Goal Setting Controversy

Although many researchers in industrial psychology believe it is well established that goal setting regularly and reliably improves performance, many still need to be won over concerning the positive results in sports. There have been explanations that cause controversy but Blaine Kyllo and Daniel Landers of the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology have found that all too often scientists are ignoring the significance of statistics. "A meta-analytic review of the literature investigating the effects of goal setting on performance in sport and exercise could clarify the state of knowledge. Overall, setting goals improves performance in sport by 0.34 of a standard deviation. Moderate, absolute, and combined short- and long-term goals were associated with the greatest effects. Additional moderator variables were identified, and how they alter the relationship is discussed."

In Daniel Smith and Michael Bar-Eli’s book, Essential Readings in Sport and Exercise Psychology, they encouraged research that would provide more generality to the findings regarding the effects of goal difficulty on athletic performance. (Instead of the male-only subjects of middle to high socio-economic status that Kyllo and Landers pursued.) Then there could be more empirical data that confirms that setting unrealistically high goals is detrimental to motivation and performance. This has been an idea that has always been supported by previous sport psychology literature, but never backed up with sufficient empirical data.

Personally, I have found that goal setting in sports (and life) helps a great deal. I specifically remember laying on my Varsity Soccer Coach's living room floor with my teammates before we got on the bus to go to our Sectional Finals and having her talk us through a visual of us playing well and winning the game. It made it seem that much more possible when it was approached in that realistic way. We all felt connected in our determination and were on the same page with our group goals in mind. If you can visualize it and set the goal of playing to the best of your ability, you can do it.

We were Co-Champions.