Social goals refer to reasons that students may have for behaving in an academic situation
so as to meet social ends. Although currently we have less understanding of the role
which social goals play in learning, results are starting to appear which confirm the importance
of this type of goals and allow us to establish some generalizations (Wentzel, 1996;
Wentzel & Wigfield, 1998). Some research has found that students may have social goals,
such as gaining others' acceptance (Schneider, Ackerman & Kanfer, 1996).