Clarifying mastery-avoidance goals in high school: Distinguishing between intrapersonal and task-based standards of competence

Nir Madjar, Avi Kaplan, Michael Weinstock

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    64 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    The definition, measurement, prevalence, and relations of mastery-avoidance goals with engagement outcomes are still under debate. Study 1 (n=256) aimed to investigate these issues among junior high and high school students in two domains. Findings indicated that students distinguished between the three commonly assessed achievement goals and mastery-avoidance goals. Moreover, students distinguished between the two standards conceived to underlie mastery-avoidance goals-task-mastery and intrapersonal competence. However, the task-mastery items failed to show reliability. Study 2 (n=118) aimed to replicate the results of Study 1 as well as to investigate the associations of mastery-avoidance goals with self-regulation strategies and affect in school. Intrapersonal mastery-avoidance goals were positively related to adaptive strategies and negatively with maladaptive strategies. Moreover, when combined with mastery-approach goals, intrapersonal mastery-avoidance goals enhanced students' reports of adaptive affect in school. The implications of these findings to theory, method, and future directions are discussed.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)268-279
    Number of pages12
    JournalContemporary Educational Psychology
    Volume36
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 1 Oct 2011

    Keywords

    • Affect in school
    • Goal orientations
    • Mastery-avoidance
    • Self-regulated learning strategies

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