Learning to play golf under different goal conditions: their effects on irrelevant thoughts and on subsequent control strategies

Volitional and self-handicapping theories suggest that individuals use various strategies to energize the maintenance and the enactment of goals. We placed 32 golfers (16 men and 16 women) alternately in four golf proficiency conditions using a randomized complete block design: task involvement, learning, achievement, and one-on-one competition goals. As expected, the path analysis showed that one-on-one competition goals generate irrelevant thoughts (anxiety, threat to self-esteem, distraction) as well as the subsequent bringing into play of control strategies (emotional control, attentional control, self-handicapping strategies). Conversely, task involvement goals not only exclude intrusive thoughts but hinder the implementation of control strategies. These results are discussed in terms of the attentional processes induced by motivational goals and their subsequent volitional and self-handicapping strategies. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.