Self-set goals improve academic performance through nonlinear effects on daily study performance

A Bayesian longitudinal moderated mediational model was used to test the effect of students' daily/proximal self-set goals on a final course grade through daily study performance. Thirty-six daily diaries were completed twice a day by 147 sophomore students. Study goals were self-set in the morning and daily performance was self-assessed in the evening. Two independent coders, blind to the hypotheses, evaluated goal specificity and difficulty....