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Author(s): Leah Borovoi [sup.1] , Kelly Schmidtke [sup.2] , Ivo Vlaev [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.412512.1, 0000 0004 0604 7424, Department of Psychology, Open University of Israel, , Derekh ha-Universita [...], The current paper explores how people's goal strivings are influenced by feedback (positively valenced vs. negatively valenced), progress monitoring (remaining vs. accumulated) and goal specificity (vague vs. specific). Two laboratory-based experiments were performed. Experiment 1 reveals that, after receiving positively valenced feedback, participants who focus on accumulated progress show larger boosts in persistence than participants who focus on remaining progress. In contrast, after receiving negatively valenced feedback, participants who focus on remaining progress show larger boosts in persistence than participants who focus on accumulated progress. Experiment 2 extends the scope of the paper from understanding the effects of progress monitoring on goal striving to the effects goal specificity on goal striving. Experiment 2 shows that after receiving negatively valenced feedback, participants asked to consider specific goals (and so likely focus on remaining progress) show more persistence than participants asked to consider vague goals (and so likely focus on accumulated progress). These findings have important implications for motivation theory and applied practice.

Research indicates that life events involving goal attainment and goal striving trigger hypomania/mania and that negative life events trigger bipolar depression. These findings are consistent with the behavioral approach system (BAS) dysregulation model of bipolar disorders, which suggests that individuals with bipolar disorders are hypersensitive to cues signaling opportunity for reward and cues signaling failure and loss of rewards. However, no studies to date have investigated whether individuals with bipolar spectrum disorders experience increased rates of these BAS-relevant life events, which would place them at double risk for developing bipolar episodes. The present study found that individuals with bipolar II disorder and cyclothymia experience increased rates of BAS-activating and BAS-deactivating, but not goal-attainment, life events. Finally, for bipolar spectrum individuals only, BAS-activating events predicted BAS-deactivating events' rates. Keywords: behavioral approach system, bipolar disorder, life events DOI: 10.1037/a0019533

Correlations were examined between two measures of accounting self-efficacy, achievement goal setting, attributions, and scores on the Accounting Practice Achievement Test, obtained 1 yr. apart for 124 freshmen in junior college. Analysis indicated favorable attribution contributed to a higher mean score on accounting self-efficacy. Students with higher perceived self-efficacy performed better on the proficiency tests. Those with higher self-efficacy also set higher goals for subsequent achievement tests. Moreover, students who set higher achievement goals performed better. Goal setting mediated the relation of initial self-efficacy with subsequent test performance. However, the amount of variance accounted for by self-efficacy was small. An effective method for enhancing performance on an accounting achievement test might be to increase beneficial attributions, self-efficacy in accounting, and to encourage setting reasonable achievement goals. DOI 10.2466/PR0.106.1.54-64

The effects of different types of goal setting on motor skill learning were investigated. 100 individuals (64 men, 36 women) without experience in the performance of the Bachman ladder task participated. Participants were randomly assigned to one of five goal groups: (a) generic, (b) long-term, difficult, (c) long-term, easy, (d) short- and long-term, difficult, and (e) short- and long-term, easy. In the acquisition phase, participants performed 200 trials, and in the transfer and retention phases, each performed 50 trials. The dependent variable was the number of steps achieved in blocks of 10 trials. The results showed that the groups had similar performances in both the transfer and retention phases. Setting of generic, difficult, easy, long- and short-term, and self-setting goals all enabled similar effects on motor learning. DOI: 10.2466/PMS.109.3.817-823

Aggregated health decisions by individuals are of paramount importance to public health professionals and policymakers, especially in situations where collective participation is a prerequisite for achieving an important public health goal such as herd immunity. In such circumstances, concerted action often falls short of the common good through lack of sufficient participation. Collective action problems are traditionally attributed to rational egoists seeking to promote their interests and enjoy a 'free ride.' We call attention, however, to the behavioral features of collective action and their implications for solving public health policy problems. (doi:10.2105/AJPH.2008.152629)

Three experiments examined the difficulty of translating cues into verbal representations of task goals by varying the degree of cue transparency (auditory transparent cues, visual transparent cues, visual arbitrary cues) in the Advanced Dimensional Change Card Sort, which requires switching between color- and shape-sorting rules on the basis of cues. Experiment 1 showed that 5- and 6-year-old children's performance improved as a function of cue transparency. Experiment 2 yielded the same pattern of results and showed that cue transparency effects cannot be accounted for by cue format only. Finally, Experiment 3 examined the effect of cue transparency in 7- and 9-year-olds and adults. The effect decreased over age for accuracy performance but not for latencies, suggesting that under some conditions, the difficulty of cue translation can still be observed in individuals whose inner speech is efficient. Overall, these findings showed that goal setting substantially contributes to children's flexible behaviors and continues to influence adults' performance. Keywords: cognitive flexibility, goal setting, preschoolers, task switching, cue transparency

The present research examined the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic goal attainment on older adults' ego-integrity, psychological well-being, and death attitudes. Hypotheses were derived from Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000; Vansteenkiste, Ryan, & Deci, in press). Study 1 (N = 202, Mean age = 68.2 years) indicated that, after controlling for extrinsic goal attainment, intrinsic goal attainment contributed positively to subjective well-being and ego-integrity and negatively to despair, whereas extrinsic goal attainment was unrelated to psychological health and contributed positively to despair. Study 2 (N = 213, Mean age = 75.2 years) replicated and extended these results, showing that intrinsic goal attainment contributed to the acceptance of one's own death, lower ill-being, and less death anxiety, whereas extrinsic goal attainment was negatively associated with death acceptance. It is argued that the attainment of intrinsic goals is related to better psychological health, because intrinsic goals are more conducive to the satisfaction of basic psychological needs.

Findings showed that the nonconscious activation of a goal in memory led to increased positive implicit attitudes toward stimuli that could facilitate the goal. This evaluative readiness to pursue the nonconscious goal emerged even when participants were consciously unaware of the goal-relevant stimuli. The effect emerged the most strongly for those with some skill at the goal and for those for whom the goal was most currently important. The effect of implicit goal activation on implicit attitudes emerged in both an immediate condition as well as a delay condition, suggesting that a goal rather than a nonmotivational construct was activated. Participants' implicit attitudes toward a nonconscious goal also predicted their goal-relevant behavior. These findings suggest that people can become evaluatively ready to pursue a goal whenever it has been activated--a readiness that apparently does not require conscious awareness or deliberation about either the goal or the goal-relevant stimuli. Theoretical implications of this type of implicit goal readiness are discussed. Keywords: nonconscious goal pursuit, automatic attitudes, subliminal perception

An important issue in work motivation is how, when, and why individuals revise their goals up or down over time. In the current study, the authors examine feedback, causal attributions, and self-efficacy in this process. Although self-efficacy has frequently been suggested as a key explanatory variable for goal revision, its role has yet to be directly evaluated. Additionally, although attributions have been shown to influence goal revision following failure, the extent to which attributions influence goal revision following success remains unclear. In the current study, the authors address these issues by experimentally manipulating goal progress via performance feedback and tracking the resulting changes in self-efficacy and goal revision over time. In so doing, the authors also address several interpretive ambiguities present in the existing research. Results support the hypothesized model, finding that performance feedback and attributions interactively influenced self-efficacy, which in turn influenced goal revision. These results suggest that interventions targeting attributions, and self efficacy more directly, may have meaningful influences on goal setting and pursuit, particularly following feedback. Keywords: goal revision, self-efficacy, attributions, goal-performance discrepancies

Previous research has suggested that the topography of instructions (general vs. specific) may influence the likelihood that young children comply with instructions. The purpose of the current study was to compare the rates of task completion of a young man diagnosed with Asperger syndrome when provided with general and specific instructions pertaining to the task. The results showed that specific instructions occasioned higher levels of task completion, even when no differential reinforcement contingencies were in place. DESCRIPTORS: Asperger syndrome, general versus specific instructions, goal setting, on-task behavior

Three studies examined the cognitive processes underlying the formation of goal-directed habits in a multiple means context. Repeated retrieval of target means upon goal activation was expected to result in inhibition of competing means for the same goal. In all studies, participants studied goal-means combinations and subsequently practiced the retrieval of certain means to attain the goals in a retrieval paradigm. Study 1 tested accessibility of the different means in a goal-means verification task and showed that competing means were not inhibited after a single retrieval but only upon repeated retrieval (three or nine times). Studies 2 and 3 extended these findings in a means-recognition task and demonstrated that inhibition occurred in the absence of explicit intent or instructions to suppress the competitors. These inhibitory effects of competing means are discussed against the background of current social cognition research on the processes underlying goal-means networks and the formation of habits. Keywords: inhibition; habit formation; memory retrieval; goal-means network; multiple means context

There have been a number of recent findings indicating that unsolved problems, or open goals more generally, influence cognition even when the current task has no relation to the task in which the goal was originally set. It was hypothesized that open goals would influence what information entered the problem-solving process. Three studies were conducted to establish the effect of open goals on the acquisition of problem-relevant information. It was found that problem-relevant information, or hints, presented implicitly in a 2nd task in between attempts at solving problems aided problem solving. This effect cannot be attributed to strategic behavior after participants caught on to the manipulation, as most participants were not aware of the relationship. The implications of this research are discussed, including potential contributions to our understanding of insight, incubation, transfer, and creativity. Keywords: goals, problem solving, memory retrieval, hints

Expert specialists organize their knowledge around information related to their goals. In the experiments presented here, the relation between goal use and knowledge organization was investigated by manipulating participants' goals as they learned about a novel domain. Experiment 1 showed that goal use produces biases toward goal-related information in categorization and induction. Experiment 2 revealed that the bias toward goal relatedness is not absolute; participants use their knowledge flexibly, depending on the context of induction. Experiment 3 showed that using information in the absence of a meaningful goal does not produce significant goal-related biases. Altogether, the effects of goal use are evident across a number of tasks and may depend on goal meaningfulness and the coherence it provides to goal-related knowledge structures.

ABSTRACT. The authors examined whether the intended task goal of the subsequent action affects the reaching patterns before the intended goal in 17 children with cerebral palsy (CP). The authors [...]

This study examined factors that influence the dynamic pursuit of multiple goals over time. As hypothesized, goal-performance discrepancies were significantly related to subsequent time allocation. Greater distance from a given goal resulted in greater time subsequently allocated to that goal. In addition, the incentives offered for goal attainment determined the relative influence of discrepancies for each goal. When the incentives for each goal were equivalent, progress toward each goal exhibited equal influence, with greater time allocated to whichever goal was furthest from completion at the time. However, with an incentive available for only 1 of the 2 goals, time allocation was largely determined by progress toward the rewarded goal. Likewise, when incentives for each task differed in their approach-avoidance framing, progress toward the avoidance-framed goal was a stronger predictor of subsequent allocation than was progress toward the approach-framed goal. Finally, the influence of goal-performance discrepancies differed as a function of the time remaining for goal pursuit. The implications for future work on dynamic goal prioritization and the provision of performance incentives are discussed. Keywords: multiple goals, resource allocation, dynamic self-regulation, goal framing, temporal factors

This study examined relations between gender-linked personality traits (i.e., agency and communion) and life goals in a sample of 237 undergraduates. In addition, gender similarities and differences in the relative importance of life goals were explored. As predicted, agency was positively associated with the importance of most achievement goals such as having a career, whereas communion and unmitigated communion were positively associated with the importance of relational goals such as romantic partnership. Contrary to predictions, results suggested that men were more willing than women to sacrifice some achievement goals for a romantic relationship. Findings point to the potential influence of gender and gender-linked personality traits on the establishment of life priorities. Keywords Agency * Communion * Gender * Goals * Personality

The author's research examined automatically activated attitudes toward desired end-states. Across 4 studies, participants' automatic attitudes toward goals (i.e., thinness, egalitarianism) significantly predicted their goal pursuit, including behaviors, intentions, and judgments. Such attitudes predicted behavior and judgments that are difficult to monitor and control (i.e., restrained eating, subtle prejudice), but not judgments that are easy to monitor and control (i.e., blatant prejudice). Automatic attitudes toward goals also possessed unique predictive validity compared with explicit measures of motivation and with automatic attitudes toward more physical, 'graspable' objects. The findings are discussed with regard to the predictive validity of automatic attitudes, the use of automatic attitudes toward goals as an implicit measure of motivation, and the role of automatic evaluative processes in goal-pursuit and self-regulation. Keywords: automatic evaluations, automatic attitudes, automaticity, implicit motivation, goal pursuit

This research investigated goal setting on engineering teams with geographically dispersed members. A survey was designed to measure the Quality of Goal Setting, Goal Commitment, Perceived Task Outcomes, and Perceived Psychosocial Outcomes, all constructs and scales used in previous research on project teams. 82 respondents from 12 virtual teams participated. Analysis suggested the quality of goal setting affected Perceived Task Outcome (t-2.40, p

On the basis of the behavioral approach system (BAS) dysregulation theory of bipolar disorder, this study examined the relation between occurrence of a BAS activation-relevant life event--goal striving--and onset of hypomanic and depressive episodes and symptoms. In particular, the authors examined the relation between preparing for and completing final exams (a goal-striving event) and onset of bipolar spectrum episodes and symptoms in college students with bipolar II disorder or cyclothymia (i.e., 'soft' bipolar spectrum conditions). One hundred fifty-nine individuals with either a bipolar spectrum disorder (n = 68) or no major affective psychopathology (controls; n = 91) were further classified on the basis of whether they were college students (i.e., completed final exams). Consistent with the BAS dysregulation theory, preparing for and completing final exams was associated with an increase in hypomanic but not depressive episodes and symptoms in individuals with a soft bipolar spectrum diagnosis. Furthermore, self-reported BAS sensitivity moderated the presence of certain hypomanic symptoms during final exams. Keywords: bipolar spectrum disorders, goal striving, life events, BAS

Five studies used a robust cognitive model, which proposes that people seek to interrupt processing routines after making an error in choice reaction time tasks. Findings indicate the functionality of individual differences in error self-regulation and help to elucidate the processing basis of such relations.

A study that examines a treatment program that utilizes clients' self-determined goals, as the venue of change, is discussed. The study suggested that goal specificity and goal agreement positively predicted confidence of work on goals that negatively predicted recidivism.

Four studies were conducted to test life span hypotheses about goal orientation across adulthood. Younger adults reported a growth orientation in their goals whereas older adults reported a stronger orientation toward maintenance and loss prevention. Studies revealed a self-reported shift in goal orientation to the level of behavioral choice involving cognitive and physical fitness goals.

Traditional accounts of sequential behavior assume that schemas and goals play a causal role in the control of behavior. In contrast, M. Botvinick and D. C. Plaut (2004) argued that, at least in routine behavior, schemas and goals are epiphenomenal. The authors evaluate the Botvinick and Plaut account by contrasting the simple recurrent network model of Botvinick and Plaut with their own more traditional hierarchically structured interactive activation model (R. P. Cooper & T. Shallice, 2000). The authors present a range of arguments and additional simulations that demonstrate theoretical and empirical difficulties for both Botvinick and Plaut's model and their theoretical position. The authors conclude that explicit hierarchically organized and causally efficacious schema and goal representations are required to provide an adequate account of the flexibility of sequential behavior. Keywords: control of routine behavior, localist versus distributed representations, simple recurrent networks, neuropsychological impairments of action

The affective consequences of nonconscious and conscious goal pursuit that either violates or does not violate a prevailing social norm were examined. It was observed that when an explanation was not required of goal directed behavior, affective experiences did not differ but when an explanation was required, nonconscious goal pursuit induced more negative affect than conscious goal pursuit.

The authors conducted 2 studies of subconscious goal motivation. First, the authors ran a pilot study to establish the effects of priming of subconscious goals on a performance task frequently used in goal setting research. Second, the authors conducted the main study in which the authors examined the effects of both priming of subconscious goals and assigned conscious goals on the same performance task. The authors found significant main effects of both manipulations and a significant interaction between subconscious and conscious goals. The effects of conscious difficult and do-best goals were enhanced by subconscious goals, although conscious easy goals were not affected. All effects from the main study still held after 1 day. Keywords: subconscious, priming, goals

Heckhausen, H.^Kuhl's, J. (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. Keywords: achievement orientation, goal setting, self-regulation, goal orientation

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. DESCRIPTORS: goal-attainment scaling, performance, rugby, self-generated targets

Most story plots contain multiple characters who are independent, interact, and often have conflicting goals. One would expect that narrative understanding would require monitoring of the goals, concerns, and situations of multiple agents. There is considerable evidence that understanders monitor the primary protagonist's goal plans (e.g., Suh & Trabasso, 1993). However, there is relatively little research on the extent to which understanders monitor the goals of multiple agents. We investigated the impact of characters' roles and prominence on the extent to which understanders monitor the goal plans of multiple characters in a feature length film. In Experiment 1, participants made situation change judgments, and in Experiment 2, they verbally described scenes. Both types of judgments indicated that viewers monitor the goals and plans of multiple agents but do so to a greater extent for characters more prominent to the plotline.

Achievement goal theory proposes that goal orientations are developed and altered through various socialization processes, including the motivational climate created by parents and coaches (Nicholls, 1989). This study investigated the combined influence of coach- and parent-initiated motivational climate on athlete goal orientation and changes in goal orientation during a competitive season. Female adolescent softball players (N = 62) completed questionnaires assessing goal orientations at early season and assessing goal orientations, perceptions of the coach motivational climate, and perceptions of the parent motivational climate at late season. Athletes' early season task orientation, perceptions of a task coach-initiated climate, and a parent climate emphasizing learning positively predicted athletes' task orientation at late season. Athletes' early season ego orientation was the only predictor of late season ego orientation. Consistent with achievement goal theory, these findings support the importance of examining the influence of both coaches and parents on the motivation of youth athletes., Achievement goal theory asserts that variations in behavior will occur when individuals use different goals in an achievement setting (Ames, 1984; Dweck, 1986; Nicholls, 1984, 1989). There are two major [...]

People regulate their affect either to feel good or to achieve instrumental success. The present experiments show that when driven by performance goals, people can be motivated to experience unpleasant affect when it is trait-consistent, because of its instrumental benefits (e.g., M. Tamir & M. D. Robinson, 2004). In 4 studies, individuals high in neuroticism were more likely than those low in neuroticism to choose to increase their level of worry, as indicated by self-reported preferences (Study 1) and by behavioral choices in experimental settings (Studies 2-4). As predicted, such preferences were evident when expecting to perform demanding tasks but not when expecting an undemanding task (Study 2). Study 4 suggests that such preferences for short-term unpleasant affect may be beneficial to performance. Keywords: affect/emotion regulation, neuroticism, performance, motivation

Two studies examined the degree to which pursuit of achievement goals is regulated in response to ongoing competence feedback. In Study 1, conducted in a college classroom, goal pursuit remained largely stable throughout the semester, yet poor exam performance predicted a significant decrease in mastery goal and performance-approach goal pursuit and an increase in performance-avoidance goal pursuit. In Study 2, conducted in a laboratory, negative feedback reduced participants' mastery goal pursuit. In addition, both studies showed unique benefits of 2 goals: The performance-approach goal predicted success on exams (Study 1) and a novel activity (Study 2), and the mastery goal predicted higher interest in both studies. Implications of achievement goal regulation for both theory and research methodology are discussed. Key words: goals, performance avoidance, performance approach, mastery, achievement orientation

The author examined the predictive validity of goal orientation in teams on both team process and outcome variables. Results indicate that when mean goal orientation scores were used as a way of describing team members' inputs, learning orientation was related to backing up behavior, efficacy, and commitment. The relationships between performance orientation and efficacy and commitment, however, were more complex and were clarified when task performance was also taken into account. Performance orientation had a negative effect on efficacy when task performance was low and a positive effect on commitment when task performance was high. The implications of these findings for theory and research on goal orientation in teams and team staffing are discussed. Keywords: teams, goal orientation, backing up behavior, effectiveness

The relations of achievement goal theory constructs and physical self-perceptions were explored with 225 students (91 men, 109 women, and 25 nonindicators; M age = 23.5 yr., SD = 9.2), enrolled in basic physical activity classes (aerobics, weight training, modern dance, badminton, yoga, tai chi, basketball, racquetball, gymnastics, bowling, aquatone, and step aerobics) in a university setting. Goal orientations (Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire), perceptions of the motivational climate (Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire-2), and physical self-perceptions (Physical Self-perception Profile) were assessed. Data were analyzed separately by sex. Ego orientation was the only predictor of Physical Self-perceptions in men, accounting for between 12 and 15% of the variance in Physical Self-worth, Sport Competence, Physical Conditioning, and Body Attractiveness. Constructs of achievement goal theory were not predictive of Physical Self-perceptions in the women. The results are discussed in light of achievement goal theory and the nature of the sample.

The present research examined continuity and change in the importance of major life goals and the relation between change in goals and change in personality traits over the course of college (N = 298). Participants rated the importance of their life goals 6 times over a 4-year period and completed a measure of the Big Five personality traits at the beginning and end of college. Like personality traits, life goals demonstrated high levels of rank-order stability. Unlike personality traits assessed during the same period and in the same sample, the mean importance of most life goals decreased over time. Moreover, each goal domain was marked by significant individual differences in change, and these individual differences were related to changes in personality traits. These findings provide insights into the relatively unstudied question of how life goals change during emerging adulthood.

Six studies examined the goal contagion hypothesis, which claims that individuals may automatically adopt and pursue a goal that is implied by another person's behavior. Participants were briefly exposed to behavioral information implying a specific goal and were then given the opportunity to act on the goal in a different way and context. Studies 1-3 established the goal contagion phenomenon by showing that the behavioral consequences of goal contagion possess features of goal directedness: (a) They are affected by goal strength, (b) they have the quality of goal appropriateness, and (c) they are characterized by persistence. Studies 4-6 show that people do not automatically adopt goals when the observed goal pursuit is conducted in an unacceptable manner, because the goal will then be perceived as unattractive. The results are discussed in the context of recent research on automatic goal pursuits.

The role of goal setting in motivating unethical behavior is explored in a laboratory experiment. The results reveal that people with unmet goals are more likely to engage in unethical behavior than people attempting to do their best.

In 3 studies, the authors analyzed whether projection occurs for both conscious and nonconscious goals. In Experiment 1, participants who were predisposed to hold a learning goal over a performance goal rated others as possessing more of a learning goal. In Experiment 2, participants who were either implicitly primed with or explicitly assigned to have the goal to compete perceived others as striving for competitive goals more than control participants. In Experiment 3, the authors demonstrated that it was the actual goal to compete rather than the trait construct of competitiveness that was projected. The control of automatic goal projection effects is discussed, and interpersonal consequences of goal projection are delineated.

Sheldon and colleagues have recently focused research attention on the concept of self-concordance, in which people feel that they pursue their goals because the goals fit with their underlying interests and values rather than because others say they should pursue them. Self-concordant individuals typically evidence higher subjective well-being (SWB). But is this also true in non- Western cultures, which emphasize people's duty to conform to societal expectations and group-centered norms? To address this question, this study assessed goal self-concordance and SWB in four different cultures. U.S., Chinese, and South Korean samples evidenced equal levels of self-concordance, whereas a Taiwanese sample evidenced somewhat less self-concordance. More importantly, self-concordance predicted SWB within every culture. It appears that 'owning one's actions'--that is, feeling that one's goals are consistent with the self--may be important for most if not all humans. Keywords: motivation; goals; well-being; culture

Interviews with 1st-year university students selected as high or low in either self-handicapping or defensive pessimism identified (a) personal perspectives on the nature of self-handicapping and defensive pessimism, (b) the perceived reasons why they engage in these strategies and the perceived advantages that follow from them, and (c) the extent to which ego goals and task goals mark theft approach to their studies. The data confirm previous quantitative research and also provide important qualitative information on the congruencies and differences in goal orientation for self-handicappers and defensive pessimists, the social and academic costs of self-protective behavior, the control students feel they have over their self-protective behavior, and the roles of the family and students' culture in their tendency to self-protect.

Five studies are presented that explore how representations of significant others may automatically affect goal pursuit. Specifically, evidence is presented that suggests goals may be primed by one's representation of a significant other and that this priming may be moderated by one's closeness to this other individual. It is also shown to be affected by the number of different goals associated with this person. The greater the number of goals associated with a significant other, the less likely this individual will invoke any 1 goal very strongly. Such goal priming is shown to have implications for the extent to which goals are pursued (as seen through task persistence and performance) as well as the extent to which they are inhibited or ignored (especially when an individual is associated with a goal unrelated to a current pursuit).

Six studies explore the role of goal shielding in self-regulation by examining how the activation of focal goals to which the individual is committed inhibits the accessibility of alternative goals. Consistent evidence was found for such goal shielding, and a number of its moderators were identified: Individuals' level of commitment to the focal goal, their degree of anxiety and depression, their need for cognitive closure, and differences in their goal-related tenacity. Moreover, inhibition of alternative goals was found to be more pronounced when they serve the same overarching purpose as the focal goal, but lessened when the alternative goals facilitate focal goal attainment. Finally, goal shielding was shown to have beneficial consequences for goal pursuit and attainment.

In three experiments with a total of 243 students, the hypothesis was tested that mindsets affect goal-directed persistence in behavioral conflict situations. In Studies 1 and 2, an implemental mindset led to higher persistence as compared with a deliberative mindset in solving a puzzle or playing a computer game, respectively, when the characteristics of the task implied a behavioral conflict (i.e., when perceived desirability was low and perceived feasibility was high, or vice versa). No differences were found when the desirability and feasibility of the task were both low or both high. In Study 3, it was demonstrated that, depending on the functional value of persistence in the given situation, the implemental mindset leads to lower persistence compared with the deliberative mindset. These findings are interpreted to mean that the implemental mindset is a self-regulatory mechanism that permits a flexible response to the demands of a particular situation.

We evaluated the effects of public posting, goal setting, and oral feedback on the skills of 3 female high school soccer players during practice scrimmages. The dependent variables were the percentage of appropriate responses when the player (a) kept and maintained possession of the ball, (b) moved to an open position during a game restart (e.g., goal or corner kick), and (c) moved to an open position after passing the ball. We also assessed the extent to which changes in practice performances generalized to games. A social validity questionnaire was completed by both players and coaches to assess the acceptability of the interventions goals, procedures, and outcomes. Results indicate that the intervention was effective in improving performances during practice scrimmages but produced limited generalization to game settings. DESCRIPTORS: public posting, goal setting, oral feedback, female athletes, soccer