Goal Theories In Education

Behavior reinforcement theories and need theories both depicted motivated actions as reactive to pressures, either from extrinsic incentives or from internally felt needs. Gradually, motivation theories began to acknowledge that in addition to being pushed and pulled in this manner, we are sometimes more proactive in deciding what we want to do and why. As biological organisms, we are naturally active (except when sleeping), so motivational concepts usually are not needed to explain the energization of behavior (why we are doing something instead of nothing). Th ey are needed, however, to explain the direction, intensity, persistence, and quality of behavior. Th at is, given all the possibilities that a situation affords, why does the person choose a subset of them, to the exclusion of the rest, and pursue those possibilities in a particular way?

Reflecting this evolution in theorizing, most motivational researchers have shifted from talking about needs to talking about goals: the objectives or intended outcomes of planned sequences of behavior. Most human activity is purposeful, although not necessarily from its inception (when free from pressing needs, we may seek “down time,” although even then we usually make action decisions that imply goals, such as taking a nap or a bath to refresh ourselves or reading or watching television to inform ourselves or enjoy entertainment). Implied goals are built into activity settings, such as workplaces, gymnasiums, or classrooms. In classrooms, students are expected to engage in activities with the goal of achieving their intended learning outcomes. However, they may pursue other goals in addition or instead.

Goals vary in scope, from primitive or concrete goals (grasping an object) through somewhat more abstract goals (seek out activities that you enjoy) to highly abstract goals (try to be the kind of person you want to be). Whatever its scope, the existence of a goal indicates that the person has made a commitment to achieve some state or outcome, that progress in doing so can be monitored and assessed, and that the person can use the resulting feedback to make any needed adjustments in the strategies used to pursue the goal.

Many goals subsume complex activities played out across extended periods of time. For example, the goal of climbing a mountain implies not just wanting to experience standing on top, but experiencing all of the things involved in doing the climbing. In this case, the “going” is the main goal of the activity, not the “arriving” (Carver & Scheier, 1999).

Martin Ford (1992) developed a theory of human motivation that included a taxonomy of 24 goals arranged within six categories:

1. Affective goals: entertainment, tranquility, happiness, pleasurable bodily sensations, and physical well being
2. Cognitive goals: exploration to satisfy one’s curiosity, attaining understanding, engaging in intellectual creativity, and maintaining positive self-evaluations
3. Subjective organization goals: unity (experiencing a spiritual sense of harmony or oneness with people, nature, or a greater power) and transcendence (experiencing optimal or extraordinary states of functioning that go beyond ordinary experience)
4. Self-assertive social relationship goals: experiencing a sense of individuality, selfdetermination, superiority (in comparisons with others), and resource acquisition (obtaining material and social support from others).
5. Integrative social relationship goals: belongingness, social responsibility (meeting one’s ethical and social obligations), equity (promoting fairness and justice), and resource provision (giving material and social support to others)
6. Task goals: mastery, task creativity, management (handling everyday tasks with organization and efficiency), material gain, and safety.

Ford’s list is unusually lengthy. Goal theorists usually work with simpler taxonomies that contain just a few categories of goals that are more convenient and flexible to apply. However, longer lists are useful as reminders of the many competing agendas facing teachers who seek to motivate their students to focus on learning goals. To do so successfully, teachers need to make it possible for students to coordinate their goals so that many different goals are being satisfi ed, and few if any are being frustrated, as they engage in classroom activities with motivation to learn.

Many of the concepts and motivational strategies discussed in chapters 3–5 were developed within goal theory frameworks that have shift ed focus from quantitative aspects (strength) of motivation to qualitative aspects of the goals that people adopt in achievement situations and the strategies they use to pursue those goals. When students adopt learning goals (also called mastery goals or task-involvement goals), they focus
on trying to learn whatever the activity is designed to teach them. In contrast, when students adopt performance goals (also called ego-involvement goals), they focus on preserving their self-perceptions and public reputations as capable individuals more than on learning what the activity is designed to teach. Finally, when students adopt work avoidant goals, they refuse to accept the achievement challenges inherent in the activity and instead seek to minimize the time and effort they devote to it.

Goal theorists have developed information about situational characteristics that predict people’s tendencies to adopt these different goals. Other motivational researchers have explored related cognitive and affective experiences (success or failure expectations, self-efficacy perceptions, attributions of performance outcomes to causes), and the ways in which these motivational factors infl uence the quality of people’s engagement
in activities and the ultimate levels of success they achieve. Classroom applications of goal theories emphasize (a) establishing supportive relationships and collaborative learning arrangements that encourage students to adopt learning goals and (b) minimizing the sorts of pressures that dispose students toward performance goals or work avoidant goals.
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