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Goals enhance self-regulation through their
effects on motivation, learning, self-efficacy
(perceived capabilities for learning or performing
actions at given levels), and self-evaluations of
progress (Bandura, 1997; Schunk, 1995). Initially
people must make a commitment to attain a goal
because it will not affect performance without this
commitment (Locke & Latham, 1990). Goals
motivate people to exert effort necessary to meet
task demands and persist over time. Goals also
direct individuals' attention to relevant task
features, behaviors to be performed, and potential
outcomes, and goals can affect how people process
information. Goals help people focus on the task,
select and apply appropriate strategies, and
monitor goal progress.
As people work on a task they compare their
current performance with the goal. Self-evaluations
of progress strengthen self-efficacy and sustain
motivation. A perceived discrepancy between present
performance and the goal may create
dissatisfaction, which can enhance effort. Although
dissatisfaction can lead to quitting, this will not
happen if people believe they can succeed such as
by changing their strategy or seeking assistance.
Goal attainment builds self-efficacy and leads
people to select new, challenging goals.
Despite these benefits, goals do not
automatically enhance self-regulation. Rather, the
goal properties of specificity, proximity, and
difficulty are critical.
Specificity. Goals that incorporate specific
performance standards are more likely to enhance
self-regulation and activate self-evaluations than
are such general goals as "do my best" or "try
hard" (Locke & Latham, 1990). Specific goals
raise performance because they specify the amount
of effort required for success and boost
self-efficacy by providing a clear standard against
which to determine progress.
A wealth of evidence in various domains supports
the preceding benefits of specific goals (Bandura,
1997; Boekaerts, Pintrich, & Zeidner, 2000;
Locke & Latham, 1990). The one exception is
when specific goals are overly easy to accomplish,
in which case they are less effective than general
but difficult goals (Locke & Latham, 1990).
Proximity. Goals are distinguished by how far
they project into the future. Proximal, short-term
goals are achieved more quickly, and result in
higher motivation and better self-regulation than
more temporally distant, long-term goals. As with
specificity, there is evidence from various domains
supporting this prediction (Bandura, 1997;
Boekaerts et al., 2000; Locke & Latham,
1990).
At the same time, some research shows that
proximal goals do not promote performance better
than distant goals (Locke & Latham, 1990). One
suggestion is that individuals working toward
distant goals may subdivide them, which produces
the benefits. Proximal goals strengthen
self-efficacy because they allow clear and frequent
self-evaluations of progress. It often is difficult
to determine progress toward a distant goal
(Schunk, 1995).
Difficulty. Unlike specificity and proximity,
goal difficulty does not bear a linear relationship
to performance. Overly easy goals do not motivate;
neither are people motivated to attempt what they
believe are impossible goals (Schunk, 1995).
Assuming that people have the requisite skills,
goals that are moderately difficult seem to have
the best effects on motivation and self-regulated
performance (Locke & Latham, 1990).
Self-set goals. Researchers have found that
allowing individuals to set their goals enhances
motivation and self-regulation, perhaps because
self-set goals produce higher goal commitment
(Schunk, 1995). Other research, however, has not
substantiated this conclusion (Locke & Latham,
1990). When people accept the legitimacy of
assigned goals and commit themselves to attaining
them the benefits are as strong as when they set
goals themselves.
In working with students and clients it may be
necessary initially to assign goals while
simultaneously teaching them goal-setting
strategies. As people learn to set realistic goals
we might expect that self-set goals would produce
higher self-efficacy and better self-regulated
performance than assigned goals because they will
be committed to attaining their goals and feel
efficacious about doing so.
Multiple goals. In recent years researchers have
investigated how people deal with multiple goals.
Individuals can accomplish more than one goal at a
time assuming that they have the cognitive and
physical capabilities to do so and the goals do not
conflict (Locke & Latham, 1990).
The situation becomes trickier when each goal
alone is attainable but together cause conflict;
for example, an adolescent who wants to be socially
popular but also achieve well in school. More
research is needed on this situation, but we might
expect that goal importance would affect which goal
is pursued more vigorously.
Learning and performance goals. Educational
researchers have investigated the differences
between mastery or learning goals, which involve
learning skills or strategies, and ego or
performance goals, which focus on performing well
to avoid appearing incompetent (Dweck, 1999).
Although performance goals can exert powerful
motivational effects, learning goals are especially
effective in enhancing self-efficacy and
self-regulation (Schunk, 1995). Future research
will help clarify their operation in educational
and therapeutic settings.
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