Goal Setting in Social Learning
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Garland (1982) reports that goal setting, or planning, is a relatively new concept in the field of social learning. This concept accounts for behavior that is maintained by college students for extended periods of time in the absence of, or sometimes in spite of, external consequences. The concept of goals or plans also suggests an organization to the personality processes of college students that would not otherwise be present. That is, goals or plans guide college students in their establishing priorities among rewards and in selecting among actions that might otherwise seem of equal value. Thus, goals-plans enable college students to go beyond momentary influences and to organize their behavior over extended periods of time. There cannot be consideration given to goals without an examination of the second important and interrelated concept: the self. The self is not a structure per se but, rather, a structural concept used to explain cognitive processes such as self-conceptions, self-praise, self-criticism, and self-control. The self-conceptions and self-regulatory mechanisms are critical for understanding what occurs during the interaction between environmental inputs and behavior. As the college student (i.e., organism) develops, he or she increasingly uses the processes of self-control and self-regulation to direct behavior. However, it should be clear that this concept of self is not identical to other concepts of the self. The self in social learning refer
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ce). An internal analysis revealed a positive, linear relationship between subjective probability and performance. However, given the lack of discovery of a linear relationship between goal difficulty and performance limits, the usefulness of this study does not provide information relative to the contradiction between goal-setting theory and expectancy theory. Thus, while instructions were desirable, they did not effect goal-setting: the difficulty of the goal made for the difference in performance among students.
Terrell (1990) reports that adult college students, particularly those aged 25+ years, have different requirements for instructions. As an example of this, should the adult college student have goal orientation as the impetus for his or her enrolling in college, whether the instructions are vague and ambiguous, or direct and clearly delineated, the set goal will be designed by the student to fulfill task performance. Moreover, given that such students have had experience in the work world that has acted to make their cognitive skills more sophisticated, they may well be able to successfully interpret vague instructions, resulting in self-efficacious goal-setting.
Terrell (1990) further notes that an additional
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Loehr Dunnette, , Bryan Garland, Applied Psychology, Disabled Focus, NASPA Journal, task performance, intrinsic motivation, American Psychologist, Psychological Review, college student, References Bandura, Spring Adapting, college students, adult college, learning disabled, goal-setting behavior, mercer 1987, faulty goal-setting, journal applied psychology, terrell 1990, adult college students, expectations personal efficacy, self-concept tasks situations, enhance intrinsic motivation,
Approximate Word count = 2074
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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