UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT GOALS AND MENTAL TIME TRAVEL ABILITIES

Dr. Altay Eren
Abant Izzet Baysal University

Abstract

This study is aimed to examine the profiles of undergraduate students’ mental time travel abilities regarding the achievement-related educational events and achievement-related and imagined educational future events together with their achievement goals. A total of 659 undergraduate students voluntarily participated in the study. Of them, 358 took part in the pilot study through which a Mental Time Travel Scale was developed, while 301 undergraduate students consisted the main sample of the study. Overall, the findings of the present study showed that students’ achievement-related past events were significantly correlated with their performance-approach goals and mastery goals, but not correlated with their performance-avoidance goals. Furthermore, results also revealed that students’ mental time travel abilities together with their achievement goals demonstrate two significant cluster patterns that can be labeled as High Mental Time Travel/Achievement Goals and Low Mental Time Travel/Achievement Goals. Educational implications and directions for future research are also discussed in the present study.

Keywords

Mental time travel; Achievement goals, Mental time travel scale.