Adjustment, depression, and minimal goal setting: the moderating effect of performance feedback

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Expectancy and goal-setting theories are central to understanding human motivation and behavior.
• Previous research suggests a link between adjustment, mood, and goal-setting, but the nuances are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how expectancies and minimal goal statements change in response to performance feedback.
• To examine the relationship between adjustment, dysphoria, and minimal goal statements under varying feedback conditions.

Main Methods:

• Seventy-seven male college students participated.
• Participants completed the Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank and Beck Depression Inventory.
• Expectancy and minimal goal statements were recorded before and after success or failure feedback on tasks.

Main Results:

• Expectancies and minimal goals demonstrated distinct patterns of change contingent on performance feedback.
• A significant interaction was found between performance feedback and the adjustment-minimal goal relationship.
• Under failure, higher minimal goals were linked to poorer adjustment and greater dysphoria; under success, lower minimal goals showed this association.

Conclusions:

• The relationship between adjustment and minimal goals is complex and moderated by situational factors, specifically performance feedback.
• Minimal goal setting appears to be influenced by both mood-related processes and other independent factors.
• Findings challenge existing hypotheses regarding the direct, unidirectional influence of adjustment and mood on goal setting.