What is it about?
At school and at work, success is important to most people. To succeed, many people aim to learn and improve their skills. We show that when they also aim to promote the mutual success of others and not only of themselves, by cooperating with others and helping them, their performance is improved and their motivation, especially after a disappointing performance, is maintained.
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Why is it important?
Schools and work places encourage learning and improvements and also encourage competition as routes for success. Competing with others and trying to outperform them, is indeed a known route for success. However, people who are pro-socially motivated are likely to feel that promoting their own success at the expense of others conflicts with their basic motivations. We show that by striving for joint success of themselves as well as others, cooperating with others, using the help of others, and helping others succeed as well, people can promote their success without giving up on who they are.
Perspectives
More than anything else, and if nothing else, I hope you find this article thought-provoking.
Liat Levontin
Technion Israel Institute of Technology
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Pro-Social Goals in Achievement Situations: Amity Goal Orientation Enhances the Positive Effects of Mastery Goal Orientation, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, April 2018, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0146167218765745.
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