A Study of Certain Factors Influencing Academic Achievement with Special Reference to the Health Factor

We studied “affective expectations” that may influence students’ willingness or unwillingness to study. Detailed expectations were elicited by having students imagine moods and appraisals at several stages of pursuing hypothetical classroom goals that differed in specificity and difficulty. They expected affective benefits much more than they expected affective penalties of goal setting; goal specificity, for example, reduced perceived coercion-distrust and improved mood before and after grade outcomes. Interactions suggested especially negative affect with easy/indefinite goals and stronger effects of goal characteristics in earlier phases of goal pursuit. Students also expected goal setting to increase importance of the goal and commitment to it. We concluded that students’ expectations of affective consequences should support rather than disrupt beneficial effects of goal setting on performance.