1.1. Social achievement goals and the multiple goal perspective
Following the academic achievement goal perspective, Ryan and associates introduced three types of social achievement goals that refer to striving for competence in the social domain (Ryan & Shim, 2006; Ryan et al., 2004). Social development goals, correspond to mastery-approach academic goals (i.e., goals aiming at learning and developing competence in the academic domain) and reflect people's focus on developing social competence by cultivating the quality of relationships. Social demonstration-approach goals, correspond to performance-approach academic goals (i.e., goals aiming at demonstrating competence through outperforming others) and represent people's aim to demonstrate social competence by gaining popularity and others' admiration. Social demonstration-avoid goals, correspond to performance-avoidance academic goals (i.e., goals aiming at avoiding showing incompetence in the academic domain) and pertain to people's striving to avoid negative evaluation in social interactions.