Two studies examined the effects of university students' achievement goals on performance under low versus high challenge conditions. The first was a laboratory experiment in which participants were assigned goals to pursue on a novel mathematics task alleged to be simple or complex to use. The second was a survey study in which students set goals…

Addressing a drawback in current research on computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), this study investigated the influence of motivation on learning activities and knowledge acquisition during CSCL. Participants' (N = 200 university students) task was to develop a handout for which they had first an individual preparing phase followed by…

Tested the prediction that performance goals only entail poor achievement outcomes in individuals with a low self-concept of ability. In 3 experiments (n=55 university students; n=51 university students; n=33 university students) participants with performance goals showed impaired performance only when their self-perceived ability was low. (SLD)