Type A achievement striving and failure to achieve personal goals

The purpose of the present study was to examine relations involving the Type A behavior pattern, goal-setting behavior, and goal achievement. Type A and B subjects completed two sequential general information tests. On each test, subjects were required to establish a performance goal prior to the test, and after completing the test, subjects were given feedback on their actual performance. On both tests, results confirmed that Type A's, compared to Type B's, set significantly higher performance goals, performed no differently, showed significantly larger discrepancies between performance and goals, were significantly less likely to achieve their performance goal. Furthermore, it was found that Type A's set goals on test 2 that exceeded their test 1 performance to a greater extent than Type B's, but only among subjects who failed to achieve their test 1 goals. No differences were found between Type A's and B's on goal-setting behavior following a success in goal achievement on test 1. Results of the experiment suggest that Type A achievement striving represents a breakdown in achievement-related self-regulation, which may have negative psychological consequences associated with failure to achieve personal goals.