Motivating and Counseling the Unemployed

During a ‘learning goal orientation’ training course for unemployed people, one of the participants, a woman in her forties, had a lot of resistance to participate in the course. I persuaded her to stay and assured her that all she had to do was sit down and watch. She persevered in her idea that this was a waste of time and even tried to convince me that I was also wasting my time. Two weeks after the training course, I called her for a follow-up interview to measure her job-search intentions and behavior. Her first response was: “I have to apologize for my behavior. After the training course I passed a temporary agency for elderly people and remembered what you had said about trying different strategies. And guess what, I now have a job and not just any job but exactly the job that I have wanted for so long”. This anecdote illustrates the potential impact that employment counseling and training courses can have on individuals who have lost their job. Losing one’s job is a life event with far reaching economic, psychological, and physical consequences (McKee-Ryan, Song, Wanberg, & Kinicki, 2005; Paul & Moser, 2009) and is considered to be one of the top 10 traumatic life experiences (Spera, Buhrfeind, & Pennebaker, 1994). Besides these consequences, unemployment also deprives a person of the additional gains from being employed, such as time structure, personal identity, interpersonal contact, and activity (Jahoda, 1982; Warr, 1987). Furthermore, the negative consequences of being unemployed tend to increase with increasing duration of unemployment (Rowley & Feather, 1987). Unemployment affects a substantial number of people in present day economies. For example, in the first three months of 2012, 11% of the labor force in Europe and 8.2% of the labor force in the United States were unemployed (Eurostat, 2012; U.S. Department of Labor, 2012). Approximately half of these individuals were long-term unemployed (i.e., more than six months) at that time. These numbers equal the numbers of the 1980s recession

The role of perceived quality of problems in the association between achievement goals and motivation in problem-based learning

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of perceived problem quality in the relationship between students’ (N = 226) achievement goals and autonomous motivation to study in a problem-based learning (PBL) environment. Specifically, the relationships between students’ achievement goals (mastery-approach, performance-approach, performance-avoidance, and mastery-avoidance goals), problem quality-related characteristics (triggering interest, familiarity, stimulating collaborative learning, resulting in intended learning objectives, and promoting critical reasoning), and autonomous motivation to study were investigated. The findings indicate that the perceived quality of problems (i.e., familiarity, resulting in intended learning objectives, promoting critical reasoning, and by that triggering interest) fosters autonomous motivation to study and that the perception of this quality is influenced by students’ achievement goals. Therefore, the quality of problems and students’ achievement goals should be taken into account in a PBL environment

Thriving Under Uncertainty: The Effect of Achievement Goal Orientation on Job Insecurity and Flourishing

Flourishing, a construct encompassing optimal human functioning, is an indicator of well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect effects of employees’ achievement goal orientation (mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientation) on flourishing, through the appraisal of quantitative (concerns about continued existence of the job) and qualitative (concerns about continued existence of important job features) job insecurity. Data were collected from 275 employees in an organization on the brink of a substantive downsizing. The results of structural equation modelling showed that mastery approach and—avoidance goal orientation positively predicted flourishing. Furthermore, flourishing was negatively predicted by qualitative job insecurity but not by quantitative job insecurity. Qualitative job insecurity mediated the effects of mastery- and performance-approach goal orientation on flourishing but the effects were not significant. Hence, in an environment with a substantial threat of job loss, a mastery goal orientation contributed directly to flourishing. Our results plead for more attention for the effects of achievement goal orientation and qualitative job insecurity on flourishing under uncertainty

A meta-analysis of induced achievement goals: the moderating effects of goal standard and goal framing

In this paper, we present a meta-analysis of the motivational and performance effects of experimentally induced achievement goals and the moderating effects of goal standard and goal framing; comprising 90 studies which provided 235 effect sizes (11,247 participants). The findings show that, relative to performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals and no-goals, induced mastery-approach goals enhanced performance, but not motivation. With regards to the goal standard used in the inducement, mastery-approach goals related to better performance than performance-approach goals, when mastery-approach goals were based on task-referenced standards or when social comparison was used as a standard for inducing performance-approach goals. With regards to the goal framing used in the inducement, mastery-approach goals were more beneficial when achievement goals were induced by means of goal content. We therefore conclude that goal framing and goal standard should be taken into consideration in achievement goal research and practice

Fear of failure: a polynomial regression analysis of the joint impact of the perceived learning environment and personal achievement goal orientation

Background and Objectives: Alongside a strong emphasis on performance and achievement in the current higher educational system, researchers hav

When birds of the same feather fly together: the impact of achievement goal compatibility in collaborative learning

In their pursuit of student engagement and achievement, educational institutes have increasingly been implementing student-centred approaches to learning with collaborative learning. In this study, we assessed the (mis)match effects of personal and group members’ achievement goals on student engagement and performance. Students (N = 266) from 36 different groups rated their achievement goals, their group members’ achievement goals, and their engagement for a course. Their exam performance was also included in the analysis. The results of the polynomial regression analyses indicated that both the degree of the compatibility and the direction of the incompatibility in mastery goals related to engagement, while only the degree in incompatibility in mastery goals related to performance. Conversely, neither the compatibility nor the incompatibility in performance goals related to engagement or performance. The results show the importance of examining the interplay between students’ and their group members’ achievement goals for student outcomes in a collaborative learning environment

Thinking in Possibilities: Unleashing creativity through assessment in a Problem-based learning environment in Liberal Arts and Sciences.

This paper addresses the way in which students’ cognitive creativity and the construction of meaning could be fostered by means of assessment in a Problem-based learning programme. We propose that a dual assessment structure within such a programme through examinations and coursework assignments could ensure the acquisition of a foundational knowledge base while allowing the development of the cognitive creat

La Toilette. Almanach des femmes pour 1843, par Eugène Briffault. 1er [sic] année...

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