Causes and Effects

In order to make sense of all the influences that contribute to how students learn and achieve within schools, according to goal theory, we must understand the various pressures that students are under, as well as the environments in which they are expected to learn and perform. First off, psychological experts largely believe in "self-worth theory", which assumes that the search for self-acceptance is the highest priority of humanity (Covington, 1992). Now, this idea of mankind's search for self-acceptance manifests itself in students in a few simple ways. One of them is that students try to showcase and establish a sense of competency within school mentally. For some students, this competency may come in the form of approval from their peers, academic success (coming in the form of test results and learning new skills and information), or even avoiding attention altogether. Overall, students do everything they can to be the hero of their own story that never fails and is above anything else, adequate. However, the costs of each student writing their own self-centered narrative are the exact influences and causes of the motivational patterns associated with Achievement Goal Theory.  

Students who don't see their own ability status as adequate within the school setting and don't want other students to judge them...

...for it are usually the ones who practice failure-avoidance strategies (See Figure 1). These students might put in little effort into assignments or tasks to have a scapegoat when they perform poorly on the assignment or can't do it. To them, this option is much better than putting a great deal of effort into a task and failing at it, which, to them, would exacerbate peer judgement of inadequacy (See Figure 1 for specific examples). Even worse though, some students who see their ability status as inadequate might not attempt or try at tasks or assignments at all. With this strategy, students figure they can never fail, because they didn't try, hence avoiding feeling inadequate or appearing so to others. This idea of failure-avoidance is the same reason why some students cheat on tests (Covington, 1992). Cheating students figure that they would rather fail by getting caught cheating than fail by trying their best and feeling inadequate. 

Moreover, to students, their environments are overseen and directed by the most judging figures of all: teachers. Teachers are consistently and constantly monitoring student behavior, progress, and learning. As a result, a great deal of students seek to look and be perceived as adequate (even if it is a facade) in front of their teachers. This leads some students to find various ways of achieving perceived adequacy for their teachers (See Figure 2 for specific examples). Some students develop what is known as "piloting", where students hesitate enough or give a provisional answer when the teacher asks them a question so that the teacher will lead them to the answer (Covington, 1992). Some students may put forth "false effort", where students show just enough engagement to avoid ridicule or punishment from their teacher. Some students might even self-handicap themselves or give themselves an academic "wooden leg", both of which involve students claiming some impediment that serves as a ready excuse if the student fails (Rohani). All of these strategies to maintain perceived adequacy within school help students set low enough standards (or even nonexistent standards) for themselves that they cannot possibly fail at (see Figure 2 for specfic examples). 

On another note, influences of achievement goal theory are not limited to strategies that help students avoid perceptions of inadequacy. Rather, some influences related to achievement goal theory push students beyond the reasonable limits of success. Some students succeed and achieve not because they want to, but rather because they don't want to fail. "Overstriding," as it is referred to, involves those students who only succeed but never lower the standards put in place by others. Instead, they intentionally push themselves so that they can never fail. For these students, failure is not an option. Therefore, when they face failure, they can't learn from it or deal with it as a result of their past of exclusive success and high achievement. Students might also practice "disidentification", which sees students devalue things that threaten their sense of wellbeing. This includes students devaluing things such as friends or hobbies if they get in the way of achieving academic success. Students who struggle with racial identity and feelings of inadequacy tend to practice "Acting White", which sees students changing language or dialect to speak standard English, changing friend groups that match their new identity, and even changing cultural practices. The idea behind why students choose to do this is that students perceive themselves as someone of the dominant culture and figure that they will have success and achievement because of the changes that they make.

"Overstriding" involves those students who only succeed, but never lower the standards put in place by others.

Table made by Jillian Creamer, Information summerized from: Ames, C., & Archer, J. (1988). "Achievement goals in the classroom: Student’s learning strategies and motivation processes." and Dweck, C. S., Chiu, C., & Hong, Y. (1995). "Implicit theories and their role in judgments and reactions: A world from two perspectives."

Whether students are learning- and mastery-goal-oriented or performance-goal-oriented drastically affects how students learn. Students who are learning- and mastery-goal-oriented are more likely to take risks and ask thoughtful questions that further learning (Covington, 1992). For example, in math, they may be more willing to go for the "harder" math problem and challenge themselves because, even if they fail, there is no harm to their self-value.  Additionally, these students see their peers as resources and often value collaboration. On the contrary, performance goal-oriented students are more likely to take fewer risks, focus exclusively on how the information they take in relates to their own assessments and performance. For example, students that are not confident in their athletic ability may not volunteer to emplify how to throw a spiral and participate in athletic activities at the back of the class where they can be isolated. These students are less likely to ask questions and see their peers as competition rather than resources. Several strategies that students revert to self-handicapping responses such as, failure-avoidance, piloting and false-effort, to avoid failure and retain a sense of adequate ability harm students over time. These strategies cause students to develop a sense of self-worth that exclusively correlates to just getting by, which does not aid students in their academic journeys. 

Table made by Jillian Creamer, Information summerized from: Ames, C., & Archer, J. (1988). "Achievement goals in the classroom: Student’s learning strategies and motivation processes." and Dweck, C. S., Chiu, C., & Hong, Y. (1995). "Implicit theories and their role in judgments and reactions: A world from two perspectives."