The Achievement Goal Theory: One of Many Pillars to Talent and Psychological Development

I would like to start off with a definition of Achievement;

Achievement is subjectively defined, and success or failure in obtaining the goal is a subjective state based on the participant’s assessment of the outcome of the achievement behavior (Maehr & Nicholls, 1980).

The Achievement goal theory assumes that the individual is an intentional, goal-directed organism who operates in a rational manner, and that achievement goals govern achievement beliefs and guide subsequent decision making and behavior in achievement contexts (Tenebaum & Eklund, 2007).

In other words, the environment in which an individual is placed in, can develop specific beliefs that guide an individual on how they view their own development, which can lead to decrease or increase in their personal motivation.  Therefore, the environment in which a child develops can play a huge role in how they will approach a task or activity and what they will take away from the task based on their own personal perception.

One of the biggest issues I see with youth sports today (however this can be applied to many different areas of life) is that coaches tend to create the wrong environment needed to help nourish an athlete’s development.  These environments lead to anxiety, decreased motivation and intrinsic effort, lower levels of moral functioning and cheating, and burnout, to list a few.

So what I want to do in this article, is break down the achievement goal theory in a simple way, and explain how to get the most out of your athletes (or employees, etc.).

There are two different goal orientations; task orientation and ego orientation.  In other words, an individual is either task- or ego-involved with a specific situation.  A task-oriented individual tends to construe competence based on self-reference criteria and are primarily concerned with mastery of the task, to they are more likely than ego-oriented individuals to develop perceived competence over time (Elliot & Dweck, 1998).  An ego-oriented individual feels competent when they compare favorably to in the relation to others, so high perceived relative ability or competence is less likely to be maintained in ego orientation (Dweck, 1986).

Research shows that task-oriented individuals tend to be more resilient when it comes to challenges and perceived competence.  When they look at a task as a challenge and a way to get better, while focusing on the process of getting better, they don’t get discouraged when they make mistakes.  However, with an ego-oriented individual they lose self-confidence easily when they make mistakes, because they focus on comparison and being better than their peers.  Therefore, when they are of less stature than their peers at a specific task they feel defeated and tend to stop doing the task, demonstrating a decrease level of resiliency.  Ultimately, quitting or giving up.

Some of you now might be asking now, what does this have to do with youth coaches?  Well the environment you create throughout your clubs, trainings, matches, even just how you talk to the players develops one of the two orientations or a mixture of the two within an individual.

There are two difference motivational climates: mastery and performance.  Mastery (task-orientation) climate is a structured environment that supports and focuses on effort, cooperation, and put emphasis on the process of development through learning and task mastery.  Performance (ego-orientation) climate refers to a structured environment that supports normative comparisons, intrateam competition, and a punitive approach by teaches and coaches to mistakes committed by participants.

A mastery climate allows for an optimizing environment for the individual to fully develop to their full potential, while giving them the tools and mindset/beliefs they need to approach challenges in the future.  It increases an individual’s well-being, sportsmanship, persistence, task perseverance, adaptive achievement strategies, and attenuates overtraining, self-handicapping, as well as, other negative responses.  While the performance climate does the exact opposite.

In a sense the mastery climate develops a growth mindset individual, while the performance based climate develops a fixed mindset individual (see fixed vs. growth mindset article).  Now I am not saying to take all of the performance based ideas away from your training, but put the focus on the development of the players and make sure they focus on this.  It will allow them to excel greater than if they are focused on being better than their teammate Tommy.  If they focus on their own process of development and are guided correctly, they will not only develop to become a better player but also it will supply them with the right beliefs and mindset that they can use later in life.

If you take anything from this article, take away the idea to have individuals you are working with focus on the process of development and mastery.  Like I mentioned before comparison is the thief of all joy!

This was a brief intro into the achievement goal theory, more to come later!

 Expertly written by Brittany Persaud

References:

Dweck, C. S.  (1986). Motivational Processes affecting learning.  American Psychologist, 41, 1040-1048.

Elliot, E. S., & Dweck, C. S.  (1988). Goals: An approach to motivation and achievement.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 5-12.

Maehr, M. L., & Nicholls, J. G.  (1980). Culture and achievement motivation:  A second look.  In N. Warren (Ed.), Studies in cross-cultural psychology, (Vol. 2, pp. 221-267).  New York: Academic Press.

Tennenbaum, G., & Eklund, R. C.  (2007). Handbook of Sport Psychology: Third Edition.