Predicting Achievement Goals in Two Different Academic Contexts: A Longitudinal Study

The relative contribution is examined of epistemological beliefs and implicit theories of intelligence to students' adoption of mastery, performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals in two different academic contexts, business administration and teacher education, in the short as well as the long term. The results showed that epistemological beliefs about the speed of knowledge acquisition predicted achievement goals. Students who believed that learning occurs quickly or not at all were less likely to adopt mastery goals and more likely to adopt performance-avoidance goals. In addition, students who believed in stable and given knowledge were less likely to adopt mastery goals. Differences in predictive patterns across the two contexts concerned the prediction of performance-approach goals and gender differences in goal adoption. Epistemological beliefs played a more important role in goal adoption than implicit theories of intelligence. (Contains 4 tables.)