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Cross-domain effects of achievement goals: social costs and benefits

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Abstract

In this research, we examined cross-domain effects of achievement goals. In two experimental studies, we manipulated achievement goals and assessed social reactions towards a hypothetical (study 1) and a real (study 2) target. Measurement of social reactions included prosocial behaviours such as helping, sharing and cooperating with others. Furthermore, we assessed the perception of social acceptance, social status and social exclusion towards the study targets. In study 1, manipulated mastery goals in a hypothetical target led to more prosocial behaviours and a higher ascribed social status as compared to targets described as endorsing performance goals. In addition, in study 2, real targets identified by their peers for showing a high degree of mastery goals were considered more attractive as cooperation partners than those endorsing performance goals. These effects of achievement goals did not generalize across all social reactions, however. To this respect, the most pronounced effect found in both studies was related to prosocial behaviours.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Leopoldstr. 13, 80802, Munich, Germany

    Andrea Eugenia Barrera & Beate Schuster

Authors
  1. Andrea Eugenia Barrera
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  2. Beate Schuster
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Correspondence to Andrea Eugenia Barrera.

Additional information

Andrea Eugenia Barrera. Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Department of Psychology, Leopoldstr. 13, 80802, Munich, Germany. E-mail: abarrera@freenet.de, www.psy.lmu.de

Current themes of research:

Achievement goals, social exclusion, social behaviours, and emotions in education.

Most relevant publications:

Sabariego, C., Barrera, A. E., Neubert S., Stier-Jarmer, M., Bostan, C., & Cieza, A. (2013). Evaluation of an ICF-based patient education program for stroke: a randomised, single-blinded, controlled, multicentre trial of the effects on self-efficacy, life satisfaction and functioning. British Journal of Health Psychology, 18, 707-728.

Kraus, L., Heppekausen, K., Barrera, A., & Orth, B. (2004). Die Europäische Schülerstudie zu Alkohol und anderen Drogen (ESPAD): Befragung von Schülerinnen und Schülern der 9. und 10. Klasse in Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern und Thüringen. IFT-Berichte Bd. 141. München: IFT Institut für Therapieforschung.

Beate Schuster. Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Department of Psychology, Leopoldstr. 13, 80802, Munich, Germany. E-mail: schuster@lmu.de, Telephone: +49 89 2180 5218, www.psy.lmu.de

Current themes of research:

Social status in groups, social exclusion and mobbing, psychology of forgiving, social skills in school, motivational psychology, and diet behaviour.

Most relevant publications:

Schuster, B. (2017). Pädagogische Psychologie: Lernen, Motivation und Umgang mit Auffälligkeiten. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.

Schuster, B. (2013). Führung im Klassenzimmer: Disziplinschwierigkeiten und sozialen Störungen vorbeugen und effektiv begegnen -ein Leitfaden für Miteinander im Unterricht. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.

Schuster, B. (2001). Rejection and victimization by peers: Social perception and social behavior mechanisms. In J. Juvonen & S. Graham (Eds.). Peer harassment in school: The plight of the vulnerable and victimized (pp. 290-309). New York: Guilford Press.

Schuster, B. (1999). Outsiders at school: The prevalence of bullying and its relation with social status. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 2, 175-190. doi: 10.1177/1368430299022005.

Schuster, B. (1996). Rejection, exclusion, and harassment at work and in schools: An integration of results from research on mobbing, bullying, and peer rejection. European Psychologist, 1, 293-317. doi: 10.1027/1016-9040.1.4.293.

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Barrera, A.E., Schuster, B. Cross-domain effects of achievement goals: social costs and benefits. Eur J Psychol Educ 33, 319–336 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-017-0333-1

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