Galen Shewmaker
The Origins of Achievement Goal Orientations
This article reviews the literature on the determinants of students’ achievement goal orientations, in the context of higher education. Scholars who study achievement goal orientation differentiate between different types of motivation and their consequences. It is generally agreed upon that a students’ achievement goal orientation has significant implications for their emotional state, social life, and academic performance. However, there is a greater diversity of opinion as to what brings about their adoption. The discovery of the origins of achievement goal orientations would provide a grand opportunity to support students’ resilience, enrich their connections, and optimize their academic proficiency. This article will discuss strategies for inducing adaptive achievement goal orientations by examining the various arguments regarding the antecedents of one's achievement goal orientation, as well as the methodologies and results used to back these arguments.