Means or Ends: Goal Focus Across Different Goals
Bethany F. Hoff et al.
What the paper says
People can create their own development by setting and pursuing goals. Whether people represent these goals in terms of the means (process focus) or the ends (outcome focus) is a concept known as goal focus. Past research frames goal focus as a tendency that shifts across age, with younger adults focusing on outcomes and older adults focusing on processes, but a process focus is considered more beneficial for goal-related results. However, evidence on goal focus shifting across age is mixed. This article explores whether goal focus remains consistent across goals and whether a process or outcome focus is associated with more positive goal-related outcomes. We hypothesized people would adopt an outcome focus across goals (H1), but a process focus would be more strongly related to performance (H2) and motivational beliefs (H3). Three studies tested these hypotheses. Study 1 (N = 195 adolescents) assessed goal focus and performance. Study 2 (N = 162 university students) assessed academic and a leisure goal focus and motivational beliefs. Study 3 (N = 143 university students) assessed academic goal focus and motivational beliefs. H1 and H2 were supported: Participants reported a higher outcome focus across tasks (except in a leisure goal), but a process focus was related to higher performance. H3 was largely supported: A process focus was a stronger and more consistent predictor of motivational beliefs than outcome focus. Among other implications, we conclude that people adopt an outcome focus more often, but a process focus may be more beneficial.
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
| M · momentum | 0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.