The Effects of Mastery, Competitive and Cooperative Goals on Performance in Simple and Complex Sport Skills

The present study investigated the effects of different goal and feedback conditions on performance of a basketball field goal shooting task and a more complex one-on-one offensive basketball task. Subjects (N = 100) were matched, based on pre-test performance, into one of five conditions: competitive goal, cooperative goal, mastery goal, "do your best" with feedback, and "do your best" without feedback. Results indicated the competitive group was significantly better than the "do your best" without feedback group in one-on-one performance. No other between group differences were significant, although some consistent group trends were present. Subjects' goal orientations were not related to performance in specific goal conditions, with the exception of mastery oriented subjects in the mastery goal condition