Achievement goal theorists propose that both situational factors and individual differences influence which type of achievement
goals individuals adopt. That is, instructions can be used to make a situation task-involving or ego-involving, but individuals also have dispositional tendencies to approach achievement tasks with task and or ego orientations. College students performed a brainstorming task after receiving neutral, task-involving, or ego-involving instructions. General task and ego orientations toward achievement tasks were assessed before the students tried the task, and
perceived ability was assessed after a practice trial. Consistent with the predictions of achievement goal theorists, perceived ability was more strongly related to
performance when students were given ego-involving rather than task-involving instructions. In addition, task orientation was more strongly related to performance when task-involving rather than Ego-involving instructions were given.
Achievement goal theory (Ames, 1992; Ames & Archer, 1988; Dweck, 1986; Nicholls, 1984, 1989) proposes that people approach achievement tasks with qualitatively different types of goals depending on how they are evaluating their competence or ability. In task-involvement, a self-referent conception is used, but in ego-involvement a normative conception applies (Nicholls, 1984, 1989).
PERCEIVED ABILITY
Both Dweck (1986) and Nicholls (1984) proposed that individuals with high perceived ability or confidence perform well in both task-involving and ego-involving situations. In contrast to the adaptive performance of those high in perceived ability, individuals with low-perceived ability tend to perform better in task-involving conditions than ego-involving conditions. The moderating effect of perceived ability has been observed in experiments that manipulate perceived ability. A primary purpose of this experiment was to examine the effect of initial perceived ability on performance of a brainstorming task following task-involving and ego-involving instructions.
SITUATIONAL VERSUS DISPOSITIONAL INFLUENCES ON ACHIEVEMENT GOALS
Early research on the effects of achievement goals generally used instructions to induce task-involvement or ego-involvement (e.g., Butler, 1993; Elliott & Dweck, 1988; Graham & Golan, 1991; Wood & Bandura, 1989). This research found greater levels of performance, task interest, and use of more appropriate strategies in task-involving conditions than ego-involving conditions. Although achievement goal theorists claimed that certain situations would be likely to induce task-involvement or ego- ego-involvement, it was also proposed that people have general orientations
Toward achievement tasks which could be described as dispositions. Research using goal orientation measures has found higher grades associated with a task orientation (Button et al., 1996; Meece&Holt, 1993; Phillips & Gully, 1997).
THE MATCHING HYPOTHESIS
Given that achievement goals can derive from both personal dispositions and situational factors, how do goal orientations and situational factors interact? Will people with an ego orientation perform better in ego-involving situations? The second purpose of the experiment was to examine whether personal goal orientations would interact with a task or ego instructional manipulation to predict performance on a brainstorming task. Achievement goal theory has documented the potential detrimental effects of ego-involving instructions for those low in perceived ability. We examined the interactive effects of initial perceived ability and personal task and ego orientation with task-involving and ego-involving instructions in the context of a goal setting manipulation.
Individuals given task-involving instructions will perform better on a brainstormingtask than those given ego-involving instructions.
The task or ego instructional manipulation will interact with goal difficulty.
Initial perceived ability will interact with the task or ego instructional manipulation. Perceived ability will be more strongly related to performance when ego-involving instructions are given than when task-involving instructions are given.
Task orientation will interact with the instructional manipulation to predict performance such that task orientation relates more strongly to performance when task-involving instructions are given rather than ego-involving instructions.
Ego orientation will interact with initial perceived ability and the instructional manipulation to predict performance such that ego orientation relates more strongly to performance when ego-involving instructions are given rather than task-involving instructions for individuals high in perceived ability.