Goal orientation refers to how an individual interprets and reacts to tasks, resulting in different patterns of cognition, affect and behavior.
[3] Developed within a social-cognitive framework, the orientation goal theory proposes that students' motivation and achievement-related behaviors can be understood by considering the reasons or purposes they adopt while engaged in academic work.
[21] Individuals with a performance orientation seek to demonstrate and validate the adequacy of their competence to receive favorable compliments while avoiding negative judgments.
[citation needed] Researchers have conducted validation studies to demonstrate the statistical and conceptual distinction of further dimensions to goal orientation.
In 1996, Elliot broke down the traditional mastery and performance orientations to include approach and avoidance components,[24][25] resulting in four distinct profiles: mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance.
[26] Conceptual and empirical work by Elliot and Church and by VandeWalle demonstrated that the factor structure of goal orientation lends itself to three distinct dimensions.
Across numerous studies, mastery orientation has been shown to promote adaptive patterns of learning, which ultimately lead to high academic achievement and adjustment.
[35] According to Elliot, mastery-approach goals "entail striving to develop one's skills and abilities, advance one's learning, understand the material, or complete or master a task".
Alternatively, mastery-avoidance goals "entail striving to avoid losing one's skills and abilities (or having their development stagnate), forgetting what one has learned, misunderstanding material, or leaving a task incomplete or unmastered".
Button, Mathieu, & Zajac take an integrative view of the construct,[44] stating that goal orientation is best categorized as a relatively stable individual difference variable that can be influenced by situational and contextual characteristics.
Personality factors combine to create people's various orientations toward learning and goals, which in turn predict the types of tasks they will engage in.
[48][49] Beginning at the transition to middle school, students tend to exhibit a performance orientation, along with an overall decline in academic motivation across adolescence.
[51] Supporting the gender disparities in STEM fields, previous research has suggested that females develop a motivational orientation that is maladaptive to high academic achievement, particularly in math and science.
[52] Despite the lack of uniformity among research findings, there is a general consensus that gender influences the development of different rationales and motivations for behavior, as a result of unique socialization expectations and experiences.
Individuals conceptions of intelligence have been shown to influence cognitive and motivational factors associated with goal orientation and ultimately academic performance.
Students with an entity view of intelligence are more likely to develop a fear of failure,[57][58] resulting in the avoidance of "intellectual tasks," [33] and giving up in the face of difficulty.
This is particularly adaptive because rather than giving up in the face of failure or challenge, those who endorse an incremental view of intelligence interpret these setbacks as inevitable for learning to take place.
Because they are not worried that exertion of effort is a reflection of lack of intelligence, they are not afraid to work hard, resulting in an outperformance of their entity theory peers.
Research has shown that growth mindsets foster a more positive attitude toward practice and learning, a desire for feedback, a greater ability to deal with setbacks, and significantly better performance over time.
[62]: 16 Students with this type of attitude are able to respond to obstacles, try new strategies and continue to learn and grow in many situations, which leads to higher achievement.
Teachers that illustrate meaningful work help students gain the tools they need to find confidence in their learning and be successful in future challenges.
[63] Type of praise not only affects behaviors, beliefs, emotions and outcomes immediately after it is imparted, but has also been shown to have long term consequences.
Process praise reinforces the association between success and effort (or behavior) rather than a fixed ability, which cultivates the more adaptive mastery orientation and incremental view of intelligence.
Because it applauds the individual by applying a label or an unchangeable characteristic, person praise promotes a performance orientation and a fixed view of intelligence.
Locke and Latham claim that creating a specific, difficult learning goal in this type of situation facilitates meta-cognition which is particularly helpful in complex environments with limited guidance, such as in an MBA program.
[41] Similarly, VandeWalle, Cron & Slocum found that mastery orientation was positively related to self-efficacy, effort, and goal setting level.
[73] Individuals high in metacognitive awareness are skilled at monitoring their progress towards goals, identifying their strengths and weaknesses, and adjusting their learning strategies accordingly to achieve favorable outcomes.
[74] In a study by Schmidt & Ford, metacognitive activity was positively related to mastery orientation as well as cognitive, affective, and skill-based learning outcomes.
[41] Research has also shown that students' motivation can predict both the quality of the engagement in academic learning as well as the degree to which they seek out or avoid challenging situations.
"[81] Long et al. assert that if all students are to move "through the increasing challenges and academic rigors" of school, then their motivation to learn must be identified and nurtured.