Content of Mastery and Performance Goals

Children with a mastery orientation have learning goals – they are concerned with increasing their competence and abilities while mastering new tasks over time. Conversely, children with a performance orientation have performance goals – they are concerned with eliciting positive judgments about their work.

There is strong evidence that a mastery orientation can boost children’s academic performance, in the short- and long-term. In an experimental study, Elliot and Dweck (1988) manipulated fifth graders’ orientation by highlighting either performance goals or learning goals, and by providing feedback indicating either high or low ability on a task. They found that in response to obstacles, mastery-oriented children tended to view challenging situations as an opportunity to acquire new skills or extend their mastery. This response caused them to seek challenges with a positive attitude and high persistence. Performance-oriented children, on the other hand, sought to avoid others’ unfavorable judgments. They avoided failure by avoiding risk and difficult/challenging tasks. In response to failure, performance-oriented children were more likely to give up, because they saw failure as evidence of low competence (Elliott & Dweck, 1988).

In one study, Wolters (2004) found that junior high students who adopted mastery goals were more motivated and engaged; they procrastinated less and persisted more and used more effective learning strategies than students with performance goals.

The Example of Mastery Goals and Performance Goals

Source:
Tauck  Family Foundation, (2012). Mastery Orientation. Tauck Family Foundation. Retrieved October 18th, 2013, from http://www.tauckfamilyfoundation.org/outcomes/child-outcomes/mastery-orientation