The Effect of Previously Assigned Goals on Self-Set Goals and Performance.

Abstract

Subjects were assigned goals, ranging from easy to impossible, on one trial and then allowed to choose their own goals on the next trial. Subjects felt a high degree of freedom of choice on the latter trial and tended to choose harder goals if their earlier assigned goals had been easy and to choose goals if their previously assigned goals had been hard. Despite these changes, subjects were heavily influenced in their self-set goals by their previously assigned goals. Performance on both trials was determined by ability, goal level, goal squared (quadratic trend), goal acceptance, and by a goal-ability interaction. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1982
Accession Number
ADA115488

Entities

People

  • Edwin A. Locke
  • Elizabeth Cousins
  • Elizabeth Zubritzky
  • Philip Bobko

Organizations

  • University of Maryland

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Applied Psychology
  • Behavioral Sciences
  • Business Administration
  • Civilian Personnel
  • Human Resources
  • Manpower
  • Military Research
  • Naval Operations
  • Naval Personnel
  • Personnel Management
  • Political Science
  • Psychology
  • Regression Analysis
  • Resource Management
  • Students
  • Task Performance And Analysis
  • Training

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Clinical Trial Research.
  • Organizational Psychology.
  • Regression Analysis.