The present study investigates whether individuals who are trained in groups will benefit from a more enhanced facilitation of the information than those trained in a more traditional, individualistic, classroom setting. Participants who learn in a cooperative, group setting are expected to exhibit better performance on a subsequent knowledge test than participants who learn individually.

The present study investigated the effects of different goal and feedback conditions on performance of a basketball field goal shooting task and a more complex one-on-one offensive basketball task. Subjects (N = 100) were matched, based on pre-test performance, into one of five conditions: competitive goal, cooperative goal, mastery goal, "do your best" with feedback, and "do your best" without feedback. Results indicated the competitive group was significantly better than the "do your best" without feedback group in one-on-one performance. No other between group differences were significant, although some consistent group trends were present. Subjects' goal orientations were not related to performance in specific goal conditions, with the exception of mastery oriented subjects in the mastery goal condition.

Janis is a residential drug treatment program for drug abusers between the ages of twelve and eighteen deigned to rehabilitate the participants. Five homes, each staffed by two trained residential coordinators and one student accommodate a total of thirty patients at a time. The treatment program consists of daily house meetings led by the residential coordinators, one group therapy session per week led by a psychiatric social worker, and individual therapy sessions with a psychiatrist as needed, as well as regular consultation with a psychologist and psychiatrist. The adolescents enrolled in the program are referred from a variety of agencies, including the Multnomah County Juvenile Court and Home, the Psychiatric Crisis Unit operated by the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center, and other out-patient treatment centers in Portland. Only those adolescents who are motivated to change their behavior are accepted into the Janis program.

Two theories of work motivation taken from the field of Industrial/Organizational Psychology were compared in a six-week field experiment at a Fortune 500 company. A Job Enrichment Model (Hackman & Oldham, 1975) was used and the Motivating Potential Score (MPS) of three groups of machine operators was obtained before and after a six-week productivity study. Three goal conditions based on Goal Theory (Locke, 1968) were assigned one to each of three groups of machine operators and comparisons were made between the treatment groups. Production increases resulted from providing goals and feedback to subjects, but these increases were not statistically significant. The hourly goal condition with feedback had the largest increase over baseline, greater than either daily goals with feedback or the "do your best" goal condition with no feedback. A weak correlation exists (r =.17) between the change in worker's MPS and the worker's change in production.

Assessed the effects of frequency of prompting (phone calls once a week versus once every three weeks) and content of prompting (feedback and goal setting versus "touching base") in a walking program designed to meet ACSM's cardiovascular exercise goals. Survival analysis using six months of data points and using the criteria of walking at least 20 minutes a day for a at least three times per week indicated an effect for more frequent versus less frequent prompting (50% and 15%), but not for feedback and goal setting versus "touching base" prompting (31% and 30%). The results suggested the efficacy of frequent prompting delivered in inexpensive ways as a means to increase exercise adherence and the further parametric study of other basic behavior change strategies. / Ph. D.

The Safety Triad proposed by Geller (1992) suggests that interventions to increase safety in the community and workplace needs to consider three causal aspects of behavior change. 1) The Person factor considers the past history of an individual as well as specific personality characteristics which may influence responsiveness to an intervention. 2) The Environmental factor considers the manipulation of the environmental antecedents 2lnd consequences of the target behavior. It also includes identifying natural contingencies which may support the behavior after the intervention is withdrawn. 3) The Behavior factor considers the response class in which the target behavior is shaped, and the interrelationships between the target behavior and other behaviors. / Ph. D.

Master of Science

The current study examined the impact of self-presentation and self-esteem concerns on goal choice. Subjects who were high or low in self-esteem worked on a series of analogies and were presented with noncontingent or contingent success feedback. They were then told that their performance on an upcoming puzzle task would be either public or private. Subjects were then allowed to choose a goal level for the upcoming task. Subsequent performance on a standard test was measured. In general, males chose more difficult goals than did females and high esteem subjects chose more difficult goals than did low esteem subjects. Analyses indicated that when low esteem male subjects were given noncontingent success feedback and were led to believe that their choice of goal was public, they reported lower performance expectations and showed a tendency to choose more difficult goals than did comparison groups. No performance differences emerged across any of the experimental conditions. The results are discussed within goal setting theory and in light of previous research on self-handicapping. The implications of this investigation for future research are also considered. / M.S.

The current study examined the effects of self-esteem and initial goal level on performance when that performance would affect an individual's future goal level. High and low esteem subjects were randomly assigned either moderately easy or difficult goals for an upcoming interview (quiz session). They were then given an anagram pretest to complete before the interview. Subjects were told either that their performance would or would not affect their goal level for the interview, or were not told anything about the relationship between their performance and the interview goal level. Actual and reported performance on the anagram pretest were measured. Analyses indicated that when given the chance to alter their goal level, low esteem subjects who were assigned difficult goals performed more poorly than did their high-esteem counterparts. Additional analyses were conducted to investigate the effects of subjects' social anxiety on performance. A significant three-way interaction did emerge between social anxiety, goal level, and instructions condition. High social anxiety persons given difficult goals performed worse when given the chance to alter their goal level than when they were not given the chance to alter their goal level or when they were given easy goals. These results are discussed in conjunction with other research on strategic failure and self-presentation within goal setting theory. / M.S.

Thesis (M Sport Sc (Sport Science))--Stellenbosch University, 2007. / The study explored the potential of rugby as a developmental experience, not only in terms of the motor skills that lead to competence in rugby, but also in terms of learning more about the life-skill of goal setting. A 10 session pre-season programme entitled “More than Rugby” was designed and implemented in order to determine whether combining skill instruction with activities specifically designed to increase an understanding of goal setting had an impact on either the development of rugby competence or understanding about goal setting and perceptions of its use. A repeated measures experimental design was followed, with two groups of high school rugby players from similar sporting backgrounds involved: An experimental group who received pre-season rugby training as well as an intervention programme dealing with goal setting, and a control group who received only the pre-season rugby training, but no special goal setting activities. Both groups were pre tested and post tested on their rugby competence (through an individual rugby skill test circuit) and their understanding of goal setting The self reported use of goal setting perceptions, the relationship between goals and performance and the effects of goals on players was measured by means of a questionnaire (adapted GSI). The results revealed a significant improvement in the quality of rugby skills of the experimental group, but no significant improvement was found in the quality of the rugby skills of the control group. Both groups showed improvement in the speed at which rugby skills were performed, but in neither case was the improvement significant. The understanding of goal setting and the knowledge of setting goals did not improve significantly for either group. It can be concluded that the inclusion of life skills content and activities, such as goal setting in rugby development programmes will not detract from skill development outcomes. Although it can be noted that the greater improvement in skill levels was achieved by the group who received goal setting, more research is recommended to explain the positive link between life skills development and sport skills development.