Perceived ability and motivational goal: Mastery-oriented and learned helpless responses to a challenging motor task

Based on Dweck's framework (1984), this study examined the effects of perceived competence and motivational goals on the achievement behaviors (task choice, performance, strategy use and cognitions) of children on a challenging motor task. Subjects consisted of 127 fourth, fifth and sixth grade students (60 boys and 67 girls). Consistent with predictions learning goal children and high ability performance goal children demonstrated mastery oriented achievement behaviors by selecting a challenging task, and exhibiting similar or improved performance and strategy use under success and failure conditions. Low ability performance goal children selected easy tasks, however, the predicted learned helpless response to failure evidenced by deteriorated task performance emerged for only low ability performance goal boys, and the predicted decline of effective strategy use for low ability performance goal children was not supported. Due to an insufficient number of verbalizations, cognitions were not analyzed. Implications for theory and practice are addressed.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio