Competitive versus individualistic goal structures: The salience of past performance information for causal attributions and affect

Examined children's cognitive-attributional and affective response patterns within competitive and individualistic goal structures. Performing within a competitive or individualized setting was expected to influence how children utilized past performance and immediate performance outcome cues. 80 5th and 6th graders first performed individually to establish a performance history of success or failure and subsequently succeeded or failed in a competitive or individualized setting. Findings show that effort attributions covaried with outcome in the individualistic structure, whereas luck and outcome covaried in the competitive structure. Only in the individualistic structure was past performance a salient cue in determining positive or negative affective reactions. Through an attributional analysis, results are contrasted with prior research that has equated individualistic and competitive goal structures. (24 ref)