Influence of Achievement Motive and Goal Orientation on Learning Behavior : Difference in Cognitive Strategies

The present study investigated influences of achievement motive and goal orientation on learning behavior, focusing on differences among 4 cognitive strategies : strategic optimism (SO), defensive pessimism (DP), unjustified optimism (UO), and regular/realistic pessimism (RP). The classifications were based on a 2 x 2 analysis that combined acknowledgement of positive and negative past experiences and high and low expected outcomes for the future. College students (N = 407) completed questionnaires. The results indicated that participants with high expectations for the future adopted a mastery orientation, whereas those with low expectations for the future adopted a performance-avoidance orientation. Students who acknowledged past experiences adopted a performance-approach orientation. The students classified as showing defensive pessimism had both performance approach and performance-avoidance orientations. Both mastery and performance-approach orientation had a positive effect on learning behavior. However, when the relation between achievement motivation, goal orientation, and learning behavior was examined by a multiple population analysis, the relation between these characteristics was shown to vary with type of cognitive strategy.