Psychological parameters of students' social and work avoidance goals: A qualitative investigation.

This study investigates the extent to which girls' better school attainment is associated with sex differences in intelligence, personality and school‐related motivation. In a sample of 1353 Austrian pupils (mean age 13.74 years), intelligence, the Big Five of personality, self‐esteem, school anxiety, school‐related intrinsic motivation and achievement goals were assessed as predictors and GPA as achievement criterion. Most predictors yielded significant mean differences between sexes and some of the variables predicted school achievement only for boys or only for girls. Intelligence and self‐esteem were the strongest predictors of GPA for both sexes, and school‐related intrinsic motivation, school anxiety and performance‐avoidance goals explained additional variance in GPA only for boys, whereas work avoidance did so only for girls. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Higher Education Instructors’ Usage of and Learning from Student Evaluations of Teaching – Do Achievement Goals Matter?

10.31234/osf.io/mt8rw ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Julia Hein ◽

Stefan Janke ◽

Raven Rinas ◽

Martin Daumiller ◽

Markus Dresel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Achievement Goals ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Learning Goals ◽

Learning Approach ◽

Beneficial Effects ◽

Work Avoidance ◽

And Performance ◽

Approach Goals ◽

Avoidance Goals

Identifying what motivates higher education instructors in their self-regulated learning from stu-dent evaluations of teaching (SET) is important for improving future teaching. In a longitudinal online field study, we investigated how higher education instructors’ achievement goals predict the use of SET(s), processing its results and learning from it. We expected beneficial effects of learning (approach and avoidance) goals and performance approach goals, while performance avoidance goals and work avoidance goals should be detrimental for the learning process. In to-tal, 407 higher education instructors with teaching commitments reported their achievement goals. Out of these participants, 152 instructors voluntarily conducted SET(s) and subsequently reported their learning intentions regarding this student feedback. Using structural equation modelling, we found that learning avoidance goals were positively associated with conducting SET(s) and learning approach goals were positively associated with learning intentions. These findings highlight the importance of learning goals for instructors’ use of SET(s).

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Researchers’ Achievement Goals: Prevalence, Structure, and Associations with Job Burnout/Engagement and Professional Learning

10.31234/osf.io/3cj5z ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Martin Daumiller ◽

Markus Dresel

Keyword(s):

Measurement Invariance ◽

Professional Learning ◽

Achievement Goals ◽

Job Burnout ◽

Achievement Goal Theory ◽

Performance Goals ◽

Goal Theory ◽

Learning Approach ◽

Work Avoidance ◽

Avoidance Goals

Researchers’ motivations are important for high-quality research and the productivity of the scientific system, but have been little investigated. Using three studies, we tested the usefulness of Achievement Goal Theory for describing research motivations, investigated which goals researchers pursue, and examined their associations with job burnout/engagement and professional learning. Interviewing 20 researchers (Study 1), we found that most of their goals in the research context were classifiable as achievement goals. Apart from (well-established in the literature) mastery and performance goals, they also mentioned relational and work-avoidance goals. Mastery goals comprised task and learning standards, performance goals appearance and normative strivings. In Study 2, we used a standardized questionnaire to assess these goals in 824 researchers, along with burnout/engagement levels, professional learning time, and professional learning gains. Results confirmed the separability of all conceptualized goals, measurement invariance across academic status, and differential patterns of associations with burnout/engagement and professional learning. In Study 3, we evaluated these constructs in 471 researchers at two time points, six months apart. Results attested measurement invariance over time. Cross-lagged analyses documented similar associations as in Study 2. Learning approach and relational goals had positive effects on professional learning; appearance avoidance and work-avoidance goals were negative predictors. In contrast, burnout was negatively predicted by normative avoidance goals. However, high initial burnout levels were associated with reduced task approach and learning approach, and stronger work-avoidance goals six months later. Taken together, this highlights the usefulness of Achievement Goal Theory for understanding researchers’ motivations, and their relatedness with professional learning and well-being at work.

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Structure and Relationships of University Instructors’ Achievement Goals

10.31234/osf.io/dev9x ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Martin Daumiller ◽

Robert Grassinger ◽

Oliver Dickhäuser ◽

Markus Dresel

Keyword(s):

Self Efficacy ◽

Achievement Goals ◽

Linear Models ◽

Teaching Quality ◽

Theoretical Concept ◽

Confirmatory Factor Analyses ◽

University Instructors ◽

Work Avoidance ◽

Measuring Achievement ◽

Avoidance Goals

The present study examines the achievement goals of university instructors, particularly the structure of such goals, and their relationship to biographic characteristics, other aspects of instructors’ motivation, and teaching quality. Two hundred and fifty-one university instructors (184 without Ph.D., 97 with Ph.D., thereof 51 full professors; 146 males, 92 females) answered a questionnaire measuring achievement goals, self-efficacy, and enthusiasm in altogether 392 courses. Teaching quality was assessed using reports from 9,241 students who were attending these courses. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed mastery, performance approach, performance avoidance, work avoidance, and relational goals as being distinguishable from each other. Distinct relationships were found between different instructors’ achievement goals, and gender, age, and career status as well as self-efficacy and enthusiasm. Hierarchical linear models suggested positive associations of instructors’ mastery goals with teaching quality, while negative associations were indicated for performance avoidance goals and work avoidance goals in relation to teaching quality. Exploratory analyses conducted due to a quite large correlation between performance approach and performance avoidance goals indicated that for university instructors, differentiating performance goals into appearance and normative components might also be adequate. All in all, the study highlights the auspiciousness of the theoretical concept of university instructors’ achievement goals and contributes to making it comprehensively accessible.

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Academic Goals and Learning Quality in Higher Education Students

The Spanish Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1017/s1138741600001517 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 96-105 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Antonio Valle ◽

José C. Núñez ◽

Ramón G. Cabanach ◽

Julio A. González-Pienda ◽

Susana Rodríguez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Self Regulation ◽

Learning Goals ◽

Task Orientation ◽

Academic Goals ◽

Academic Tasks ◽

Work Avoidance ◽

And Performance ◽

Quality In Higher Education ◽

Approach Goals ◽

Avoidance Goals

In this paper, the relations between academic goals and various indicators that define the quality of the learning process are analyzed. The purpose was to determine to what extent high, moderate, or low levels of academic goals were positively or negatively related to effort regulation, the value assigned to academic tasks, meta-cognitive self-regulation, self-efficacy, beliefs about learning control, and management of time and study environment. The investigation was carried out with a sample of 632 university students (70% female and 30% male) and mean age of 21.22 (SD=2.2).The results show that learning goals, or task orientation, are positively related to all the indictors of learning quality considered herein. Although for other kinds of goals—work-avoidance goals, performance-approach goals, and performance-avoidance goals—significant relations were not found with all the indicators, there was a similar tendency of significant results in all cases; the higher the levels of these goals, the lower the levels of the indicators of learning quality.

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The social contagion of work avoidance goals in school and its influence on student (dis)engagement

European Journal of Psychology of Education ◽

10.1007/s10212-020-00521-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Norman B. Mendoza ◽

Ronnel B. King

Keyword(s):

Social Contagion ◽

The Social ◽

Work Avoidance ◽

Avoidance Goals

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Researchers’ achievement goals: Prevalence, structure, and associations with job burnout/engagement and professional learning

10.31234/osf.io/ahx35 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Martin Daumiller ◽

Markus Dresel

Keyword(s):

Measurement Invariance ◽

Professional Learning ◽

Achievement Goals ◽

Well Being ◽

Job Burnout ◽

Performance Goals ◽

Learning Approach ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Work Avoidance ◽

Avoidance Goals

Researchers’ motivations are important for high-quality research and the productivity of the scientific system, but remain largely uninvestigated. Using three studies, we tested the usefulness of Achievement Goal Theory (AGT) for describing research motivations, investigated which goals researchers pursue, and examined their associations with job burnout/engagement and professional learning. Interviewing 20 researchers (Study 1), we found that most of their goals in the research context were classifiable as achievement goals. Apart from mastery and performance goals that are well-established in the AGT literature, they also mentioned relational and work-avoidance goals. Mastery goals comprised task and learning standards, performance goals comprised appearance and normative strivings. In Study 2, we used a standardized questionnaire to assess these goals in 824 researchers, along with burnout/engagement, professional learning time, and professional learning gains. Results confirmed the separability of all conceptualized goals, measurement invariance across academic status, and differential patterns of associations with burnout/engagement and professional learning. In Study 3, we analyzed these constructs in 471 researchers at two time points, six months apart. Results attested measurement invariance over time. Cross-lagged analyses documented similar associations as in Study 2. Learning approach and relational goals had positive effects on professional learning; appearance avoidance and work-avoidance goals were negative predictors. In contrast, burnout was negatively predicted by normative avoidance goals. However, high initial burnout levels were associated with reduced task approach and learning approach, and stronger work-avoidance goals six months later. Taken together, the results highlight the usefulness of AGT for understanding researchers’ motivations, and their relatedness with professional learning and well-being at work.

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The Relevance of Stability and Change of Achievement Goals for Self-regulated Motor Learning Processes and Outcomes

10.31234/osf.io/3yvna ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Martin Daumiller ◽

Raven Rinas ◽

David Jaitner

Keyword(s):

Motor Learning ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

Achievement Goals ◽

Temporal Trends ◽

Temporal Stability ◽

Learning Processes ◽

Post Test ◽

Work Avoidance ◽

Sport And Exercise ◽

Avoidance Goals

Self-regulated motor learning is a frequent and important achievement activity in sport and exercise contexts. Therein, individual learners’ achievement goals can be considered relevant for motor learning processes and outcomes. To better understand their role, we first examined the temporal stability of achievement goals during self-regulated motor learning. Next, we tested the relevance of the goals and their temporal variability for the learning process (learning time, effort, and motivational problems) and learning outcomes (performance and continuance intentions). To this end, 93 individuals completed a total of 1,017 daily diary entries about their goals (learning-approach, performance-approach, performance-avoidance, work-avoidance goals) and learning processes across sixteen days while learning juggling basics. Afterwards, they completed a post-test assessing their learning outcomes. Multi-level analyses indicated that goals contained both temporally stable and temporally variable fractions that were both relevant for learning processes. For learning outcomes, not only mean levels, but also temporal trends mattered.

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University Instructors’ Implicit Theories of Intelligence, Achievement Goals for Teaching, and Teaching Quality

10.31234/osf.io/tfrea ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Kristina Loderer ◽

Markus Dresel ◽

Oliver Dickhäuser ◽

Martin Daumiller

Keyword(s):

Achievement Motivation ◽

Achievement Goals ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Implicit Theories ◽

Instructional Quality ◽

Teaching Quality ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

University Instructors ◽

Work Avoidance ◽

Avoidance Goals

University instructors’ goals for teaching are important for teaching quality. However, studies examining factors that shape instructors’ goal adoption are lacking. Using data from 785 instructors, we investigated whether implicit theories (ITs) about the malleability of intelligence constitute one such factor. Following achievement goal theory and Dweck’s (1999) achievement motivation framework, we analyzed whether differences in teaching goals are attributable to differences in ITs, and whether goals mediate the relation between ITs and instructional quality. Structural equation modeling yielded the expected relations between goals and instructional quality (positive for mastery and performance approach goals; negative for performance avoidance and work avoidance goals). As hypothesized, stronger endorsement of incremental ITs was positively related to mastery, and negatively to work avoidance goals. However, ITs were unrelated to performance goals. Indirect effects of ITs on teaching quality via goals were significant but rather weak. Implications for research and fostering teaching motivation are discussed.

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Relation of state- and trait-math anxiety to intelligence, math achievement and learning motivation

Journal of Numerical Cognition ◽

10.5964/jnc.v5i3.204 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 371-399 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Lars Orbach ◽

Moritz Herzog ◽

Annemarie Fritz

Keyword(s):

Social Anxiety ◽

Math Achievement ◽

Math Anxiety ◽

Learning Motivation ◽

Negative Attitudes ◽

Work Avoidance ◽

Research Findings ◽

Lower Intelligence ◽

Approach Goals ◽

Avoidance Goals

This study investigates math anxiety (MA) by comparing trait-components of MA with real-time assessments of situational anxiety responses (state-components) in children. The research to date on MA in children is somewhat disparate in regard to methodology, and firm conclusions regarding the relation of MA to intelligence, math achievement and learning motivation are not readily drawn. Typically, the measures used in the MA research have differed by operationalizing either trait-MA and/or state- (or statelike)-MA, but have failed to compare the implications of their respective assumptions and the significance of their findings. Trait-MA and state-MA, self-ratings of math skills, attitudes towards mathematics, math achievement, the social anxiety, test anxiety, learning motivation and intelligence of 1,179 students (48.1% girls) from grades 4 and 5, were assessed. The findings yield evidence of a pronounced state-trait discrepancy. A negative correlation between state-MA and math achievement was observed for all intelligence levels, even when controlling for test- and social-anxiety traits, while there was no negative relation between trait-MA and achievement. State-MA was associated with lower intelligence, lower self-ratings, more negative attitudes, higher performance avoidance and work avoidance goals. In contrast, trait-MA was slightly related to higher mastery approach goals. The failure to adequately differentiate between state- and trait-based research into MA appears to be one reason for key inconsistencies between research findings and warrants further investigations.

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