Goal orientations, perceived self-efficacy and study results amongst beginners and advanced students.

Hypothesized that perceived self-efficacy and social comparison would contribute to pursued goals and that these goals would influence course grades. It was further expected that a task orientation would contribute to perceived self-efficacy, and that an ego orientation would contribute to social comparison. The central question was whether the relationships between the above-mentioned motivational variables were strongly developed in a particular area among beginners as they are among more advanced students. 150 12-14-yr-old and 16-19-yr-old students (Ss) from a secondary school completed questionnaires concerning goal orientations, appraisals of self-efficacy, social comparison, and about their personal goals. Course grades were used as a measure of study results. It was found that among the beginners and advanced Ss, perceived self-efficacy contributed to pursued goals and these goals in turn contributed to course grades. The relations between these variables were clearly less strong for the beginners than for the advanced Ss. Furthermore, it was ascertained that a task orientation contributed only to perceived self-efficacy among the advanced Ss, suggesting that for these students motivational variables were operative whereas they were still undeveloped among the beginners.