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Data from 77 undergraduates high in social anxiety and 75 undergraduates low in social anxiety were used to examine between- and within-group differences in idiosyncratic goal generation, plan generation, and anticipated affect related to goal pursuit. The data did not support the hypotheses related to between- or within-group differences in approach and avoidance goal or plan generation; the two groups did not differ in the number of approach or avoidance goals and plans. Both groups reported higher numbers of approach than avoidance goals and plans. Individuals high in social anxiety rated goals as more social. Although, both groups classified more goals as non-social than social, those high in social anxiety were more likely to classify goals as social. Social goals were expected to relate to less net affective cost or gain and have consequents lasting a shorter duration than non-social goals. When imagining goal pursuit, those high in social anxiety reported expecting more negative affect, more deactivated negative affect, less deactivated positive affect, and rated goal pursuit as less pleasant, but they did not differ from those low in social anxiety with respect to positive affect. Individuals high in social anxiety also believed that the consequents of imagining success would have a shorter duration than did those low in social anxiety and tended to believe that the consequences of failure had a longer duration than did the consequences of success, regardless of goal type, whereas individuals low in social anxiety anticipated the opposite pattern. The study concludes with discussion of how anticipated affect as a consequence of goal pursuit relates to the extant goal and affect research; strengths and limitations of the current research; proposed directions for future research; and potential clinical applications of these findings. / Psychology

This dissertation addressed knowledge gaps concerning “mastery-avoidance goals”—a construct within the prominent motivational perspective Achievement Goal Theory. Mastery-avoidance goals refer to students’ engagement in an achievement task with the purpose of avoiding failure to develop competence. While it was introduced to the achievement goal literature over a decade and a half ago, the construct of mastery-avoidance goals still lacks intuitive relevance, conceptual clarity, and evidence of prevalence among young students. In addition, so far, research has not established clear patterns of relations of mastery-avoidance goals with the other personal achievement goals (mastery-approach, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance), with contextual motivational emphases, or with adaptive and maladaptive educational outcomes. This dissertation aimed to contribute to knowledge in these gaps by investigating mastery-avoidance goals among middle school students in two subject domains that concern different types of competence: science and instrumental music. The dissertation describes two studies. In Study 1, I administered a self-report measure to middle school students (N=126) that included summated scales to investigate the empirical distinction between mastery-avoidance goals and other achievement goals, the components of its conceptual definition, its prevalence of adoption by young students in the two different domains, as well as its relations with contextual emphases and adaptive and maladaptive educational outcomes. Multidimensional scaling analysis indicated that while students in both science and instrumental music made a distinction between mastery and performance goals, these students did not make a complete distinction between mastery-approach and mastery-avoidance goals, at least according to the conceptual definition investigated in these studies. Regression analyses indicated that students’ perceptions of their teachers’ emphasis on mastery-approach and mastery-avoidance goals were significantly related to their reports of mastery-avoidance goals. Cluster analysis suggested a pattern of two general motivational profiles in the sample of more and less motivated students that differed on their simultaneous and respective high and low endorsements of both mastery-approach and mastery-avoidance goals, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, sense of academic efficacy, and also academic achievement. In Study 2, I aimed to further knowledge of the meaning that students make of mastery-avoidance goals by examining students’ (N=79) qualitative responses to questions asking them to interpret items from the summated-scales self-report measure. Findings from a qualitative content analysis supported the findings from Study 1 about students’ lack of distinction between mastery-approach and mastery-avoidance goals, and indicated that students interpreted mastery-avoidance goals items in ways that were different from those intended by the researchers. These findings suggested that students form meanings of mastery-avoidance goals that are potentially different from the formal conceptual definition in the literature. The findings are interpreted as suggesting that students’ meaning-making about mastery-avoidance goals in both science and instrumental music may be contextualized by their personal characteristics (e.g., age), by characteristics of their school and classroom environments, and by situational characteristics (e.g., proximity of evaluative tasks). Further research should investigate systematically the different personal and contextual factors that may contribute to the meaning students make of mastery-avoidance goals. / Educational Psychology

The purpose of this study was to identify faculty teaching goals at senior research universities and to determine variables which could be used to predict these goals. The eight disciplines used in this study were: accounting, chemistry, computer science, economics, English, math, mechanical engineering, and psychology. The independent variables were: gender, academic rank, course level, tenure, and four Biglan categories (pure-hard, pure-soft, applied-hard, and applied-soft). Using the Teaching Goals Inventory (Angelo &amp; Cross, 1993), the teaching goals and primary teaching role of faculty at senior research universities across eight academic disciplines were identified (N = 352). Through a principal axis factor analysis, seven factors emerged for the data gathered from the Teaching Goals Inventory, results of which were slightly different from that of previous research. Further analyses indicated differences between the teaching goals and primary teaching role of faculty at senior research universities, community colleges, and four-year colleges. Seven one-way ANOVAs and subsequent post-hoc comparisons were conducted which indicated significant differences (p < .05) among the factor means across the eight academic disciplines. Comparisons of the primary teaching role across the eight academic disciplines also indicated significant differences (p < .05) in the percentage of faculty selecting each of the six roles. Furthermore, this study provides additional evidence to support the theory that the Biglan categories help explain the differences in teaching goals across academic disciplines. Significant differences (p < .05) were detected in the teaching goals and primary teaching role of senior research university faculty across the four Biglan categories. Through regression analyses, three of the four Biglan categories, gender, and level of course entered as predictors of teaching goals. Academic rank and tenure did not enter into any of the regression equations; however, further analyses indicated these variables were intercorrelated with several other independent variables. Implications for these findings are discussed. / Ph. D.

College students drink at high rates. More than 80% of college students drink alcohol and about 40% engage in occasions of heavy drinking. Heavy episodic drinking among college students is associated with multiple negative consequences, such as verbal confrontations, physical fights, unprotected sex, vandalism, and driving while under the influence. Goals constitute a broad cognitive context in which behaviors occur. As an established technology for studying goal constructs, personal projects (Little, 1983; 1989; 1998) assess both long-term and short-term goals, as well perceptions about the goals assessed. Aided by the assessment of personal projects, the present study examined the ability of goal constructs to explain variability in drinking among college students within an integrated social cognitive theory model. In prospective analyses, results indicated that alcohol self-efficacy, negative outcome expectancies, and drinking self-regulation strategies were shown to be significant predictors of drinking. In addition, the goal attribute variables of Involvement and Efficacy, incongruence, and avoidance accounted for unique variance in drinking after controlling for gender, self-efficacy, outcome expectancies and drinking self-regulation. Results add to the understanding of motivational forces potentially important to drinking decisions, highlighting the contributions of goal variables. / Ph. D.