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problem solving and goal orientation

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Problem-solving or Goal-oriented?

Regarding the direction that people tend to move when it comes to the things they value, they tend to find themselves in one of two basic positions, Toward or Away from .  

Every individual will find themselves moving somewhere in the continuum between Toward and Away from . Usually, people will tend to move either more Towards or Away from what they value. Their position will significantly define the way they think and how they communicate. 

Some people have the basic orientation of moving Towards values. These values are called Pull values , values consisting of positive, desired results, and benefits one can have and achieve in the future. Pull values are values an individual finds important and attractive, and these values are pulling the person into the future. Therefore, people with Towards orientation are future-oriented and motivated by goals they value most. 

On the other hand, people with orientation Away from tend to move away from undesired values (problems). These values are called Push values, values consisting of negative, undesired results, and costs one can avoid in the present. Push values are values that create a sense of aversion from the undesired. As a result, people with Away from orientation are present-oriented and motivated by problems that might arise and require their full attention and concentration in order to be solved.

People, who tend to gravitate towards the Away from direction, are widely known as Problem-solving Thinkers or Solution-oriented Thinkers as they prefer to think, talk, learn about solving problems and spend time on different types of problems. They look for problems and feel the most comfortable when having issues to resolve. For them, all life is problem-solving and the best type of entertainment is brain-work (e.g. engineers, quality assurance experts, finance and controlling specialists). They will always talk and focus on avoiding problems and risk, trying their best to get rid of undesired results. They live in a world of infinite ’’what could go wrong’’ options. 

On the other hand, some people are all about setting and/or achieving goals. They tend to move in the Towards direction and they are known as Goal-oriented Thinkers. When working, managing or communicating with a goal-oriented person, it can be seen and heard that goals are above everything. Every day, they will do something to get closer to their final destination and to get what they want and truly value.  The clear picture of the desired, future outcome is what motivates them the best. For instance, sales professionals, business development experts, entrepreneurs, and business leaders are strongly goal-oriented thinkers.

It is often said that problem-oriented thinkers will see problems even when there are no existing or potential problems. By contrast, goal-oriented people are often ’’blinded’’ by the end goals can easily fall into the trap of thinking that there is nothing that can stop them, and nothing can stand in their way to achieve their goals. No matter in which position we find ourselves, it is important to know that there is no good or bad and there is no right or wrong position. Both types of thinkers are equally valuable. Our main concern should be finding the position precisely and directing our natural way of thinking and acting in order to deliver valuable results.

Knowing our own patterns of thinking and behavior can help us choose the right profession, career development, or exploring opportunities for entrepreneurship. Knowing other people’s thinking patterns is essential for finding the right coworkers or team members and directing their further development. While raising self-awareness regarding our own and other’s patterns, we can learn to communicate more effectively. 

We cannot change from Problem-solving thinker to Goal-oriented thinker or vice versa, but we can learn how to communicate in a language that often differs from our own.

How to learn reading thinking preferences regarding direction?

Just listen! Ask the right questions! Here are some examples: 

There is no better way to learn about your own and other people’s thinking patterns than by practice. Start with a question, listen to the answer and lead the conversation in the right direction to find out more about someone’s thinking patterns, this time, regarding the direction.

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Instruction in mastery goal orientation: developing problem solving and persistence for clinical settings

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Individuals with a mastery orientation are more motivated to persist and increase their competence. Although studies have demonstrated the usefulness of explicitly teaching mastery goal orientation, no interventions have been used in nursing education. The purpose of this study was to determine whether mastery goal orientation could be rapidly acquired by nursing students via a short-term educational intervention. Nursing students from five programs participated in a 3-week intervention. Participants were matched by demographic profile and pretest goal orientation scores before being randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Goal orientation was measured before and after the intervention. Students in the experimental group increased their mastery orientation significantly, while reducing their performance orientation somewhat. They persisted to solve problems, while students in the control group gave up more easily when faced with a difficult task. Early development of mastery goal orientation that promotes problem solving and persistence for clinical settings can be a powerful adjunct to undergraduate nursing education.

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Problem Solving: 15 Examples for Setting Performance Goals

Problem Solving: Use these examples for setting employee performance goals. Help your employees master this skill with 5 fresh ideas that drive change.

Problem Solving is the skill of defining a problem to determine its cause, identify it, prioritize and select alternative solutions to implement in solving the problems and reviving relationships.

Problem Solving: Set Goals for your Employees. Here are some examples:

Problem Solving: Improve and master this core skill with these ideas

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Problem Solving

How does the GOALS Program teach problem solving skills?

Watch videos to see how the GOALS Program teaches friendly problem solving skills.

How can I help my child develop problem solving skills?

What are some books I can read to my child about problem solving?

Additional web resources for parents

How does the GOALS Program teach problem solving skills? The GOALS Program teaches children to solve problems using friendly solutions. Coming up with friendly solutions means that both friends can be happy. The GOALS Program also encourages children to use their words to solve problems instead of using aggression or force (like asking to play with a toy instead of grabbing it from another child). Children who are better at coming up with multiple solutions and considering the feelings of other children in solving problems are usually more well-liked by other children.

Check out the videos below to see how the GOALS Program teaches friendly problem solving.

Additional web resources for parents:

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Introduction, section snippets, references (72), cited by (16), recommended articles (6).

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Computers in Human Behavior

The impact of learner metacognition and goal orientation on problem-solving in a serious game environment.

To understand the impact of learner metacognition and goal orientation on problem-solving, this study investigated 159 undergraduate students’ metacognition, goal orientations, and their problem-solving performances and processes in a laboratory setting using a Serious Game (SG) environment that adopts problem-based learning (PBL) pedagogy to teach space science . Utilizing cluster analysis, multiple regression , similarity measure and data visualization, this study analyzed multiple data sources, including computer log data, problem-solving performance scores, and survey data. The results show that both learner metacognition and goal orientation affected problem-solving. The findings of this study offer insights of how learner characteristics impact on problem-solving in SG environments with PBL pedagogy. It also contributes to understanding the design of SG environments to benefit learners based on their metacognitive levels.

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a learner-centered constructivist instructional method, which embeds student learning processes in solving real-life problems (Barrows & Tamblyn, 1980; Hmelo-Silver, 2004; Savery, 2015). Previous studies suggested PBL can facilitate long-term retention, skill development, and increase student and teacher satisfaction (Chowdhry, 2016; Oliveira, dos Santos, & Garcia, 2013; Strobel & Van Barneveld (2009)). Meanwhile, with advances in gaming and computing technology, researchers argued that Serious Games (SG) created for non-entertainment purposes (Abt, 1970, p. 9), can help student learning in educational settings (Boyle et al., 2016; Connolly, Boyle, Hainey, McArthur, & Boyle, 2012; Prensky, 2001). By adopting PBL pedagogy in SG environments, instructional designers and researchers hope to increase learner motivation, enhance learning experiences, improve learning performances and help learners develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills (Hou & Li, 2014; Lee & Chen, 2009; Sánchez & Olivares, 2011).

From a constructivist perspective, learner characteristics are important for understanding individual learning. Metacognition is an important learner characteristic, because it involves the process of thinking about thinking (Flavell, 1979), including knowing about one's own learning and memory capabilities, knowing what learning strategies are useful, and planning and monitoring the learning process. Researchers suggested that metacognition is necessary for students to succeed in PBL (Davidson & Sternberg, 1998; Marra, Jonassen, Palmer, & Luft, 2014; Shin, Jonassen, & McGee, 2003). Without adequate metacognition, learners may have difficulty understanding complex topics in learning environments (e.g., SG), as they may fail to plan, set goals, use effective strategies, and monitor and reflect learning processes during learning (Azevedo, Cromley, & Seibert, 2004; Mayer, Griffith, Jurkowitz, & Rothman, 2008). Goal orientation is another important learner characteristic. Previous studies have shown that student goal orientations critically influences their behavior in SG environments (Hsieh, Cho, Liu, & Schallert, 2008; Liu, 2005; Liu, Kang, Lee, Winzeler, & Liu, 2015). Literature also suggested that goal orientation plays an important role at the earliest stage of learner metacognitive regulation, which can guide the entire metacognitive regulatory processes (Moshman, 2017; Schraw & Dennison, 1994; Zimmerman, 2002, 2013).

Although many important studies in the past four decades have revealed learner metacognition affect learning (e.g., Flavell, 1979, 1987; Mihalca, Mengelkamp, & Schnotz, 2017; Schraw & Dennison, 1994; Shin, Jonassen, & McGee, 2003), few studies have described learning process differences based on learner metacognitive differences. Goal orientation has also been studied extensively for the past four decades (Locke & Latham, 2002; Middleton & Midgley, 1997; Ryan, 1970; Won, Wolters, & Mueller, 2017) and important advances have been made; however, the relationship between goal orientation and problem-solving processes in SG environments is still unclear. In addition, although Gul and Shehzad (2012) have suggested metacognition and goal orientation together could result in learner academic success, i.e., high GPA, there are few studies that have analyzed the impact of the interaction between metacognition and goal orientation on learner problem-solving performances and processes.

Therefore, to better understand learner during problem-solving, more research is needed on how metacognition and goal orientation would affect learner problem-solving in SG environments, including both problem-solving performances and processes. This study aims to answer this question by studying college students in a SG environment that adopts the PBL pedagogy to teach space science.

Related work

In this section, related work is reviewed, including problem-based learning, serious games, and learner characteristics such as learner metacognition and goal orientation.

Alien Rescue as a serious game environment

This study utilized Alien Rescue (AR, http://alienrescue.edb.utexas.edu ; Liu, Lee, Kang, & Liu, 2016) as the SG environment. AR adopts PBL pedagogy to teach middle school students about our solar system and problem-solving. In this environment (see Fig. 1), learners face an ill-structured problem—to save six displaced alien species due to the destruction of their home planets. Learners need to utilize the information provided within this environment to find the suitable planets for these aliens

Research question 1(a) learner performance differences based on learner characteristics

To examine if there was a statistically significant difference among learners based on metacognition and goal orientations, k-means cluster analyses were used ( k  = 3).

Demographics: Using one-way ANOVA in SPSS, this study analyzed learner problem-solving performances based on age, year at the university, college affiliation and ethnic groups. According to SPSS, the average problem-solving performance (i.e., solution score) was 3.04 points on an 8-points scale. An Independent Sample t -test was

Discussion and conclusion

This study investigated the impact of learner metacognition and goal orientation on problem-solving performances and processes in a SG environment. For research question one, metacognition and goal orientations was shown to affect learner problem-solving in this study. The final cluster of learners based on the interaction of learner metacognition and goal orientations included 1) high metacognition and high multiple goal orientations, 2) low metacognition and medium multiple goal orientations,

Limitations

Although the researcher designed the study based on previous studies, collected reliable and valid data, and conducted rigorous data analysis, there are a few limitations for this study. First, although the sample size in this study met the requirements for conducing multiple regression and cluster analysis, the participants were all undergraduate students from one university, which indicates that the results from this study might not be generalized into other institutions or learners in

Declarations of interest

Acknowledgement.

We thank the Alien Rescue Research Team at Learning Technologies program in University of Texas at Austin for developing the serious game.

Visual behavior, flow and achievement in game-based learning

Computers & education, assessing metacognitive awareness, contemporary educational psychology, problem solving and collaboration using mobile serious games, the development and validation of scales assessing students' achievement goal orientations, maximum similarity index (msi): a metric to differentiate the performance of novices vs. multiple-experts in serious games, comparison of similarity measures to differentiate players' actions and decision-making profiles in serious games analytics, a computer game as a context for non-routine mathematical problem solving: the effects of type of question prompt and level of prior knowledge, data clustering: 50 years beyond k-means, pattern recognition letters, evaluating multiple aspects of a digital educational problem-solving-based adventure game, relationship between metacognition, goal orientation and academic achievement, procedia-social and behavioral sciences, new similarity measures of intuitionistic fuzzy sets and application to pattern recognitions, a systematic literature review of empirical evidence on computer games and serious games, an update to the systematic literature review of empirical evidence of the impacts and outcomes of computer games and serious games, motivational influences on transfer of problem-solving strategies, does adaptive scaffolding facilitate students' ability to regulate their learning with hypermedia, serious games, problem-based learning: an approach to medical education, thresholds of knowledge development in complex problem solving: a multiple-case study of advanced learners' cognitive processes, educational technology research & development, student's perception of effectiveness of a technology enhanced problem based learning environment in a mechanical engineering module, journal on today's ideas - tomorrow's technologies, smart problem solving: how metacognition helps, a review of unquestioned standards in using cluster analysis for data-driven market segmentation, cd conference proceedings of the australian and new zealand marketing academy conference 2002 (anzmac 2002), a hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation, journal of personality and social psychology, a 2× 2 achievement goal framework, a 3× 2 achievement goal model, journal of educational psychology, analytic combinatorics of chord diagrams, metacognition and cognitive monitoring: a new area of cognitive–developmental inquiry, american psychologist, speculations about the nature and development of metacognition, problem-based learning and structural redesign in a choral methods course, contributions to music education, metacognition in basic skills instruction, instructional science, circlize implements and enhances circular visualization in r, bioinformatics, problem-based learning: what and how do students learn, educational psychology review, the effects of problem-based learning scaffolds on cognitive load, problem-solving, and student performance within a multimedia- enhanced learning environment (doctoral dissertation), examining the interplay between middle school students' achievement goals and self-efficacy in a technology-enhanced learning environment, american secondary education, examining scientific thinking processes in open-ended serious games through gameplay data (doctoral dissertation), unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments, impacts of the problem-based learning pedagogy on english learners' reading comprehension, strategy use, and active learning attitudes, journal of education and training studies, unfolding the potential of computer-assisted argument mapping practices for promoting self-regulation of learning and problem-solving skills of pre-service teachers and their relationship.

The aim of this research is two-fold: to investigate (a) the potential of computer-assisted argument mapping practices for promoting pre-service teachers' self-regulation of learning and problem-solving skills; and (b) the link between these two higher-order thinking skills. To address this aim, a pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design with a control group was adopted. Sixty pre-service teachers enrolled in an early childhood education department at a middle-sized university in Turkey were allocated to one of two groups: A computer-assisted argument mapping group or a control group. A problem-solving inventory and an online self-regulation of learning scale were used as data collection instruments, before and after a 14-week intervention period. Statistical significance was analyzed by using a multivariate analysis of variance. The results depicted statistically significant progress in pre-service teachers’ self-regulation of learning and problem-solving skills of the students in the experimental group where computer-assisted argument mapping practices were used as homework assignments after the topics of the course were introduced by the instructor as compared to pre-service teachers in the control group who did not engage in any computer-assisted argument-based assignments. Experimental evidence further supported that self-regulation of learning skills are significantly positively correlated with problem-solving skills. This study advances our knowledge of engaging in computer-assisted argument mapping practices by using a free software tool (ARTOO) to be an appropriate course of action to encourage pre-service teachers to regulate their learning experiences and problem-solving processes.

Digital gaming and metacognition in middle childhood

Interactive digital game play is a popular activity of childhood. The current study examined metacognitive affordances provided by digital games for children 6- to 10-years-old. Fifteen games from five different genres were coded for features of interactivity, including level-of-control, feedback, and adaptivity. Parents reported time their child spent on each of these games, and children completed a measure of metacognitive awareness. Children's preference for different gaming environments were also examined. Results indicated that exposure to games high in interactive features was positively associated with children's metacognitive awareness. However, exposure to games with fewer interactive features was unrelated to metacognitive awareness. Game preferences did not differ by age or sex. These results support the hypothesis that different digital games provide children with differential opportunities for metacognitive experience and have implications for future research investigating interactive media and children's cognitive development during middle childhood.

Data on player activity and characteristics in a Serious Game Environment

This dataset presents 159 players' computer log data when they play a Serious Game along with their characteristics data including problem-solving performance scores, demographic information, metacognition, and goal orientation measurements. A total of 85,194 log files were recorded during one-hour game play. The data here are related to the research paper entitled “The Impact of Learner Metacognition and Goal Orientation on Problem-Solving in a Serious Game Environment” by Liu and Liu [1]. The data collected would provide insights on the relationship among individual player characteristics, in-game behavior and performance in the game.

Examining the development of metacognitive strategy knowledge and its link to strategy application in complex problem solving – a longitudinal analysis

Comparing reflective and supportive scaffolding in 3d computer-aided design course: engineering students' metacognitive strategies, spatial ability self-efficacy, and spatial anxiety, more challenging or more achievable the impacts of difficulty and dominant goal orientation in leaderboards within educational gamification, staying silent and speaking out in online comment sections: the influence of spiral of silence and corrective action in reaction to news.

Through the lenses of Spiral of Silence Theory, the Corrective Action Hypothesis, and peer influence research, we conducted an online experiment to identify the influence of varying opinion climates on opinion expression about a news controversy. This study expands the corrective action literature by manipulating the perceived opinion climate and measuring opinion change and subsequent expression. After all participants ( N  = 415) read the same news story, they were randomly assigned to one of five opinion climate conditions (supportive, oppositional, mixed, uncertain or polarized) operationalized through user comments following the story. The experiment allowed participants to reply, comment, do both, or not further engage in an attempt to mirror real-world expression behavior. The results suggest that the opinion climate formed by news comments influenced the opinions and comments of participants, providing evidence that those who hold strong opinions are more likely to comment when they perceive the opinion climate to be oppositional rather than supportive to their worldview.

Reactions to others’ misfortune on social media: Effects of homophily and publicness on schadenfreude, empathy, and perceived deservingness

Social media has become a popular venue for support seeking, which often involves self-disclosure about one's misfortune. To examine how help-related emotions and cognitions as responses to such disclosure might be influenced by technological factors, we conducted a 2 (interpersonal similarity: low vs. high) x 3 (message publicness: private vs. moderate vs. public) between-participants experiment online. Findings suggest that seeing disclosure about a personal misfortune from a dissimilar other, as compared with a similar other, elicited schadenfreude and inhibited empathy via heightened perceived deservingness among message recipients. Also, such effects were more prominent when the self-disclosure messages were visible within a given network of friends as compared to when messages were made completely public to everyone or exclusively directed to the observer.

Cyberbullying through the lens of social influence: Predicting cyberbullying perpetration from perceived peer-norm, cyberspace regulations and ingroup processes

In the present research we analyzed the social influence mechanisms that back the relation between peer group norms regarding cyberbullying behaviors and individual cyberbullying perpetration. In a sample of adolescents (N = 3511, age: M  = 16.27, SD  = 1.58), we showed that the relation between perceived peer-norm and cyberbullying perpetration was moderated by two distinct social influence mechanisms. Specifically, when individuals' lack of knowledge regarding appropriate behaviors in cyberspace (i.e., cyberspace regulations), levels of perceived peer-norm regarding cyberbullying behaviors positively influence the participants' engagement in cyberbullying perpetration (i.e., informational social influence ). Moreover, we showed that the higher the support of perceived peer-norm regarding cyberbullying behaviors the higher the levels of cyberbullying perpetration, especially for the higher (vs. lower) levels of identification with peers as the ingroup; this relation was additionally enhanced at increasing levels of adolescents' ingroup prototypicality (i.e., referential informative social influence ). The results demonstrated that the two social influence mechanisms work independently and likely contribute to predict participants’ engagement in cyberbullying perpetration. Results are discussed with respect to the current literature regarding the social influence mechanisms underlying cyberbullying. The implications of these findings for practical interventions are explored.

Hashtag homophily in twitter network: Examining a controversial cause-related marketing campaign

Social media such as Twitter generate vibrant discussions related to key sociopolitical issues and have great ability to project various discourses into public arena. Yet, these discourses can be overwhelming and heated, in particular when controversial events happen. In this study, we performed topic modeling on more than 100,000 original tweets to examine Twitter discourses around Gillette's controversial cause-related marketing in 2019 and conducted network analysis through exponential random graph models (ERGM) to investigate the homophily tendency of users who used certain hashtags. Results show that users' discourses were mostly within the message frameworks of the campaign but users strongly reacted to others and top influencers in their online discussions. In addition, the mention network of these users showed homophily tendency based on hashtags. Homophily in this study was distinguished based on attraction of common users (i.e. increased chance of ties for users who both engage the hashtag) and alienation of nonusers (i.e. decreased chance of ties for users neither of whom engages the hashtag), and the comparison between ideological hashtags and conceptual hashtags revealed that homophily only manifested through ideological hashtags.

Are Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games healthy or not and why? Preliminary support for a Compensatory Social Interaction model

Data and theory have generated mixed results about the positive versus negative psychological effects of massively multiplayer role-playing games (MMORPGs). Such games provide opportunities to interact with others in ways that (like in-person groups) can foster cooperation and social support from others; however, they can facilitate social aggression and peer victimization as well. The current study involved multi-group path analysis of survey data obtained from 337 frequent MMORPG users. The paper proposes and supports a Compensatory Social Interaction model in which MMORPG play was simultaneously associated with healthy outcomes as a function of higher online social support and adverse outcomes as a function of online peer victimization. These countervailing processes offset one another, ostensibly suggesting that MMORPG use was unassociated with these outcomes; however, follow-up analyses revealed that the kind of outcome depended on individuals’ levels of online social support versus victimization. Results are interpreted in light of the Compensatory Social Interaction model and possible clinical applications.

Human moral reasoning types in autonomous vehicle moral dilemma: A cross-cultural comparison of Korea and Canada

The widespread of Autonomous Vehicle (AV) promises a transportation system revolution. Despite its potential benefits, there has been an unsolved discussion of how AV should behave during unavoidable crash situations, which is known as the Moral Dilemma of AV. The goal of this study is to investigate how AV Morality can be designed to align with human values by observing human moral reasoning process, which could be applicable for AV Moral Dilemma scenarios. To do that, we used an exploratory sequential mixed-research methodology to compare human moral reasoning types from two cultures: Korea, a highly collectivist culture, and Canada, a typical individualist culture. First, unavoidable crash scenarios that reflect the complex real-world crash contexts were developed. Second, a moral thought experiment in the form of in-depth interviews was conducted for both cultures (N = 70, Koreans = 33, Canadians = 37). Finally, K-means clustering analysis was conducted. As a result, three human moral reasoning types (Moral Altruist, Moral Non-determinist, and Moral-Deontologist) were defined. The study results reduce abstractness of AV morality by defining distinct moral decision-making patterns which are described by moral value. The findings provide guidelines for designing culture-specific moral behaviors, provide guidelines for AV practitioners, and increase AV morality transparency for the public.

The impact of learner metacognition and goal orientation on problem-solving in a serious game environment

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10 Best Problem-Solving Therapy Worksheets & Activities

Problem solving therapy

Cognitive science tells us that we regularly face not only well-defined problems but, importantly, many that are ill defined (Eysenck & Keane, 2015).

Sometimes, we find ourselves unable to overcome our daily problems or the inevitable (though hopefully infrequent) life traumas we face.

Problem-Solving Therapy aims to reduce the incidence and impact of mental health disorders and improve wellbeing by helping clients face life’s difficulties (Dobson, 2011).

This article introduces Problem-Solving Therapy and offers techniques, activities, and worksheets that mental health professionals can use with clients.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free . These science-based exercises explore fundamental aspects of positive psychology, including strengths, values, and self-compassion, and will give you the tools to enhance the wellbeing of your clients, students, or employees.

This Article Contains:

What is problem-solving therapy, 14 steps for problem-solving therapy, 3 best interventions and techniques, 7 activities and worksheets for your session, fascinating books on the topic, resources from positivepsychology.com, a take-home message.

Problem-Solving Therapy assumes that mental disorders arise in response to ineffective or maladaptive coping. By adopting a more realistic and optimistic view of coping, individuals can understand the role of emotions and develop actions to reduce distress and maintain mental wellbeing (Nezu & Nezu, 2009).

“Problem-solving therapy (PST) is a psychosocial intervention, generally considered to be under a cognitive-behavioral umbrella” (Nezu, Nezu, & D’Zurilla, 2013, p. ix). It aims to encourage the client to cope better with day-to-day problems and traumatic events and reduce their impact on mental and physical wellbeing.

Clinical research, counseling, and health psychology have shown PST to be highly effective in clients of all ages, ranging from children to the elderly, across multiple clinical settings, including schizophrenia, stress, and anxiety disorders (Dobson, 2011).

Can it help with depression?

PST appears particularly helpful in treating clients with depression. A recent analysis of 30 studies found that PST was an effective treatment with a similar degree of success as other successful therapies targeting depression (Cuijpers, Wit, Kleiboer, Karyotaki, & Ebert, 2020).

Other studies confirm the value of PST and its effectiveness at treating depression in multiple age groups and its capacity to combine with other therapies, including drug treatments (Dobson, 2011).

The major concepts

Effective coping varies depending on the situation, and treatment typically focuses on improving the environment and reducing emotional distress (Dobson, 2011).

PST is based on two overlapping models:

Social problem-solving model

This model focuses on solving the problem “as it occurs in the natural social environment,” combined with a general coping strategy and a method of self-control (Dobson, 2011, p. 198).

The model includes three central concepts:

The model is a “self-directed cognitive-behavioral process by which an individual, couple, or group attempts to identify or discover effective solutions for specific problems encountered in everyday living” (Dobson, 2011, p. 199).

Relational problem-solving model

The theory of PST is underpinned by a relational problem-solving model, whereby stress is viewed in terms of the relationships between three factors:

Therefore, when a significant adverse life event occurs, it may require “sweeping readjustments in a person’s life” (Dobson, 2011, p. 202).

problem solving and goal orientation

D’Zurilla’s and Nezu’s model includes (modified from Dobson, 2011):

Success in PST depends on the effectiveness of its implementation; using the right approach is crucial (Dobson, 2011).

The following interventions and techniques are helpful when implementing more effective problem-solving approaches in client’s lives.

First, it is essential to consider if PST is the best approach for the client, based on the problems they present.

Is PPT appropriate?

It is vital to consider whether PST is appropriate for the client’s situation. Therapists new to the approach may require additional guidance (Nezu et al., 2013).

Therapists should consider the following questions before beginning PST with a client (modified from Nezu et al., 2013):

All affirmative answers suggest that PST would be a helpful technique to apply in this instance.

Five problem-solving steps

The following five steps are valuable when working with clients to help them cope with and manage their environment (modified from Dobson, 2011).

Ask the client to consider the following points (forming the acronym ADAPT) when confronted by a problem:

If the client is not satisfied with their solution, they can return to step ‘A’ and find a more appropriate solution.

Positive self-statements

When dealing with clients facing negative self-beliefs, it can be helpful for them to use positive self-statements.

Use the following (or add new) self-statements to replace harmful, negative thinking (modified from Dobson, 2011):

Worksheets for problem solving therapy

5 Worksheets and workbooks

Problem-solving self-monitoring form.

Answering the questions in the Problem-Solving Self-Monitoring Form provides the therapist with necessary information regarding the client’s overall and specific problem-solving approaches and reactions (Dobson, 2011).

Ask the client to complete the following:

Reactions to Stress

It can be helpful for the client to recognize their own experiences of stress. Do they react angrily, withdraw, or give up (Dobson, 2011)?

The Reactions to Stress worksheet can be given to the client as homework to capture stressful events and their reactions. By recording how they felt, behaved, and thought, they can recognize repeating patterns.

What Are Your Unique Triggers?

Helping clients capture triggers for their stressful reactions can encourage emotional regulation.

When clients can identify triggers that may lead to a negative response, they can stop the experience or slow down their emotional reaction (Dobson, 2011).

The What Are Your Unique Triggers ? worksheet helps the client identify their triggers (e.g., conflict, relationships, physical environment, etc.).

Problem-Solving worksheet

Imagining an existing or potential problem and working through how to resolve it can be a powerful exercise for the client.

Use the Problem-Solving worksheet to state a problem and goal and consider the obstacles in the way. Then explore options for achieving the goal, along with their pros and cons, to assess the best action plan.

Getting the Facts

Clients can become better equipped to tackle problems and choose the right course of action by recognizing facts versus assumptions and gathering all the necessary information (Dobson, 2011).

Use the Getting the Facts worksheet to answer the following questions clearly and unambiguously:

2 Helpful Group Activities

While therapists can use the worksheets above in group situations, the following two interventions work particularly well with more than one person.

Generating Alternative Solutions and Better Decision-Making

A group setting can provide an ideal opportunity to share a problem and identify potential solutions arising from multiple perspectives.

Use the Generating Alternative Solutions and Better Decision-Making worksheet and ask the client to explain the situation or problem to the group and the obstacles in the way.

Once the approaches are captured and reviewed, the individual can share their decision-making process with the group if they want further feedback.

Visualization

Visualization can be performed with individuals or in a group setting to help clients solve problems in multiple ways, including (Dobson, 2011):

Guided imagery is particularly valuable for encouraging the group to take a ‘mental vacation’ and let go of stress.

Ask the group to begin with slow, deep breathing that fills the entire diaphragm. Then ask them to visualize a favorite scene (real or imagined) that makes them feel relaxed, perhaps beside a gently flowing river, a summer meadow, or at the beach.

The more the senses are engaged, the more real the experience. Ask the group to think about what they can hear, see, touch, smell, and even taste.

Encourage them to experience the situation as fully as possible, immersing themselves and enjoying their place of safety.

Such feelings of relaxation may be able to help clients fall asleep, relieve stress, and become more ready to solve problems.

We have included three of our favorite books on the subject of Problem-Solving Therapy below.

1. Problem-Solving Therapy: A Treatment Manual – Arthur Nezu, Christine Maguth Nezu, and Thomas D’Zurilla

Problem-Solving Therapy

This is an incredibly valuable book for anyone wishing to understand the principles and practice behind PST.

Written by the co-developers of PST, the manual provides powerful toolkits to overcome cognitive overload, emotional dysregulation, and the barriers to practical problem-solving.

Find the book on Amazon .

2. Emotion-Centered Problem-Solving Therapy: Treatment Guidelines – Arthur Nezu and Christine Maguth Nezu

Emotion-Centered Problem-Solving Therapy

Another, more recent, book from the creators of PST, this text includes important advances in neuroscience underpinning the role of emotion in behavioral treatment.

Along with clinical examples, the book also includes crucial toolkits that form part of a stepped model for the application of PST.

3. Handbook of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies – Keith Dobson and David Dozois

Handbook of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies

This is the fourth edition of a hugely popular guide to Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies and includes a valuable and insightful section on Problem-Solving Therapy.

This is an important book for students and more experienced therapists wishing to form a high-level and in-depth understanding of the tools and techniques available to Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists.

For even more tools to help strengthen your clients’ problem-solving skills, check out the following free worksheets from our blog.

While we are born problem-solvers, facing an incredibly diverse set of challenges daily, we sometimes need support.

Problem-Solving Therapy aims to reduce stress and associated mental health disorders and improve wellbeing by improving our ability to cope. PST is valuable in diverse clinical settings, ranging from depression to schizophrenia, with research suggesting it as a highly effective treatment for teaching coping strategies and reducing emotional distress.

Many PST techniques are available to help improve clients’ positive outlook on obstacles while reducing avoidance of problem situations and the tendency to be careless and impulsive.

The PST model typically assesses the client’s strengths, weaknesses, and coping strategies when facing problems before encouraging a healthy experience of and relationship with problem-solving.

Why not use this article to explore the theory behind PST and try out some of our powerful tools and interventions with your clients to help them with their decision-making, coping, and problem-solving?

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free .

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What Is Problem-Solving Therapy?

problem solving and goal orientation

Daniel B. Block, MD, is an award-winning, board-certified psychiatrist who operates a private practice in Pennsylvania.

problem solving and goal orientation

Verywell / Madelyn Goodnight

Effectiveness

Things to consider, how to get started.

Problem-solving therapy is a form of therapy that provides patients with tools to identify and solve problems that arise from life stressors, both big and small. Its aim is to improve your overall quality of life and reduce the negative impact of psychological and physical illness.

Problem-solving therapy can be used to treat depression , among other conditions. It can be administered by a doctor or mental health professional and may be combined with other treatment approaches.

Problem-solving therapy is based on a model that takes into account the importance of real-life problem-solving. In other words, the key to managing the impact of stressful life events is to know how to address issues as they arise. Problem-solving therapy is very practical in its approach and is only concerned with the present, rather than delving into your past.

This form of therapy can take place one-on-one or in a group format and may be offered in person or online via telehealth . Sessions can be anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours long. 

There are two major components that make up the problem-solving therapy framework:

A positive problem-solving orientation means viewing things in an optimistic light, embracing self-efficacy , and accepting the idea that problems are a normal part of life. Problem-solving skills are behaviors that you can rely on to help you navigate conflict, even during times of stress. This includes skills like:

Problem-solving therapy is all about training you to become adaptive in your life so that you will start to see problems as challenges to be solved instead of insurmountable obstacles. It also means that you will recognize the action that is required to engage in effective problem-solving techniques.

One problem-solving technique, called planful problem-solving, involves following a series of steps to fix issues in a healthy, constructive way:

Other techniques your therapist may go over include:

What Problem-Solving Therapy Can Help With

Problem-solving therapy addresses issues related to life stress and is focused on helping you find solutions to concrete issues. This approach can be applied to problems associated with a variety of psychological and physiological symptoms.

Problem-solving therapy may help address mental health issues, like:

This form of therapy is also helpful for dealing with specific life problems, such as:

Your doctor or mental healthcare professional will be able to advise whether problem-solving therapy could be helpful for your particular issue. In general, if you are struggling with specific, concrete problems that you are having trouble finding solutions for, problem-solving therapy could be helpful for you.

Benefits of Problem-Solving Therapy

The skills learned in problem-solving therapy can be helpful for managing all areas of your life. These can include:

This form of therapy was initially developed to help people combat stress through effective problem-solving, and it was later adapted to specifically address clinical depression. Today, much of the research on problem-solving therapy deals with its effectiveness in treating depression.

Problem-solving therapy has been shown to help depression in: 

Problem-solving therapy also appears to be effective as a brief treatment for depression, offering benefits in as little as six to eight sessions with a therapist or another healthcare professional. This may make it a good option for someone who is unable to commit to a lengthier treatment for depression.

Problem-solving therapy is not a good fit for everyone. It may not be effective at addressing issues that don't have clear solutions, like seeking meaning or purpose in life. Problem-solving therapy is also intended to treat specific problems, not general habits or thought patterns .

In general, it's also important to remember that problem-solving therapy is not a primary treatment for mental disorders. If you are living with the symptoms of a serious mental illness such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia , you may need additional treatment with evidence-based approaches for your particular concern.

Problem-solving therapy is best aimed at someone who has a mental or physical issue that is being treated separately, but who also has life issues that go along with that problem that has yet to be addressed.

For example, it could help if you can't clean your house or pay your bills because of your depression, or if a cancer diagnosis is interfering with your quality of life.

Your doctor may be able to recommend therapists in your area who utilize this approach, or they may offer it themselves as part of their practice. You can also search for a problem-solving therapist with help from the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Society of Clinical Psychology .

If receiving problem-solving therapy from a doctor or mental healthcare professional is not an option for you, you could also consider implementing it as a self-help strategy using a workbook designed to help you learn problem-solving skills on your own.

During your first session, your therapist may spend some time explaining their process and approach. They may ask you to identify the problem you’re currently facing, and they’ll likely discuss your goals for therapy.

Problem-solving therapy may be a short-term intervention that's focused on solving a specific issue in your life. If you need further help with something more pervasive, it can also become a longer-term treatment option.

Pierce D. Problem solving therapy - Use and effectiveness in general practice . Aust Fam Physician . 2012;41(9):676-679.

Cuijpers P, Wit L de, Kleiboer A, Karyotaki E, Ebert DD. Problem-solving therapy for adult depression: An updated meta-analysis . Eur Psychiatry . 2018;48(1):27-37. doi:10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.11.006

Nezu AM, Nezu CM, D'Zurilla TJ. Problem-Solving Therapy: A Treatment Manual . New York; 2013. doi:10.1891/9780826109415.0001

Hatcher S, Sharon C, Parag V, Collins N. Problem-solving therapy for people who present to hospital with self-harm: Zelen randomised controlled trial . Br J Psychiatry . 2011;199(4):310-316. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.110.090126

Sorsdahl K, Stein DJ, Corrigall J, et al. The efficacy of a blended motivational interviewing and problem solving therapy intervention to reduce substance use among patients presenting for emergency services in South Africa: A randomized controlled trial . Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy . 2015;10(1):46. doi:doi.org/10.1186/s13011-015-0042-1

Kirkham JG, Choi N, Seitz DP. Meta-analysis of problem solving therapy for the treatment of major depressive disorder in older adults . Int J Geriatr Psychiatry . 2016;31(5):526-535. doi:10.1002/gps.4358

Garand L, Rinaldo DE, Alberth MM, et al. Effects of problem solving therapy on mental health outcomes in family caregivers of persons with a new diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment or early dementia: A randomized controlled trial . Am J Geriatr Psychiatry . 2014;22(8):771-781. doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2013.07.007

Hopko DR, Armento MEA, Robertson SMC, et al. Brief behavioral activation and problem-solving therapy for depressed breast cancer patients: Randomized trial . J Consult Clin Psychol . 2011;79(6):834-849. doi:10.1037/a0025450

Nieuwsma JA, Trivedi RB, McDuffie J, Kronish I, Benjamin D, Williams JW. Brief psychotherapy for depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis . Int J Psychiatry Med . 2012;43(2):129-151. doi:10.2190/PM.43.2.c

By Arlin Cuncic Arlin Cuncic, MA, is the author of "Therapy in Focus: What to Expect from CBT for Social Anxiety Disorder" and "7 Weeks to Reduce Anxiety."

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problem solving and goal orientation

The Role of Self-Awareness and Problem-Solving Orientation for the Instrumentality of Goal-Related Means

Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland

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[email protected]

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0263-4598

Department of Psychology, University of Siegen, Germany

Abstract. Successful goal striving hinges on the selection of instrumental means. The current research investigates individual differences in self-awareness as a predictor for means instrumentality. This effect should be mediated by the tendency of self-aware individuals to approach the process of goal pursuit in a way that is problem-solving-oriented. Four studies ( N 1a = 123, N 1b = 169, N 2 = 353, N 3 = 118) were conducted to explore the positive relation between self-awareness and means instrumentality via heightened levels of problem-solving orientation. Studies 1a and 1b found cross-sectional support for the relation between dispositional self-awareness and problem-solving orientation. Study 2 (preregistered) replicated this finding and provided experimental evidence for the hypothesized mediation model. Finally, Study 3 found longitudinal support that dispositional self-awareness and problem-solving orientation predict self-reported means instrumentality and, beyond this, participants’ objective exam grades. This research emphasizes the crucial role of individual differences in self-awareness for an important self-regulatory process, that is, the selection of instrumental means in personal goal pursuit.

To a large extent, human behavior is driven by goals ( Kruglanski et al., 2002 ). Goals can be defined as desired end-states that individuals strive to attain through action ( Carver & Scheier, 1982 ). Accordingly, the cognitive representations of goals entail desired outcomes and the means an individual deploys for goal pursuit (e.g., Kruglanski et al., 2002 ). By definition, means are any activities, behavioral strategies, events, or circumstances that contribute to attaining a goal ( Shah & Kruglanski, 2003 ). Consequently, goal setting is just the beginning, and goal striving and, most importantly, “choosing the appropriate means is vital for successful goal pursuit” ( Bélanger et al., 2016, p. 67 ).

So far, little research has been done into the role of individual differences in predicting the instrumentality of goal-related means selected by individuals. In our research, we focus on individual differences in self-awareness , that is, the extent to which individuals turn their attention toward their selves (e.g., Duval & Wicklund, 1972 ). Research has so far shown that self-aware individuals adopt a problem-solving orientation when goal pursuit becomes difficult (e.g., Burwell & Shirk, 2007 ). Such a problem-solving orientation in goal striving might be especially relevant when no behavioral routines have been established (e.g., during the pursuit of new or vague goals). Successful problem-solving then promotes the selection of instrumental means as they aim at bringing ones’ momentary state closer to the desired end-states of ones’ goals (e.g., Coats et al., 2014 ). Hence, we propose that means instrumentality should be promoted to the extent that individuals become self-aware as they then conceive of difficult personal goal pursuit as a problem-solving process and thus are more likely to select instrumental means.

We are presenting the results of four studies investigating the effect of people’s self-awareness on their problem-solving orientation (Studies 1a and 1b) and, in turn, on the instrumentality of their goal-directed means (Studies 2 and 3).

The Role of Self-Awareness in Goal Striving

Self-awareness is defined as a heightened metacognitive focus on the self, namely on one’s inner thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It has been conceptualized and therefore differently named both as a trait variable (self-consciousness, Fenigstein et al., 1975 ; metacognitive self-reflection, Grant et al., 2002 ; reflection, Trapnell & Campbell, 1999 ) and as a state variable (objective self-awareness, Duval & Wicklund, 1972 ). Our research uses the broader term self-awareness to include dispositional and situational forms, both of which we investigate. In addition, it is important to note that we investigate the reflective side of self-awareness and not the anxiety-driven side of it, which is rumination ( Trapnell & Campbell, 1999 ), or forms of non-evaluative awareness and acceptance of the self, which is mindfulness ( Evans et al., 2009 ). The differences between these conceptualizations are mirrored in distinct patterns of relations with personality dimensions: Whereas (reflective) self-awareness is positively associated with openness to experience and conscientiousness ( Panah & Seif, 2014 ), rumination is positively associated with neuroticism ( Costa & McCrae, 1992 ), and mindfulness is both negatively associated with neuroticism and positively associated with conscientiousness ( Giluk, 2009 ).

While self-awareness describes an attentional focus toward all kinds of self-related stimuli, several theoretical approaches have especially emphasized the important role of self-awareness for certain stimuli, namely personal goals (e.g., Baumeister et al., 1994 ; Carver & Scheier, 1998 ). Specifically, early work on self-awareness proposed that (chronic or momentary states of) self-awareness also leads people to be more aware of their momentary state in goal pursuit in relation to their ideal state in goal pursuit (i.e., the set goal). This so-called goal monitoring, in turn, is the precondition for detecting discrepancies between the momentary and the ideal goal state (e.g., Baumeister et al., 1994 ; Carver & Scheier, 1998 ; Duval & Wicklund, 1972 ). If such a discrepancy is detected, this, in turn, motivates the individual to reduce it. If the discrepancy reduction proceeds automatically or easily (e.g., because instrumental routines have been established), then discrepancy reduction should not constitute a problem to the person. In other cases (e.g., when pursuing new/vague goals or encountering difficulties in goal pursuit), adopting a problem-solving orientation should be beneficial.

So far, however, less is known about the mechanisms underlying goal-related discrepancy reduction if one does not know directly how to do it, for instance, when pursuing new or vague goals. We suggest that bringing a current state in line with the ideal state (i.e., the set goal) requires then a process of goal-related problem-solving . Taking this a step further, we propose individuals who exhibit high levels of self-awareness should be more likely to take on a problem-solving orientation in difficult goal pursuit. This idea that self-awareness promotes a problem-solving orientation is furthermore supported by research demonstrating that introspection, the instruction to verbalize one’s thoughts, and individuals’ levels of reflective thinking promote problem-solving ( Burwell & Shirk, 2007 ; Fox et al., 2011 ; Jäkel & Schreiber, 2013 ).

Problem-Solving in Goal Striving

Historically, the concept of problem-solving is rooted in cognitive psychology, where it is understood as a cognitive skill that enables people to work successfully on well-defined tasks (e.g., Duncker’s “candle problem”, Duncker, 1945 ). Such simple tasks were assumed to represent “real” problems people usually encounter in their everyday life which, actually, is not the case. Thus, in the 1970s, researchers started to investigate more ill-defined problems people encounter in everyday contexts (so-called “everyday problem-solving”, Broadbent & Aston, 1978 ). Contrary to well-defined problems which have only one correct solution, ill-structured problems have several correct solutions. Ill-defined problems have furthermore three components, whereby one or more are not clearly specified: an initial state, an end state, and the means (e.g., Simon, 1973 ). Similarly, so-called “complex problem-solving” is defined in cognitive psychology as the process of solving a complex problem with a non-transparent given or goal state and different possible ways of aligning them ( Dörner & Reither, 1978 ; for an overview, see Frensch & Funke, 1995 ). Still, another theoretical conceptualization considers problems as stressors in everyday goal striving, and problem-solving is understood as a (problem-focused vs. emotion-focused) coping strategy to remove or alter the given stressor ( Lazarus & Folkman, 1984 ). In a nutshell, the main difference between these theoretical approaches are their different disciplinary backgrounds, yet they share certain defining features of a problem, that is, vague elements within the problem and several possible ways to solve it (for an integrative perspective on this literature, see Coats et al., 2014 ). Thus, we understand problem-solving as a cognitive orientation towards reducing discrepancies between goals and momentary states in goal pursuit necessary when these discrepancies cannot be reduced easily.

Moreover, the different theoretical approaches share assumptions on the features of problem-solving ( Coats et al., 2014 ): First, to find appropriate solutions to solve a problem, all relevant factors that may contribute to coming closer to the goal must first be identified and considered. These factors may lie outside the person (e.g., situational demands) or inside the person (e.g., their cognitive abilities), of which the latter can either be highly domain-specific (e.g., content knowledge) or rather domain-general (e.g., self-regulatory abilities) ( Care, 2017 ; Coats et al., 2014 ; Frensch & Funke, 1995 ). Second, and most importantly to our research, successful problem-solving then occurs by selecting instrumental means (e.g., Care, 2017 ), any activities or strategies that help the solver solve the problem and attain the set goal. Hence, selecting instrumental means is a behavioral consequence of adopting a certain cognitive (problem-solving) orientation in goal pursuit (e.g., Care, 2017 ). But as one would expect, not all means be equally instrumental.

Means Instrumentality

Most of the time, people can choose between different means of attaining their goals. For example, a student may prepare for an exam by regularly meeting with like-minded other students to review the material together or by cramming large volumes of material the day before the exam. As illustrated here, not all means may be equally helpful for goal attainment, and selecting instrumental means is crucial for successful goal pursuit.

If multiple, otherwise comparable, means are available for a given goal, a person will probably select the one that is most instrumental according to their subjective belief ( Kruglanski et al., 2002 ). According to goal-systems theory ( Kruglanski et al., 2002 ), the subjective instrumentality of goal-related means depends on the number of additional means that promote the achievement of the focal goal and the number of additional goals that can be attained with a given means. For example, a means that serves non-focal goals in addition to the focal goal is perceived as being less instrumental for that focal goal and is less likely to be selected ( Zhang et al., 2007 ). Furthermore, means are perceived as being particularly instrumental to a focal goal when they fit their goals’ motivational orientation toward approach or avoidance ( Hennecke, 2019 ) or detrimental to an alternative goal ( Schumpe et al., 2018 ).

To sum it up, instead of focusing on specific characteristics and constellations of a means or its associated goals, we take a somewhat different perspective in our research and investigate the role of individual differences in means instrumentality. More specifically, we scrutinize the extent to which an individual’s self-awareness might foster a problem-solving orientation in difficult goal pursuit – when goals are disturbed by stressors (Study 1a and 1b), vague (Study 2) or new (Study 3) – and, as a consequence, predicts means instrumentality. In doing so, we highlight the importance of considering personality processes to better understand self-regulation ( Hoyle, 2010 ).

The Present Studies

We hypothesize that self-awareness predicts an orientation toward problem-solving in difficult goal pursuit and, in turn, the selection of instrumental means. First, in order to investigate the correlational relationship between self-awareness and problem-solving orientation, we assessed both variables as part of two larger studies (Studies 1a and 1b) that were originally designed to investigate the role of self-awareness for the identification of goal-related obstacles (for more details, see https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2234 ). Next, we investigated the hypothesized mediational effect of self-awareness on (subjective) means instrumentality via an increased orientation toward problem-solving in our experimental Study 2. Our last study, a longitudinal study with students, investigated the effect of self-awareness, problem-solving orientation, and (subjective) means instrumentality on an objective indicator of goal performance, namely students’ exam grades (Study 3).

We computed correlations and hierarchical multiple regressions using the IBM ® SPSS ® Statistics software (Version 23). Please note that all correlations reported are Pearson’s correlations and all p -values are two-tailed. Furthermore, we conducted mediation analyses (Studies 2 and 3) with the PROCESS macro for SPSS ( Hayes, 2013 ). Taking into consideration recommendations regarding Open Science ( Simmons et al., 2012 ), we are reporting how we determined our sample sizes, all manipulations, all data exclusions (if any), and all measures in all studies that we conducted. Furthermore, Study 2 was preregistered (our time-stamped preregistration can be found here: https://aspredicted.org/zx5jx.pdf ). All supplemental materials, including the study materials, the verbatim wording of all study variables, analyses scripts, results of additional analyses, and datasets, are publicly available on the Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/rngfk/ ). All supplemental materials, including the study materials, analysis scripts, additional analyses of Studies 1a and 1b, and measures and results of two pilot studies are publicly available on the Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/rngfk/ ). Unfortunately, we could only make the data of Study 2 openly accessible, as the informed consent in the other studies (which we had conducted prior to Study 2) did not inform participants of this possibility. The data of these studies are available on request. All study procedures conformed to the requirements of the local research ethics board.

Studies 1a and 1b

Studies 1a and 1b investigated the first part of our hypothesized causal chain, according to which self-awareness should be associated with a stronger orientation toward problem-solving, which, in turn, should lead to a higher instrumentality of goal-related means. To investigate the association between self-awareness and problem-solving orientation, we assessed these variables as part of two larger studies. Since the two studies differ only with regard to the characteristics of their samples, we will report these separately, but the measures and results of the studies together. Furthermore, we will only report the results of the simple correlational analyses here, while all additional analyses considering covariates (e.g., affect, life satisfaction, openness for experiences, conscientiousness, trait self-control, mindfulness, self-efficacy) are reported in the supplemental materials presented on our OSF account. As predicted, the correlation between self-awareness and problem-solving remained significantly positive across all these analyses.

Study 1a: Participants and Procedure

Participants for this study were recruited through mailing lists and participated in return for course credit. Based on a G*Power analysis ( Faul et al., 1992–2019 ), a sample size of 123 was required in order to detect the hypothesized effect of the main hypothesis of this study with a statistical power of 80%. We recruited an N of 123 university undergraduates with a mean age of 23.68 years ( SD = 7.10, 77% female). In this short online survey, participants were asked to name a personal goal that was important to them and which they had been pursuing for at least 4 weeks. They then answered goal-related questions and completed personality scales. Finally, they provided some sociodemographic information and were debriefed.

Study 1b: Participants and Procedure

Based on a G*Power analysis ( Faul et al., 2009 ) regarding the main hypotheses of this study, an N of 105 participants was needed. To increase power, we recruited as many participants as possible within a set period of 5 weeks. In the end, N = 169 participants (mostly university undergraduates; M age = 24.09 years, SD = 7.66, 66% female) took part in this online survey in return for course credit. They were recruited through mailing lists, personal invitations in psychology lectures, and flyers. As in Study 1a, participants named a personal goal and answered goal-related questions and personality scales. At the end of the study, participants provided some sociodemographic background information and were debriefed.

Dispositional Self-Awareness

In both studies, we measured dispositional self-awareness using the 12-item Self-Reflection subscale of the Self-Reflection and Insight Scale (SR-SRIS; Grant et al., 2002 ). This scale measures different aspects of self-awareness, namely being aware of one’s inner feelings (e.g., “I frequently examine my feelings.”), one’s inner thoughts (e.g., “I frequently take time to reflect on my thoughts.”), and one’s behavior (e.g., “It is important for me to evaluate the things that I do.”). Scales ranged from 1 = strongly disagree to 6 = strongly agree (Study 1a: M = 4.68, SD = 0.78, α = .90; Study 1b: M = 4.61, SD = 0.79, α = .91).

Problem-Solving Orientation

We used the Individual Coping Questionnaire to assess a person’s orientation toward problem-solving in personal goal pursuit (INCOPE; Bodenmann, 2000 ). This questionnaire comprises 21 items measuring both functional (e.g., problem-solving) and dysfunctional (e.g., rumination) forms of coping. Participants were asked how they have dealt with stressful situations to pursue their goals during the last 2 weeks. To assess their problem-solving orientation, we chose to use two items from the original 6-items scale that assess a general orientation to approaching a goal through the process of problem-solving: “I think very carefully about what’s going on and what to do” and “I actively influence the situation” (Study 1a: r = .49, p > .001; Study 1b: r = .43, p > .001). (Please note that we repeated all analyses also with the full scale which did not change results.) Scales ranged from 1 = never to 5 = often (Study 1a: M = 3.64, SD = 0.73; Study 1b: M = 3.87, SD = 0.66).

Results and Brief Discussion

As expected, self-awareness and problem-solving orientation were significantly correlated, both in Study 1a, r = .35, p < .001, and in Study 1b, r = .32, p < .001. Linear regression analyses furthermore supported that this association remained positive and significant even when controlling for the influence of potential third variables (results can be found in the supplemental materials on our OSF account). However, given that both Studies 1a and 1b were correlational, they only revealed some initial evidence of an association between self-awareness and problem-solving orientation but no evidence for the postulated direction of the association.

Study 2 was conducted to obtain experimental evidence for the full causal chain we predicted. Accordingly, we investigated whether self-awareness predicts means instrumentality through its effect on problem-solving orientation.

Participants

Based on Kenny (2017) , we expected that a sample of 346 participants would allow us to replicate the small indirect effect of b = .02 in the hypothesized mediation model that we found in a pilot study (which is presented in the supplemental materials on the OSF account) with 80% power at a significance level of 5%. Due to the financial possibilities and to retain a large enough sample even after possible data exclusions, we requested 500 participants from MTurk, an Internet-based platform that matches “workers” with “requesters” to participate in online studies in return for compensation. In line with best practice recommendations, the study was only available to US-based workers with an approval rating of over 90% (e.g., Goodman et al., 2013 ). Five hundred and four participants took part in this study, but the data of 151 participants were excluded based on exclusion criteria regarding the main study writing task, that is, for not seriously completing the task ( n = 46), for showing forms of plagiarism (which we checked using PlagScan.com ) ( n = 56), or for writing less than 100 words ( n = 49). The total number of excluded cases did not differ systematically between the two experimental conditions ( t (502) = −0.544, p = .587), with respect to age ( t (149) = −0.059, p = .953), gender ( t (149) = 0.341, p = .733), or educational background ( t (149) = 0.269, p = .788). The final sample included 353 participants with a mean age of 37.73 years ( SD = 10.97, 49.9% female) and different educational backgrounds (16% high school or less; 24% college; 40% bachelor’s degree; 20% master’s degree or more). Note that the academic background of the participants had no influence on their degree of problem-solving orientation ( t (351) = 0.779, p = .436), concentration ( t (351) = 0.361, p = .718), interest ( t (351) = 0.655, p = .513), and honesty ( t (351) = 1.526, p = .128), nor on their self-rated instrumentality of their chosen means ( t (351) = −0.683, p = .495).

This study was designed as an experimental study with one between-subjects factor (experimental condition vs. passive control condition). First, participants received information about the purpose and the content of the study. To prevent drop-outs and improve data quality, we informed participants about the writing task at the beginning of the study ( Zhou & Fishbach, 2016 ). Afterwards, participants’ dispositional self-awareness was assessed. Participants who had been randomly assigned to the experimental condition received a manipulation that has previously been used successfully to enhance situational self-awareness ( Kreibich et al., 2020 ). The instruction was: “While you are writing the text, focus your attention on what you think, feel, and do.” In addition, these participants were reminded to stay self-aware while writing the text, using the following instruction: “Please don’t forget to observe yourself while writing the text.” Participants who had been randomly assigned to the control condition did not receive any instructions at this point. All participants then had to work on a writing task (for more detailed information, see below). Afterward, they were asked to report the extent to which they had approached this writing task in a problem-solving-oriented manner and as to how instrumental they evaluated their goal-related means. Next, a manipulation check assessed the participants’ situational self-awareness. Lastly, after assessing some sociodemographic background information, participants were debriefed and dismissed.

Before the manipulations, participants completed the same measure of dispositional self-awareness as in Studies 1a and 1b (α = .95). Based on prior studies with MTurk samples, we expected dispositional self-awareness to be negatively skewed, which also proved to be the case in this study ( M = 4.55, SD = 1.03, skewness = −.71, SE = .13). To reduce this skew, we used a reverse score and log transformation ( Field, 2013 ) ( M log = 1.43, SD log = 0.19, skewness log = .18, SE log = .13). In identifying and transforming negatively skewed data, we relied on literature ( Field, 2013 ) suggesting to first identify normality in big samples using visual inspection via frequency distribution graphs and q-q-plots, and second, transform negatively skewed data by reversing the scores via reverse score transformation, then log transform them and finally, reverse the scores back.

Based on the results of a pilot study, which is reported on our OSF account, this task was designed as a creative task that did not require any special knowledge but demanded a general orientation toward problem-solving from participants. Furthermore, the task goal and way of attaining the goal were intended to remain relatively vague, and no optimal solution was given (see Coats et al., 2014 ; Frensch & Funke, 1995 ). The main instruction was to write an interesting text about the word “tie.” Participants were told that the word could have different meanings, and it was up to them about which of these meanings and what type of text they would write (e.g., an essay, a newspaper article, a fairy-tale). Additionally, participants were told that they must not copy the text from the Internet and write at least 400 words. The actual number of written words was displayed to participants. No further information was given. After writing the text, participants were asked to think about how they had solved the writing task. Problem-solving orientation was then measured using the same two items as in Studies 1a and 1b (INCOPE; Bodenmann, 2000 ), slightly adapted to match better the writing task: “I thought very carefully about the task and what to do.” and “I very actively tried to improve my text.” Response scales for these items ranged from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree ) ( M = 6.25, SD = 0.92, r = .64, p < .001).

Participants’ evaluation of means instrumentality was measured with one item, adapted from Hennecke (2019) , which asks participants “As how effective do you consider the way you solved this writing task?”, which they answered on a scale ranging from 1 = not at all effective to 10 = extremely effective ( M = 8.23, SD = 1.87).

Manipulation Check of Situational Self-Awareness

As a manipulation check, situational self-awareness was measured using the three items from the “private” factor of the Situational Self-Awareness Scale (SSAS; Govern & Marsch, 2001 ), for example, “Right now, I am aware of my innermost thoughts”, which we aggregated (α = .83). Response scales ranged from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree ( M = 4.55, SD = 1.03).

Concentration

We furthermore wanted to ensure that possible effects of our experimental manipulations were not due to differences with regard to the cognitive load they impose on participants. As a proxy for cognitive load, we therefore, measured participants’ degree of concentration while working on the writing task ( Sörqvist et al., 2016 ) using one item: “I was very focused while completing this study” (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree ). As participants’ concentration did not differ between the two conditions, we did not further control for this variable ( t (351) = −0.72, p = .475, d = 0.07; experimental condition: M = 6.71, SD = 0.75; control condition: M = 6.66, SD = 0.71).

Effects of Dispositional Self-Awareness

First, we could replicate the effect of dispositional self-awareness on problem-solving, r = .22, p < .001. To show the hypothesized indirect effect of dispositional self-awareness on subjective means instrumentality, we furthermore computed a regression-based mediator analysis using 5,000 bootstraps with the Hayes (2012 , 2013 ) procedure using the PROCESS macro for SPSS. As Figure 1 (Model 1) shows, our data confirmed the hypothesized indirect effect of dispositional self-awareness on means instrumentality through problem-solving, b = .11, 95% CI [.0600, .1675].

Effects of the Experimental Manipulation of Self-Awareness

We then turned to investigate the effects of self-awareness enhancing manipulation on problem-solving and means instrumentality. According to the manipulation check, participants in the experimental condition reported significantly higher situational self-awareness ( M = 5.46, SD = 1.31) than participants in the control condition ( M = 5.14, SD = 1.23), t (351) = 2.39, p = .017. Moreover, we checked whether dispositional self-awareness interacted with the self-awareness enhancing manipulation predicting situational self-awareness. Results indicated no significant interaction term, Δ R 2 = .00, Δ F (1, 349) = 0.25, b = .10, t (349) = 0.16, p = .876.

As the purpose of our manipulation was to increase participants’ situational self-awareness, which was hypothesized to affect their situational problem-solving, we continued with mediation analyses. We used situational self-awareness as a second mediator. We based this procedure on literature recommending that measures of compliance, which is in our case the manipulation check of situational self-awareness, can be used as a mediator variable ( Kenny & Judd, 2014 ). As Figure 1 (Model 2) shows, a regression-based mediator analysis with 5,000 bootstraps confirmed the indirect positive effect of the self-awareness enhancing manipulation on means instrumentality through increased situational self-awareness and a stronger orientation toward problem-solving, b = .02, 95% CI [.0042, .0368]. Based on the common causal-steps approach for investigating mediation ( Baron & Kenny, 1986 ; Judd & Kenny, 1981 ), mediation analyses require a significant direct effect. Please note that we rely on literature claiming several concerns on this approach and pointing out that the only requirement to establish mediation should be a significant indirect effect (e.g., Zhao et al., 2010 ).

In Study 2, the results of a mediation analysis were consistent with a possible mediational effect of dispositional self-awareness on means instrumentality through problem-solving. Furthermore, after receiving a self-awareness enhancing manipulation, we showed that people reported higher situational self-awareness, which was associated with a stronger orientation toward problem-solving and higher subjective means instrumentality in the writing task. However, apart from the effect of the self-awareness enhancing manipulation on situational self-awareness, the remaining data is correlational and thus does not allow alternative causal models to be excluded ( Fiedler et al., 2011 ). Furthermore, a major limitation of this experimental study is that it assessed means instrumentality through self-report only. Thus, we do not know how instrumental the selected means actually are. We, therefore, conducted Study 3, in which we additionally assessed objective goal performance as a proxy to determine the instrumentality of the means participants select to pursue a personal goal.

In this longitudinal Study 3, we again investigated the full causal chain, according to which dispositional self-awareness predicts means instrumentality through problem-solving orientation. To complement our previous measure of subjective means instrumentality with an objective assessment, we studied how participants evaluated their means while pursuing a new goal, more concretely preparing for their first-year university exam, and additionally assessed the extent to which the instrumentality of these means predicted actual exam performance.

Participants and procedure

Study 3 was a longitudinal study with two measurement points (T1 and T2). Power analyses ( Kenny, 2017 ) revealed that with 102 participants, we would replicate the indirect effect from Study 2 ( b = .11) with 80% power at a significance level of 5%.

We recruited first-year students of psychology and mechanical engineering, all of whom pursued the goal of passing their first-year exam. The sample at T1 contained N = 118 participants (74 psychology students and 44 mechanical engineering students) with a mean age of 22.03 years ( SD = 4.11, 53% female). At T2, 105 of these participants completed the survey, and 95 of them gave their consent to have their final exam grades released to us by the university. Although students of psychology and mechanical engineering did not differ about the main study variables, we nevertheless added the subsample as a control variable to all analyses.

Participants were surveyed twice: 1 month prior to their first-year exam and 2 weeks after the exam. At T1, participants were asked to provide information about several state and trait variables, including their levels of dispositional self-awareness and problem-solving. Furthermore, they listed the means they had used so far for pursuing their goal to pass their first-year exam, as well as the means they anticipated using in the future to pursue this goal. In addition, participants evaluated each means in terms of how instrumental it had been so far or how instrumental they expected it to be. At T2, the means that participants anticipated using were presented again, and participants evaluated how instrumental each of them had been while they were striving for the study goal. Finally, participants were asked to give their consent for their exam grades to be released by the university and were debriefed.

Participants completed the same measure of dispositional self-awareness as in all other studies (SRIS-SR; Grant et al., 2002 ) ( M = 4.55, SD = 0.91, α = .92).

Participants answered the same two items as in Studies 1a and 1b to assess their problem-solving orientation (INCOPE; Bodenmann, 2000 ) ( M = 3.71, SD = 0.74). Again, the two items were moderately correlated ( r = .46, p < .001).

We assessed the instrumentality of students’ previously used means as well as the instrumentality of the means they used during our study. Means were described as all aspects which contribute to the attainment of a goal ( Shah & Kruglanski, 2003 ). At T1, we asked participants to name all the means they had used so far to reach their study goal and to name all means they anticipated using in their future goal pursuit. On average, participants named 5.20 ( SD = 2.49) past means and 4.15 ( SD = 2.32) future ones (e.g., index cards, ambition, coffee, sports, timetable, past exams, study groups). The number of past and future means was highly correlated, r = .65, p < .001. Both at T1 and T2, participants had to evaluate the instrumentality of their means. For assessing means instrumentality, participants were asked “As how effective do you consider each goal means for the successful achievement of your study goal?” (scale ranging from 1 = not at all effective to 7 = very effective ) at T1 (past means: M = 5.79, SD = 0.77; future means: M = 5.87, SD = 0.91) and at T2 ( M = 4.96, SD = 1.35). Means instrumentality at T1 and T2 were moderately correlated, r = .31, p = .001.

Exam Performance

We accessed participants’ exam scores through the university administration. For psychology students, we were told the number of points they achieved in the exam. For mechanical engineering students, we were told their grade score, which could range from 6 (highest grade) to 1 (lowest grade) with intervals of 0.01. To obtain comparable scores for goal performance for the two student groups, we transformed the number of points psychology students had obtained and the grades mechanical engineering students had obtained into percentages, with a maximum of 510 points being 100% performance for psychology students and a maximum grade of 6 being 100% performance for mechanical engineering students. On average, psychology students ( M = 66.51, SD = 11.69) and mechanical engineering students ( M = 70.10, SD = 13.11) did not differ in their percentage-based goal performance, t (93) = 1.40, p = .165, d = 0.29.

To test the hypothesized mediation model in which dispositional self-awareness positively affects exam performance through two mediators, problem-solving orientation and subjective means instrumentality, we computed a regression-based mediator analysis using 5,000 bootstraps ( Hayes, 2012 , 2013 ). We indicated two control variables in our analyses. First, we controlled for the subsample (psychology vs. mechanical engineering students). Second, in order to demonstrate a temporal sequence of our effect, we controlled for means instrumentality at T1. In doing so, we separated changes over time from the initially existing instrumentality of previously used means. We hypothesized that students at the beginning of their studies have less knowledge on the instrumentality of their study-related means (irrespective of their levels of dispositional self-awareness), but a problem-solving orientation in their studies might help self-aware individuals over time to identify and select those means that are instrumental to them. The data from these analyses showed the hypothesized effect: Through their increased problem-solving orientation, participants with greater levels of dispositional self-awareness evaluated their means as being more instrumental over time which was associated with a better performance in their exam (see Figure 2 (Model 2), b = .04, 95% CI [.0046, .1405]).

In sum, the data from Study 3 showed the positive effect of self-awareness on means instrumentality through a stronger orientation toward problem-solving again. Furthermore, those means, proved to be highly instrumental as they were associated with students’ performance in their first-year exams.

General Discussion

Successful goal pursuit hinges on selecting instrumental means ( Kruglanski et al., 2002 ; Locke & Latham, 1990 ). In the present research, we took an individual-differences perspective on means selection by investigating whether self-awareness (e.g., Duval & Wicklund, 1972 ), positively affects problem-solving orientation (e.g., Burwell & Shirk, 2007 ), promotes means instrumentality in different forms of difficult goal pursuit.

In a first step, we showed in correlational Studies 1a and 1b that participants with higher levels of dispositional self-awareness do indeed report a stronger problem-solving orientation when confronted with stressors in goal pursuit. To obtain evidence for the causal relation between self-awareness and problem-solving orientation, on the one hand, and to show that the stronger orientation toward problem-solving does, in turn, promote means instrumentality, on the other hand, we conducted and preregistered experimental Study 2. In this study, we demonstrated a positive effect of self-awareness enhancing manipulation on subjective means instrumentality through increased situational self-awareness and problem-solving orientation to pursue a vague goal. Lastly, in Study 3, we went a step further and aimed at showing that participants’ dispositional self-awareness not only affects subjective (self-reported) means instrumentality but that those means turn out to be highly instrumental as they are associated with better performance (academic performance retrieved from official records) in the pursuit of a new goal. Participants with higher dispositional self-awareness did, in fact, obtain better study grades due to the hypothesized mediational effect. This demonstrates that self-awareness through its increased orientation toward problem-solving in goal striving promotes the selection of means that promote goal attainment.

Theoretical Implications

By focusing on the role of self-awareness and problem-solving for the selection of instrumental means, which is regarded as a highly important self-regulatory process ( Kruglanski et al., 2002 ), we are contributing to the existing research as follows:

Firstly and most importantly, we apply an individual-differences perspective to the study of means selection, thereby highlighting the importance of individual differences for self-regulatory processes, as previously stressed by different researchers ( Duckworth et al., 2007 ; Hoyle, 2010 ; Kuhl, 1992 ; Tangney et al., 2004 ). We followed up the claim made by Hoyle (2010) , who pointed out that self-regulation research rarely discusses the role of individual differences in self-regulatory processes. Moreover, we broaden the perspective of well-established theories which emphasize the importance of means selection, such as goal system theory ( Kruglanski et al., 2002 ), which addresses “the problem of choice among the means” (p. 358). Likewise, research in the realm of goal-setting theory has emphasized the importance of selecting goal-directed strategies as a key mechanism that explains why specific, difficult goals boost performance ( Locke & Latham, 1990 ). In the same vein, the concept of implementation intentions ( Gollwitzer, 1999 ) underscores the selection of critical situations (i.e., when and where to act on one’s goal) and connecting these to concrete goal-directed behaviors (i.e., means). Neither of these theories has, however, specified factors that enable people to select instrumental means. We target this issue by focusing on an individual difference construct, self-awareness, which has been shown to play a key role in self-regulation ( Baumeister et al., 1994 ; Carver & Scheier, 1998 ; Duval & Wicklund, 1972 ).

Second, we highlight the functional aspects of self-awareness by investigating its reflective side, in contrast to earlier research which primarily focused on the maladaptive consequences of anxiety-driven rumination (e.g., for an overview, see Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 2008 ). Our research proposes that self-awareness might be highly adaptive in goal pursuit since self-aware individuals command a higher problem-solving orientation. Although the important role of introspection for problem-solving has already been addressed ( Jäkel & Schreiber, 2013 ), less is known about its underlying cognitive mechanisms. We claim that in the context of goal striving, both the goal and the momentary goal state become salient by directing awareness toward the self, which results in a stronger motivation and greater success in reducing any discrepancy between them ( Carver & Scheier, 1998 ). If discrepancy reduction cannot easily be done, individuals adopt a problem-solving orientation aiming at the selection of instrumental means. Indeed, we have hypothesized and found that (both dispositionally and situationally) self-aware individuals report an increased problem-solving orientation in their goal striving. One might wonder how situational levels of self-awareness differ from dispositional ones. We propose that situational levels of self-awareness promote a situational state of viewing goal striving as a continuous problem-solving process that aims at reducing goal-related discrepancies with the help of instrumental means. However, individuals with greater levels of dispositional self-awareness should more often get into this state which might induce a more trait-like problem-solving orientation in them. Please note that we have focused on a consciously accessible form of self-awareness during which individuals become the object of their attention. This form of metacognition may have to be distinguished from a more pre-reflective, implicit, and bodily form of self-awareness ( Zahavi, 1999 ). Given that people can pursue goals without conscious awareness (e.g., Bargh, 1990 ), it is conceivable that the cascade of processes we have described here can operate outside of consciousness as well and be triggered by a more implicit form of self-awareness. Future research would have to address this open question.

Third, we highlight the importance of problem-solving in personal goal striving . Especially when individuals cannot pursue their goals automatically or very easily when there are many different options to do so or the goal is rather vague, adopting a problem-solving orientation should be useful for means selection. This conceptualization of problem-solving contributes to and extends previous research investigating problem-solving in everyday life in several ways (e.g., Broadbent & Aston, 1978 ; Frensch & Funke, 1995 ; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984 ): First, we have identified an individual difference that appears to matter for the inclination to approach goal pursuit with a problem-solving orientation, namely self-awareness. This is in line with self-regulatory theories, which propose that an individual′s level of self-awareness contributes to their goal attainment through its positive effect on goal monitoring ( Carver & Scheier, 1998 ). Second, we have focused on a self-regulatory implication of problem-solving, namely for the instrumentality of selected means’ during goal pursuit. So far, the instrumentality of selected means had been operationalized in problem-solving research by counting the number of different strategies a person used or through expert ratings ( Coats et al., 2014 ). However, such indices neglect individuals’ own ideas of what constitutes an effective solution for a given problem. Our measures included both an objective indicator (i.e., grades) as well as a subjective measure of means instrumentality. Lastly, the problems we investigated had different characteristics which might have provoked problem-solving. According to theoretical definitions, a problem is understood as ill-defined when either the initial state, the desired state, or the means are vague and when, in addition, several means are possible for its solution, but no optimal solution is known (e.g., Simon, 1973 ). With regard to personal goals, many different reasons can lead to one or more of these components becoming vague. In our research, the ill-defined problems were either personal goals burdened by stressors (Studies 1a and 1b), vaguely defined goals (Study 2), or new goals (Study 3). We assumed that at least one of the components was vague across these goals, but we did not explicitly assess or manipulate this factor. Future research might therefore investigate explicitly which characteristics a problem during goal pursuit must have in order to provoke problem-solving.

Finally, we conceive of means instrumentality as a presumably variable characteristic because a means that is instrumental for a goal at one point in time may not be so throughout the entire course of goal pursuit. For success, it is imperative that people constantly monitor and use feedback about the instrumentality of a given means to potentially adjust their behavior and substitute an existing means with one that provides a better fit to the current demands. Due to the fact that self-awareness is associated with greater goal monitoring ( Carver & Scheier, 1998 ), future lines of research might investigate whether dispositionally self-aware individuals are also more likely to monitor their means’ instrumentality and adapt their means to the current demands. This would imply that the influence of self-awareness on means’ instrumentality would be flexible by adapting means to current demands than statically by simply having people choose the best means at goal initiation. Accordingly, self-awareness might promote regulatory flexibility , an individual-difference constructs previously described in the context of emotion regulation and coping with describing individuals’ flexibility in adapting regulatory strategies (i.e., means) depending on feedback on their instrumentality ( Bonanno & Burton, 2013 ). Certainly, this assumption requires empirical evidence. For example, a study capitalizing on experience sampling (e.g., Bolger & Laurenceau, 2013 ) could investigate regulatory flexibility as an intra-individual process that should be observed more in people with high levels of self-awareness and people with a higher orientation toward problem-solving.

Strengths and Limitations

This research has some strengths and limitations that should be addressed. One of its clear strengths is that we followed recommendations regarding cumulative science (e.g., Jasny et al., 2011 ) by replicating our hypothesized correlational effect of Studies 1a and 1b in all other studies and the hypothesized mediational effect Study 2 in Study 3. We furthermore preregistered our experimental study (Study 2) in order to increase the transparency, rigor, and reproducibility of our research (e.g., Nosek et al., 2018 ). Speaking in favor of at least some generalizability of our findings, we were able to demonstrate these effects both during the pursuit of personal goals (Studies 1a, 1b, and 3) and the pursuit of instructed goals (Study 2), and in both student samples and MTurk samples, which are shown to be more diverse ( Goodman et al., 2013 ). Finally, circumventing constraints of self-reporting (e.g., Meade & Craig, 2012 ), we assessed objective goal performance, namely exam grades, as an objectively measured consequence of the selection of instrumental means.

However, most of our data nevertheless rely on self-reporting, which contains sources of bias like social desirability ( Brenner & DeLamater, 2016 ) or careless answering ( Meade & Craig, 2012 ). We cannot rule out the possibility that the participants in our studies gave socially desirable answers, as dispositional self-awareness might be viewed as a valued skill. By experimentally inducing self-awareness and preregistering exclusion criteria in Study 2 (e.g., if the writing task is not conducted seriously or is copied in part of fully from the Internet), we tried to allow for participants’ careless answering. Furthermore, informing participants about the writing task at the beginning of the study, we followed best practice recommendations to prevent drop-outs ( Zhou & Fishbach, 2016 ). However, it should be mentioned that we had to exclude considerably more data from the experimental study due to our exclusion criteria than we had expected in advance (30% data exclusion). High data drop-out is always detrimental and raises the question of data quality. In our case, we had preregistered all our exclusion criteria. But for future research, we would recommend using experimental tasks that leave less room for participants to answer carelessly, for example, by using a more interesting topic to write about or adding additional incentives for completing texts that fulfill certain criteria.

In a similar vein, we assessed problem-solving orientation in our studies using two items from an established measure for assessing general problem-solving tendencies (INCOPE; Bodenmann, 2000 ), which were moderately correlated. This could mean that problem-solving itself entails several facets on a cognitive (first item: “I think very carefully about what’s going on and what to do”) and a behavioral level (second item: “I actively influence the situation.”) which is in line with the conceptualization of problem-solving as a highly complex process consisting of several distinct components ( Care, 2017 ). In future research, it would be fruitful to assess problem-solving orientation differently in its entire breadth and investigate the different facets of problem-solving and its relation to self-regulatory processes more closely.

Furthermore, in our experimental study, we manipulated situational self-awareness, but only with the same small effect size as in previous research using the same manipulation ( Kreibich et al., 2020 ). This suggests that strong shifts in self-awareness are not easily created experimentally. Other researchers have already pointed out that creating strong shifts in attention might be difficult, especially in online settings (e.g., Silvia & Eichstaedt, 2004 ).

Lastly, in our experimental study, we assessed means instrumentality by asking participants how instrumental they considered their selected means. As we assessed means instrumentality right after finishing the task, one might argue that participants who experienced the task as being easier will have rated their means as being more instrumental or even their way of handling the task as being more problem-solving-oriented. This would, in turn, imply that the self-awareness enhancing manipulation, which led to more problem-solving and means instrumentality, would have made the task easier. However, the data from Study 3 showed no differences between the groups regarding their concentration, which has been shown to be a useful proxy for the cognitive load ( Sörqvist et al., 2016 ). Accordingly, it is unlikely that cognitive load and task difficulty differed largely across the experimental conditions.

In this research, we tested the hypothesis that individuals with higher levels of self-awareness, that is, a state of heightened attention to one’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior ( Duval & Wicklund, 1972 ), tend to engage more in problem-solving, which should result in the selection of more instrumental means. In several studies, we obtained evidence for this hypothesis by showing that dispositional self-awareness was indeed correlated with a stronger orientation toward problem-solving (Studies 1a and 1b). Furthermore, both dispositional and experimentally induced self-awareness was positively correlated with problem-solving orientation and resulted in greater subjective means instrumentality in an online writing task (Study 2). Finally, participants’ dispositional self-awareness predicted participants’ final exam grades (Study 3), and this effect could be explained through their higher engagement in problem-solving and the selection of instrumental means. Overall, this research provides initial evidence that self-awareness and problem-solving are crucial predictors for an important but understudied self-regulatory aspect of goal striving, namely selecting instrumental goal-conducive means.

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problem solving and goal orientation

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Journal of Individual Differences (2021), 43, pp. 57-69 https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000355. © 2021 The Author(s)

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The preregistration of Study 2 can be assessed online at https://aspredicted.org/zx5jx.pdf

All supplemental materials including the study materials, the verbatim wording of all study variables, analyses scripts, results of additional analyses, and datasets are publicly available on the Open Science Framework https://osf.io/rngfk/ (Kreibich et al., 2019).

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Structuring achievement goal orientation through group problem solving activities

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2017, International Journal of Social Sciences and Education Research

Since the mid-1980s, AGT has become one of the most prominent theories of motivation in educational psychology. This theory spotlights two major goals, mastery goal and performance goal . While a mastery goal oriented learner aims to develop one's competence, the performance-goal oriented learners aims to demostrate one's competence by outperforming others . Mastery goal oriented learners tend to perceive ability as a malleable entity . With deep-learning strategy, they do not give up easily when they encounter failures. Comparatively, students who are driven by performance goal have the tendency to avoid challenging tasks. They are associated with the surface learning strategies and they are prone to have negative feeling following poor performances . proposed to further partition these two goals into four subclasses based on the effort to pursue or to avoid the goals. These subclasses are the mastery-approach (i.e., aiming to improve oneself), mastery-avoidance (i.e., aiming to...

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This study set out to examine the relationship between the type of assessment a teacher uses and the goal orientation and engagement of students in fifth grade mathematics. Prior research on assessment types, goal orientation, and engagement was examined, and from this research it was predicted that there would be significant relationships between the type of assessment a teacher uses and the goal orientation and engagement of his or her students. To determine if a relationship existed, teachers (n = 8)were given a questionnaire developed by McMillan, Myran, and Workman (2002), which provided information on whether teachers used constructed response assessment, teacher made assessment, or objective assessment. Additionally, students (N = 115) were given a modified form of a portion of the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey by Midgley et al., (2000) designed to measure their performance approach, performance avoid, and mastery goal orientations. Students were also given a modified form of the Feelings About School Inventory (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, Friedel, & Paris, 2005) designed to measure their cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement. The results of the analyses found that there was no significant relationship between teacher assessment type and student goal orientation or engagement.

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The Impact of Learner Metacognition and Goal Orientation on Problem-Solving in a Serious Game Environment

Stimulating Intrinsic Motivation for Problem Solving Using Goal-Oriented Contexts and Peer Group Composition

Educational Technology Research and Development volume  54 ,  pages 445–466 ( 2006 ) Cite this article

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One important factor related to ill-structured problem-solving success is intrinsic motivation, that is, students’ willingness to persist in solving the problem. Goal orientation, a motivational variable, explains reasons why students engage in the activity because they want to either learn or perform. This study investigated the relationship between these two types of goal orientations and their effects on motivation and problem solving by varying three instructional contexts designed to promote one of the two orientations. Heterogeneous and homogeneous peer grouping based on self-efficacy was also predicted to affect intrinsic motivation and problem solving. The results indicated that students in the learning-oriented context had significantly higher intrinsic motivation than those in the performance-oriented context. Students in the heterogeneous peer group had higher scores on monitoring and evaluating problem-solving subskills than those in the homogeneous peer groups. Learning-goal orientation and solution development were significantly related when students participated in the learning-oriented, heterogeneous peer grouping treatment group.

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Song, HD., Grabowski, B.L. Stimulating Intrinsic Motivation for Problem Solving Using Goal-Oriented Contexts and Peer Group Composition. EDUCATION TECH RESEARCH DEV 54 , 445–466 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-006-0128-6

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problem solving and goal orientation

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IEP Goals and objectives for math problem solving

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IEP Goals and Objectives Resource Packet Academics

IEP Goals and Objectives Resource Packet Academics

Old School Works

Addition with Regrouping Lessons 2, 3 & 4-Digits | Special Ed Math Intervention

Angela Dansie

Also included in:  Second Grade Math for Special Education and Intervention | Bundle

Multi-Digit Addition and Subtraction Word Problems | Special Education Math

Multi-Digit Addition and Subtraction Word Problems | Special Education Math

Multiplication Facts & Concepts | Word Problems | 3rd Grade Math for Special Ed

Multiplication Facts & Concepts | Word Problems | 3rd Grade Math for Special Ed

Also included in:  Multiplication Lesson Workbooks | Special Education Math Intervention Bundle

Multiplication & Division Word Problems | Special Ed Math Intervention 3rd Grade

Multiplication & Division Word Problems | Special Ed Math Intervention 3rd Grade

Also included in:  Division Lesson Workbooks | Long Division | Word Problems | Special Ed Math

Multiplication, One-Digit by Multi-Digit, Special Ed Math Intervention 4th Grade

Multiplication, One-Digit by Multi-Digit, Special Ed Math Intervention 4th Grade

Addition & Subtraction Word Problems Within 20, Special Ed Math 1st Grade

Addition & Subtraction Word Problems Within 20, Special Ed Math 1st Grade

Also included in:  Subtraction Lessons | Word Problems | Special Ed Math Intervention 1st Grade

Two-Digit Addition & Subtraction, No Regrouping | Special Ed Math Intervention

Two-Digit Addition & Subtraction, No Regrouping | Special Ed Math Intervention

Also included in:  First Grade Math for Special Education and Intervention | Bundle

Math One-Step Real-World Word Problems Using Addition/Subtraction (Complete)

Math One-Step Real-World Word Problems Using Addition/Subtraction (Complete)

Winter's Wonderful Workers

Add & Subtract Fractions with Like Denominators | 4th Grade Special Ed Math

Also included in:  Special Education Math Curriculum | Math Intervention | Complete Bundle

Division Facts & Concepts | Skip Count to Divide | 3rd Grade Special Ed Math

Division Facts & Concepts | Skip Count to Divide | 3rd Grade Special Ed Math

Long Division with One-Digit Divisors | Special Ed Math Intervention, 4th Grade

Long Division with One-Digit Divisors | Special Ed Math Intervention, 4th Grade

Multi-Digit Multiplication Lessons & Word Problems, Special Ed Math Intervention

Multi-Digit Multiplication Lessons & Word Problems, Special Ed Math Intervention

Add & Subtract Unlike Fractions & Mixed Numbers, Comparing Fractions, SpEd Math

Add & Subtract Unlike Fractions & Mixed Numbers, Comparing Fractions, SpEd Math

Division with Remainders | Special Education Math Intervention | 4th Grade Math

Division with Remainders | Special Education Math Intervention | 4th Grade Math

Multiplying Fractions by Whole Numbers | Word Problems, Mixed Numbers, SpEd Math

Multiplying Fractions by Whole Numbers | Word Problems, Mixed Numbers, SpEd Math

Missing Addends Lessons | Word Problems | Special Ed Math Intervention 1st Grade

Missing Addends Lessons | Word Problems | Special Ed Math Intervention 1st Grade

Also included in:  Addition Lessons | Fact Fluency | Special Education Math Intervention 1st Grade

Multiplication Box Method, Distributive Property | Special Ed Math Intervention

Multiplication Box Method, Distributive Property | Special Ed Math Intervention

Subtraction Lessons | Word Problems | Special Ed Math Intervention 1st Grade

Subtraction Lessons | Word Problems | Special Ed Math Intervention 1st Grade

Dividing Fractions & Mixed Numbers | Fractions as Division | Special Ed Math

Dividing Fractions & Mixed Numbers | Fractions as Division | Special Ed Math

Multiplication with Missing Factors | Word Problems | Special Ed 3rd Grade Math

Multiplication with Missing Factors | Word Problems | Special Ed 3rd Grade Math

Math one-step real-world problems using addition & subtraction within 20

Math one-step real-world problems using addition & subtraction within 20

Addition & Subtraction Word Problems, Special Education Math, 1st Grade

Addition & Subtraction Word Problems, Special Education Math, 1st Grade

Also included in:  K-2 Math Bundle | Special Education Math Curriculum | Intervention

Decimals Lesson Workbooks for Special Ed Math Intervention, 4th, 5th, 6th Grade

Decimals Lesson Workbooks for Special Ed Math Intervention, 4th, 5th, 6th Grade

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IMAGES

  1. Problem-Solving-Cycle

    problem solving and goal orientation

  2. Problem solving for employees assist administrators in recognizing and resolving issues that

    problem solving and goal orientation

  3. Lesson Plan: Solving a Problem

    problem solving and goal orientation

  4. Goal oriented project planning for effective problem solving by vinay

    problem solving and goal orientation

  5. Steps to Goal Setting and Problem Solving. From Education.Com Speech Language Pathology, Speech

    problem solving and goal orientation

  6. what is problem solving

    problem solving and goal orientation

VIDEO

  1. Goal Setting

  2. 3/29. THE KEY TO RESOLVING EVERY PROBLEM AND ATTAINING EVERY GOAL. DAY 1, PART 3

  3. Goals and Objectives

  4. Learning Goals & Success Criteria

  5. Problem-Solving Devices

  6. Why we should know Goals & Objectives first

COMMENTS

  1. Problem-solving or Goal-oriented?

    Problem-solving or Goal-oriented? Regarding the direction that people tend to move when it comes to the things they value, they tend to find themselves in one of two basic positions, Toward or Away from. Every individual will find themselves moving somewhere in the continuum between Toward and Away from.

  2. Problem solving and problem orientation in generalized anxiety disorder

    Problem orientation and problem-solving skills were measured with the Social Problem-Solving Inventory (D'Zurilla & Nezu, 1990) and the Problem-Solving Inventory (Heppner & Petersen, 1982), whereas the cognitive variables were assessed with the Intolerance of Uncertainty questionnaire (Freeston, Rhéaume, Letarte, Dugas, & Ladouceur, 1994) and the …

  3. Instruction in mastery goal orientation: developing problem solving and

    Goal orientation was measured before and after the intervention. Students in the experimental group increased their mastery orientation significantly, while reducing their performance orientation somewhat. They persisted to solve problems, while students in the control group gave up more easily when faced with a difficult task.

  4. Problem Solving: 15 Examples for Setting Performance Goals

    Problem Solving is the skill of defining a problem to determine its cause, identify it, prioritize and select alternative solutions to implement in solving the problems and reviving relationships. Problem Solving: Set Goals for your Employees. Here are some examples:

  5. Problem Solving « The GOALS Program : Goal Orientation, Attribution

    The GOALS Program teaches children to solve problems using friendly solutions. Coming up with friendly solutions means that both friends can be happy. The GOALS Program also encourages children to use their words to solve problems instead of using aggression or force (like asking to play with a toy instead of grabbing it from another child).

  6. The impact of learner metacognition and goal orientation on problem

    To understand learner problem-solving based on metacognition and goal orientation, this study investigated learner problem-solving (both problem-solving performances and processes) based on their two characteristics (i.e., metacognition and goal orientation) in a SG environment designed for learning space science.

  7. The impact of learner metacognition and goal orientation on problem

    To understand the impact of two learner characteristics—metacognition and goal orientation—on problem-solving, this study investigated 159 undergraduate learners' metacognition, goal orientations, and problem-solving performances and processes in a laboratory setting using a Serious Game (SG) environment—Alien Rescue (AR)—that adopts Problem-based Learning (PBL) pedagogy for teaching ...

  8. PDF PROBLEM ORIENTATION, PROBLEM SOLVING AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE Michael

    problem-solving efforts. This reflects our view, as well as others (Eck and Spelman, 1987 and less explicitly Read and Tilley, 2000), that problem orientation is distinct from problem solving. We feel that problem-oriented policing implementation will only be successful when problem orientation and solving are combined.

  9. 10 Best Problem-Solving Therapy Worksheets & Activities

    Problem orientation - use and control emotions Help clients understand the role of emotions in problem-solving, including using feelings to inform the process and managing disruptive emotions (such as cognitive reframing and relaxation exercises). Problem orientation - stop and think

  10. PDF SPEECH GOAL BANK LTGS

    PROBLEM-SOLVING STG Verbalize or demonstrate solution to simple daily problems w/ min cues. Generate 2-3 possible solutions to hypothetical problems w/ min cues. Solve basic 1-step functional time management problems w/ min cues. Solve 2-3 step functional math problems w/ mod cues.

  11. Problem-Solving Therapy: Definition, Techniques, and Efficacy

    Problem-solving therapy is a form of therapy that provides patients with tools to identify and solve problems that arise from life stressors, both big and small. Its aim is to improve your overall quality of life and reduce the negative impact of psychological and physical illness. 1. Problem-solving therapy can be used to treat depression ...

  12. The Role of Self-Awareness and Problem-Solving Orientation for the

    Abstract. Successful goal striving hinges on the selection of instrumental means. The current research investigates individual differences in self-awareness as a predictor for means instrumentality. This effect should be mediated by the tendency of self-aware individuals to approach the process of goal pursuit in a way that is problem-solving-oriented.

  13. Structuring achievement goal orientation through group problem solving

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  14. Effective Goal Setting, Decision Making, and Problem-Solving (UNO

    We will also explore defined methods for effective goal setting and achievement, the critical ability to solve problems systematically and how to make clear, correct decisions under pressure. We also explore how to lead your team to success through empowered goal-oriented, emotional intelligence, and effective communication. Target Audience:

  15. (PDF) The Relationship between Goal Orientation and Problem Solving

    Orientation The Relationship between Goal Orientation and Problem Solving Strategy among the Hashemite University Students Authors: Randa Mahasneh Qatar University Thaer A. Ghbari...

  16. The Impact of Learner Metacognition and Goal Orientation on Problem

    Advisor. Dr. Min Liu; Degree. Doctoral; Abstract To understand the impact of two learner characteristics—metacognition and goal orientation—on problem-solving, this study investigated 159 undergraduate learners' metacognition, goal orientations, and problem-solving performances and processes in a laboratory setting using a Serious Game (SG) environment—Alien Rescue (AR)—that adopts ...

  17. Stimulating Intrinsic Motivation for Problem Solving Using Goal

    One important factor related to ill-structured problem-solving success is intrinsic motivation, that is, students' willingness to persist in solving the problem. Goal orientation, a motivational variable, explains reasons why students engage in the activity because they want to either learn or perform. This study investigated the relationship between these two types of goal orientations and ...

  18. (PDF) The Relationship Between Goal Orientation and Problem Solving

    The Relationship Between Goal Orientation and Problem Solving Strategy among the Hashemite University Students September 2013 Authors: Thaer Ghbari Hashemite University Discover the world's...

  19. The role of self-awareness and problem-solving orientation for the

    Successful goal striving hinges on the selection of instrumental means. The current research investigates individual differences in self-awareness as a predictor for means instrumentality. This effect should be mediated by the tendency of self-aware individuals to approach the process of goal pursuit in a way that is problem-solving-oriented. Four studies (N1a = 123, N1b = 169, N₂ = 353 ...

  20. Leveraging Diversity and Inclusion for Problem Solving

    Brainstorming is a technique that encourages team members to share their thoughts, opinions, and suggestions freely and openly. Mind mapping is a technique that creates a visual representation of...

  21. Instruction in mastery goal orientation: developing problem solving and

    Goal orientation was measured before and after the intervention. Students in the experimental group increased their mastery orientation significantly, while reducing their performance orientation somewhat. They persisted to solve problems, while students in the control group gave up more easily when faced with a difficult task.

  22. ERIC

    The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between problem-solving style as measured by "VIEW: An Assessment of Problem-solving Style" and career interests or preferences in high school students as measured by the "Kuder Career Search with Person Match." Three-hundred forty-two eighth through eleventh grade junior and senior high school students from a suburban high school ...

  23. Results for IEP Goals and objectives for math problem solving

    4.8. (55) $4.00. PDF. This product is IEP based using the Common Core State Stand 3.OA.8 and modifying this goal using the Dynamic Learning Maps Essential Outcomes. EE.3.OA.8 Solve one-step real-world problems using addition or subtraction within 20. Example of IEP Math Goal: By (date), when given one-step real-world problems using addition and ...