Psychological Motivation

Despite the powerful press of biological drives, humans are propelled as well by their capacity to use symbols and to conceive of and plan for the future. Indeed, so intense is the motivating force of these symbolic goals that they may override all biological motivations; many people willingly sacrifice their lives in support or pursuit of an intensely held belief, such as a deep commitment to a religious or political cause.

How do we select the goals that guide our lives? What determines how we set about achieving them? How do we respond when our goals are achieved or thwarted? The answers to these questions are important not only because goals help define us as individuals, but because success or failure in achieving certain goals is fundamental to psychological adjustment.

Life-Task Goals

Goals are mental representations of what we want to do, who we want to be, and what we are emotionally committed to. Broad life-task goals (such as "I want to work in an occupation that will benefit humanity") reflect general concerns at a particular period of life; they can be expressed and pursued in diverse ways by different people. Behavioral scientists are specifying how success or failure in meeting such goals affects physical and mental health.

As expected, research reveals that people who reach their life-task goals usually experience less emotional distress, greater well-being, and better health than those who do not. However, research also suggests that simply having certain types of life goals independent of whether they are achieved may threaten mental health. One study showed, for example, that people who strive for power (the desire to control, impress, or manipulate others) experience negative feelings and distress more often than do people who value being close to others.

Achievement Goals

In addition to studying long-term life-task goals, researchers are also examining more specific achievement goals. These more everyday objectives include both "mastery goals" (i.e., seeking to increase personal competence or master something new) and "performance goals" (i.e., seeking favorable judgments from others of one's competence). People with mastery goals usually feel good about trying hard; they often respond to challenges with renewed effort and better performance. In school settings, such people are often described as self-motivated.

People who have only performance goals often show a range of maladaptive responses, such as avoiding challenges, giving up when a task becomes difficult, and experiencing anxiety and lowered self-esteem. They are likely to have difficulty in acquiring and displaying new knowledge and behaviors, even when their intellectual abilities equal those of people with mastery goals. Researchers are now studying how to increase some people's sense of fulfillment by persuading them to convert performance goals into mastery goals.