Achievement Goals and the Classroom Motivational Climate

Although achievement motivation has traditionally been construed as ngoal-directed behavior, the recent literature (Dweck, 1986; Dweck & nElliott, 1983; Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Eliott & Dweck, 1988) has nmoved toward defining a broad conceptual framework for organizing nboth the cognitive and affective components of motivation. This framework has been identified as a theory of achievement goals (Ames & nAmes, 1984; Dweck, 1986; Maehr, 1984; Maehr & Nicholls, 1980; nNicholls, 1979, 1984a, 1989, this volume). Achievement goals define npatterns of motivation that represent different ways of approaching, nengaging in, and responding to achievement-related activities. According to Elliott and Dweck (1988), the adoption of a particular nachievement goal serves to trigger a “program” of cognitive processes nthat are related to how individuals attend to, interpret, and respond to ninformational cues and situational demands. Others (Ames & Ames, n1984; Butler, 1987, in press; Corno & Rohrkemper, 1985; Nicholls, n1984b, this volume) describe how cognitions about self, tasks, and nothers are impacted by how an individual interprets situational demands.