Motivation and Performance in Context: The Influence of Goal Orientations and Instructional Setting on Situational Appraisals and Task Performance

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how students with different goal orientation patterns perform in a complex problem solving task under different instructional conditions. Ninth-grade students (N=143) performed a complex problem solving task after receiving either task-involving or ego-involving instructions. It was assumed that students emphasizing performance and avoidance goals (or both) would produce less positive situational appraisals than students emphasizing learning goals, and that these differences would be greater in the egoinvolving condition. Consistent with the assumptions, higher levels of interest and self-efficacy were associated with the task-involving condition, while more selfhandicaps were claimed in the ego-involving condition. Also as expected, the detrimental consequences of the ego-involving condition were most accentuated for performance-oriented students. In general, the results support the idea of multiple goals and multiple pathways. That is, students with different goal orientation patterns experienced task situations differently -even with no differences in their performance -and the degree and quality of these differences varied as a function of the instructional condition.Key words: goal orientation, situational motivation, person-centered approach, instructional contextGiven that personal goal orientations, that is, individuals' preferences for certain goals and related outcomes, influence achievement behavior (e.g., Ames, 1992) and that different goals can be induced by situational manipulations (e.g., Elliott & Dweck, 1988), how do goal orientations and the instructional setting interact? Does the instructional context make a difference, and if it does, does it affect all students similarly or does the patterning of goal orientations moderate the effects? This study seeks to answer these questions by examining how ninth-grade students with different goal orientation patterns perform in a complex problem solving task under different instructional conditions. More specifically, students' task-related situational experiences as well as the degree to which situational appraisals mediate the influence of personal dispositions on achievement outcomes are examined.The preparation of this study was made possible by a grant from the EC contract SOE-CT98-2042 to Dr. Joachim Funke, Heidelberg University, Germany, and by a grant from the Emil Aaltonen foundation to the author.This study could not have been conducted without the support of Joachim Funke and the invaluable assistance of Anna Tapola.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Markku Niemivirta, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, P. O. Box 4, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland (E-mail: markku.niemivirta@helsinki.fi). MOTIVATION & PERFORMANCE IN CONTEXT 251Goal-theoretical perspectives on motivation assert that achievement-related behavior is guided by the goals individuals try to attain. In general, achievement goals are seen to reflect the purposes for which students engage in achievement be...

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“…Multiple goals perspective (Pintrich, 2000) states that students could pursue multiple orientations or have different reasons in achieving a particular outcome (Niemivirta, 2002;Pastor, Barron, Miller, & Davis, 2007;Pintrich, 2000;Tumoninem-Soini et al, 2008;Tuominem-Soini, Salmela-Aro, & Niemivirta, 2011). Several studies found multiple motivational profiles in elementary, middle school and high school students and, although differing in the number of clusters and in its labels (Daniels, Haynes, Stupnisky, Perry, Newall, & Pekrun, 2008;Luo, Paris, Hogan, & Luo, 2011;Niemivirta;2002;Tuominem-Soini et al, 2008, 2012, students tended to manifest more adaptive profiles when combining both high task orientation and high selfenhancing orientation (Daniels et al, 2008;Niemivirta, 2002;Pintrich, 2000;Tumoninem-Soini et al, 2008.…”

“…Several studies found multiple motivational profiles in elementary, middle school and high school students and, although differing in the number of clusters and in its labels (Daniels, Haynes, Stupnisky, Perry, Newall, & Pekrun, 2008;Luo, Paris, Hogan, & Luo, 2011;Niemivirta;2002;Tuominem-Soini et al, 2008, 2012, students tended to manifest more adaptive profiles when combining both high task orientation and high selfenhancing orientation (Daniels et al, 2008;Niemivirta, 2002;Pintrich, 2000;Tumoninem-Soini et al, 2008.…”

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