Self-Regulatory Responses to Unattainable Goals: The Role of Goal Motives

Does motivation for goal pursuit predict how individuals will respond when confronted with unattainable goals? Two studies examined the role of autonomous and controlled motives when pursuing an unattainable goal without (Study 1) or with (Study 2) the opportunity to reengage in alternative goal pur...

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Main Authors: Ntoumanis, Nikos, Healy, L., Sedikides, C., Smith, A., Duda, J.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Routledge 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/23201
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author Ntoumanis, Nikos
Healy, L.
Sedikides, C.
Smith, A.
Duda, J.
author_facet Ntoumanis, Nikos
Healy, L.
Sedikides, C.
Smith, A.
Duda, J.
author_sort Ntoumanis, Nikos
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Does motivation for goal pursuit predict how individuals will respond when confronted with unattainable goals? Two studies examined the role of autonomous and controlled motives when pursuing an unattainable goal without (Study 1) or with (Study 2) the opportunity to reengage in alternative goal pursuit. Autonomous motives positively predicted the cognitive ease of reengagement with an alternative goal when the current goal was perceived as unattainable, especially whenparticipants realized goal unattainability relatively early during goal striving. Autonomous motives, however, were negative predictors of cognitive ease of disengagement from an unattainable goal. When faced with failure, autonomously motivated individuals are better off realizing early the goal unattainability. Otherwise, they will find it difficult to disengage cognitively from the pursued goal(despite reengaging cognitively in an alternative goal), possibly due to interfering rumination.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-232012020-07-23T08:50:26Z Self-Regulatory Responses to Unattainable Goals: The Role of Goal Motives Ntoumanis, Nikos Healy, L. Sedikides, C. Smith, A. Duda, J. Does motivation for goal pursuit predict how individuals will respond when confronted with unattainable goals? Two studies examined the role of autonomous and controlled motives when pursuing an unattainable goal without (Study 1) or with (Study 2) the opportunity to reengage in alternative goal pursuit. Autonomous motives positively predicted the cognitive ease of reengagement with an alternative goal when the current goal was perceived as unattainable, especially whenparticipants realized goal unattainability relatively early during goal striving. Autonomous motives, however, were negative predictors of cognitive ease of disengagement from an unattainable goal. When faced with failure, autonomously motivated individuals are better off realizing early the goal unattainability. Otherwise, they will find it difficult to disengage cognitively from the pursued goal(despite reengaging cognitively in an alternative goal), possibly due to interfering rumination. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/23201 10.1080/15298868.2014.889033 Routledge fulltext
spellingShingle Ntoumanis, Nikos
Healy, L.
Sedikides, C.
Smith, A.
Duda, J.
Self-Regulatory Responses to Unattainable Goals: The Role of Goal Motives
title Self-Regulatory Responses to Unattainable Goals: The Role of Goal Motives
title_full Self-Regulatory Responses to Unattainable Goals: The Role of Goal Motives
title_fullStr Self-Regulatory Responses to Unattainable Goals: The Role of Goal Motives
title_full_unstemmed Self-Regulatory Responses to Unattainable Goals: The Role of Goal Motives
title_short Self-Regulatory Responses to Unattainable Goals: The Role of Goal Motives
title_sort self-regulatory responses to unattainable goals: the role of goal motives
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/23201