Conditional effects of mastery goal structure on changes in students' motivational beliefs: Need for cognition matters

•We examine effects of mastery goal structure in a non-traditional academic domain.•We examine change in motivation outcomes (i.e., academic self-concept and task values) over time.•Need for cognition moderates the effect of mastery goal structure on motivation outcomes.•We probe the interactions using a sophisticated approach called the JohnsonNeyman technique.•Low need for cognition students benefit more from being in mastery-focused classrooms.

Decades of achievement goal theory research reveal that a perceived mastery goal structure is consistently associated with positive student outcomes. Yet relatively little research has examined the conditional effects of mastery goal structure. Within the context of health education, we investigated whether the relations of mastery goal structure to a student's motivation to learn would be moderated by individual differences in the enjoyment and engagement of effortful cognitive activity—the need for cognition (NC). Data were collected from 660 high school students at two time points during semester-long health education courses. Consistent with our predictions, results indicate that the relation between mastery goal structure and increases in students' academic self-concept and values over time is stronger for low NC students and weaker for high NC students. The present study bridges applied research on classroom motivation with basic attitudes research—demonstrating that students' motivation to learn is a joint function of their perceptions of achievement-related messages provided by teachers and preferences for engaging in cognitively demanding activities.