International Journal of School and Cognitive Psychology
Open Access

Abstract

Four Personal Achievement Goals and Self-Reported Cheating Behavior

Apostolou M*

The objective of the present study was to investigate the predictive utility of the four personal achievement goals included in the 2x2 achievement goal framework with reference to self-reported cheating behavior exhibited by female first-year University students when they were attending an Ancient Greek Language and Literature class in the last year of their Secondary Education studies. Correlation analyses revealed that performance-approach, performance-avoidance, and mastery-avoidance goals were not predictive variables of self-reported cheating behavior, while mastery-approach goals were negative predictors. The findings underline the role played by masteryapproach goals in deterring cheating behavior in academic settings. Sophocles (496-406 B.C.) was one of classical Athens’ three great tragic playwrights. In his tragedy “PHILOCTETES” (94-95), which has survived up to date in its complete form, he put the following words in the mouth of young Neoptolemos, the honest son of Achilleas, during an argumentation with cunning Odysseas: “Still I prefer, my king, to fail when doing what is honorable than to be victorious in a dishonorable manner” (Sophocles, 409 B.C.). One of the central themes of this play was the conflict between the ethics of deception and fraud and the ethics of integrity and fairness.