Instrumental help-seeking as a function of normative performance goal orientations: A 'catastrophe''

摘要

Research on achievement goal theory has suggested significant links between goal adoption and help-seeking behaviors. The present study investigates the effects of actual achievement and emotions on help-seeking behavior under conditions of normative and non-normative performance approach goals. Data were collected from 120 university students who were tested individually in a number of tasks with the aid of a specialized software. A cusp catastrophe model was tested, which significantly predicted help-seeking as a function of student's affective experience during the normative goal condition only. The emotions of anger, sadness and surprise acted as bifurcation factors, while achievement on the task acted as the asymmetry variable. Findings were not replicated in the non-normative goal condition with the linear model fitting the data best in the absence of normative evaluations. It is concluded that the cusp catastrophe model provides a better understanding of help-seeking behavior during achievement pursuits when the possibility of failure is imminent.