance on the 6- than on the 7-move problem. In Experiment 3, 7- and 10-year-old nonretarded children and mentally retarded young adults did not differ on 5-move problems in which configuration of the goal states was varied. A comparison of all 5-move problems judged to have the same depth of search requirements indicated that the tower-ending problems were significantly easier to solve than the partial-tower-ending problems, which in turn were easier than the flat-ending problems. A limited depth of search capacity sets boundaries on the use of sophisticated strategies and, to a large extent, accounts for the retarded groups' maturational lag.     

Evaluating public posting,goal setting,and rewards to increase physical activity in children

In this study, we evaluated several components of a pedometer-based intervention with children in an elementary-school-aged classroom, across 24-h sessions. The intervention included combinations of self-monitoring, goal setting, feedback, and reinforcement, and data were analyzed at both the classroom level (i.e., average daily step totals) and the individual level (i.e., daily step totals), across phases. The highest levels of physical activity were observed when components of self-monitoring, public posting, goal setting, and feedback with reward were applied concurrently.     

The effects of labeling dimensional values on setting differences in shift performance of kindergarten children

A reversal-shift paradigm was used to study the effects of dimensional labeling on the performance of 270 kindergarten children. Task 1 was a simultaneous discrimination problem in which form, size, and color were redundant relevant dimensions, In the shift task, one of the dimensions remained relevant with reward contingencies reversed, and the other two dimensions were made irrelevant. In both tasks, the children named the stimulus object to be chosen, prior to choosing, in terms of one of the three sets of dimensionnal values. Shift performance was predicted to be superior in groups required to name relevant dimensional values in comparison with groups required to name irrelevant dimensional values. Moreover shift performance was predicted to differ, within groups, for four different types of stimulus settings. Fmally, differences in performance on the settings were predicted to be larger for the irrelevant-labeling groups than for the relevant-labelmg groups. The results were found to be in good agreement with these predictions. The findings were discussed in relation to the subproblem analysis proposed by Tighe and Tighe (1972).     

Cathectic orientation, goal setting and mood

Investigated the reliability and validity of a new verbal cathexis test, based on objectively scored achievement data. Criteria were based on interviews about goal orientations and mood ratings, performed three times a day for a week. Goals were scored analogously with the cathexis test, viz. in the three dimensions hetero-homo, active-passive, and positive-negative. Average mood scores and mood variabilities were estimated. The Oedipal and combined cathexis adjustment indices correlated with goal ratings. Moods correlated with cathectic balance indices. Strong correlations were found to exist between average moods and goal ratings in both active-passive and positive-negative dimensions, as well as sex differences in mood variability and Oedipal orientation as measured by the cathexis test.