Achievement goals, self-handicapping, and performance: a 2 x 2 achievement goal perspective

J Sports Sci. 2009 Nov;27(13):1471-82. doi: 10.1080/02640410903150459.

Abstract

Elliot and colleagues (2006) examined the effects of experimentally induced achievement goals, proposed by the trichotomous model, on self-handicapping and performance in physical education. Our study replicated and extended the work of Elliot et al. by experimentally promoting all four goals proposed by the 2 x 2 model (Elliot & McGregor, 2001), measuring the participants' own situational achievement goals, using a relatively novel task, and testing the participants in a group setting. We used a randomized experimental design with four conditions that aimed to induce one of the four goals advanced by the 2 x 2 model. The participants (n = 138) were undergraduates who engaged in a dart-throwing task. The results pertaining to self-handicapping partly replicated Elliot and colleagues' findings by showing that experimentally promoted performance-avoidance goals resulted in less practice. In contrast, the promotion of mastery-avoidance goals did not result in less practice compared with either of the approach goals. Dart-throwing performance did not differ among the four goal conditions. Personal achievement goals did not moderate the effects of experimentally induced goals on self-handicapping and performance. The extent to which mastery-avoidance goals are maladaptive is discussed, as well as the interplay between personal and experimentally induced goals.

Publication types

  • Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

  • Achievement*
  • Adolescent
  • Athletic Performance / psychology*
  • Avoidance Learning*
  • Female
  • Goals*
  • Humans
  • Internal-External Control
  • Male
  • Motivation*
  • Physical Education and Training*
  • Psychomotor Performance
  • Self Efficacy*
  • Sports / psychology
  • Young Adult