When things go from good to bad: The dynamic role of goal framing on goal level choice

Whenever a person sets a goal, the context may prompt an approach or avoidance framing. The same goal can be framed to emphasise the pursuit of desirable outcomes or the prevention of undesirable outcomes, respectively. Relatively few studies have investigated the influence of task framing on goal setting in a dynamic environment. By investigating the role of goal framing on goal choice, research can further identify the psychological processes involved in goal setting and goal striving. The present experiment examined how people regulate goals when switching between task framing. Ninety-nine participants engaged in an Air Traffic Control Simulation task, switching from either approach to avoidance, or avoidance to approach framed task. Participants were measured on goal level, effort and performance over ten trials. Results revealed that participants who performed avoidance trials initially set more difficult goals than those who performed approach trials. However, they subsequently set easier goals across the first block of trials. After the context switch, participants who switched to approach trials set consistently more difficult goals. The participants who performed avoidance trials accumulated higher monetary incentives than those who performed approach trials. The results revealed no significant difference in the proportions of correct decisions made between the two conditions. This was possibly because the measure of correct decisions was reflective of individual ability as opposed to participants‟ intrinsic motivation to perform in the task. The results also suggested that the relative impact of approach and avoidance goal framing deserved further investigation. Overall, this study indicates that approach and avoidance framing warrants further investigation with future research of goal setting and goal striving