Relation of goal level to performance with a short work period and multiple goal levels

Abstract

Conducted a 1-min goal-setting experiment with 247 undergraduates assigned to 14 goal levels. Ss had to think of uses for common objects within their 1 min. A significant curvilinear relationship was found between goal level and performance level. Goals were linearly related to performance when the goals ranged from easy to difficult but were unrelated to performance after goals became impossible. Performance, however, did not drop as goals reached impossible levels, since nearly all Ss were at least trying to get as close as they could to the goal. Variance in mean performance was positively related to goal level across the entire range of goal levels. Ability was unrelated to performance within the easy to difficult goal range but was significantly related to ability within the impossible goal range. (7 ref) (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)