A study of motivational influences on academic achievement

Intrinsic Motivation, Learning Goals, Engagement, and Achievement in a Diverse High School

“…The current study also indicates that learning goals are positively associated with both GPA and intrinsic motivation, even when controlling for prior GPA, parent education, and gender. Whereas results from previous studies have also indicated that learning or mastery goals are related to intrinsic motivation (e.g., Froiland, ; Kover & Worrell, ) and academic performance (e.g., Dishon‐Berkovits, ; Latham & Brown, ), this is the first study that indicates that learning goals contribute to academic performance above and beyond intrinsic motivation, engagement, and demographic variables. Vansteenkiste et al.…”

“…However, this study indicates that learning goals are also moderately associated with intrinsic motivation and contribute to academic performance in high school. Furthermore, recent studies have found that learning goals can be taught to students and contribute to both emotional health and achievement (e.g., Blackwell et al., ; Dishon‐Berkovits , 2014; Froiland, ; Latham & Brown, ). Therefore, we suggest that school psychologists can help educators and parents empower students to develop their intrinsic motivation, learning goals, and engagement to achieve more and enjoy the process of learning throughout high school, rather than spending far too many days being bored, anxious, or apathetic toward classes and homework.…”

“…In general, students who have learning goals or mastery goals are much more likely to enjoy learning than are those who are focused primarily on avoiding failure or getting good grades (Dweck & Leggett, ; Kover & Worrell, ). Students who emphasize learning goals also obtain higher grades than do students who focus on their performance (Dishon‐Berkovits, ; Latham & Brown, ), although performance‐approach goals (e.g., “I want to improve my grade by 5%”) are much more beneficial than are performance‐avoidance goals (e.g., “I don't want to bomb the test;” Pintrich, ).…”

The dynamic effects of subconscious goal pursuit on resource allocation, task performance, and goal abandonment

“…Often goals focus on performance, or the level of task proficiency that one should strive to attain. However, under certain conditions-such as during complex tasks-it is advantageous to assign learning (rather than performance) goals, which focus on the acquisition of ideas or task strategies (e.g., Dishon-Berkovits, 2014;Masuda, Locke, & Williams, 2015;Nahrgang et al, 2013;Tasa, Celani, & Bell, 2013). Consistent with recent research examining the relationship between conscious and subconscious goals (e.g., Stajkovic et al, 2006), we focused on performance goals in the current research.…”

Basic Life Skills Required by Girl-Children to Overcome Adversities of Polygamy in Etsako Nigeria

“…In line with GS providing a specific high assigned performance goal leads to higher performance outcomes than setting no goals, vague goals or even "do your best" goals. Two factors, which affect goals, include importance of the goal to individuals involved and self-efficacy (Dishon-berkovits, 2014). According to GS, goal "specificity" and "difficulty" are the two primary goal attributes that will influence goal-related performance.…”